Military Vehicles, January 1997,: repro bodies
repro bodies
Tony Standefer (WillysJeep@worldnet.att.net)
Tue, 21 Jan 1997 19:04:23 -0800
I would have to agree with those who say that keeping the original body
is the "right" way to go. When I finished my willys I was very proud of
the fact that I had restored to ORIGINAL using as much of the original
jeep as possible. This included rebuilding the body tub as needed.
When I had my jeep judged at the 96 MVPA convention one of the things
asked was if it was a repro body to which I could proudly reply "NO".
If you are into MV's to restore them, then you have to understand that a
true restoration returns the vehicle to it's original state using as
little repro as possible. It's very easy to order up a new fender over
the phone instead of trying to RESTORE the old one. If you just want to
have a vehicle to drive around in then repros are great. If you compare
the level of detail that most MV restorations have, to say a model A or
other commonly restored vehicle those of us in the MV hobby should be
proud of our work. Take a restored MB/GPW to a antique car show and
you have an immediate show stopper, not to mention the fact that just
about everyone has a story about them!!! Also if you are taking the
time to collect "NOS-original" parts then why put them on a repro body??
I'll get off my soapbox now.
Tony Standefer
1944 Willys