Today I decided to do a bit of tinkering on my 1954 Willys CJ-3B, a vehicle I got for what I thought was a smokin’ hot price ($5,900), and that I had planned to use as part of my upcoming wedding (in less than two months). But today I noticed a few bubbles in the paint, and — keen to prevent rust from spreading too far — I hit those bubbles with a flathead screwdriver. What that revealed was devastating.
To be clear, I’m using “devastating” quite loosely here, because this qualifies squarely as a First World Problem, but you wrenchers know what I mean. To learn that what they thought was a rock-solid vehicle is actually someone’s pottery project — more of a mobile sculpture than an actual automobile — is rough.
It all started when I noticed some paint bubbling on the driver’s side footrest. As an automotive rust expert, I know all too well that ignoring such a thing only leads to more trouble, so I picked at the bubble:
And I picked a little more:
And some more:
Oh boy what is all this?!
Oh no!
And now I have this big chunk missing from my front fender:
What’s worse is that I saw another bubble in the rear, on the top of one of the wheel wells:
I picked a bit, and it got pretty big:
And there was more in the corner: Notice how that big chunk on the bottom left of this image revealed rust below:
Speaking of rust, you see the painted rear valence panel to the left and right of this pintle hitch?
Let’s look at it from behind:
Look at those huge rust holes, just filled with Bondo!
Oh no.
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So I grabbed a magnet and did what I should have done in the seller’s driveway, and you can see the results above. In some areas — particularly over pretty much the entire rear quarter panels —the Bondo is almost an inch thick.
Oddly, the insides of these panels — which I inspected prior to purchase — look OK, so I expected the outsides of the thin sheetmetal to also be fine. At most, I’d have expected a skim coat to fix any minor imperfections. And yet, this thing is more of a Jeep-shaped sculpture than it is a Jeep itself.
And I know, some may say “Don’t worry about it,” but it’s impossible. My friend Brandon bought a WWII Jeep that had been slathered in Bondo, and he, too, could not resist picking away at it, ultimately deciding to replace the entire body due to the horrible shape of the metal below. There’s just something about a Bondo-covered car that, at least to me, really detracts from the vehicle. It feels, to me, like a big fraud.
It’s not rational, I know. The Jeep still looks good, and it will likely drive totally fine. But it’s a psychological thing; I want my Jeep to be made of steel like the Jeep gods intended.
Now it’s time to decide what to do next. Ignoring the issue isn’t going to happen, so should I start repairing panels? I could buy new side panels, front panels, and a rear valence for about $1,250 total:
Or should I buy a whole body tub for double that ($2,500 shipped) and then just the whole Jeep… The vehicle would no longer be totally original, and the whole shebang would end up costing me at least $6000 after paint, but it’d also be in mint condition, with an extremely low likelihood of rusting in the future here in California.
Or do I just let the Willys go to someone who couldn’t care less about the bondo, and just buy a nice CJ-3B for $12,000 to save me some time, since I’m getting married soon?
Or do I just say goodbye to CJ-3Bs in general and roll with the trusty YJ as my wedding mobile? It’s maybe not as elegant, per se, but it sure does shine:
Anyway, this was a rookie move on my part. I should have brought a magnet to the initial inspection. California may be the land that rust forgot, but Willys Jeeps are an exception.
D’oh!
Images of repair panels/tub: Kaiser Willys
Beau – If you read these articles, please just insist David use something you or Galpin owns that might just need a good detailing before his wedding day rather than a body replacement or finding a fuel leak. Dude should be getting fitted for a suit or whatever he is going to wear to this thing.
Hope it’s not shop overalls, work boots and a jeep cap.
I thought he was going to wear his $35 tux?
This. I can’t imagine any bride wanting her wedding car to be a clapped-out Jeep – but, maybe she doesn’t care. I have to assume David has asked her..
I mean, if she does, she is probably a good match for DT.
I was thinking the same thing
Oh man, that’s a rough one! I’m sorry. It sucks when you get too excited and forget to inspect things in the way you know better.
Listen, there is no way you’re going to repair the body before your wedding. You’ve pulled off mechanical miracles before, but this is a whole new ballgame. Fixing this in two months ain’t happening. Why? Because you can’t devote 20 hours a day 7-days a week to it.
So, for the wedding, I suggest you turn your attention to figuring out what is causing the gas smell in the YJ, like RIGHT DAMN NOW.
Or, as many others have suggested, borrow something cool and weird from the boss-man.
Still trying to wrap my head around DT not wanting a rusty jeep.
It’s like a shark saying “Ew, that seal tasted like seal”
He prefers his rust honest & out in the open, not concealed by unscrupulous previous owners!
D-Day: Hey, quit your blubberin’. When I get through with this baby you won’t even recognize it.
Otter: Flounder, you can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You fucked up… you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it! Maybe we can help.
Flounder: [crying] That’s easy for you to say! What am I going to tell Fred?
Otter: I’ll tell you what. We’ll tell Fred you were doing a great job taking care of his car, but you parked it out back last night and this morning… it was gone. We report it as stolen to the police. D-Day takes care of the wreck. Your brother’s insurance company buys him a new car.
Flounder: Will that work?
Otter: Hey, it’s gotta work better than the truth.
Bluto: [thrusting six-pack into Flounder’s hands] My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
Otter: Better listen to him, Flounder, he’s in pre-med.
Don’t be Flounder.
Approach this like putting new kitchen cabinets into a 300+ year old house, do not look at or touch anything not directly related to the specific job at hand, if you don’t see it, you don’t have to fix it, the closer you look, the more expensive it gets.
I have a 150 year old house mostly built with salvaged materials from the local British Garrison buildings dating to the 1830’s. I’m in the process of doing my second new kitchen probably the forth for the house. The rule in this house; if there are no surprises you take another look, but I can relate to avoiding the cascade of shit, however after owning this house for 40 years, I have found anything ignored will come back and bite you harder. I vote for biting the bullet and replacing the Jeep’s tub….what could go wrong? (-;
If you don’t test to see if it contains asbestos, it doesn’t contain asbestos.
Same goes for lead paint and cloth wrapped wires. If I don’t need to touch it, I know nothing.
(obviously work safe if you are disturbing those things)
> roll with the trusty YJ as my wedding mobile? It’s maybe not as elegant, per se
The bondomobile wasn’t exactly elegant
There’s a passage in Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide series about a long-haul trucker who believes it rains all the time because wherever he goes, it’s raining. But unbeknownst to him, he’s actually a Rain God, and the rain follows him because it loves him.
I am beginning to believe you are actually a Rust God. Rust follows you, because it loves you.
Just fix the YJ for the wedding.
This makes so much sense.
And I too vote for the YJ.
TheYJ is even the proper color for a wedding vehicle
Maybe him being Rain Man turned him into a Rust God?
Rain=Rust
You like the cj, but having had a super unreliable wedding car and ending up heading to the hotel in a beat up 1st gen Honda odyssey, I say go with the yj. Get the body tub and have your cool old toy after the fact if that’s what you decide to do, but I would minimize the stress and strain on you and your fiance with wedding planning. The yj is awesome!
Lose the rusty Jeep. You don’t need the hassle hanging over your head as you approach your wedding day. Sell it as is & kick yourself for buying it in the first place, We’ve all done dumb car stuff. Getting married doesn’t dovetail well with rebuilding a vehicle.
And it distracts him from the Holy Grail.
YJ looks great. Fix the gas leak and have a great life.
I hate it when a 99¢ magnet is smarter than I am.
David! David! Pay attention!
As an alumni of our shared OEM alma mater, and living a few miles up the road from you when you lived in Troy, I would occasionally stop by when I saw you wrenching in the driveway. Having had the same automotive affliction as you, I always tried to pass on a bit of unsolicited advice to help you try to keep some balance in your life. I’ve been very happily married for 46 years to the same woman who has put up with a whole lot of my crazy automotive activities over the years, so I ask: what does your fiancé want the day of the wedding to be like? You’ve mentioned in other articles regarding the wedding vehicle choice that “she lets me do what I want”. Wrong answer this time, my friend.
As Geoff, Nigel, Anoos and others have mentioned, do your bride-to-be and yourself a big favor and drive a known reliable vehicle.
Plus, he has the rare, envy-able situation of a friend with a literal candy store of options!
Yes!!!
And what options there are! Doesn’t he own the Hirohata Mercury? I know it’s not DT’s thing, but I can’t imagine a more beautiful car for a wedding.
Apparently. Jim McNiel is the hero of that story.
This is the answer. You & Elise (not her real name) pick out something beautiful from Beau, and after the wedding get rid of the bondomobile.
Gonna chime in with another, yes, this! Ask Elise (not her real name ) what she really wants to do and go from there.
You could borrow his Fisker Ocean, unique, possibly reliable, or leaking fuel or bondo.
David, I’ve only been married for 30 years but I can assure you that this is the way. This is her day, find out what she wants then smile, nod and make sure she has it.
Yeah, asking his fiance is the right move. I can’t imagine someone trying to get into a Jeep while wearing a wedding dress, especially if it’s a big poofy dress.
At my wedding I didn’t want a fancy car. It just wasn’t me. I considered tying cans behind my rusty hatchback, writing “Just Married” on the back, and driving around the block, but it didn’t seem right. My wife would have played along, but that wasn’t her.
David, I know that most of your life is built around cars. But your entire life is now built around your lovely bride. The car isn’t the important thing right now. It’s ok if it doesn’t happen.
As for the gas smell, David can replace the entire fuel system in the YJ in not all that much time. That seems pretty solvable.
The YJ is mint, and it’s DONE.
I know Content Is King, but as someone who was just married in the last year, you also need to make sure you’re present for other wedding-related decisions and work (tastings, fittings, colorways, seating charts). And while “Elise” may be possessed of saint-like patience, I guarantee it’ll run out when you’re unable to help make a decision because you’re trapped under a rusty Jeep.
So. Use the YJ in the wedding. Replace the Willys tub after you’re back from the honeymoon, and sell the YJ then.
Also, are you registered at Copart, or … ?
Yeah but remember how it seems to have a fuel leak or something causing it to always smell like gas? I would avoid that as an option without fixing that first. No one wants their wedding dress to smell like gas.
Oh truedge… yes, what Brandon said.
I wouldn’t take that bet when the wedding dress in question is that of David Tracy‘s wife-to-be.
You just reminded me of my wedding day: an hour before I needed to be at the location, I was shimmying under my Westfalia in my tux to bang on the solenoid. Old Rocinante did start and I made it, but it sure upped the anxiety level
Go with the new tub, what was once original, is now just rust. As for the wedding, the YJ is perfect!
The crazing and cracking of the paint are pretty reliable indicators of craptacular surface prep. 🙁
I’ll cast vote (N+1) for replacing the body, though ideally that would be after the wedding. Not only will the end result be a known good quantity, it will be easy to address any frame and/or other issues while you’re in there. It would also make a good article series.
And since you mentioned “First World Problem”, here is the link to Weird Al Yankovic’s song ‘First World Problems’. 🙂 It’s a pastiche, which is an original (i.e. non-parody) song in the style of another artist – in this case, the Pixies. Kim Deal (a member of the Pixies) provided the background vocals for Al, which is nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A
(I’m not sure if the poodle in the video is the one he used on the ‘Poodle Hat’ CD cover.)
Maybe it’s my interest in wood boats where pretty much all old boats are ships of Theseus—it’s just the nature of the environment and material—and that machines are for using, but I was never much one to care about the whole preserving “all original rot” thing that takes place in the old car fandom. Rot isn’t original, once it’s iron oxide, it’s something else and it’s time to be replaced. What’s really the difference between changing some quarter panels out or the tub? Sure, if something was a one-off or super rare car hand-beaten by Scaglietti or whatever, I can understand to some degree (especially where those kinds of cars have kind of transcended being a transportation device to become fine art), but this was something stamped out in massive numbers in a factory by a manufacturer with no concern about their long term survival.
I was hoping someone would mention the Ship of Theseus. Nicely philosophical for a Sunday!
I agree with you, and your final thought is the key I think, I’ll just take it one step further. The very fact that other companies produce these parts demonstrates a connectedness to the original vehicle. And as it is, so many of the parts on our vehicles aren’t made by the OEMs, but rather suppliers who sell the same stuff under their own name.
I suppose the argument here is philosophical. What is the reason for spending (or at least contemplating) so much more time and money that can be spent much better elsewhere on repairing that which is rotted because it is “original”? These Jeeps aren’t that rare nor is it on display in a museum, so it’s not for some historical preservation, as tenuous as that value may be even in those circumstances. What does the “original” steel contain that would be lost by replacement? Is it a soul or other kind of energy that contains information, remnants of the emotions of the lives that took place around it like extinct flies trapped in ancient amber, or some kind of ethereal memory of its entire past as that object (as opposed to the millions of years that elemental iron, carbon, etc. were in the environment) that we think, maybe, can be felt or otherwise tapped into on some level? Of what nature is the perceived value of this original material that will require extensive repair to remain in place?
Pretty sure that’s the plot of the made for TV Love Bug from 1997; they have to use all the original parts or Herbie’s “soul” will be lost or something.
Somehow, I don’t think that’s the case here.
For me, vehicles are the sum of their components – there’s not a specific part (the chassis, the engine, etc.) that “makes” a given vehicle what it is. Rather, it’s the interactions – in a quantum state sort of way I guess – that give it its character.
Your point about the mass-market nature of them really gets to the essence of the question I think. Theseus’ legendary ship was hand-built by likely a very small amount of craftsmen, so perhaps it has some sort of claim to being diminished as its bits are replaced; but replacement is the very nature of modern motorized stuff.
And I’ve always wanted to own a boat, so I’m jealous of your experiences!
My ownership extends only to some wood kayaks. I was a marine mechanic for a short time, but mostly worked on fiberglass boats. I’m just aware of a little bit of the history and what it takes to own and maintain the things today, when they aren’t necessarily considered to be disposable as they once were (but at least they were bio degradable). In warmer oceans, wood boring worms (actually a mollusk) would eat the wood and the boats would have to be fairly regularly careened on shore to have the growth burned off and repairs made. For smaller boats, modern methods of glass and resin over ply (how my kayaks are made) is a lot more forgiving and lower maintenance than planked boats, if not quite as good for the environment with the petroleum based resins. I designed my own boat this way, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get to build it.
Been around boats a bit—even moonlighted at a marina. After that experience, the only ‘boat’ I ever owned was a styrofoam sailboat kit meant to have fiberglass layed over it that I salvaged from a trash pile.
Because of what I had seen at the marina, I steadfastly refused to own a boat I couldn’t absolutely walk away from without feeling hurt.
YMMV—but they are constant work if you want to keep entropy at bay
I love you guys, but I’m going to say something that might get me booted off the website. Maybe don’t pull your love of rescuing barely-viable vehicles into your wedding? What happens if something mechanical goes wrong right when you and your fiance are the center of attention? Maybe everyone would laugh it off, but maybe not. I have a friend who could be your twin, in every possible way, and the 60’s Delta 88 he drove in the funeral of one of the parents of our old “gang” quit halfway through the procession. No one laughed it off. Drive something reliable. Your wedding shouldn’t be a piece for the website.
Your point is good. As much as we want content, we also want DT and Elise(nhn) to be happy. And happy wife = happy life.
You know what they say about birds in the hand and the bush.
I’d stick with the YJ and cut your losses.
I would go with option C. He said the YJ smells like gas whenever it’s driven, and no one wants their wedding dress to smell like that.
You’re right, forgot about that.
Alas, I do not want to be the person to go up to David with a straight face and tell him to give up on Jeeps.
If you’re keeping this, get the full body tub. You may have trouble finding good metal to weld if you got replacement segments.
More importantly, rent or borrow something interesting for your wedding. Hiding in the garage picking at rust bubbles will not count as “helping with the wedding” when your future bride’s head is spinning dealing with everything else.
Me, I most likely go with a new tub. . .best results, less time. And if you are like me, the time is most likely more valuable then the cash.
I might do a bit more “demolition” before I made the final call.
Plus, after you pull the tub, access will be easy to take care of everything underneath.
As far as the wedding. . .yeah YJ is white and shiney and all. . .but there is just something about a classic.
And congratulations.
Add more Bondo and sculpt it into something entirely unique for your wedding.
New body pan. It will cost the most cash, but cost the least time by far. The chassis is still original. You’ll have a near perfect GP that will last forever in SoCal weather.
Oh, David. Michigan followed you to Cali. I say to cut your losses and use the YJ. White up is good for a wedding, anyway.
It just feels too cutsie to my cynical eye.
With this level of bondo sculpting, at least now you own a fine piece of automotive art.