Due to popular demand..
Here is a little history of our father/son project.
We originally had a 1988 Jeep YJ with a number of problems. It served its purpose and was a lot of fun as it was my first vehicle but as time went on the Jeep started developing more and more issues. Taking a quart of oil every time you filled up the gas tank kind of issues. We decided to sell it in 2010 instead of rebuilding it. We wanted something different and unique. I love the old YJ’s but got tired of everyone comments about the square headlights and other stereotypical things about them. We bought a 1978 CJ7 but as we started digging into it we found that it had more bondo than sheet metal so we sold it. We then picked up a 1977 Cherokee SJ narrow track with a 401 in it. It was really cool and unique like we were looking for but the rust and work it needed was bigger project than we wanted to get into (or so we thought at the time) so we ended up selling this one too.
In the summer of 2012 we finally found the unicorn Jeep we were looking for. A 1971 Jeepster Commando. I personally had never seen or heard of one but my dad knew exactly what it was because he had one back in high school. We both agreed that we had to have it. We bought it from a guy in Dallas, TX who had already started working on it. He was trying to restore it for his daughter for her 16th birthday. He was selling it because she was turning 18 and told him that she had given up on the dream of driving the Jeepster and just needed a car to go to college in. So he bought her a newer Jeep and put the unfinished Jeepster Commando up for sale as a “1 day only sale”.
The purchase price was $1,500 firm! He said if he couldn’t get that for it he would put it in storage and bring it back out another day.he wanted it gone as it was now just an eye sore for him that was taking up space. He had gone through the axles, engine, transmission, and repainted the frame. He had got it running and was in the process of working on the body of the Jeep. He welded in the floor pans and stopped there. Stated the only thing the Jeepster needed is paint/body work, an interior, and a wiring harness and we would be good to go! $1,500 sounded like a steal to us and it was difficult to keep our poker face. We loaded the Jeep up on the trailer and drove off. The Jeep wasn’t even bolted to the frame! The only thing holding it down were the straps you see in the photo below. We double checked to make sure everything was tight at our first gas station stop on the way home. We looked at each other and said “didn’t we have a tailgate when we left??” We were so excited about the Jeep we had assumed the tailgate was bolted in and lost it along the way. We still feel really bad for the persons day we probably ruined if they ran over it!
Little did we know the “short list” of things the Jeep needed started turning into a long list really quick and we were clearly in over our heads! We ended up finding a 72 model tailgate in Montana which was equally rusted out if not in worse shape than the one we lost. We learned quickly that parts are not as widely available for these Jeepster’s like the CJ7’s, YJ’s, and TJ’s. We ended up having to use a wiring harness for a CJ8 Scrambler, a CJ7 steering wheel, FSJ seat brackets, CJ-TJ bumpers, and etc. Not to mention that all of the parts we ordered had to be modified to work with our application.
After what felt like months of body work and rust repair we finally decided on a color. We have always been a fan of red but wanted to branch out and try something different. We ended up choosing a dark charcoal/silver color. It was ok and we were going to be happy with it because there was no turning back. We weren’t as excited about it when it was finished but that wasn’t going to stop us from enjoying this Jeep!
We made the mistake of starting with the paint and body work since we assumed it was 100% mechanically sound when we first purchased it. I’ll never forget the first time driving the Jeep when we picked it up from the guy that painted it and installed the wiring harness. The transmission would grind in every gear, we were trying to figure out what gages worked and which ones didn’t, and every time you hit the brakes we changed lanes at the same time! We had enough for a while and had to stop the bleeding as it just felt like we were throwing money at the Jeep and weren’t being rewarded at the end of the day for it. We decided it was time to take a break and to not speak about the Jeep for a while. We put it in storage for a while until we decided what to do with it. After all, this was coming out of our own pocket. This isn’t a business write off or an $80,000 dollar build we were planning/saved for. We were hoping to be all in at $10,000 and with no end in sight we had to take a break for a while. So it sat from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2014.
I had proposed to my now wife in the fall of 2013. I mentioned to my dad the summer of 2014 that I really wanted to be able to drive it away at my wedding (March 2015) and if we could just get it to look good for photos and be able to drive it away we could throw it back in storage until we had the funds to really make it right. I hadn’t given up on the old Jeep yet!
We now had a deadline and for the next couple of months we had the Jeep in and out of shops helping us get the transmission synchronized, the engine tuned up, new brake cylinders, brake shoes, new steering box, ball joints, tie rod ends, and etc. We had a buddy of ours working on the transmission and one of his employees accidentally scratched the Jeep on the driver door all the way back to the rear fender. We thought all was lost and there would be no way to blend the paint back to the right shade and make this thing look right again. Luckily the scratch only took off the paint and wasn’t deep into the body. We received a nice discount on the transmission work due to the incident and my dad had a grin on his face. He looked at me and said “I guess now is the time to go ahead and paint it red”. I thought he couldn’t be serious but he had a plan. He called another friend and talked him into taking the job since the body work was practically already done. We decided on the color Ford Race Red. The best part was that he painted an old Tonka toy we found the same color at the same time he painted the Jeepster. We were able to incorporate the tonka toy in our wedding by using it for my grooms cake. Getting this thing painted red was the best decision we ever made!
I found a guy in Colorado that sells seat covers for the original seats, recovered original dash pads, and the SC1 stripe kit. We had him ship it all down to us. We had new foam added to the seats and the seat covers installed. We had hit the 2 week mark before my wedding. My dad, uncle, and I stayed out in the garage until 2:00AM a few different nights working with another vehicles headlights as our only light source as the shop we were in didn’t have lights inside. Though we worked on it late most night up until the wedding, we were sore, and all very tired, we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
The day had come. The Jeep was shined up and was ready for my wedding day. Our 6-8 month goal had been met. The only thing that looked better than the Jeep that day was my bride! Everything else was second to none! My now wife knew how much this Jeep meant to my dad and I and told me the day of the wedding she wanted to have our first look photos in front of it. Not only that but she wanted all the photos of the wedding party with it. I told her we didn’t have to do that and this was her day. We could do whatever else she wanted. I didn’t care about the Jeep and I only cared about her and what she wanted. She refused and said that is exactly what she wants. We now have an awesome Jeep that will be in our family for a lifetime and will live on through our wedding photos. It was truly a special day and one I will never forget.
Shortly after our wedding my parents moved to North Padre Island, TX and off the Jeep went with them. My dad drove it nearly everyday on 60 miles of beaches that are legal to drive on. We were finally to a point that we didn’t have to worry about all the mechanical issues and we could finally start enjoying the Jeep for what it is. We added two 10 inch subs, a new head deck in the console, and two marine grade Bose speakers in the back. The Jeep now sounds as good as it looks. My parents have since moved back up to Dallas and we enjoy taking the Jeep to local Jeep events and car shows in the DFW area. Though it was a long, expensive, and tough project it has been well worth it in the end. This is something my father and I are able to bond over and something my wife/family and I can cherish for many years to come. Still looking to do more in the future but nothing to change the look of the Jeep as it sits. Only future modifications we are looking into are ones that will make it easier and more fun to drive. Overall goal is to keep it on the road and enjoy it.
Thanks for reading our story. I know it was lengthy but I didn’t want to miss anything!
Jeep specs:
225 Odd-fire Dauntless V6
3 speed transmission
T-18 Twin stick transfer case
Original lockout hubs
Straight Dana 44 rear
Dana 27 up front
Painless CJ8 wiring harness
Universal Electric fan
30x9.50x15 BFG KO tires
CJ7 chrome Laredo rims
Lots of metal work, rust prevention, and body work to make it as straight as it is today.
Ford race red paint
SC1 stripe kit
Recovered original seats
Bedlined underneath tub
Bedlined tub
Bedlined inside engine bay
Upgraded speakers
Smittybilt bumpers
KC lights
Here is a little history of our father/son project.
We originally had a 1988 Jeep YJ with a number of problems. It served its purpose and was a lot of fun as it was my first vehicle but as time went on the Jeep started developing more and more issues. Taking a quart of oil every time you filled up the gas tank kind of issues. We decided to sell it in 2010 instead of rebuilding it. We wanted something different and unique. I love the old YJ’s but got tired of everyone comments about the square headlights and other stereotypical things about them. We bought a 1978 CJ7 but as we started digging into it we found that it had more bondo than sheet metal so we sold it. We then picked up a 1977 Cherokee SJ narrow track with a 401 in it. It was really cool and unique like we were looking for but the rust and work it needed was bigger project than we wanted to get into (or so we thought at the time) so we ended up selling this one too.
In the summer of 2012 we finally found the unicorn Jeep we were looking for. A 1971 Jeepster Commando. I personally had never seen or heard of one but my dad knew exactly what it was because he had one back in high school. We both agreed that we had to have it. We bought it from a guy in Dallas, TX who had already started working on it. He was trying to restore it for his daughter for her 16th birthday. He was selling it because she was turning 18 and told him that she had given up on the dream of driving the Jeepster and just needed a car to go to college in. So he bought her a newer Jeep and put the unfinished Jeepster Commando up for sale as a “1 day only sale”.
The purchase price was $1,500 firm! He said if he couldn’t get that for it he would put it in storage and bring it back out another day.he wanted it gone as it was now just an eye sore for him that was taking up space. He had gone through the axles, engine, transmission, and repainted the frame. He had got it running and was in the process of working on the body of the Jeep. He welded in the floor pans and stopped there. Stated the only thing the Jeepster needed is paint/body work, an interior, and a wiring harness and we would be good to go! $1,500 sounded like a steal to us and it was difficult to keep our poker face. We loaded the Jeep up on the trailer and drove off. The Jeep wasn’t even bolted to the frame! The only thing holding it down were the straps you see in the photo below. We double checked to make sure everything was tight at our first gas station stop on the way home. We looked at each other and said “didn’t we have a tailgate when we left??” We were so excited about the Jeep we had assumed the tailgate was bolted in and lost it along the way. We still feel really bad for the persons day we probably ruined if they ran over it!
Little did we know the “short list” of things the Jeep needed started turning into a long list really quick and we were clearly in over our heads! We ended up finding a 72 model tailgate in Montana which was equally rusted out if not in worse shape than the one we lost. We learned quickly that parts are not as widely available for these Jeepster’s like the CJ7’s, YJ’s, and TJ’s. We ended up having to use a wiring harness for a CJ8 Scrambler, a CJ7 steering wheel, FSJ seat brackets, CJ-TJ bumpers, and etc. Not to mention that all of the parts we ordered had to be modified to work with our application.
After what felt like months of body work and rust repair we finally decided on a color. We have always been a fan of red but wanted to branch out and try something different. We ended up choosing a dark charcoal/silver color. It was ok and we were going to be happy with it because there was no turning back. We weren’t as excited about it when it was finished but that wasn’t going to stop us from enjoying this Jeep!
We made the mistake of starting with the paint and body work since we assumed it was 100% mechanically sound when we first purchased it. I’ll never forget the first time driving the Jeep when we picked it up from the guy that painted it and installed the wiring harness. The transmission would grind in every gear, we were trying to figure out what gages worked and which ones didn’t, and every time you hit the brakes we changed lanes at the same time! We had enough for a while and had to stop the bleeding as it just felt like we were throwing money at the Jeep and weren’t being rewarded at the end of the day for it. We decided it was time to take a break and to not speak about the Jeep for a while. We put it in storage for a while until we decided what to do with it. After all, this was coming out of our own pocket. This isn’t a business write off or an $80,000 dollar build we were planning/saved for. We were hoping to be all in at $10,000 and with no end in sight we had to take a break for a while. So it sat from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2014.
I had proposed to my now wife in the fall of 2013. I mentioned to my dad the summer of 2014 that I really wanted to be able to drive it away at my wedding (March 2015) and if we could just get it to look good for photos and be able to drive it away we could throw it back in storage until we had the funds to really make it right. I hadn’t given up on the old Jeep yet!
We now had a deadline and for the next couple of months we had the Jeep in and out of shops helping us get the transmission synchronized, the engine tuned up, new brake cylinders, brake shoes, new steering box, ball joints, tie rod ends, and etc. We had a buddy of ours working on the transmission and one of his employees accidentally scratched the Jeep on the driver door all the way back to the rear fender. We thought all was lost and there would be no way to blend the paint back to the right shade and make this thing look right again. Luckily the scratch only took off the paint and wasn’t deep into the body. We received a nice discount on the transmission work due to the incident and my dad had a grin on his face. He looked at me and said “I guess now is the time to go ahead and paint it red”. I thought he couldn’t be serious but he had a plan. He called another friend and talked him into taking the job since the body work was practically already done. We decided on the color Ford Race Red. The best part was that he painted an old Tonka toy we found the same color at the same time he painted the Jeepster. We were able to incorporate the tonka toy in our wedding by using it for my grooms cake. Getting this thing painted red was the best decision we ever made!
I found a guy in Colorado that sells seat covers for the original seats, recovered original dash pads, and the SC1 stripe kit. We had him ship it all down to us. We had new foam added to the seats and the seat covers installed. We had hit the 2 week mark before my wedding. My dad, uncle, and I stayed out in the garage until 2:00AM a few different nights working with another vehicles headlights as our only light source as the shop we were in didn’t have lights inside. Though we worked on it late most night up until the wedding, we were sore, and all very tired, we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
The day had come. The Jeep was shined up and was ready for my wedding day. Our 6-8 month goal had been met. The only thing that looked better than the Jeep that day was my bride! Everything else was second to none! My now wife knew how much this Jeep meant to my dad and I and told me the day of the wedding she wanted to have our first look photos in front of it. Not only that but she wanted all the photos of the wedding party with it. I told her we didn’t have to do that and this was her day. We could do whatever else she wanted. I didn’t care about the Jeep and I only cared about her and what she wanted. She refused and said that is exactly what she wants. We now have an awesome Jeep that will be in our family for a lifetime and will live on through our wedding photos. It was truly a special day and one I will never forget.
Shortly after our wedding my parents moved to North Padre Island, TX and off the Jeep went with them. My dad drove it nearly everyday on 60 miles of beaches that are legal to drive on. We were finally to a point that we didn’t have to worry about all the mechanical issues and we could finally start enjoying the Jeep for what it is. We added two 10 inch subs, a new head deck in the console, and two marine grade Bose speakers in the back. The Jeep now sounds as good as it looks. My parents have since moved back up to Dallas and we enjoy taking the Jeep to local Jeep events and car shows in the DFW area. Though it was a long, expensive, and tough project it has been well worth it in the end. This is something my father and I are able to bond over and something my wife/family and I can cherish for many years to come. Still looking to do more in the future but nothing to change the look of the Jeep as it sits. Only future modifications we are looking into are ones that will make it easier and more fun to drive. Overall goal is to keep it on the road and enjoy it.
Thanks for reading our story. I know it was lengthy but I didn’t want to miss anything!
Jeep specs:
225 Odd-fire Dauntless V6
3 speed transmission
T-18 Twin stick transfer case
Original lockout hubs
Straight Dana 44 rear
Dana 27 up front
Painless CJ8 wiring harness
Universal Electric fan
30x9.50x15 BFG KO tires
CJ7 chrome Laredo rims
Lots of metal work, rust prevention, and body work to make it as straight as it is today.
Ford race red paint
SC1 stripe kit
Recovered original seats
Bedlined underneath tub
Bedlined tub
Bedlined inside engine bay
Upgraded speakers
Smittybilt bumpers
KC lights
