Can a Jeep be a Hotrod?

Globe Trotting

Hot rod culture is even older than Jeep. But like Jeep, it's traversed the globe, leaving an impression each time it touched down, and never losing its essence. Jeeps made an early impression on a man known in Thailand as Mr. Heng, as did hot rodding, so it's no surprise to see them combined in the Jeep you see here. As a boy Mr. Heng waved to American soldiers, trying to run along with their Jeeps on rural roads as they passed him by. As he got older, he eagerly read every issue of magazines like Hot Rod he could find. Flash forward to today and he has the means to buy just about any car he likes, but the memory of those Jeeps is still alive. 

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Hawaii by Joe

Those memories turned into passion when, while at a U.S. domestic car show in Bangkok a few years ago, Mr. Heng came across a hot-rodded Jeep much like this one. The man behind the Jeep at that show was Bangkok's famed Hawaii Joe, owner of the old-school speed shop named Hawaii Rod. Hawaii Joe is easily spotted in a crowd, just look for the guy wearing (you guessed it) Hawaiian shirts, flowered leis, and beachcomber sandals. The two met, and a deal was struck for Mr. Hawaii to build Mr. Heng his very own hot rod Jeep. Now all they had to do was find one. 

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Project M38

Finding a Jeep in Thailand isn't as easy as you might think... in case you thought that might be easy. American cars in general retail for nearly triple what they do in the U.S. As we mentioned before, Mr. Heng is a man of means and his stable includes an ETS 800 hp twin-turbo Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera as well as a 1,400 hp Alpha GT-R, so finding the 1974 M38 Thai military-spec Jeep he desired wasn't as hard is it might have been. With the Jeep secured, plans were drawn up and early on, Mr. Heng and Hawaii Joe agreed to base the build around a lightweight yet rigid tubular space frame. The Jeep's body was bisected and stretched to fit the frame's dimensions, also getting chopped during the process. Next up was choosing an engine, and when the two men settled on a Toyota 1UZ-FE V-8 the key elements were all in place.

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Un-Rat Rod

That left a million little details to be decided—and oh what details they are. The Toyota V-8 was transformed into a jewel, with tinted carbon fiber covers, and chrome velocity stacks fitted to individual throttle bodies. Even items as small as the spark plug wire separator got the Hawaii Joe treatment. On this Jeep, they're made from demilitarized cartridges. Other military touches include a grenade shift knob, a revolver-cylinder dial, US Army UH1 helicopter seats, and of course an old ammo box. Retro hot rod elements abound as well, from Cragar D-window wheels to hand-formed straight-back 8-into-nothing headers. 

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Full Circle

Don't think for a moment that this Jeep is all show and no go—the M38 now rides on a custom coilover suspension. Hot Rod and even Roadkill stickers are in full force on the Jeeps deceptively drab exterior. Now Mr. Heng is the one spreading Jeep joy and hot rod dreams around the world. And the kids are waving at him and trying to keep up with his Jeep. 

>>Join the conversation about the Jeep hotrod right here in JK-Forum.

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