About the Old Girl

She was born in the summer of '69 in Ontario, Canada; titled in '70 in Maine, USA. She shares some traits of both a '69 and a '70.

My uncle is the first owner; after 35 years of pining for it I talked him out of it.

She is mostly stock; what little add-ons are mainly because I haven't found a true stock replacement. These are all interim solutions until she gets a true frame off restoration. Of course I'll document that all here. She's had a face-lift about 2004-05; lots of rust was removed and a big portion of the body replaced. Maine winters can be pretty harsh on steel.

Key bits of info:
- Engine - Buick V-6 225 cubic inch
- Transmission - Dana T-14, 3 speed
- Transfer Case - Spicer T-18
- Front Differential - Dana 27, 3.73 ratio
- Rear Differential - Dana 44, 3.73 ratio
- Wheels - 15 inch
- Winch - front mounted Ramsey MX-2000 PTO (dealer installed)
- Top - Meyer Steel top (dealer installed)
- Color - Omaha Orange

This blog is a record of what we do together and of course what I do to her to keep her in good shape...

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Bright eyes

Ever since I got her home the bezels around the headlights were an ugly blight on an otherwise beauty of a Jeep.


I looked around and tried the only "replacements" I could find online; but they were for the intermediate CJ-5 made from 71-75. They just didn't look right and didn't stay on either as it only slipped on -- the screws didn't align. One was lost while driving and after a "clink - crunch" sound I looked about and saw one gone. So removed the other and drove her for the last year while I looked for options.

Of course the first option was to find someone who could re-chrome the originals. That would mean that I sandblast them and then prime/prep them for the chrome. Nobody local for less than $100 so I decided to keep looking. Let's face it, enough of her is not original that having the originals on there are not a priority. I just want the original look.

So after one of my eBay scans, daily you know, just for "1969 Jeep CJ5" to see what's there I spotted bezels. They were listed for CJ2/3/early 5 so that indicated these were likely the right ones. And only $20 each! Buy it now didn't work fast enough for me as I didn't want to lose them, but they were shipped later that day. 5 minutes installing and now her face looks like it should.


Thanks for looking...