1966 Kaiser Willys Jeep, cont.

from David Branch, re. his jeep which Autoliterate first featured in a post a couple days back:
"I bought the jeep three years after first spotting it lying dormant on a ranch in the Davis Mts. (in West Texas). It had some pretty cool associates, a 1964 Power Wagon in particular. I thought the jeep would be a good candidate for some light bodywork and a driveline I had rebuilt years ago (another story). After knocking on many nearby doors and following a number of stale leads, I found a relative of its owner who told me the guy lived in Antarctica and was "never home.".

I pretty much gave up on it, picking up parts here and there for my project but one day sitting in front of the grocery in Fort Davis a fellow in a Dodge flatbed pulled up. He was sporting an Antarctica T-shirt. Took me a moment while he was inside shopping to compute it, but indeed he was the jeep's owner. A few days later it was in my driveway, along with a sister jeep for parts.

Within a day, though she sat for almost fifteen years unused, she was motoring around the neighborhood. I've done a few things here and there, mostly fuel delivery related, swapped a ruined radiator and a seized front axle but otherwise she purrs. I intend to keep her as-is. Just to good to go and clean up.

I am in the middle of building up a second jeep from the parts jeep off the ranch along with the pile of parts I have collected over the years."--DB