Radical Rides: A little piece of history here in Menifee

The license plate says it all

When I arrived at the home of Sean and Annette Page I fully expected that their 1977 Chevrolet Corvette would be the centerpiece of our conversation. It sat there shining in the sun on their driveway like a ruby. It truly is a beautiful piece of machinery. It even came with a fairly humorous anecdote about Sean buying it unbeknownst to Annette when she was pregnant with their first born. Her reaction of course was "How are we going to fit a car seat in this thing?" It all would have made Tim Allen very proud. 

I resisted the urge to grunt

Then I saw something interesting in the garage. I started asking questions about the Jeep that I saw in pieces in the garage. "That," she replied "is a 1948 Willyz CJ2A, complete with the original trailer. Not a Jeep" She began telling me about every part and all the history that went into it. 

You see back in the late 90s this was the first car she ever drove. It belonged to her great uncle on her father's side, and she used it to pick up trailers full of metal for her father's welding business. When her uncle passed away a few years ago she inherited it.

Primed and ready to go

The car itself is so old the VIN is only four digits long, and is quite a pain to handle when it comes to the DMV and Insurance. All the parts on it are original with the exception of the radiator, the shocks, the oil can and the tires. It even has the original open back rear seat. Only a couple hundred of those were ever made before Willyz went to a full back rear seat later that year. 

Before they invented pesky thing like "ergonomics"

Sometime in the 1950s Willyz was bought out by a company called Kaiser which would later be bought out by Jeep. 

The shell is off of the vehicle so it can be sent in to be painted. She's been on a nine month waiting list to have it painted Coca-Cola red with black and white trim. Her wait will be over sometime next month when the painter will be available. And you can bet that I'll be there for the unveiling. Her next project will be restoring the trailer to its former glory.

Future projects await