The Project - First Things First

I have had a problem all my life with not letting go of anything. I have learned that my family name actually translates from Belgian to " Incorrigible Pack Rat".  This project is not helping me overcome that. For about 30 years I have held on to tools like timing guns, dwell meters, distributor wrenches, essentially all the tools I have had since my teens. It has reinforced my proclivity to not part with any thing, as you just never know when it will come in handy. That being said, I still should get read of 98% of the junk I have held on to forever. Sentimentality is going to ruin me. But someday all this stuff will make someone a lot of money, when they get paid to haul it to the dump. 

We got Willhemina home, rolled it off the trailer and started to push it up the driveway into the garage. My kids, Dessy, the two friends with the trailer and me. We had it halfway up the drive, and of course my jeans decided to fall to my ankles. So as I pushed the Willys, I sort of cause the neighbors to get the willies. That joke works a lot better in my head than on paper. 

Now that it is home, I have to decide exactly where to start. I have a plan, discussed it with the kids. 

The very first thing to do was load all the spare parts from the donor vehicle into the cargo area of the new  one. We did that. Next was to remove the cup holders that looked like they came from a 1960's boat. John jumped right on that task. 

 Next, we changed the ignition key set and hooked up the wires and battery. Some lights work, horn did not, but to our great surprise, the engine turns over. Great to know it is not seized up, we may get it to run soon. We stopped for the evening, put the hood on and admired the old girl and daydreamed on what she can become. Maybe something like this someday.

Or this:

There is a value in being patient, and doing things methodically and correctly. I explained to the kids 
that first, we needed to empty the old oil, change the filter, add new oil. check the engine compression, replace points, cap rotor, condenser, coil, ignition wires, etc. Then and only then would we attempt to start it. Naturally, I threw caution to the wind, and showed the kids why hurrying is bad. I did not bother to see what the engine numbers were so we could match it to the proper parts. I just guessed and bought filter and plugs for a mid 1970's engine.  Crawled under to see multiple layers of farm dirt, oil and other detritus clinging to the undercarriage. 

Had my son watch as I emptied the oil. Showed him the right way to reinstall an oil filter. Filled up the oil, being careful not to spill or over fill. Things were going great, until I realized the spark plugs were the wrong size.  This should have been my first clue to stop and regroup. 

Nope. 

I just moved on to pouring gas in the carburetor and trying to start it. No go. It would not catch. Josh suddenly yelped that oil was pouring out onto the floor. I checked the oil filter and low and behold, rushing and guessing on the year caused me to install the wrong one. Fortunately I had a big bucket of kitty litter that I saved from about 8 years ago, (despite not owning or ever planning to own a cat.) I had josh spread kitty litter on the spill and said we would move on to checking other things for the time being. I slapped a couple of bucket seats in it, ones I got locally from an old Ford pick up for 10 bucks each. I climbed up in, immediately cracked my skull on the upper door jamb and sat down. Discovered another major problem.

10/13/2020
First time sitting in the Willys 

I knew the original factory steering wheel was large. It needed that because of the lack of power steering. So I am thinking that either the steering wheel or my belly needs to get smaller. The upside is, I can use my gut to drive straight while I do my make up in the rear view mirror. 

I am pretty happy with the progress so far, despite the initial mishaps. Next weekend, The boys and I will put in the right oil filter, squirt some oil in the cylinders and then try to see if we can fire it up. 

We will get pictures and keep you up to date. 

- Mark

The Project

 From an early age, I have enjoyed doing most of the repairs on my own cars. At one time, I was pretty good at it, but with time, and lack of practice, skill sets fade. My skills are about to be put to the test, because I recently came across a barn find of a vehicle I have dreamed of owning since I was 17. 

I have become the proud owner of a 1950's era Willy's Utility Wagon! My children are excited, I am stoked, and we plan to work on it over the next few years to return it to a daily driver that will take us everywhere we want or need to go. 

It all started out about 6 months ago, a dairy farmer friend offered me an old piece of farm equipment to work on with the kids, a Daihatsu Hijet, which is a tiny couched sized 4x4 pickup most often used in Asian countries for delivery. The boys and I went out to look at it in an old turkey barn, out in the middle of a pasture on the dairy. It was there that I saw this, and immediately fell in love. 

I asked the dairy owner when he obtained it, as I had been in that barn before a few years ago, and I would have noticed it sitting there. He replied how he had mistakenly got it for his boys, and they were not interested, but if I was, it was all ours! 

Josh, John and I looked it over, and it immediately felt like gear-head Christmas to me! It needs LOTS of work, but we immediately started making plans. (By "We" I mean, me, and I have not stopped looking at videos, pictures, articles since learning about the find.)

It is not an unlucky number. 

                                                                    

    

I am very excited over the whole idea. The project has lit a flame under me, I feel excited about something  for the first time in many years. 

To start the project, we determined that we were going to need some basic parts, like a hood, door handles, tires, etc. I was researching sources for those parts when a neighbor who loves restoration projects sent me an ad with this beauty, a 1952 wagon, frame and body complete with doors, hood, and many parts I could use, all for $400. 

It was too good to pass up, so soon it was in my garage, begging to be torn apart. Now, to be fair, I put this in the garage where my wife normally parks, so there was a lot of motivation to get it stripped and disposed of. Turning the garage into a chop shop briefly, I got out the WD-40, an angle grinder, and went to work. Got the parts I needed, including a section of firewall, and had it hauled off. 

Two weeks ago, I got some used tires to put on it, so we could roll it up on a trailer to haul it from the barn to the house. once I had the tires on it, I called a friend who came over with a trailer and  helped me get it home. 

I have decided to give it a name. The name of the dairy that I got it from was originally called Willhemina, so in honor of the dairyman, and the fact that it is a Willys, Willhemina it is.

Made it home finally!

This will be my first restoration project, and I am trying to do it as economically as possible. I will be doing a resto-mod, which for the layman translates to keeping a vintage look, but adding some modern parts and technology, so it is safe and as comfortable as cars are today. The plans change as often as I change my clothes it seems. I am going to try and get the existing engine running, put in bucket seats, upgrade brakes to modern standards, everything I can to make it a car the boys will be proud of long after I am gone. 

A friend, and fellow car enthusiast has asked that I blog about the progress, so I will start posting about our adventures in parallel to my stories of raising kids as a middle aged daddy. 

I hope you all will enjoy it. 

Till next time, 

- Mark, The Middle Aged Daddy