71 Jeep Purchase!

Looks like a great buy!

 

Nice score.

 

Let me know what you want pictured and I will take whatever you want.

 

I will pull all the carpet out when I get home in an hour. Someone sheetmetal screwed the carpet in so it will take a little time..

Now you guys got me feeling guilty. I just planned to get it running and driving right and put it at the cabin. If this thing is this rare maybe I should sell it and let someone else restore it..

 

and crawl up underneath to get a below pic of the tranny:bellhousing and tranny from a few angles.

 

nah.... drive it like you stole it, but don't do a tranny swap unless you sell the old one to me.

 

No need to sell it. Restore it and enjoy it, buy another one for the cabin.

Jeeps are like Lays chips, you cant have just one. R)

 

Looks like the flat part of the floor has been replaced. There's no factory seam where the floorboard kicks up to make the toeboard (the angled part - I think that's what it's called). Floor pan replacement is very, very common anywhere but Arizona.

The distinctive part is mostly still covered by carpet. I know what it looks like where the transmission cover meets the floorboard on the driver's side. Tim Harris had some good pictures of the factory covers. Looks factory from what I can see though.

Yes, a feature would be a fine addition.

Drive it. Wheel it. They are meant to be used. Nobody will appreciate this vehicle's rarity except us Jeep fanatics, and I think most of us would like to see it on the trail. It'd be a shame to let it fade away, or to change it and lose the (Jeep) historical record it represents.

 

It looks like the drivers floor has been replaced at one time farmer style.. The rest looks to be factory to me, but I could be wrong. It looks like at the factory they accounted for the bigger tranny by the cover that you see. Either that or someone did a nice fab job on that cover..







You can see the patch panel on the drivers side that the wife is pointing at..

 

And a few of the trans/t-case

 

Great Jeep! It looks like you have an larger alternator than the original. Got to love the taller windshields that came on the 71's.

 

5th picture shows evidence of torch work on the bottom side of floor pan for the t/case lever, tranny cover inside JEEP appears to be a different color/shade than the rest of the floor., holes drilled in bell housing, several other things have me doubting. But I've never seen a bracket like the one on the side of the t/case ( e-brake cable). Sorry but, I think it's not original. I hope some one proves me wrong.

 

Definitely a factory transmission hump. The shifter boot isn't - wonder what's under there. Patches in the flat part of the floor are almost universal. Is the drum brake on the rear driveshaft right? I thought that it was gone by 1971. What's with the hole in the bellhousing, hmm?

Otherwise looks good!

 

Any way you look at it, that's still a helluva score for $400!!!

 

Well, those floor pans were available from a '72 or later, so it could have been put together from junkyard parts. They could also have come off a dealer's shelf from '72 until stock was depleted. Seems unlikely though ... most T-18 conversions would have used a home-made transmission cover.

 

Pardon my skepticism, it's just my nature. And I will agree Ron, any way you shake it, it's a well spent 400 duckets. My 71 has the drum e brake.

 

I can get some more pics today if you guys want them. So at this point the consensus is that the trans was original or no?