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My 1946, J2A Willys Jeep, nown to everyone as "Ralph" is, eluctantly,now for sale due to the fact that we are moving to Manhattan. I bought himin the fall of 2010 from a man in upstate New York (Ralph was painted graythen) who was the third owner. He was built in the fall of 1946 (serial#81986), nd the engine casting number (638632), hose on the tub ACMand the engine number (CJ2A 21913) conform to that assembly line dating.Within weeks we had pulled the tub, he engine and transmission were outand the axles were free of the frame. With the frame isolated, nly thencould we confirm that the Jeep had never been in an accident, r used forplowing, nd that there were no replaced parts or welds that were not factory.Ralph had been used on two farms, et stored in barns in the winter, ut weknew that some portions of the tub would have to be replaced. We were alsothen able to see that the frame tag matched the serial tags on the firewall.My intention from the beginning was to rebuild a Jeep that looked as muchlike a factory Willys, ut with safety features that would allow me to feelcomfortable driving my ten-year old daughter, nd my friends, roundwithout concern. To that end, hose features, any quite costly, re:1. New 11" brake shoes (with new wheel bearings), hus replacing the 9"shoes which were not designed to adequately stop a vehicle goingover 40 MPH.2. Rebuilt Spicer T90 three-speed transmission with a Novak kit thatdoes not allow the transmission to slip out of second gear - a commonproblem.3. The entire Jeep now runs on a new Walck's 12-volt wiring harnesswith a new 12-volt starter and regulator. Ralph turns over instantly,with gusto, ven in cold weather.4. We installed a Warn overdrive to the transmission, hus adding whatis essentially a fourth gear. Ralph now travels comfortably at fiftymiles an hour when you need it.5. I put a new set of 6.50 - 16LT Super Traxion tires on the Jeep. Theyare much safer on wet and snowy cement roads than the original NDTmilitary tires that have no tread in the center of the tire's face.6. Ralph came with a Kaiser Supersonic engine block head that was anavailable option as early as 1954. Many Jeep owners had the newhigher compression heads put on their farm Jeeps because it gave their60 HP stock engines an extra 8 HP, n increase of 18%.7. We installed directional signal lighting on the front and rear, nimportant safety feature. The signal lights are in the same positions asthe original fog and brake lights, nd look much the same, ut theyblink when activated by a period Spartan turn signal that is mountedon the steering column.8. We replaced the old front wheel locking hubs with new Warn hubsthat retain much of the look of the originals. They work perfectly.9. Ralph has seat belts on both front seats and a long one on the rear seat.The bare frame was sand blasted, rimed and painted with three coats. Theengine, hich then had just over 54,000 original miles on it, as sent to ashop and boiled, lass beaded and bored 30 over. Four new pistons and theirrings were ordered, s were their valves, uides and springs, nd thecamshaft was boiled and polished. A new 12-volt starter was purchased, swas a new glass gas filter, nd the original Solex carburetor was rebuilt. Thebattery, oints and coil, egulator, hermostat, askets, oses, elts, iperblades, lips, prings plugs and plug wires are all new as are the Monroeshocks. We replaced the emergency brake cable just in case, nd bought newside mirrors from Walck's. The gas tank was boiled to clear it of any sludgeor rust. Several of the original tub panels and hat channels were badly rustedso we replaced them with exact copies from Classic Enterprises. All panelsthat have the Willys logo are original.We replaced the rear main crankshaft rope seal, aster cylinder, teeringlinkage and installed a new tail pipe and muffler. The speedometer was overhauled, s was the driver's side hydraulic windshield wiper assembly, nd Iwas able to find a NOS Sheller steering wheel. I installed a rain gutter at thetop of the inside cowl (after the one time he was left outside - and it rained!)to keep water from dripping on the engine, nd I put in a beautifullyreconditioned Harrison heater on the passenger side for my wife who neverremembered to turn it on. It works perfectly, s does every dial, utton andgadget on the dashboard. It has the hard-to-find original side steps on bothsides which have now been black powder coated. There is a governor handlein the hole where one would be if the Jeep had a governor. It does not, ut Ichose to put one there instead of having an open hole in the cowl. Lastly, ehave installed a hidden default switch under the cowl that disenables thebattery so that others cannot start the Jeep without the key.The correct Kelsey Hayes rims came with the Jeep and we painted them withMichigan Yellow and striped them. The tub and its parts were painted withPasture Green (both from Beachwood Canvas Works) that was Ralph'soriginal factory color. Beachwood also reupholstered the two front and rearseats in their gray vinyl material, pretty close match to the original. Theyalso made the wonderful canvas top which, hen installed, it perfectly. Therear view mirror and bracket is usually damaged or lost over the years. Ifound original replacements, nd they are in place.Ralph idles perfectly. He runs flawlessly, nd stops evenly without any pullto either side. We have done everything to this Jeep we could think of tomake it safe and road-worthy, et we worked hard to preserve as much of itsoriginal look and integrity. Most of the work was done in 2011, lthoughsome (the Novak second gear rebuild) was completed recently. He comeswith the original CJ2A manual, he correct tire jack and a very handyBeachwood canvas "stowage pouch" that is attached to the rear of thedriver's side seat. Ralph is a real head turner, nd I usually have a couple ofpeople standing beside him when I come out of a store. "What year is it," Ioften hear. "Did you buy it like that?" I don't want to let him go, ut go hemust. The key, ttached to and 50s styled leather holder, ith the WillysOverland logo embossed on it, ould be yours. There is, eservedly, reserve on this listing.
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