Throwback Thursday: Flat Fender Willys CJ-2A Cheap Jeep Built For Less Than $1K
Got an extra $950 bucks laying around? You can build yourself a Willys CJ-2A cheap Jeep and have a lot of fun for few dollars.
Taking an old worn-out flat fender Willys CJ-2A and spending tens of thousands of dollars on it to make it better than new is certainly a worthwhile pursuit for some. But what if you don’t have that kind of money or time? Or what if you really don’t care about having ‘the nicest’ CJ-2A on the planet? A CJ-2A cheap Jeep build can be a lot of fun and in many ways even more rewarding than a big dollar build. If you just want something simple that will let you have a bit of fun off-road while not costing an arm and a leg, it is possible to do that. In fact, you can do that for less than $1,000. $949.02 to be exact.
This week’s “Throwback Thursday” is all about this Willys CJ-2A cheap Jeep build. It comes to us courtesy of the aptly named Low-Buck Garage YouTube channel. The owner picks up a derelict parts Jeep and cobbles it back together for as cheaply as possible. And when you are doing things on the cheap it means you have to get creative and sometimes cut a few corners. Such as taking an engine with a cracked head and gluing it back together! It is a fascinating look into what is possible when money is tight. And hey if the Jeep blows up in a week, then who cares? You are into it for less than a grand. It is a unique approach to building a Jeep.
Know How
If you are interested in building your own cheap Jeep, you are going to have to possess a bit of mechanical know how. Or at least be willing to try a few things on your own. Paying a professional do to even the smallest task is going to cost you big money. Remember the famous scene in Apollo 13 when the astronauts are trying to figure out how to power up the command module? They had precious few amps to work with, so they had to work in the right order and focus only on critical components. That is the same approach you would need to take in order to complete a cheap Jeep build. Every dollar is precious. The good news is that these CJ-2A Jeeps are dead simple. So, you will not be spending time and money chasing down fixes to navigation systems or heated seats and such.
Creativity
To complete a successful cheap Jeep build you will not only need know how but you will need to get creative as well. For example, a set of seats taken from a forklift can work as good as a set of modern bucket seats. And instead of buying a new engine block, buy a tube of epoxy for four bucks and glue the old and cracked head back together. Remember you are not building a SEMA show vehicle here. You just want to get it running and it doesn’t need to be beautiful or last for 200,000 miles.
Perseverance
With a low dollar build you are going to always be running down various issues. When spending as little money as possible, the Jeep will never be perfect. You can get it running and driving and begin to enjoy it. But things will break. There will be things that you will want to upgrade. That will be a non-stop process. But that is part of the fun. Build it for cheap and then keep playing around with it. But you can take pride in the fact that you got a Jeep on the trail for less than $1,000. So, watch the video below and see if you have what it takes to take on a similar project.
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