Here's How I Made A Brand New WWII Jeep Street Legal In 2026 And More BTS Of My Crazy Jeep Build
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Here's How I Made A Brand New WWII Jeep Street Legal In 2026 And More BTS Of My Crazy Jeep BuildCarbage Time · Jul 10, 2026
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Concept
build it from nothing
This means they didn’t just fix up an existing complete car—they started with basically nothing and had to create/build most of it. That’s much harder than a normal restoration.
eBay Motors is the part of eBay where cars and car parts are bought and sold. The hosts are saying their project is connected to how eBay Motors wants to review items before they’re posted.
An axle assembly is a ready-to-install “bundle” that helps the wheels get power. Instead of buying every little piece separately, you buy a whole set that already has key internal parts inside.
Concept
factor in every individual part
He’s basically saying: don’t just count the big boxes or assemblies—count the individual pieces inside them too. That’s why the project feels like it has “a thousand parts” even when you only bought a couple hundred packages.
Differential gears are the gears inside the axle that let the left and right wheels turn at different speeds—like when you’re cornering. They’re a big part of how the Jeep transfers power to the ground.
A differential cover is the protective housing over the gears that split power between the wheels. It helps keep the fluid inside and protects the gears so the differential can work correctly.
The “H pattern” is the usual map for where each gear goes on a manual shifter. They’re saying the shifter wasn’t moving correctly between the gear positions, so the car couldn’t shift out cleanly.
A “shifter issue” means the gear lever isn’t moving the transmission into the right gear positions. They fixed it by adjusting the shifter so it could move freely and shift properly.
A vacuum gauge is a tool that checks how much suction the engine is pulling. If it shows “no vacuum,” it usually means something is seriously off with the engine’s intake/vacuum system.
The points gap is the tiny space between two metal contacts in the distributor. If that space is set wrong, the engine may not spark at the right time, so it won’t run correctly.
A compression check is a test that measures cylinder pressure inside the engine. Low numbers can mean something inside isn’t sealing well, but sometimes the test tool or setup can be the reason.
A compression tester is the device used to measure cylinder pressure. If it’s used incorrectly (or the tool is off), it can give misleading low readings.
Term
compression seems low
Compression is how much pressure the engine builds inside its cylinders. If it’s low, the engine may misfire or run poorly because it can’t “push” the power cycle like it should.
Vapor lock is when fuel gets hot enough to turn into vapor in the fuel line. Since vapor doesn’t feed the engine like liquid fuel does, the engine can sputter, stall, or refuse to restart until it cools.
Tolerance pile-up means each part is made with tiny allowed measurement differences, and when you stack many parts together, those tiny differences can add up. The result is that the final fitment can be off, even if every single part is “within spec.”
Wide open throttle means the gas pedal is effectively being held all the way down. The host is saying the body could shift forward enough to mess with the linkage, making the car think you’re flooring it.
The accelerator pedal linkage is the set of parts that connect your gas pedal to the throttle. If something shifts and touches it, the throttle can open when you didn’t intend to.
Fender mounts are the places where the fender bolts or attaches to the car. If the spacing is wrong, the fender won’t sit right or will interfere with other parts.
A VIN plate is the metal tag that has the car’s unique ID number. If you can find it, it helps the government know what the vehicle is when you’re trying to get a title.
A title is the official document that proves who owns the vehicle. Without it, it can be hard or impossible to legally drive the car on public roads.
Concept
building a car from scratch
“Building a car from scratch” usually means assembling a vehicle using parts (and sometimes a frame) rather than starting with a complete, already-registered car. The big challenge is making it legal to drive, which typically involves receipts, inspections, and title/registration steps that prove what the vehicle is and where its parts came from.
Receipts are the paperwork showing you bought the parts. For a custom build, they can be needed so the state can verify what you used and help issue a title.
The engine is the part that makes the car move by producing power. When you’re building a car, the engine matters because it has to fit and work with everything else.
CHP is California’s highway police. Here, they’re involved because the builder needs the state to officially identify the Jeep for registration.
Term
break and light test place
This refers to a vehicle inspection station that checks required safety equipment—especially braking performance and lighting functions. For a street-legal conversion, the vehicle typically must meet specific measurable standards before it can be registered.
Turn signals are the lights that tell other drivers you’re turning or changing lanes. If you’re converting an older vehicle to be street legal, you usually have to add them if they weren’t originally equipped.
A brake test checks whether the brakes can stop the vehicle quickly enough and within a required distance. It’s a safety check done during the process of making a vehicle street legal.
Drum brakes use a round metal drum and brake shoes inside it. When you press the brake pedal, the shoes squeeze against the inside of the drum to slow the car down. Older cars often use them, and they may need adjustment so they work well.
“Lock them up” means the wheels stop rotating and skid because the brakes are applying more force than the tire can grip. That’s a sign of maximum braking effort (often discussed in terms of traction limits and brake adjustment). On older brake setups, getting to wheel lock can be a way to test whether the brakes are adjusted aggressively enough.
The 1965 Ford Mustang is one of the most influential classic American cars. It helped kick off the whole pony car idea that many later cars followed. The host is using it as an example of a vehicle that set the pattern for what came after.
A “modern Civic” is a newer Honda compact car. The host is saying that newer cars—even regular ones—can surprise you off-road compared to older vehicles.
In off-roading, “geometry” means how the car’s shape helps it avoid scraping and lets it climb over bumps. The host is saying this matters a lot and doesn’t really get “solved” by newer engines alone.
“Gearing” is how the car’s transmission ratios help it move slowly and with control. Off-road, the right gearing can make it easier to crawl over rocks and keep traction.
“Offroading” just means driving on rough terrain like dirt, rocks, or trails. The host is saying that newer vehicles often do better because of how they’re shaped and geared, not only because of engine power.
Suspension articulation is how well the suspension can “flex” when one wheel hits a bump and the other doesn’t. Better flex helps the tires stay on the ground for more grip.
“Lockers” are devices that help both wheels on the same axle work together. If one wheel is slipping, lockers can keep the other wheel from spinning uselessly and help the vehicle move forward.
Sway bar disconnects are a feature that lets the suspension move more freely off-road. When the bar is disconnected, the wheels can better follow bumps without the car fighting itself.
A rocker panel is the lower part of the car’s body along the side. If it’s too low, it can hit rocks or ruts off-road and limit how well the vehicle can clear obstacles.
The Jeep Cherokee is a regular Jeep SUV, not a purpose-built rock crawler. The host is saying this particular Cherokee version sits low and has a lot of stuff underneath that can hit rocks.
“High center” is when the vehicle’s bottom hits a rock or bump and the car gets stuck on it. Even if the wheels have grip, the body can still get hung up.
Ground clearance is how much space there is between the ground and the lowest part of the vehicle. More clearance helps the car avoid hitting rocks underneath.
Overhangs are the front and rear parts of the vehicle that stick out past the wheels. Shorter overhangs make it less likely to scrape the front or back on rocks.
These are three “shape” measurements that tell you how easily the vehicle can go up and down obstacles. Better angles mean the front or rear won’t hit the ground and get stuck as easily.
Traction is how well the tires grip the ground. If traction is low, the wheels can spin or slide instead of moving the vehicle forward.
Concept
spindly little frame
This is a description of the Jeep’s frame being light and narrow. The host is saying it can bend a bit without breaking, which helped it handle rough conditions.
Car
World War II Jeep
This is the original “Jeep” from World War II. It was built to be light and tough, and the frame/body was so simple and compact that it could flex and be handled by just a couple of people.
American Bantam was one of the companies involved in designing the original WWII Jeep. The point here is that the Jeep didn’t come from a single famous brand—it came from companies competing to build a military vehicle.
Car
Austin Seven
The Austin Seven was an early, very influential small car from Britain. In this segment, the host is saying that the Jeep’s company history can be traced back through the Austin Seven.
The Ford Model T is a very early car that Ford produced in large numbers. It’s important because it helped make cars more common for everyday people. That’s why people still talk about it when discussing the history of cars and why they became popular.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a tough off-road SUV that’s built to handle rough trails for a long time. Here it’s mentioned because Toyota took inspiration from the Jeep idea.
This is the town in Pennsylvania the host is pointing to as the place where the early Jeep designers were based. It’s used to emphasize how small the team was.
The Nissan Patrol is a big SUV built for rough roads and long trips. The host mentions it as another example of a brand that followed the Jeep-style off-road idea.
Concept
blueprint for every major off-road vehicle
When they say “blueprint,” they mean the original WWII Jeep set the pattern for what later off-road vehicles tried to copy. It’s about the overall idea of how to build a vehicle that can handle tough terrain.
The Ford Bronco is an off-road 4x4 SUV that’s meant for trails and rough terrain. The host is connecting it to the WWII Jeep’s legacy as the original “go-anywhere” template.
Willys is another company that submitted ideas for the WWII military vehicle. The host says their proposal didn’t fit the requirements as closely as Bantam’s.
Brand
Austen's
The host is talking about Bantam borrowing ideas from British small cars and adapting them for the U.S. market. That’s why they had experience with small vehicles, even if it wasn’t selling well at the time.
A reconnaissance vehicle is basically a scout car. Its job is to go look for information—like where the enemy is or what the roads and terrain are like—before the bigger units move in.
Term
dimensions, the weights
These are measurements the military gave to car builders. They’re telling them exactly how big and heavy the vehicle needs to be so it can meet the mission needs.
“World War Two Jeep” means the original WWII-era military Jeep. The host is saying the government’s rules largely determined what it looked like and what features it had.
A “stamped grill” refers to a grille made by stamping sheet metal into shape, rather than using a more complex or cast approach. In this segment, it’s brought up as a specific design contribution the host thinks Ford deserves credit for.
Willis Overland is another company involved with WWII Jeep production and parts. Here, the host connects it to the engine used in the Jeep, saying the engine name and supplier matter for who deserves credit.
Displacement is basically how big the engine is internally—how much space the cylinders move through. Bigger displacement often means the engine can make more power, though it depends on design.
Horsepower is a measure of how much power the engine can produce. Higher horsepower generally means the vehicle can accelerate more easily, especially if the car isn’t very heavy.
Low range is a special gear setting that makes the Jeep move very slowly but with more pulling power. It’s meant for rough terrain where you need control, like climbing or crawling over rocks.
These headlights can swing forward instead of staying fixed. That can make it easier to reach the engine area when you need to work on the vehicle.
Concept
think outside the box
It just means trying a different, more creative approach instead of doing things the normal way. For a car build, that can mean taking an unusual path to get the result you want.
“From scratch” means you’re not just tweaking an existing car—you’re putting it together using parts you source. That usually takes more planning and work, but it can make the final build more personal.
A “new body” means the outer metal shell is replaced instead of just patched up. In a big restoration, that can make the project feel much more like a fresh build.
They’re debating what it really means to call a Jeep “WWII” if you replace a lot of it with new parts. The idea is: if you put in new big pieces like the body and frame, it feels more like a fresh build than a restoration.
Seat cushions are the padded part you actually sit on. If you’re rebuilding an older Jeep, getting the right cushions can be expensive because they’re not always easy to find.
The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a regular modern-ish car (for its era) that’s easier to drive day-to-day than a WWII Jeep. The host mentions it to say you could go faster than the Jeep’s limited speed.
Term
spray cooking oil
“Spray cooking oil” is just a dramatic joke. The point is that the vehicle feels like it’s asking for trouble—like it would be unsafe or miserable in that situation.
A Jeep Wrangler YJ is an older Wrangler model (a specific generation). People like it because it has a classic, simple Jeep design that’s great for off-roading and easy to work on.
Term
electronic helper bullcrap
The host is talking about modern car electronics that can help you stay in control, especially on slippery or rough terrain. They’re saying the old Jeep doesn’t have those kinds of aids, so you have to learn the basics yourself.
LIVE
Hi, I'm David Tracy with Jason Torchinski.
We're going to do a deep dive on my crazy eBay World War II
Jeep build.
We're going behind the scenes, folks.
We're going to give you the nitty gritty
about what it was like building a brand new World War II Jeep
from scratch in my backyard.
Did it ruin my life?
Yes, it did.
Is it still ruining my life?
Yes, it is.
Was it worth it?
Yes, it was.
More on that coming up.
I built a World War II Jeep, not an old one.
Allegedly built.
I'm just kidding.
I'm trying to get it in there.
Jason's trying to start a rumor that AI built my World War
II Jeep.
It's AI.
David faked the whole damn thing.
He built it out of cardboard.
Oh, it's true.
I believe it.
I saw it come in a box.
I believe it's true.
Yeah, so this World War II Jeep, it's
one thing to restore a Jeep.
It's a whole other thing to build it from nothing.
But there's more to this story.
If you may have seen the YouTube video,
you should check it out.
It's a 46-minute feature.
Really well shot by Griffin.
Really well edited by Armin.
And read my 11,000-word article.
Really well written.
But I mean, good photos by Griffin.
It was OK written.
It was wonderfully written.
It's 11,000 words.
How many pages does that print out to, David?
You tell me how many pages.
OK, OK, so it was actually kind of awkward, right?
Because this is a partnership with eBay Motors,
which is a huge deal for us.
We'll get into that.
Obviously, it being a partnership,
generally they like to see things before they go up.
Everything has to make sense in terms of partnership.
Our normal stories for the record
are never reviewed by any company
if it's a partnership.
Sometimes they won't be like that.
They're barely copy-ed even.
Yeah, so here are your normal stories.
Yeah, it's actually, that's very true.
Sometimes we keep typos in there
so that people don't think it's AI.
At least that's what I tell people.
Anyway, so I sent this article to our contacts at eBay Motors
just to have a glance, make sure I didn't say anything stupid.
Do you want to know how many pages
this article translates into on Google Docs
when you include all the images?
Take a guess, Jason.
He's saying 11,000 words is about 2,000 words per page, I think.
You're way off.
OK, OK, and it was awkward because I was like, I don't know.
Are they going to just be like, forget it?
Like, do you need to cut this down?
168 pages.
That's a damn book, David.
That's a book.
That's not an article.
It's a book.
Anyway, it's a huge story, but even those 11,000 words
did not encapsulate the real craziness behind this project.
OK, that's what you're going to tell us about now.
You're going to give us the dirt, the inside scoop
that no one else is getting, isn't that right?
Yes, here's the background.
About last summer, I think it was eBay invited the Atopian
to a media event.
And you know, I was talking to them about all the parts
I buy off of eBay.
Pretty much all of all of us are big eBay users.
If you own old cars, you're using eBay to get parts.
You just are.
So I showed them all the stuff I was buying and I was like,
do you know you can actually buy an entire body of a World War
2 Jeep on eBay?
Like you could probably build a whole thing from scratch
using eBay parts.
And it was mostly a joke.
I was like, yeah, that'd be a really cool bill.
I mean, I'd love to do that.
And then a couple months later, I think it was eBay comes back
and is like, yo, you want to do that?
I'm like, absolutely.
I did not have any idea how difficult it would be
because I figured, you know, I had a bunch of rusty cars
back in the day.
I've had to stitch up, rust it out Frank.
This is all new parts, almost, almost entirely new parts.
But it was it was actually really challenging.
And it was the thing about it is I don't think I wasn't really
able to communicate what the stakes were here.
I got to build this thing in my driveway.
I can't use a shop.
Bo, by the way, our co-founder graciously said, yo, we have a
whole shop where they did the whole we pit my
ride thing.
We have the best mechanics.
We have the best equipment, the best shop.
Yeah, we can help you.
But on multiple occasions, it was like, dude, we can help you
because he could tell like it was going to ruin my life.
And the reason why I politely declined was to me, I thought
the story of just a dude doing it in his driveway was a little
more compelling.
And I mean, it is it makes it much more approachable.
And, you know, it's a lot easier for people reading it to
put themselves in that position.
People who don't have shops who just have driveways.
So that's what I was thinking, right?
Yeah, just do it here.
And it was actually really hard.
This is the first major project I ever did since becoming a dad
or since becoming, you know, a married man.
And it's not the same, dude, it's not the same.
When you're single in freaking rural Michigan or I had a half
an acre in Michigan, it was just me and 14 cars.
I could take on anything.
It was no problem.
But now I'm under this Jeep trying to build it.
And I've got a baby who's smacking on the window, like wondering
what's going on, why isn't his dad playing with him?
You know, and it was day in and day out.
He's going to remember this, David, the way you chose a Jeep over him.
I know, I know it was tough.
But anyway, I mean, and let's be clear about the toll this took on your environment.
Your yard was trashed.
Like your yard was not like it spread.
Like I know it was this is a driveway build, but I saw what happened.
It spread from that driveway around the house into the whole backyard.
There were parts everywhere.
It looked like you had a garden growing Jeep parts in the backyard there.
And there were boxes everywhere and packing materials and tools.
Like this was not trivial.
This took over everything.
I know it really took over everything that I have a couple of pictures
and in my yard, I'll need to dig those.
Oh, actually, you know, I'm going to send these to Griffin right now.
OK, you know, between the yard and the boxes, like, because, you know,
we had so many so many boxes, right?
Because I was basically building, I would say at least three quarters
of the parts came from eBay.
So it's a lot.
And how many parts total we talking about a thousand, right?
Well, OK, so some of the parts would come in as an assembly,
like, for example, I bought an axle is I bought four axle assemblies from eBay.
But obviously each axle has all these parts on it from, you know, fasteners,
differential covers and the differential gears and all that.
So if you were to factor in every individual part, you know, well over a thousand parts,
as for how many eBay orders, I think it was like 200, a little around 200
eBay orders, a little over that.
So it's just a ton of boxes coming in.
That's a little bit of back.
I'm that's how it looks basically today.
Like, I haven't this is taken a toll.
This is there's like a tenth of the boxes.
It's and there's a big palette.
And and you guys hadn't been in this house all that long, right?
Well, look at the area to the backyard.
No, we haven't even moved in properly.
So this is like I haven't really moved in.
We drive by was pristine.
My child, it was and now it's completely covered in oil.
Look at it. It's stained forever.
My child, OK, is my child is 15 months old, and he has literally never played
in the backyard ever.
And it's because of this project.
So it took a toll.
Your wife is a saint, we should we should say.
Yeah, for sure.
It took a lot of it took a lot of us.
But here's the thing.
Did I really have a choice?
Like this was big for our company, you know, it's it's a big deal.
And I knew that I remember I would come in, in to the house
like every night and my my wife would she would say,
how's it going? How's the project going?
I'd be like, doomed.
And then she every night she says, how's it going?
Terrible.
Every how's it just or just awful.
And I'm just covered in grease, just like down.
And she's like, well, you how long till you leave?
I'm like 10 days.
And she's like.
Well, you haven't even driven the car yet.
I'm like, I haven't driven it.
It's doomed. It's doomed.
And she's like, you should probably call eBay.
You can't just like not do it.
Like that's the worst thing you can do.
And I'm like, so I was making a calculation in my head.
At what point do I need to get in front of this
and just call eBay and just say.
This is probably not really going to happen.
And that is if you make that call, then you're admitting
that you are coming out and saying it won't happen.
And I kind of admire your choice.
You never let yourself have that option.
Yeah, but think about it. Think about it.
Failure was always an option.
I know we always say failures are not an option,
but that's actually not true.
Failure is the one default outcome, no matter what.
It's everything we do just to make that not be the thing that happens.
So I think it was always an option.
And I think that's what was looming up.
No, I don't even think that way.
I think failure is not an option, period.
It's not an option.
It's what would have happened if so many different things didn't happen,
which is OK. So I think it's OK that failure is always an option there.
It doesn't mean it's a good option.
OK, we were leaving the house on March 28th. OK.
So on March 18th, 10 days before I was supposed to go on a 900 mile trip,
I took the Jeep for the very first drive
10 days before a 900 mile trip and it.
Look, I'm sitting on the litter, litter box there, litter box.
Yeah. And it drove horribly.
It made no power dog like so its first gear is down to the left.
I'd go up and I try to go to the right in the second.
It wouldn't move laterally.
It would get stuck in its.
So the H pattern, right?
And it would just get stuck on this side.
And if you somehow got it over here, you couldn't bring it back over.
So what was it doing?
What did you think was happening there?
Well, I was praying that it was just a shifter issue, which I ended up being.
I took a file to the shifter and I was able to file it down.
And eventually it wore and now it kind of works, works OK.
But the power thing I was worried about because I took a vacuum gauge
to the engine, it was making no vacuum.
And I had just built this engine from 100, you know, 100 parts.
So it could have been anything, right?
It could have been anything.
Could have been.
I don't know.
That's not ceiling.
It'll. No, it didn't.
It didn't idle.
OK, you could hear that it sounded.
It didn't sound right at idle.
And and any load, it would stall.
So I was very.
This was 10 days before a 900 mile trip, my first drive.
And that was the point where I was like, should I call eBay and be like,
because here's the thing, even if it were to run well 10 days beforehand,
you could you still expect to define some problems like as you were driving it around.
Of course, I had assembled it from nothing.
There was going to be something.
And and then the first day I actually Griffin was there.
When I actually got it to run properly, that was on March 20th.
And let's talk about what that was, because they were OK.
So when the engine was exhibiting these problems, there were basically ways
it could go that could be catastrophic or shockingly minor.
And luckily, you had the minor one, it sounds like it was just a timing issue.
Right. It was just.
It wasn't timing.
I thought it was time.
So I just bought this distributor.
Yeah, it was a brand new distributor from a World War Two Jeep
supplier, and I figured, well, it's a brand new distributor.
Just set the points, right?
So I put this whole engine together and then I was worried at the last second
this thing doesn't run properly.
And it ended up being the dumbest and most obvious thing.
It was just the points gap.
That's it. I put a feeler gauge in there and set the points gap.
So they were just in contact all the time.
Instead of having the gap.
Yeah, exactly.
I don't know what a relief though.
How did you must have just been?
Oh, for me, it was like if it's not the points, it literally is something
internal and it's yeah, exactly.
It would be like rings or something.
You'd have to pull the whole thing apart.
Yeah, especially since I checked the compression, it was like 60 psi.
Part of me, I've done compression checks with compression testers
and I've gotten low readings like that.
And usually it's just that the gauge doesn't work right.
So I wasn't like freaked out, but like there was a combination of the two
where I'm like, the compression seems low and it's not running right.
This is bad.
So it ended up being the points and I still had a ton of work to do.
There were no seats, as you saw, I was sitting in the kitty litter.
No lights.
There was the fuel tank wasn't in at a gas tank, just strapped to the front
of the Jeep, right?
The exhaust wasn't in place yet.
So there was just a ton of work to do.
And then by the time I finished it, I had to leave.
And I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this trip yet.
Was it like how much of this was luck?
Because on one hand, nothing really went wrong.
We had a generator that had an issue and, you know, there's some vapor lock.
But for the most part, all told you actually came out shockingly good.
Like of all the things that could have gone wrong from literally putting together,
not just their new parts, but their new parts made by different suppliers
all over the world who never talked to each other.
And they were all mostly meant not to go together, but to go on an existing
Jeep on some point, like putting these new parts on the new parts.
Like if you have an existing Jeep, it's like having a jig or a template
where you know there's the one real thing and you can make the parts work and fit.
This you didn't have that.
You had everything like you used a phrase on the when you were on the smoking tire.
It's like tolerance pile up or something like that.
Stack up, yeah.
A concept I hadn't really like in my head.
I had vaguely, but I hadn't heard it used in a term.
And I feel like fighting that alone has to be huge.
Explain what that is for the good.
Yeah, I mean, so if you have an existing World War Two Jeep,
then you have something that you kind of consider pretty close to perfect.
It was built in the factory.
They manufactured pretty well.
If you're in my case and you put together a thousand new parts and OK,
let's just say 400 of them are new, 400 new parts.
Each of them has a certain tolerance, i.e. a certain variability.
So if you stack up the tolerance of each part,
you can get to a point where you put 10 parts together and it's not close
because they're and it's like, how is this supposed to be a square?
It's now, you know, a rhombus.
And and that it that was a challenge, you know, like.
The you know, the frame getting the body onto the frame
was a challenge getting all the pedals right.
And the. God, I remember going to the pedals.
The pedal was the hardest part because the pedal has this certain
tolerance to it, you know, its shape.
It's a very long pedal and it has the pedal shaft and the actual pedals
at the top and there's a certain bend to it.
And then there's the body, which has a hole in it in a certain spot.
And then there's the body where it mounts to the frame.
And there's the frame itself.
And so all of these different variabilities all add up.
So when you're building it from scratch, it's not a Lego kit.
A lot of people think it's a Lego kit.
For the most part, it is a Lego kit, but there are lots of times
where you're just like, I have to get a file, I have to get a grinder,
I have to cut, hammer stuff.
That was one of the hardest parts was just getting it all to kind of fit.
But I think in the end, I think the great thing about the World War Two Jeep
over almost any other car is that it can be so imperfect and you don't notice it.
Like I can show you what's totally forgiving.
So I can show you gaps, like differences in like the way the hood fits the grill.
And they bother me because I, you know, I did all the measurements and whatnot.
But no one can tell there's something about this sort of straight shape
that's totally forgiving in every way that the rear of the tub kind of
overhangs the rear bumper a little bit.
You can't really tell.
Like imagine if this any time people talk about like Teslas, right?
Oh, my gosh, look at the gap on the trunk, right?
Can you imagine like a tiny like one millimeter gap difference on this thing?
You would not be able to tell at all.
No. So it's one big tub.
Yeah, it's one big tub.
And then you got what?
Then you got the fenders and the hood and the grill.
And that's that's it for the body, really, right?
The body itself has to go.
It can't go that far forward because then it will hit the accelerator pedal
and it will literally put the pedal on wide open throttle if the body is too
far forward. So I had to make sure there was enough of a gap so that any amount
of flex it doesn't hit my accelerator pedal linkage and accelerate the car.
So that had to go a little bit back.
The grill is set at a certain point.
So I kind of got to a point where I was like, this grill can only be here.
This body has to be here.
So I now need to find figure out how to fit a fender between this body
because it mounts the fender mounts to the body and the grill.
And there was a point where I was just like, there's no room.
This fender is too big for this space.
So I greased the fender to try to like help get it in.
And then I just started whacking the top of the fence inside under the hood.
So you can't see unless you lift the hood and I just banged it in.
The great thing about it is if you look at the fender, it's actually super
under tension because in order to mount it, I had to just pull the fender.
Right. And none of it was describing a very slight arc like in the, if you were
to like look at it, is it like kind of down in the middle, just a little bit?
No. So the fender, it's like, this is the top of the fender.
And then it goes down, you know, okay.
Oh, yeah. I had to pull this back a lot.
And I had to use a bolt and I threaded the bolt to tug the steel.
And the thing about it is none of it matters.
You can't tell it all. The Jeep looks phenomenal.
It looks phenomenal.
Yeah. So it's all of this was this was our biggest project we've ever done
as a company and also our most important.
And and what are their, you know, their car site has built their own car from scratch.
I don't think one other car publication has an editor-in-chief
who will build a car from scratch.
Now, I'm not saying it's a good idea.
They're the amount of work that you guys had to do
while I was out wrenching was tremendous.
You and Matt or Sadie's, et cetera.
You know, grinding, making sure the site remained.
We just lower quality. It was easy.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you were you were not an editor-in-chief
for in this period of time. You were a Jeep manufacturer.
I was. And actually that that that brings me to the to the
how did you get this thing road legal?
Because I live in California, which a lot of people consider a very strict state.
And this is not a car that exists on paper.
Yeah, there's no Vin.
So I got this guy here on the east side of L.A.
He is the wizard.
He is truly the car wizard.
He if you just tell him, listen, because I just bought this
like reference Jeep with zero paperwork, I just went to the desert.
I bought this reference World War Two Jeep, $1,500 cash, nothing.
I had nothing. I went to this guy and I said, I bought this car.
I found this Vin plate on the frame.
I have no information, nothing.
And he said, don't worry, pay me 400 bucks.
You'll have the title of the mail two weeks and it came.
And so I went back to him and I was like, hey, I'm building a car from scratch.
What do I do? And he said, just give me the receipts and I'll handle it.
Give me 400 bucks and sure enough, like a month later,
I get two templates March and April, which are the months
where I need to drive this thing, because I left on the 28th of March.
So I'm like, so just so you know, you can legally drive anything
in California for a couple of months, anything.
Like think about it, this car, nobody knew anything about it.
All I had was receipts from eBay.
OK, I bought a body tub and an engine off eBay motors.
And that in California was like, cool, here's a couple of months.
Go drive it, go drive whatever the heck you built
in whatever condition on public streets.
That is insane. I cannot believe it, especially for California.
People wouldn't expect that from California.
It is draconian as they can be.
This is wildly permissive and I think a beautiful thing.
It is a beautiful thing.
And I also, in order for me to register at long term,
I had to take it to a CHP office, California Highway Patrol,
to have them assign a VIN to it.
And then they call it a break and light test place.
We're basically and I have to install turn signals, which is whack
because or we're too deep, wouldn't have had turn signals.
Yeah. And I want to play like Jerry's to know which way we were going.
That's why we didn't have them. That's right.
And so I have to do that.
And there's a break test, which I'm concerned about,
because it has to go from 20 miles an hour
to zero in how many feet.
I'm curious, what is the minimum?
It's from 22.
I think it's a hundred feet.
Twenty miles an hour to zero and a hundred feet.
That's that seems easy.
That seems doable.
Probably just drag an anger.
Yeah. No matter how many feet, I'm concerned about it.
Oh, here we go. Here we go.
25 miles an hour to zero within 25 feet.
That's a little more challenging.
That is challenging.
25 is close to the top cruising speed of this vehicle.
25 feet is not very far.
And I can have drum brakes on this.
I don't know.
I think I think the move is adjust the drum brakes
to where I can lock them up.
Right. So at 25,
if you can lock them up an hour with locked wheels,
you're not going to go that far.
No, I don't think so, either.
I will have to drive to the office
with my brakes like basically on fire.
Like that's how I'm tight.
I'm going to have to adjust them.
It was a crazy trip, but crazy project, crazy trip.
Ended up getting it.
I don't think people get how good the World War Two Jeep is off road.
I think it's pretty legendary.
I think maybe we're maybe we're taking it for granted.
But I think people do get it is the template.
Like you said, it's the template for almost everything that came after it.
Yeah, it is, I know.
But but but at the same time, like you look back and you're like, OK,
well, the 1965 Mustang was a template for a lot of modern pony cars and whatnot.
But it's different.
A 65 Mustang would be taken to Gaplebees by a modern Mustang.
Like it would be not close.
It would actually be considered pathetic.
But there's if you were to take a modern
not just a modern Mustang, like a modern civic, a modern anything would spank it.
Yeah, anything.
If you took a modern Jeep Wrangler base model, OK, stick shift base model sport
and you took a World War Two Jeep and you put them head to head off road.
I don't know which would win.
I legitimately I don't know which one would win off road.
And because it's not really a technological challenge anymore.
It's not like getting more power out of an engine or something.
It's basic geometry, right?
Like it's that weight that is angles.
And like that's it.
Like you can't like nothing is going to change as far as that goes over time.
I know a lot of automakers try to cheat this, right?
So when it when it comes to offroading, it's it's a game of geometry and gearing
and art and suspension articulation.
There's not a whole lot more to it.
There's traction and, you know, lockers are helpful.
That's kind of a modern thing.
And sway bar disconnects are a more modern thing.
But geometry is so important.
You know, a lot of modern cars, they'll have a really low rocker panel.
And they'll block that out.
So like, if you look at the modern Jeep Cherokee, for example, the KL is a good
example, the outgoing Cherokee, it's got a huge belly and it's really low to the
ground and they're like, well, but we have a locker.
And so you'll see all these videos of this thing in Moab doing amazing stuff
because it's got all this grip, it's got a locker and you're not really putting
the belly to the test if you're going up a steep incline.
So it can look impressive, but then you're going to high center it on a rock
somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah.
So that's right.
It's right in a variety of conditions.
Geometry is just the thing that comes, it rises to the top.
If you take a vehicle on a variety of off road terrains, so not just sand,
not just rock, not just woods, not just mud, all of it.
If you do all of it, the one attribute of the vehicle that you're going to say,
okay, this is the number one thing that matters.
It's just its geometry, period.
How much ground clearance is there?
How much, how short are the overhangs?
Its approach, departure, break over angles are everything.
There's tired grip, of course.
There's traction, there's suspension articulations, very important.
But the World War II Jeep succeeds in the area of Geometry, doesn't just
succeed, it excels in the area of Geometry.
It's so small and then it's got this spindly little frame that two people
can lift, just two people.
And it just flexes like a little pretzel.
That's the beauty of the World War II Jeep.
And the story of the World War II Jeep, I don't think people get.
It was like two dozen dudes in Pennsylvania.
Like, just remember where it came from, American Bantam of all places.
And if you look at the, that trace the Bantam back, it goes back to the
Austin Seven, which is even crazier.
Like it's like, by the way, Austin Seven is almost it's, that's almost
it's honestly the Austin Seven is almost its own podcast.
The Austin Seven led, it is responsible BMW, Nissan, Jeep, obliquely, like so
many companies, I know, I know the Austin Seven is very underappreciated.
Yeah, it really is.
You could argue it's one of the most important cars of all time, which
nobody would say absolutely could know, maybe in Europe, maybe in the UK, they
would, but like the Model T gets a lot of credit, but the model, the model T
design didn't go on to found all these different companies.
It's, yeah, it's, yeah, but that's okay, but it's crazy that like Bantam was
like a company with their backs up against the wall.
People weren't really buying what they had for sale anymore.
And tiny cars, tiny little cars.
Remember we drove the little Bantam delivery van back in the day, which was
the same, like that's the core from where the Jeep came incredibly.
And when they were designing the Jeep, did this is a small team?
How big was the team of people who designed the Jeep, David?
From what I understand, it was less than 20 people.
Jesus.
Okay, so the less than 20 people, what did they know going in?
Like the idea of these, like this ideal geometry that makes up the Jeep, you know,
great break over angle, great, you know, minimal approach, high ground clearance.
How much of that were they aware of going in and how much was just chance
that they happened to be starting with a tiny vehicle as all they had to play with?
When do you consider that these two dozen people
came up with the blueprint of every four by four that would ever come?
And they didn't in 39 days, you have to ask yourself, how is that possible?
How could the 16 dudes in Butler, Pennsylvania come up with the quintessential
four by four that would be copied by Toyota?
The Land Cruiser, by the way, what do you think the J is in FJ?
Yeah, the Toyota Land Cruiser.
Land Rover is a looked at a Jeep and just built a version of that.
Yeah.
And here's the other thing to remember.
The Nissan Patrol.
Yep.
But like these guys, those 16 or however many guys in Pennsylvania at Bantam,
you kind of keep in mind where they were in like the hierarchy of American car makers.
They weren't even close to the big three.
Like this was like a bottom tier kind of company at the time.
Right?
Like they were like if you had like this wasn't like a crack team assembled by GM
or Ford or Chrysler.
This was a bunch of bunch of barely guys who were barely holding on in a way.
I said on the smoking tire podcast, this is the next Ford versus Ferrari story.
You'd really understand how good of a story it is.
It's one thing for 16 people to have built an amazing vehicle in 39 days.
It's one thing for someone to build something amazing in short amount of time.
It's another thing if that vehicle ends up helping the allies win World War Two.
I don't remember which maybe it was Eisenhower.
One of the generals is said to have called the Jeep one of the three main
instruments to have helped us win the war.
Like it was that important.
And beyond spam and nylons, I believe, right.
So this vehicle goes on to help us win the war and it doesn't stop there.
It's not a dead end.
It actually becomes the blueprint for every major off-road vehicle you've ever
heard of from the Land Rover to the Land Cruiser to the Nissan Patrol, the Ford
Bronco, all of them, all of them.
You name a four wheel drive vehicle.
It was inspired by the World War Two Jeep.
And then other parts of the world like the licensed built ones in India that
became like the Mahindra Tahr and things like that.
The Mitsubishi Jeeps like all over the like globally.
This thing, it is astounding.
Totally should be a movie because like the army issued a they issued like a bunch
of requirements for what they wanted, right?
And of the companies that responded because like so Bantam responded with what
would later become the Jeep.
And then like Ford and Willys both had their own things that neither of them
really met the requirements, right?
Bantam came closest to meeting them.
Yeah, what did they have?
Bantam had, they had know how, okay?
They were taking Austen's from Britain and they were basically modifying them
for the American market.
Austen's were very small cars.
They were the experts in small cars.
Now, no one was buying small cars.
So it was just kind of a random expertise that didn't help anyone.
They were getting destroyed in the market.
They were losing money.
They were going through bankruptcy multiple times.
They had this amazing expertise that was useless.
And then the government basically said, we need this reconnaissance vehicle.
And they did give this humongous list.
They're like, here's the dimensions, the weights, et cetera.
This is what we needed to be.
And so a lot of how the World War Two Jeep looks, yes, was kind of prescribed
by the government and it's kind of the list of features that it wanted.
But here's the thing, everyone told the government not possible.
We're not doing it.
But what American Bantam did is they had the confidence to tell the government
what you're asking for isn't possible.
We don't care because we're the experts on small cars.
So we're going to tell you what's possible.
Now, imagine that.
OK, every other car company is like we we literally can't build a car
that weighs this little.
So we're out and American Bantam was like.
Government, we know way more than anyone.
Like we we know exact.
This is how much it's going to have to weigh if you want these features.
We're going to deliver it because you can try to turn us down.
But no matter what, you're going to get a worse because we're the experts on it.
So it was that expertise building these small British cars that gave them
the confidence to say, OK, there's this line item here.
Wait, we're going to straight up ignore it because it's not possible.
And we're going to deliver a product anyway.
And so that's what they did in 39 days.
They delivered this car to the government.
The government was like, yo, this is heavy.
And Bantam said, just suck it up because this is look who you're talking to here.
Yeah. And nobody made anything any lighter, right?
All the other.
Nobody told. Absolutely.
It was not possible. Yeah.
And that was it.
That was it.
They delivered this that this prototype.
If you look at it, it's a little bit different than the World War Two Jeep.
But if you look at it and you know what it is, like they American Bantam is
and will always be credited for developing the World War Two Jeep.
They they got kind of shafted when it came to the manufacturing
because they just didn't have like Ford ended up making a whole bunch of these things.
And Ford and Willie, by the way, Ford should not get.
Should should not.
OK, they came up with the stamped grill. Great.
The stamp grill.
Give him credit for that.
But the idea that Ford came up with the World War Two Jeep is the dumbest.
I don't even want to hear that.
If I hear that one more time, I'm going to say that.
Oh, my gosh, it's ridiculous.
It's totally ridiculous.
It was American Bantam and more than Ford, it would be Willis Overland
because that Go Devil engine was a Willis Overland engine.
What was the what was Bantam using for an engine?
Just the the Austin that like was that a pre-A series engine?
Whatever that engine was.
It's a good question.
I can't remember.
But it was some small, probably small British engine that was anemic.
The Go Devil engine was important.
It's not worth, you know, understating that Willis Overland's engine was a big deal.
What is the displacement of the Go Devil?
It's 134 So it's two point three liters.
Oh, that's pretty beefy and it makes 60 horsepower, which at the time is pretty damn good.
Sixty horsepower is about 2200 pounds.
2300 pounds.
Yeah, it's not slow.
It's got 488 gears and it's quick.
I mean, dude, imagine this.
It's the 1940s.
Let's just say you're you're a 18 year old kid.
You're living in like, I don't know, Louisiana.
You're still riding a horse.
Maybe you got a Model T. OK. Yeah.
And then you decide, yeah, I'm going to join the service
because you know what, I don't like what those Jerry's are doing over there.
So you join the service and they're and they're like, hey, you can have this.
And you look at this Jeep and your mind has got to be blown at this point
because even though it's primitive, it's actually unbelievable.
Back then was an absolute masterpiece.
What's what are all these levers?
Oh, there's a four wheel drive. Oh, I can I have four wheel drive.
Oh, yeah. Then there's a low range.
You have a low range gear to help you crawl incredible 60 horsepower.
That's crazy, like synchronized second and third gears like this.
Like it must have been incredible.
And then you got all these fun features like the gas tank is underneath the driver's seat.
You have to pull the cushion up and then unscrew it and then pull this tube up
and put the nozzle in there.
And then you've got these storage bins in the back, a glove box.
I mean, this thing was remarkable.
There was a tire pump underneath the rear seat.
There was an oil can built into the
I think it was on the on the firewall under the hood.
They had these headlights that could flip forward so you can you could then
illuminate your engine bay.
Like this thing was incredible in the 40s.
Holy smokes. I mean, I cannot imagine how a soldier must have felt,
especially from rural America driving a World War Two Jeep.
It must have been mind blowing. Truly. Yeah.
And I've always wondered if you were a soldier in World War Two.
Did you ever have like time to just like screw around with that Jeep and just off road?
It like, I know there are bigger things going on for sure.
I'm sure they did.
War is a lot of waiting between terrifying terrifying things.
So I bet there was plenty of time they did that.
I'm sure they raced them and did dumb things with them.
They had to have.
Yeah, I mean, dude, you know, 1941 is when they officially,
you know, started building the production ones for the war.
And, you know, we had some good cars in the 40s.
Like I'm not saying like this was the most advanced car in the 1940s, right?
For this to be like as a four-wheel drive vehicle, it was it was it.
There was nothing else.
And it's still it still holds up.
So I mean, the story of this vehicle from a historical standpoint,
the reason why this build, I think, made made a lot of sense.
And, you know, before this, before we started this podcast, I was telling you,
you almost can't win the Internet anymore, right?
You can't build anything interesting enough anymore
because everyone is doing crazy stuff on YouTube, you know,
those Russian guys at Garage 54, they're using all sorts of weird fuels
and weird things as wheels, wooden pistons.
Yeah, you cannot outdo the crazy Russian folks, you know, on YouTube
and just everyone, the builds are crazy.
And so you have to think outside the box.
And I thought this building it from scratch and it's rich history.
It's place in the psyche of the average American
and just everyone around the world, I think, made it a really great candidate
for this build. It's amazing. And you did it.
You built it from from just ordering parts online in boxes.
It's it's astounding.
Well, yeah, I'm very proud of you, David.
It's a big deal. I'm just now what do I do with it?
Now, that's the question. What would I do with it?
That's the question. What do we do with it now?
You know, when you at some point, you need to tally up how much it actually costs,
because I think what you can definitely prove beyond a shadow of a doubt
is this is the worst possible way to get an old Jeep or almost any car.
Like, it has to be the most expensive, ridiculous way,
not even factoring in your time.
It has to be the most expensive way to get.
Well, I mean, it depends on your perspective, right?
If you really want a brand new one.
OK, the question is what's the what's the value of this?
Like a lot of it was the engine, right?
So the engine, it's a brand new engine.
It's like probably over 10 grand for the engine.
It was probably closer to 15 grand for the engine.
Would you rather just rebuild an engine?
You know, you could easily just go and grab a used engine and rebuild it.
I decided I wanted a brand new engine.
That was a conscious choice on my part, because I just think
it having a new body and a new frame.
Are good.
But for me to feel comfortable calling it a brand new World War Two,
you have to have to be new. Yeah. Yeah.
You're right. It has to have a new engine.
So you can do a lot of what I did.
For, you know, for a good price.
I mean, these prices on eBay are they're very good prices for,
you know, for seat cushions and the top and, you know, all these parts.
It's if you just buy every single part.
Yeah, it's going to cost you a lot.
I don't think the takeaway here is you should do what I did.
I think the takeaway here is if you buy a World War Two Jeep,
you can get any part you need from eBay.
This is just no question.
So what are we going to do with this thing?
Is it going to be our company car?
So when I come into town, am I going to drive this around town
at 45 miles an hour max?
You're not going to want to.
I think we should get like a company like PT Cruiser or something
just so that you can go faster than 40.
Yeah. Could you imagine going, you know, sitting in traffic?
The 405.
This is sitting in traffic, especially in the heat in the sun.
You got no, no shade.
What's in there? Yeah, you just cook.
You just spray cooking oil in that frame and just cook you up
and let the coyotes have at you.
Because I'm trying to decide.
I'm trying to decide.
So on the long drive, how comfortable or uncomfortable was it?
The problem is I have a big gut and the steering wheel is freaking huge.
So it would touch my stomach the whole time.
Yeah. Do you have like a groove, like a groove just worn in your abdomen now?
It's permanent.
It's permanent groove.
Yeah. And that's there's no adjustment on that wheel.
Wait, can you go back to that picture?
Because there's the other thing of the sight line.
I'm only five foot eight.
Yeah. My head, like my eyes are pretty much lined up
with the top of the windshield frame.
You're basically looking at the windshield frame.
And if you're taller, you're looking over the windshield frame.
So this would be ideal for me, in a way,
since I'm a couple inches shorter than you.
Yeah. You know what's crazy?
My son is 15 months old.
He's maybe 30 inches tall, like two and a half feet tall.
Yeah. He can literally get behind the wheel and see like most cars.
Most cars can't do that. No, can't see it.
No, he literally can see the road ahead from the baby friendly.
These things were now his legs don't reach to be clear,
but from the actual like height of his face,
he can actually see, which is crazy.
Yeah, that's amazing.
I mean, I'm trying to decide this. OK.
Do I have to keep this vehicle?
I have two very similar jeeps and I have to decide
which one I want to keep long term.
And this one being a company vehicle,
we'd have to figure that out, right?
There's this little messy there. We'll figure it out.
One, I have a Jeep Wrangler YJ in really nice condition
that was my wedding Jeep. OK, I got married.
And then drove away from the wedding in that Jeep.
Yep, drove away from the wedding in that Jeep.
You can only do that with one car.
You can't go back in time.
And then there's this vehicle, which is a vehicle I built from scratch.
Yes, which one from an emotional standpoint?
Should I keep?
I mean, your wife probably would prefer you keep the YJ, I'm guessing,
because she's involved in that one too.
Yes. And this one maybe is just dark memories.
Yeah, so here's the thing about this, but you built it yourself.
That's the thing. Who else can say that?
Who can point to a car and say this didn't exist until I made it exist?
Correct. It's the only vehicle I will ever have built from the ground up ever.
There's no way it's ever going to happen again.
So do I pass on that or but then there's the other issue.
How do I actually feel about each of the cars?
When I think about the white Jeep,
I just think about my beautiful wife and that great wedding and all the
just joy that we felt that day and since when I think about the red Jeep,
I just think misery just on my back by myself covered in oil.
Oh, this is not possible.
This sucks. That's the one that keeps them.
Keep yourself humble. Remember the misery.
You know what we could do? This is a good idea, actually.
We're going to start doing this.
I'm going to start teaching a few off-road courses.
The Atopian is going to do some off-road lessons.
And the World War Two Jeep is the perfect teacher's car.
True. All the fundamentals are right there.
There's no no complicated, you know, electronic helper bullcrap in there.
It's just just the fundamentals.
Yeah, maybe we'll do it for that.
Maybe that'll be your it'll be the instructor's car.
Thank you for joining the Atopians Carbage Time with David Tracy and Jason
Torchinski. Thank you to Artless for all the music.
And thank you, Griffin Reilly, our video manager who makes us look good.
So that's it. Come back for the next Carbage Time.
We're going to probably have some hot takes next time, right, right, Jason?
Oh, the hottest, David. Scorching.
About this episode
David Tracy and Jason Torchinski dig into Tracy’s backyard build of a brand-new WWII Jeep using mostly eBay-sourced parts—an idea that started as a joke and turned into a life-consuming, family-and-yard-disrupting project. They discuss the logistics of doing it driveway-style (no shop), the scale of orders and parts, and the stress of partnership review with eBay Motors. Key setbacks hit right before a long trip, including early drivability and vacuum/power issues that ultimately traced to simple fixes like a shifter problem and points gap.
David has completed his WWII Jeep build using parts purchased on eBay, which was a gargantuan undertaking. What was it really like? How did we get it registered? What did it cost? David explains to Jason the background of all of this.
