Red Oak and Thousands of Hours of Restoration Went Into This Unique Jeep
While we’ve been waiting for a Wrangler with more aluminum and a Wrangler pickup, someone created this 1982 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler “Woody Wagon.”
According to the listing for it on the Mecum Auctions website, the creators of this oddity didn’t just take a CJ-8 and slap on some cheesy, fake wood panels. They spent 2,000 hours restoring the pickup-when-you-need-it. It shows. The paint seems fresh and the body looks straight – straight as a board. That’s because the person(s) that crafted this unique Jeep hand selected the red oak for much of its exterior. The two-tone wood contrasts handsomely with the smooth white paint on the front fenders and hood, which covers a 4.2-liter engine.
That’s connected to a five-speed manual gearbox which sits in the middle of a tan interior with low-back front seats, what appears to be fresh carpet, and even more red oak. It covers the door panels, wheel arch humps, the cargo floor, and the side walls. The craftspeople behind this custom even made the headliner out of slats of wood. It’s an unusual look, but not an unattractive one…even if it does suggest you should never cross a stream in this CJ.
If you want to make this wood-covered one-off all yours, you can bid on it at the Mecum Auctions event in Kissimmee, Florida. It takes place Jan. 6-15, but this woody will cross the block on Wednesday, January 11. Other Jeeps up for auction that day include a 2007 Wrangler, a 1955 Willys, a 1980 CJ-7, and a couple of other Scramblers.
No word on how much Mecum expects this custom Jeep to go for. However, we can guess the winning bidder will have to budget a little extra for some water sealing…
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
