by Bob Wierzbicki

Edited by Rebecca J Decker

What happens when an experienced woodworker gets his hands on a Willys CJ2A? Well, he transforms it into a beautiful head-turning showpiece. With the help of his son, Bob Wierzbicki from Highland Lakes, New Jersey shows us how he transformed this Jeep into a custom Woody.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Jeep was my first experience with a Jeep project. The previous owner did a military version of the CJ2a (first year civilian Jeep), but I wanted something different. With many years of experience as a woodworker, I wanted to try my hand at doing a custom Woody version. I wanted to mix as many types of wood as I had available to give it that look of the woody's past. Many of the woods used are expensive and exotic, such as Purple Heart which comes from South America. When fresh cut, it has a grey tone, but as it's exposed to sunlight, it turns to a beautiful eggplant purple. Oak was used for the majority of the planking, as it's very strong and resistant to weather and wear. Oak also has a very nice grain when it's properly finished, very pronounced and distinctive.

The hood blocks are actually made from pieces of teak decking from a WW2 submarine that served in the Atlantic Ocean. I was a volunteer for the Naval museum and a worker that helped maintain the submarine. We had the decking replaced, as it was getting weathered from tours and being 70+ years old. I was able to get a few pieces of the teak decking and incorporated it into the Jeep to give it that little extra history. It got to the point where my wife and son stopped me from adding wood panels to the exterior saying it would be to much. I still have the urge, though.

 

 

My son was a big help as we honed our welding skills and worked together fabricating and replacing many parts to make this a driver. We both went into this project with no welding experience and ended up being able to do a pretty good job!

 

 

We learned many of the systems on our way, from rebuilding the distributor, to rebuilding the carb. We retuned rewired the entire vehicle, complete brake system (learning to put the fitting on the line BEFORE flaring!), pulling the trans and doing the clutch, etc. We also learned tool-making. Along the way a few custom tools were made.

Overall, it was a very good learning experience. We learned many skills along the way which we use now on every day projects.

I get a lot of attention and many compliments whenever I get the chance to take it out. I always get the old war stories from WW2 veterans, who have very fond memories of the Jeeps which hauled them around. I have taken a few veterans for rides in the Jeep. It sure brings back the memories. Owners of later CJ's tell stories about how they lasted forever, ran into the ground, kept on going, and were unable to kill them. Sometimes the stories sound pretty far fetched, but I still always take them as truth. We have been to a few car shows with the Jeep. It always gets compliments on all the work put in. We've even won a few classes and a trophy from car shows. The only difficult thing is we're limited to local shows as the CJ2a's top speed is only 40mph.

Bob's custom Woody is for sale here at SellAJeep:

http://www.sellajeep.com/mjs/sale/adsm553/adsm553.html

Thank you, Bob, for sharing this unique Jeep with our readers!    

Editor: Rebecca J. Decker, writer and web developer for SellAJeep.com and JeepTruck.com