Cl find of the day

junkxj said:
Willys M38 Military Jeep

IIRC none of the military jeeps had tailgates?
Still looks like a good start for a build.
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Based on the red and blue I'd guess that it was a navy jeep that had a tub replaced on it.... Of course that is a guess with my limited knowledge of those things.
 
junkxj said:
Willys M38 Military Jeep

IIRC none of the military jeeps had tailgates?
Still looks like a good start for a build.
Click to expand...

It is an M38 (the style from 1950-1951). The dash, cutouts on side of tub, grill that is hinged at bottom and windshield are all correct. They did come with tailgates. The M38A1's did not come with tailgates and they started in 1952.

I have seen it up for sale before on CL.
 
jeepcj3a said:
It is an M38 (the style from 1950-1951). The dash, cutouts on side of tub, grill that is hinged at bottom and windshield are all correct. They did come with tailgates. The M38A1's did not come with tailgates and they started in 1952.

I have seen it up for sale before on CL.
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Learn something new everyday....
 
Got a good chuckle from that

Craigslist said:
Really horrible 1999 Chevy Express, totally runs, not a good idea - $1400
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Craigslist said:

Man. I knew this day would come. This is kind of like shooting Ol' Yeller. Except imagine if you'd really neglected, then messed with Ol' Yeller and make him really ugly and broken his legs.

I'm selling my van, "The Man Van". Let me tell you right now, it's awful. Except everyone loves it. But kind of like you like an ugly dog.

I decided I loved it and that I would drive it into the ground.

This is it.

This is the ground.

It's a 1999. It started life with my parents in California. They gave it to me with 160,000ish miles. For free.

My parents had just heard of this stuff called "synthetic oil" when they got it and they always used it from day one. They lived in Boron, California, which is notable for being 60 miles from just about everything. There was a lot of driving "to town", so the first 160,000 miles really were a lot of highway miles.

Since the van came to me ten years ago, it's been mostly driven to church when we have to pick up people and occasionally to grab a load of mulch or whatever. Mostly in town stuff, running kids around, school runs, crap like that.

I don't think I've ever gone more than three weeks without starting it.

I should say, it's serious fun in the snow. Not like Disneyland fun, but it will definitely get Dukes of Hazzard on you. I taught both my children to hoon in it. See the video from a few years ago.

It has lots of awfulness, though. Lets' start with the arm rests. They're worn on the ends, so you get poked with metal. You can't see it, but it happens.

The air conditioner blows cold. Front and back. But the front doesn't blow terribly hard and the back has a funky switch that you have to kind of hang between high and medium to make work. Oh, switches? Let me tell you about the driver's window. It works mostly. If you don't roll it all the way down, it works mostly mostly. But if you put it all the way down--and you will--you're just dead. It'll roll up when it feels like it and not a moment before. It's always raining when this happens, and it doesn't care.

Rain? Yeah, the seal on the back doors is a little leaky. Not gallons. But there are drops. No mold, no serious smells, but if you're camping in the rain in the back, don't put your head right against the back door.

What else? Oh, the barn doors on the side have really messed up door cards. They hang there, but in a fit one day one of my children no it was me just broke a bunch off a bunch of door card when a child was trapped inside, so it didn't stick the door closed.

Seats are worn, driver's has a small hole. It has a pretty awesome fold down bench in the back that makes a bed, great for the Eden drive-in, if that's your deal.

Carpet inside is pretty nasty. Stains, yes, and I wouldn't eat off it. It isn't at wet-dog level, but it ain't great.

Okay. We have to talk about this, too. The paint. The van, like too many men and other GM products around the turn of the last century, is balding. Giant swaths of the paint have peeled off in the past month or two.

I fooled around with really gunky touch up paint and then primer, just to try it. Well, I tried it. It's awful. It looks stupid. It's unprofessional. It doesn't really seem to keep the paint on or the rust off. The paint is a complete mess. Just the worst. There are blotches of black and white and they're rough and not square...it's a nightmare.

The transmission once had to have fluid added between oil changes, but that seems to have been a one time thing. A local mechanic looked it over for me and said he didn't see a leak. I figure he wanted money to fix it, so he wasn't lying. That's about all I can say about that. *EDIT: I took this out and gave it the beans at a stoplight. From first to second, there was definitely an audible squeak at the shift. From somewhere.

We haven't got to the worst part. The work it really needs, and without which you can't register it at all. What brought me to this lowly state.

1) It needs a new windshield. It's cracked straight across. No pretending it isn't happening. Has to have one.

2) It needs new ball joints. They're really bad. They clunk hard when you stop hard. Seriously dangerous. Just accept that there is no way around this. They're terrifying.

3) The catalytic converted on the right side has been slowly crumbling to bits for a few years and it's fully dead now. Without this, you'll never pass smog, so it's mandatory.

4) Brakes. Needs brakes. The right front pulses under hard braking and I know last time I had the brakes done they ground the crap out of that front rotor. Trust me. Full brakes.

So, the ball joints and catalytic converter will cost just over $1300 at Abondolo Automotive as of yesterday.

The brakes I'd put at about $400 and the windshield at about $250. That's as near as makes no difference to $2000 in fixes, just to get it to "functional".

That really is all I know of that it needs. I've done a new [different] differential and front wheel bearings and a bunch of other minor stuff in the past year, just fixing stuff as it broke. Tires should be good.

You can say it is only worth about a thousand and it needs $2000 of work, and therefore has no value.

I believe in science, so I can't fight you on that.

But I'd rather drive it to the junkyard and scrap it than just literally give it to you, dear reader, for nothing. Because scrap value, as much as it would pain me, is like getting hundreds of free items at the dollar menu. And that's something I can enjoy and use to salve the pain of loss.

If someone were to buy it and have fun with it, or even just chop the top off with a saw and drive it to the beach like a huge convertible van that never goes back together, I'd love that.

I really like this van. And somehow, the engine runs great. It fires up every time, first crank. It never skips or sputters. It has good bones, as they say of houses, and it's just not the worst thing ever. It's great.

*tear forms

But I don't need it. And I haven't got $2000 to sink in a ugly-but-bitchin' white jelly bean that gets 12 mpg, so this is where we are.

Videos:

Running stuff over:


Snow hooning:
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skyhighZJ said:
Weld the dif and bomb out!! Give it till it has no more!!
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RatLabGuy said:
I think the odometer reading is missing a zero
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I was wondering how all of the windows got "busted out"...........wife found his shitmobile @ his pieces house or found her #/texts on his smartphone? .....landowner found it parked on their property after a failed robbery? ......owned someone money? etc.
 
mommucked said:
I was wondering how all of the windows got "busted out"...........wife found his shitmobile @ his pieces house or found her #/texts on his smartphone? .....landowner found it parked on their property after a failed robbery? ......owned someone money? etc.
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Revenge. No other reason. You don't bust the windshield to steal something out of it, or bust more than one window to get a door open.
 
Didn't see the windshield. Wow. That takes some real effort, safety glass and all.
Kudos to her.
 
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