The Jeep parts and accessories manufacturer doesn’t just work with Jeeps. It collects them, too.
For most people, there’s a line between work and pleasure. In some cases, it’s wide and well defined. In others, it’s blurred, the way it seems to be at Omix-ADA.
The company produces a wide variety of parts and accessories for Jeep vehicles. It makes its money off of the 7-slot vehicles. It’s not all business with Omix-ADA, though. It also happens to enjoy collecting Jeeps in a facility in Suwanee, Georgia. Gear Patrol showed a sample of it in a recent article.
Omix-ADA founder and president Al Azadi said, “There were many reasons to start the Jeep collection. Two were very important to me personally, one preserving the Jeep heritage, and second to have access to vehicles for continued product development.”
Over the years his company has gathered more than two dozen Jeep and Willys vehicles from the 1940s through the 1990s, from the MA to the XJ. Omix-ADA’s 1946 Willys CJ-2A can be considered a rolling Swiss Army knife. It has a winch, air compressor, welding unit, mower bar, rear towing boom, and buzz saw. Oh…did we mention it also has 8 freakin’ wheels, too?
That shares space with a 1941 Willys MA. According to Omix-ADA, it’s one of only eight restored 1941 MAs thought to be in the U.S., making it the “the rarest of the [company’s] Jeep Collection.”
Omix-ADA’s assortment of Jeeps also includes some fire-fighting vehicles, such as its 1957 Willys fire truck with an original interior and original equipment. There’s also a handsome blaze-battling CJ with a front winch, flashing lights, and soft doors.
No collection would be complete without a Grand Wagoneer. As you can imagine, Omix-ADA has one. There’s also a line between collecting and dabbling. Guess which side of that line Omix-ADA is on.
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.
