Throwback Thursday: Meet Edla. One Of The Jeep CJ-7s To Complete Expedicion de las Americas
In 1978 Edla drove from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It will now undergo a complete mechanical restoration.
Any restoration project is special, but this one has a little something extra to it. The Jeep you see here is not just any CJ-7. This Jeep is known as Edla. And Edla has quite a story to tell. In 1978 Mark A. Smith drove her on the longest overland expedition to date. The Jeep was driven from the most southern tip of South America to the most northern tip of North America. It was an event called Expedicion de las Americas or Edla for short.
This week’s “Throwback Thursday” is all about Edla the little CJ-7 that conquered the Americas. This Jeep has been purchased by Chris Collard from Gone-Gpn. Collard recently introduced this Jeep on his Gone-Gpn YouTube channel. Collard is not just some guy that wants to restore a Jeep.
He has some history with Edla. In 1998 there was a 20th anniversary trip of the Americas crossing and he took part in that. So, when this Jeep popped up for sale on Craigslist, he recognized it right away and knew he had to have it.
Expedicion de las Americas
This trip was truly epic in every sense of the word. The route was about 21,000 miles long. It took 122 days. It included the crossing of the Darien Gap. The gap was not something you could just hope over. It is about 100 miles long and 30 miles wide of undeveloped jungle that had only been crossed once prior by motorcade. It took the team about 30 days just to cross this gap. This was a true adventure. Some folks today spend a weekend in the mountains and call it an overlanding trip. The Expedicion de las Americas was a true overlanding adventure. And this little CJ-7 made it.
The Plan
We are relieved to hear that Collard does not plan to make this a full-on nut and bolt restoration with the objective to make the CJ-7 look better than new. There is nothing wrong with those types of restorations of course. But Edla has quite a story to tell via the dents, scrapes, and rust all over the body.
It would be a shame to remove that. So, all that wonderful patina is going to stay for future generations to enjoy. The restoration will be focused only on the mechanical bits. The shocks, axles, hubs, and so on will all be restored. It should look original and well used on the outside but brand new where it counts underneath.
The Excitement
This is a really exciting project. Sure, a Hellcrate engine isn’t going to be stuffed under the hood or a 6-inch lift installed or anything like that. But that is not what this Jeep needs. This Jeep is history. It is the epitome of adventure in both man and machine.
Our hope is that once this restoration is done this Jeep travels around the country or even the world as a symbol of freedom and adventure. We can’t wait for the next video installment so we can see just how things are progressing.