"Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. It is not logical, but often true."

When I was 15, my Dad and I bought a 1985 Jeep CJ-7. It ran, but couldn't move.

We spent the next few years returning it to road-going condition. It was never perfect, but I sure learned a lot.

Two of the things I learned:
1. The styling of older Jeeps is iconic and magnetic, and,
2. It used relatively primitive engineering to hold it together and make it go.

The 1952 Willys Jeep I encountered over the Memorial Day weekend reinforced both these lessons.

From down here, it looks almost heroic.

I'd kill to drive a car with a gas can on the fender.











Notice how much more the brake was used than the clutch.

Also: circular pedals are awesome.


I think found four speeds with this unmarked shift knob but I expected only three. Although it seems to lead into the transfer case, I don't know what the lever in the middle does.




This alone might be worth the $1,100 asking price (to my mind).




It's appropriate that the speedometer uses the smallest values to measure MPH. Even if you're going 50, you're still going pretty slowly.



If I thought I could get it into my apartment to work on it, I would have bought it.