A very long list of work to be done

Sunday, April 26, 2020
Cheltenham, England, United Kingdom
After reading the list of work, what choice did I have ?
I could try and resell it, but I wouldn't get the money back that I paid for it
I could scrap it, but it's a lot of money to lose
I could strip it for parts, good chance I could recover some of the money
I didn't buy it as an investment, I bought it to drive around it (Its cheap to run, no road tax, no MOT, very cheap insurance)
So I went back to Adrian
I asked him "Is it really worth doing?"
He replied back "Of course, it's a good solid machine, this is minor work compared to some I have rebuilt, the body work has no rust, it's got a good gear box, and that has been rebuilt by a good company, they even replaced the clutch"
Well it put me in a bit of a quandary, I could get the work done, it would increase the value, it would be a reliable motor, I didn't mind repo parts 
(Lets face it, I'm not going to find genuine WW2 parts, if I could they are going to cost a fortune and probably have to come from the US anyway)
Adrian couldn't give me an all up price, he didn't know how long it would take, price of parts, but he would keep it as cheap as possible, but try and keep the nature of a Willy's Jeep, he wouldn't be using any Hodgkiss parts though, they would be Willy's or Ford parts or reproduction
The hardest part would be the windscreen, there are literally hundreds of engines out there (they didn't just build engines for Jeeps, they built them for generators, welding equipment, anything you needed an engine for, all the engines were the same)
I gave him the go ahead, it was an open contract, all I could do was hope the final bill wasn't too much and the Jeep turned in to a bottomless money pit
I never heard back from Adrian until after Christmas
He had found a good engine, it was from a generator, only 120 hours on it
The other original engine was scrap, but parts could be used as spares
He found new seats, both driver and passenger, but they turned out to be rubbish, I found some repo seats, they just needed painting)
He found a fuel tank, the right kind this time, new fuel cap, a new sender unit
He cleaned out the sump and the oil filter (the oil had turned to tar in the sump, he steam cleaned all the insides of pipes and tubes
Replaced all the hoses and the jubilee clips
Replaced the carb with the correct one (A Carter)
Replaced plugs and points
Put on all the new canvas (the entire winter kit)
He couldn't do the half doors, had to drill new holes, weld up the wrong holes
He couldn't find a replacement windscreen though
So the vacuum unit couldn't go on, (but he found a dual set of manual wipers, they work well, sort of)
Now came the part I had been dreading
The bill for parts and labour
It took quite a few emails to get it out of him
He kept telling me that he had kept the character of the Jeep
I kept say, 'it looks like a Jeep, it tastes like a Jeep, so it's a Jeep'
It's not going into a museum, I'm not interested if the parts are Willy's, Ford or reproduction, they are olive green who cares ?
I'm not a bean counter or nerd enough to count rivets, I don't care if a bolt is 'F' scripted or "W" scripted , it's just  a bolt or rivet
I know the canvas is new, I just want them to be waterproof, I don't care the winter kit never came out until the Korean War
He even wanted to fit a WW2 machine gun bracket in it, because they  all had them fitted, I said NO !!, I'm not fitting a machine gun in it, I don't care what they used to fit in them
All I want to do is travel around the UK, visit the beaches in France, go to military shows, listen to rivet counters telling me all the things that are wrong with it, then ask them to show me theirs
He did give me an all up price, it was a lot, but then he gave me a discount (in other words he cut back on the amount of hours and labour) there was nothing he could do with the price of the parts
There is still more work to be done, but he has to catch up with other work on Jeeps and Land Rovers
He made mine a priority, I have no idea, but there was a lot of work, that I do know
It will have to go back just to have the odds and sods done
Its at Adrian's now and because of the lock down I cant go and get it
But its minor work any way, head lights, brackets, lights on the trailer (YES, I bought a trailer as well) indicators, hopefully the windscreen so I can get the windscreen vacuum unit fitted
So this is going to be the last entry for a while until I get it back (when that will be I have no idea, your guess is as good as mine
The FINAL bill was a real shock, it came to £5530+labour of £2300+£2149 more parts
I know I was overcharged, but there was never a contract for the work or parts, I just told him to fix
I will never recover the money I spent buying it and getting the renovations done on it
I think the grand total was £22,929, no one is going to be in a rush to buy it

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Comments

Travelling Tim
2020-10-09

Fantastic job, Derrick. You did the right thing. Its only money, anyway.

derrick241
2020-10-09

Can’t take it with me, why not spend it on a Jeep

mmbcross
2020-10-09

Another exiting episode to look forward to!

Alan Russell
2020-10-09

Awesome job mate! Good on you!

Peggy
2020-10-09

Maybe we can get to the UK someday for a ride in this 'new' vehicle.

Lance Henrickson
2020-10-11

It really looks great. Smart to add your wife's name. Is the number your military ID number? Did you ever drive a Jeep when you were in the military?

2025-02-16

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