YELLAHEEP
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Littleton, Colorado
So I get a reply from a guy selling a very low mile BA10 on Craigs for $50..... had to scoop that up....... but he's way the fawk out east of Parker. I decide to haul out there before dinner so I don't lose the deal. The guy sounds a little "off" and super talkative...... was kinda dreading the meeting.....
Turns out he's one super knowledgeable guy with his hands in all kinds of unusual and very cool vehicle builds.....
In his modest 2 car detached shop, he has all kinds of fab tools, hi-tech stuff like lathes, mills, automated drill press, benders, brakes, band saws.... was just drooling on the possibilities in his tool shop....... all next to a homemade wood burning heater made out of a pair of 55 gal. drums and a shop fan over it to distribute the heat....... worked awesome I must say.......
In one bay he had a 50's chevy pickup cab all stripped down doing body work and a custom fire wall.
In the other bay he had a super cool barn find - a 1920's era Model T long bed "C" style cab all original truck that looked like it litterally hadn't been touched in 40 years. Nothing modified, totally complete. He had removed the wood-cased coil packs to clean 'em up and get it running.... 3 of the 4 coil packs still had the Ford script on them dated all the same, the 4th was an aftermarket with a 50's date on it. Totally cool find. His dad bought a "Model T roadster pickup" from the same guy ........ somewhere out in Sterling....
He was building a D60 front axle, narrowing the tubes and setting the inner C's for a buddy and had quite a few early Bronco D44's and other D44HP axles......
He had mentioned he had a shit-ton of CJ's and "flat fenders" on his property and made sure to tell me to pass on to my friends that he had lots of parts for sale....... It was pretty dark out when I got there, but there must have been 15+ jeeps around his shop and in the field behind.
He'd mentioned he had an MJ he was particularly proud of and after buying the transmission, he took me out beside the house and introduced me to one very unique MJ. D44 front, sitting on leaf packs and a D44 rear, all sitting on a mild lift and 33x 9.50's. I'm thinking "Yeah, cool, but not that unique". It was kinda beat up, the door catches on the fender when he opens it up and he says "But have you seen one with a Mercedes diesel in it?" He then turns the key to the run position, presses on a button on the dash, says he's "warming the glow plugs" and then he fires it right off....... Just incredible. Ran like a swiss watch just a clattering away.... It was a 5 cyl Mercedes turbo..... mated to a T5 transmission "using an adaptor plate I made" he says...... Too cool!
Then I spy the unmistakeable front end of an old M715 peeking around from behind an old box van. I ask to go check it out and he says "Yeah, you'll probably like that too."
Holy crap. One very cool, M715 modified on the exterior for some fairly serious off roading/hunting. Still sporting the drum-brake D60/D70 combo, but running 2-piece military wheels (the kind that use run-flats). He'd removed the military cab and put a civilian J20 cab on it which I found to be much better looking - he said he did it to keep from freezing when driving in the winter. But, the real sweet feature about this M715 was the mid '90's Cummins 6bt and manual transmission he'd swapped in! I was loving that M715........
I just wish I'd had some daylight and a camera......
Turns out he's one super knowledgeable guy with his hands in all kinds of unusual and very cool vehicle builds.....
In his modest 2 car detached shop, he has all kinds of fab tools, hi-tech stuff like lathes, mills, automated drill press, benders, brakes, band saws.... was just drooling on the possibilities in his tool shop....... all next to a homemade wood burning heater made out of a pair of 55 gal. drums and a shop fan over it to distribute the heat....... worked awesome I must say.......
In one bay he had a 50's chevy pickup cab all stripped down doing body work and a custom fire wall.
In the other bay he had a super cool barn find - a 1920's era Model T long bed "C" style cab all original truck that looked like it litterally hadn't been touched in 40 years. Nothing modified, totally complete. He had removed the wood-cased coil packs to clean 'em up and get it running.... 3 of the 4 coil packs still had the Ford script on them dated all the same, the 4th was an aftermarket with a 50's date on it. Totally cool find. His dad bought a "Model T roadster pickup" from the same guy ........ somewhere out in Sterling....
He was building a D60 front axle, narrowing the tubes and setting the inner C's for a buddy and had quite a few early Bronco D44's and other D44HP axles......
He had mentioned he had a shit-ton of CJ's and "flat fenders" on his property and made sure to tell me to pass on to my friends that he had lots of parts for sale....... It was pretty dark out when I got there, but there must have been 15+ jeeps around his shop and in the field behind.
He'd mentioned he had an MJ he was particularly proud of and after buying the transmission, he took me out beside the house and introduced me to one very unique MJ. D44 front, sitting on leaf packs and a D44 rear, all sitting on a mild lift and 33x 9.50's. I'm thinking "Yeah, cool, but not that unique". It was kinda beat up, the door catches on the fender when he opens it up and he says "But have you seen one with a Mercedes diesel in it?" He then turns the key to the run position, presses on a button on the dash, says he's "warming the glow plugs" and then he fires it right off....... Just incredible. Ran like a swiss watch just a clattering away.... It was a 5 cyl Mercedes turbo..... mated to a T5 transmission "using an adaptor plate I made" he says...... Too cool!
Then I spy the unmistakeable front end of an old M715 peeking around from behind an old box van. I ask to go check it out and he says "Yeah, you'll probably like that too."
Holy crap. One very cool, M715 modified on the exterior for some fairly serious off roading/hunting. Still sporting the drum-brake D60/D70 combo, but running 2-piece military wheels (the kind that use run-flats). He'd removed the military cab and put a civilian J20 cab on it which I found to be much better looking - he said he did it to keep from freezing when driving in the winter. But, the real sweet feature about this M715 was the mid '90's Cummins 6bt and manual transmission he'd swapped in! I was loving that M715........
I just wish I'd had some daylight and a camera......
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