[PAVAN KADAM]

I would'nt know how apt the title is, but its a truth.

Being an automobile freak and and avid VW Fan, i have always limited myslef to a few VW

restoration including 2 of my own VW's and few that belonged to my freinds.

JEEP / WILLYS did'nt quite ring a bell within me for any unknown reason, i always had a thought that jeeps are simple and its not a difficult job restoring it. My friend Brat001(TBHP) who himself owns an immaculate and original Ford, was always egging me to get to know jeeps and also wanted me to own one, and recently Santosh has started nagging me to own one soon.

Though that is too far away right now.

Getting to the point. One Sunday of November 2008, a guy calls me and says, Congrats kid, i like the way you've done up your Beetle, i now wanted you to put your expertise in getting one of my 1943 Low Bonnet willys back to its former glory, as per him the jeep was abused by his staff at the farm and it started looking more like a Mahindra Jeep than a Wartime jeep it used to be.

Whoa.. hell YES, without knowing whereabouts and Who abouts of this person who's called me i commit myslef out of sheer curiosity. He agreed and presented me with a stipulated budget and gave me 6 months time to get the Jeep back to shape. After sharing my residence address he hangs up the phone. I felt, OK its only one call and he's not too serious on what he said.

Nov 25th 5:30am, 4 days later, i get a call from one guy saying "Saar, i am here at BEL Circle with one Jeep in my truck, where do i drop it ". was i dreaming or what, my wife says who's that so early and i realise this is not a joke, i jump from my bed and answer this guy and ask him to hold on there till i reach him.

Next 15 mins i am there, seeing the truck and gazing at the Willys.

What am i going to do now.................Contd later

[vinaydas]

Congo on the contract keep us all updated and entertained with pics and videos if possible

[vinayrathore]

Pavan,

Go for it buddy,

This is one intoxication which has no side effects and lasts the lifetime in one dose.

Keep posted us with pics.

Cheers!

[snaronikar]

You have committed yourself to this and you have no other go now. You need to take help of few of the bhpians who have already done this. Maybe Shahnawaz Khan is a better person to start with. ;-) Do keep us updated on the developments.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Ok ! Pavan is this the same Willys Jeep that you were mentioning when I last talked to you. If the owner permits, please post the pics of this beauty while its being restored. cheers

[GTO]

Looks like this dude has heard / read some really good things about your restoration. Sounds like an interesting story, until the next update.

[DirtyDan]

Do a great job on it and work your arse off. Give him an exact written account of what you did and what it cost and show him a pile of old parts and receipts for new stuff. Everything up front, honest and done perfectly. Come in at or a little UNDER COST this time and watch your business grow by leaps and bounds in the future. Think long term, establish a reputation and then capitalize on it later. That's my 2 rupees worth of business acumen.

[vinaydas]

hey pavan by any chance you had come to esteem mall near hebbal?

[-GT-]

If I had seen this part in a movie, I would have said "another crazy thought of an overworked story teller"

@Pavan:

Thanks to the "crazy guy" who called you on that sunday (was it 23rd Nov?) and dropped his 'retired +10 yrs' Willys on your lap to do your magic.

For one, the old Willys was probably in a coma since he didn't walk into your hospital - rather you received him in an ambulance.

Since he has been exactly 2 months with you, I am sure you would have resuscitated that old boy and given him another lease of life.

Please do continue with your postings with PLENTY OF PICS!

[speedzak]

Ha ha ha!
Superb beginning to what I expect to be an entertaining journey ahead.

Keep it coming! And should I ask for pics too?

[PAVAN KADAM]

Thank you all for inspiring words.

GTO-- Thanks, but i had restored my Bug 6 yrs ago, anyways lucky me

@Vinaydas-- Yes i was at Esteem mall today evening, just one small family outing, couldnt recognise you though.

I would like to keep everyone posted that this project was accepted by me out of sheer curiosity and never really expected to happen, BTW i have my regular day job, which few of T-BHP'ians know about. "Automobile" the word runs a spark within me and i do it not as a business.

I am maintaining a strict record of expenses made on the jeep and working much within the constrained budget and also time.

For me its not the owner or me who needs to be happy at the end, the poor soul the Jeep which had lost its identity over years matters most, and yes i am working hard enough to get this fellow back to shape.

What i do after getting this jeep. First thing i do is contact a jeep specialist and i have many here in Bangalore and also on T-BHP of course.

Let me introduce to you guys the Jeep Geek i know. also my friend BRAT001, who owns a most original and unrestored FORD, and has done quite a few jeep restorations. He's excited to hear about my new found interest and rushes all knowledge he has and hands me over few books and some pics on the mail on what to do with jeeps.

Next is my dear friend Santosh who recently got hold of his CJ3B, he's excited on hearing about the low bonnet, he comes over to the workshop and says" Kadam you need to do a lot of work and its not an easy task".

For me all that is happening is too much of an adrenaline rush. I sit down and start tearing down the jeep day by day, and withing a week i learnt the below few things about what i was going to do.
1) This was an original 1943-1946 Low bonnet, LHD, 4WD, and a Go Devil engined Willys and quite original at that.
2) Few modifications were made at the rear and was made to look more of Mahindra jeep and front grill was straigth from a mahindra.
3) lots of rusting and required a good tinkering.
4) A mahindra gloss green paint on.
5) Good part was it had its original engine and was lively.
6) The jeep had too many contraptions on it which should not have been.
7) 4 PNP switches on the dash board as opposed to originally 2.
8) No data plates


With all this the poor fellow had lost its identity.

I started to get how grave the whole process can get, but started immediately with scrapping the complete body and stripping off its paint.

[vinaydas]

i was the chubby guy in the black innova you were parking your car at the time

[gotzuk]

Hi Pawan,
That looks like Willys MB.
Please post some more pics and if possible
the engine number/ chassis number too. That would help in ascertaining the correct month /year of production.

Best of luck with the restoration.
Cheers
Vaibhav

[fazalaliadil]

Yes, it has been battered!!
Now if you need some help from Hyderabad where there are many dozen of MB's being restored to their mint condition, let me know from here we will extend all help possible in fabrication, engine and all else.

[ImranShahnawaz]

Hi Pavan,

All the best with the project. Please post more pics and details of the restoration project.

Imran