Itsavanman
Adventurer
I know I might catch some flak for this, but so what.. anyways, I've had this thing for roofless pickups since the 90s with owning not one but 2 dakota convertibles, whats not to love, haul, tow, open air motoring. anyone with a jeep knows what I'm talking about, that is until you need to haul a load of rocks, or plywood, or anything but people.. yeah jeeps are fun, but honestly pretty damn impractical, not to mention expensive. I know you guys who don't think twice about dropping 30k on a vehicle might not think this is so bad, but for a lot of us, this is out of the question.
I've always loved the look of the M37, it has the combination of what I want, but lets be honest, after 50 years, most your not going to just hop in and drive a 300 mile road trip without having to pop open a tool box. So here comes the "what if" crap what if I tradeded some off road prowess for modern(ish) fuel injection readily available parts, while retaining functionality, aaaaand, add some wind in your hair fun. yeah I could just plop a modern fuel injected engine, and newer axles in a m37, but I don't have one.. I do have a very sound mechanically early 00's chevy half ton. (uh oh where's this headed, put the pipe down)
So, what has the look, open roof, and are everywhere, JEEPS! with Swiss cheese frames (thanks Chrysler) there's still quite a bit of cheap YJ's out there, cheap because the frame has sworn off frame duty, for a life impersonating Swiss cheese. now I know I'd be in for a ton of work, but yeah, that's kinda the point. there's enough somewhat solid body'd jeeps around, that with some body work could work for what I want. essentially take a yj tub, shorten the rear passenger area to about the length of a small extended cab, weld on some new body mounts, probably fineness the firewall, etc etc. build a flatbed and voila! open cab pickup.. if I could make it work, the look would essentially be a yj with full size axles converted to a pickup, but actually retain the IFS (yeah, you jeep folks, are really gonna hate that)
I could bang this out in a day, with some zip ties, and some duct tape! O.K. but seriously am I out of my mind? probably.. it would take some creative metal work to look right, but, yeah could be super cool, or a complete dud. you decide...
I've always loved the look of the M37, it has the combination of what I want, but lets be honest, after 50 years, most your not going to just hop in and drive a 300 mile road trip without having to pop open a tool box. So here comes the "what if" crap what if I tradeded some off road prowess for modern(ish) fuel injection readily available parts, while retaining functionality, aaaaand, add some wind in your hair fun. yeah I could just plop a modern fuel injected engine, and newer axles in a m37, but I don't have one.. I do have a very sound mechanically early 00's chevy half ton. (uh oh where's this headed, put the pipe down)
So, what has the look, open roof, and are everywhere, JEEPS! with Swiss cheese frames (thanks Chrysler) there's still quite a bit of cheap YJ's out there, cheap because the frame has sworn off frame duty, for a life impersonating Swiss cheese. now I know I'd be in for a ton of work, but yeah, that's kinda the point. there's enough somewhat solid body'd jeeps around, that with some body work could work for what I want. essentially take a yj tub, shorten the rear passenger area to about the length of a small extended cab, weld on some new body mounts, probably fineness the firewall, etc etc. build a flatbed and voila! open cab pickup.. if I could make it work, the look would essentially be a yj with full size axles converted to a pickup, but actually retain the IFS (yeah, you jeep folks, are really gonna hate that)
I could bang this out in a day, with some zip ties, and some duct tape! O.K. but seriously am I out of my mind? probably.. it would take some creative metal work to look right, but, yeah could be super cool, or a complete dud. you decide...
