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
You scraped the bondo off because it just looked too good for a Jeep for you LOL
I mean I live in the rust belt so my vote would be for a fiberglass tub if your not gonna beat on it or wheel too aggressively.
You could reasonably argue that most of the body is already gone, and thus wasn’t ‘original’ in the first place. It’s starting to look like the YJ may be the wedding vehicle though (assuming that little fuel-related issue gets fixed). Again, whatever vehicle you select, make sure to store it somewhere secure unless you’re fine with people ‘decorating’ it! 😀
(The ZJ is still in the works too, right?)
Personally, I think your YJ would look great with the top off and some streamers tied to the roll bar. The shiny white paint is appropriate for a wedding and you have plenty of time to find streamers in the color scheme. You do know the color scheme for your wedding, right? If not you need to find a way to get that information from your fiancée without making it obvious you didn’t already know.
Oh crap, there’s a color scheme?!
Yes, and it’s probably not Iron Oxide Orange and Coolant in the Oil Grey. You gotta pay attention to stuff like this man! I still remember the color scheme from my wedding 14 years later because I had to make sure the groomsmen’s tuxes would match. The consequences of screwing that up would have been dire.
I’m guessing your mother never told you to “not pick at that”. Now you’ve got an even uglier vehicle that is even less suitable for use as a wedding vehicle and probably still isn’t roadworthy.
Back to the Mustang for the Wedding!
YJ is clean, keep that one.
OTOH, if you want to actually bash this thing a lot offroad, who cares about bondo. Just slather some more on, spray paint it, send it, and keep it going.
If it were a classic car, or something nice, I’d feel differently, but for an offroad toy or drift missile, bondo is fine.
Rust tried to hide below layers of bondo in California, but David is still able to find it. He can smell rust even where he believes that is none.
If it doesn’t put your or others life in risk, and you care enough about it, just get it fixed to look good enough for the wedding.
Take care of the bondo later.
If only the previous owner had known about the wonders of PPF!
I jest, but I feel like too many people get hung up on PuRiTy when it comes to rust repair.
No need to throw the baby out with the bath water. Fix the rust via a complete body tub (let’s be honest about the amount of time you have to dedicate. You could have the tub sprayed and spend a weekend swapping it on)
Then be joyous as you drive around in a steel Jeep instead of a Bondo Buggy!
Hey, body filler makes the world go ’round. I sold someone 300 gallons this morning.
I also hate bondo.
After the wedding, I recommend removing the bondo, stabilizing the surface, and repainting, rust holes, dents, etc. included. This is a piece of rolling history. Unless there is a structural issue, what’s the issue?
Hot Take: Sell it. You don’t need these headaches. Why not focus on the Grand Cherokee project?
I’ve been laboring under the impression that the Grand Cherokee has moved to Texas under the care of someone w/ more money, patience and desire.
Or just stop dealing with Mopar heaps?
@David, what’s the going rate for psychological counseling? I think you must owe some of the responders a f*cking fortune.
The solution is to re-apply bondo to the affected areas immediately, hit it with some paint, and go have your wedding. Then do the real body work afterward when you can take your time and do it right.
He just shouldn’t have picked at the scab in the first place.
“If you keep picking at that, it will never heal!” – Mom
Or never do the bodywork, as it’s an offroad vehicle and will inevitably get bashed/dented/scraped etc.
Agreed, but with that much body filler, it will probably fall apart if stressed even the slightest amount on a trail.
He is wanting to use it as his wedding vehicle. Which means pictures and the like. Really that’s the whole reason he is actually working on it from the sounds of previous articles. If this was staying as strictly off road use, I would totally agree with you
This is kind of like that recent article where someone’s Kia (Kia?) let him down in the worst way.
The magic on this one is gone.
Let it go.
OR.
There is no guarantee that this 80 year old Jeep is still on its first body, either, is there?
You may already own a Jeep of Theseus here…
I was sincerely wondering how you could let that YJ go in favor of the older Jeeps. That YJ is gorgeous!
Thought the same. The YJ is a great candidate for a wedding car
All these fools telling you to sell, to not worry about it, etc etc forgot the one key question…
What does the bride to be want for her wedding ride?
That truly is the only opinion that matters.
As to the Jeep, it’s a huge bummer to find bondo on anything and when it’s one of a reduced few you were planning to keep it’s even more so. Were it me I would sell it and focus on something else. Replacing the tub means it’s just a replica Jeep (to me) and it’s not worth the extra coin to make it happen. Move on and find something else to obsess over.
To me, it’d still feel like a real Jeep with a new tub.
But the bride to-be is totally happy with the YJ! Long as I fix the gas smell!
Fixing the gas smell seems legitimately doable, even from the perspective of a mere wrenching-mortal like myself. Get it detailed and Ozoned and you’re riding in style.
Yeah but that gas smell has existed for several months now and I don’t see that changing in time for a wedding that is less than 2 months away.
I think it’s doable, but the car needs to go to a professional. Just pay the $250 to have someone deep clean all the carpet and upholstery, do an ozone treatment, maybe an activated carbon cartridge? Surely some top-down time in the California sun couldn’t hurt.
Ozone worked wonders on my mom’s car after it survived a fire. Some lawnmowers combusted in a shed at her apartment complex, and melted all the plastic off the passenger side of her car. Tires, trim, door seals, lights, bumpers, everything. The interior stank like plastic VOC death to the point the body shop thought the car was going to be a write-off for the smell alone.
Same for the horrible mildew after my uncle battled a leaking sunroof in his Lexus for about a year.
Getting rid of the smell after the fact is not the problem, it is fixing the source of the smell first, which so far hasn’t happened after several months.
Yeah that’s a fair point, though I suspect the CJ has been serving as a distraction. Maybe this is the kick in the pants DT needs to cut his losses, and double down on the Jeep that actually functions.
This is also the sort of annoying but straight-forward issue that a person could [swallowing their pride] just hire a semi-competent mechanic with a hoist and some UV dye to take care of.
Yes hiring an actual professional is probably the best path to ensuring that it is fixed in time. However I’m not going to hold my breath for that to happen.
How much fabric can be in a Jeep. Replace the fuel system components, replace the carpet (or rubber floor mat), have a good detailing outfit fight the seats and top and it should be odor free.
The key is first fixing the source of the smell, something that has been present for some time and which David has failed at fixing once already, then seemed to abandon for other less important things.
In the above scenario, I was assuming that David actually fixed the source of the smell. If the source is still emitting odor, then others have offered the evaporative emissions canister and associated plumbing.
Yeah if his attempt to fix it 5 months ago was successful then the smell wouldn’t still be an issue. https://www.theautopian.com/my-jeep-smells-like-gas-when-i-let-off-the-throttle-and-i-cant-figure-out-why/
There’s that. One would think an automotive engineer could follow a decision tree to solve the problem. I realize he is reluctant to spend money, but even a junkyard ought to provide low budget replacements for suspected defective equipment.
He seems very reluctant to spend money, a common trait of many engineers, but he while he is reclutant to spend money on something he already owns, and even Elise’s car, but seems rather quick to spend money on something shiny that catches his eye, see recent bidding on a Jeep in even worse shape than most of the others.
The main issue seems to be Squirrel………
… see this article, where he is supposed to be getting the vehicle road worthy and then ends up picking at the rust, making it less presentable, and thus less suitable for a wedding vehicle and not making progress on getting it on the road.
I’d probably focus on that fix for the wedding so you have more time to “fix” all the other things that come up before a big day like that. 😉
And if the new tub is OK for you, do that as it’s the best long-term fix. After the wedding of course.
Everybody who is older and/or more married than you is smarter than you in this case. Use the YJ (or something else) and deal with the CJ later.
This Jeep doesn’t run. It might be worth it to you to fix it, but not before the wedding.
Take the Berkeley to the wedding
The YJ is already white. The perfect colour for a wedding car.
Sorted.
Seriously, that would look adorable with the classic white ribbons running from the middle of the bonnet up to the corners of the windscreen.
i will echo the ‘put it on hold and rent a car’ sentiment.
your wedding is a special day, you have to know somebody that can lend you something nice for the day
i was in a similar (albeit not nearly as serious) predicament with my car (e30 convertibe) the week of my wedding. it was slammed and the week before my wedding, the car developed a knock that did not fill me with hope. the dry dipstick and new oil leak (courtesy of the oil pan being 3 inches away from milwaukee roads meant that i hadn’t paid enough attention and lost a lot of oil)
I loved that car and very much wanted it to be a centerpiece in the wedding day photos, but i did not have the time to fix it
i borrowed a friend’s BMW i8 for the wedding weekend and now i have fond memories of driving an i8 with my new wife to the wedding venue and leaving the wedding after all was said and done and seeing it parked in the driveway the next morning
David Tracy….the only man in the world whose wedding prep includes decisions like “should I buy another Jeep?”
Don’t feel too bad…Harry Metcalf has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on what turned out to be Bondo buggies. It happens.
This is a metaphor for marriage, and provides a lesson for staying married:
The key to a successful marriage is the ability to make and accept a “little white lie,” and the ability to discern when it’s appropriate.
Get rid of it. You have other, higher, priorities now. This article indicates you have just fallen out of love. That is step 0 of selling a vehicle.
As an addendum, failing to make it to MOAB because you didn’t finish your project has MUCH different consequences then failing to make it to your wedding for the same reason.