I just saw your 49 Mercury EV conversion collaboration on Rich Rebuilds Channel. I immediately subscribed to your channel and Stealth EV. That is an inspiring car and a gift to the world. Thank you!
Got to go on a tour that was hosted by Lee, what a nice man he was. Other than the obvious cool car stuff, I was especially impressed how clean and organized it was (they even mop the shop floors at end of the day!) Thanks again Lee!
You are doing what I wanted to do 20 plus years ago, so of course I love it. Being an individual with no shop right now, all I can do is enjoy looking. Great job on the craftsmanship, and the attention to the right details is amazing.
Thanks for the tore very cool stuff in your collection you never know when you have to pull a part from your storage yard. You are lucky to have worked hard to get your business off the ground and put many people to work 👍🏽 love it.
A great tour. Ive never seen so many Ford Broncos in one place. But the 1934 Airflow is my favorite. The 1937 Lincoln Zephyr I wouldnt throw out of the bed. Thanks for posting.
Jonathan, Thank-you so damn much for showing me the Aiflow after you got it. You are by far the man, Jonathan. The facility is larger ( square footage wise) than I thought. Great video. Wayne
WOW, Very Impressive. I can't believe how large your buildings and parts are, let alone your storage area. A lot of projects to come out of your shop. Congratulations.
One thing I noticed and thought was totally practical and awesome was the use of the Big Red Harbor Freight 5 drawer tool carts. In my most humble of opinions, if it works, why pay a fortune for a name. Hats off you you Jonathan and the crew at ICON for not being sucked into the mainstream Cornwell, Snap-On, MAC, S&K, Matco band wagon. I love the work you do and some of your ques have been "borrowed" in much simpler aspects to my own vehicles. The simplistic yet very useful and practical implementation of tech and old "Skool". Kudos!! Zip~
Guys that are just starting off will go with harbor freight because that's what they can afford. They'll soon discover that stuff is junk and hard to work with, so they wind up over time, dedicating larger chunks of their paychecks for nicer tools. No different than a $200 walmart bicycle vs. a $5K ride. Both are just bikes...
Mr Ward I love your brand. At 50 years old I use to take old model cars and put them on new drive trains. Wish I had the brains years ago to start a business. You guys are kick ass.
Great Video ! A beautiful tour of your clean, well organized, and huge shop ! Thanks Jonathan ! To create wonderful cars you need that much room to build them. The shop has a logical order and very nice tooling machines and high-tech machines. You are a modern day Henry Ford, Dodge Brothers, Harley J. Earl, and Bill Mitchell among others. Of course, you are very well known as J. Ward in the USA automobile world ! I like how clean the shop floor is. Great maintenance department ! I like all of your future projects. Please keep creating and showing ! Cheers !
Awesome shop! Your work has been a huge inspiration on my wagoneer project, your attention to detail is unparalleled. I'm excited to see what you guys do on the jeep reformer in the back too! keep it up!
Thanks for the tour! Those future derelict projects look awesome with great potential :) Of all the stuff you do the derelicts and now th Thriftmasters are my favorites
Wow! Your knowledge of models, makes, years is incredible..Im not sure how a guy like you can meet any deadlines, you must still need to cruise back alleys and pull into 7 11s on your way to the office, to have a closer look at some NEW junk! Thank you for the tour !
I have watched you build some tremendous cherry cars! Geek on! Please! Offend away!! The patina on these cars the Hudson included are freaking awesome. I cant wait to see what your gonna feel and tweek on next! Thank you keep it up!! Bill
Jonathan, I found your youtube channel totally by luck. At first I thought you were a shade tree mechanic but man was I wrong! I love what you are doing and look forward to every single vid you put out!
I really enjoy your build style. Always have been a fan of the rat rod look, or Rat-ina as I call it. And your modern mechanical upgrades produce a one-of-a-kind, functional and fun-tional retro ride~!
I love your work and have been a fan for years. I have a custom '55 Nomad and a numbers matching '54 3100. Someday I will need something built by your fantastic company.
I believe I may have seen that pickup before you Robert. I remember because as the camera passed I could hear angels singing and my heart came to a standstill.
My first car was a round tail light 2002. So much fun to drive, very direct steering. It had a cloth folding sunroof and gauge pack from a CS. I can see it be completely insane as a reformer, with better brakes, suspension and power.
Jonathan, love what you do for the hobby. great to see all the pending projects...that said you suck grabbing all these great low mileage originals before me lol.. please do a video on each of the ones in line...it is awesome to see the before and after shots!
Love your work. I fell in love with Toyota trucks early on. My first car was a super clean silver 1989 Toyota 4Runner v6 manual with 10k miles, but being young and uninformed I didn't appreciate it and totally messed it up with stupid mod choices over the years I owned it. I'd absolutely love it if you guys did one of those to teach a younger me a lesson in appreciation.
I would love to see a video about your digital workflow (like CAD, CAM and maybe FEM). Thank you for this TH-cam Channel, the craftsmanship you put into your projects is really inspiring
It was good to see my old RR cloud 1 in the background. Please do a video of this project when it's done. The car was mine since 1984. Lots of good memories!
Love the process vids Jonathan. Weismann made the absolute best BMW based vehicles I've seen and driven - much prefer the 6 cylinder to the 8's. The suspension is magical and may provide some worthwhile inspiration for your 2002/1600's underpinnings. I'm wondering, with your AD and high-end client base, if there might be market for 40/50's cab-over flat beds for transporting vehicles (track cars and otherwise) - think powerful, high-speed (ish) diesel transporter which crosses mountains and long distances in comfort. Target market is car collector with numerous marks wanting to get his prizes to show, tracks, auctions, etc. These guys absolutely know JW, and want a JW creation, but maybe don't see themselves in your current product line. Maybe ring up Jay and Jony and see what they think.
What's the story on that 928(?) Porsche(?) at 16:36? Anyway, quite enjoyed the tour! Living in Tokyo now where I hardly ever drive, so the nostalgia of California and cars in the Old Country is quite nice to have via your channel.
@Jonathan Ward WOW! Your shop and your overall program, are amazing! I had seen a few of your appearances on Jay Leno's Garage, but I had no idea of the grand scale of your production operations. It's extremely impressive, how well conceived and thought out your program is. And the level of organization and cleanliness in your shop, and even in your inventory lots, is fantastic. Those are the kinds of details that set your company apart from most of the pack. Those are traits that I would want, in any company that I might consider working with, on a resto-mod project. It's just a commitment to excellence that results in the highest quality end product. I'd love to work in an environment like that, as part of a production crew, too. Looks like you have a kick-ass team!
Hello Jonathan, what do you think of a 1947 Buick Roadmaster Convertible in mint condition? I've done some research but still can't make my mind up, need your advice, please. I'm about to drop 90k for it.
Great looking car honestly. All is factory original and has less than 8000 miles on it. Not sure what you mean by "if stock be patient" 😓 I'm asking the owner to take it for a drive; any noise, feeling, etc...that I should / should not expect?
Excelente video muy detallado, tienen un taller super. Muchas camionetas esperando volver a rugir. Veo varias bronco, jepp, ford, land cruiser. Pero no veo hasta ahora una legendaria Nissan Patrol. Por que?? Saludos desde Perú
Nice shop - good tour. You guys do it right. Keep your 2002 Beemer as is. Icon needs to do Opel Manta's as a little car derelicts. Plenty of them around to support an ongoing line. Go crazy, or make them street sweet. Swoopy, flowing lines, big greenhouse and they have potential :D
Jonathan, I see you are using a Dji Osmo to do the filming. You can greatly reduce the 'bobbing' effect you get when walking by using the 'Osmo Z-axis arm'. Thanks for the tour too.
Seen a video with the Dudes doing the Roadkill . They did an episode and called it something like Roadkill Extra and did a walk through at one of their friends yards and that guy had a bunch of those BMW 2002's , like a dozen or more , just to let you know there is some bunched up , not sure what that guy is doing with them..... they are just sitting in a yard ....lined up ??? Great Video , awesome builds . I'm a Disabled Journeyman Truck/ Transport mechanic ( shoulders & Body wasted ) nice to see the excellence . Good work there J.W.
really nice of you guys build a Brazilian car, I'm a brazilian and I know that our car culture is very weak and every time i see people doing this type of restarations that somehow relates to us it puts a huge smile on my face ! (sorry about the bad english) You guys should do a Karmann Guia as a derelict !
Can´t help myself, but every time I see some new video, I can´t say other thing, that you and your project look very likable and inspirational ;) Regards from Slovakia!
Hey Jonathan, Great tour! I bought a new J62 in 1990 in Little Rock, AR when I was in the Air Force. Always wanted a J45 but, alas, settled for the J62, which I loved and kept for eleven years. Sold it for $11,000 in 2000. What are they going for today? Do you get parts from Spectre, are they still around. really like their diesel conversions. Thanks.
The Airstream might make a cool RV, ala the Dodge Travco... Saw one once with a 12 VALVE Cummins which was pretty sweet. I wonder if you ever use the original motor when that motor is kind of "Icon-ic"... I saw a '49 or '50 Olds 88 sitting in the woods with trees growing up around it when I was a boy (I'm 68 now) back in NH. Had the 303 cube Rocket V8, olive green with yellow lettering on the valve covers. First car I really fell in love with. Beautiful lines / shape, and that V8 motor back then was very desirable. It still inspires day dreams all these years later. I can see it all cleaned up, cammed, tri-power, headers, flowed. balanced... I was addicted to Motor Trend, and Road and Track as a teen, when Ford went to Le Mans, and beat Ferarri, I was over the moon! Carrol Shelby was God incarnate. The Daytona Coupe and the GT 40 were the most beautiful cars I had ever seen. Of course I could never afford to own and maintain such beasts, but in the late '70's I bought a '71 Pinto (a WHAT?!?!), the one with the trunk, not the hatch back. I know this is gonna seem really off the wall, but that motor was bullet proof. Easy to work on. Only thing was, the cam wasn't properly hardened and the lobes wore enough to cause it to make a very distinct clacking noise. I wanted to replace the car, I had paid $200 bucks for it, and couldn't justify just buying another car while it still ran. Plus it went through a foot of fresh snow like it wasn't even there. Anyway, one night after work, as I drove home from Springfield, VT to Claremont, NH; I put the thing into 2nd (automatic) and put the pedal to the floor. Took I 91 north to Ascutney VT with that motor wound out all the way and waited for it to explode. Nothing happened except it ran like a rather loud mil spec chronometer, and I swore I'd never sell the goddamned thing. I found out that a similar motor was used in sand rails for desert racing and that there were racing parts available for it. I conceived a plan for turning it into a GT (point) .40! Internals balanced and strengthened, two side draft Webers, header, Abarth style exhaust exiting in the centre of the rear. Interior redone in sheet aluminum, SW gauges, side windows out of plexiglass, roll cage, buckets with racing harnesses. Independent rear end, Koni shocks. You get the idea. I know, crazy right? Why bother? All I can say is when I picture that car in my mind, with the blue paint and the wide white racing stripes... I'd still like to build it. Maybe as a mid engine configuration... trans axle... If I had the dough, oh well. Go figure. In the song "Hangin' Round Here", from the album "The Tiki Bar is Open"; John Hiatt sings: "it's an old man's dreams that a young man fears. I learned that, Honey; just a hangin' around here..." maybe that's got somethin' to do with it. What ifs being what they are as the clock starts winding down.
Do you guys use aircraft type wiring harness connectors? It sort of looked that way, if so, man that's awesome, such a detailed thing but in the long run cannot beat the durability they offer, I know rally cars use aircraft connectors too as they're unlikely to fail with all the bouncing around.
![The Wall Song ร้องข้ามกำแพง | EP.215 | พาเวล นเรศ - พูห์ กฤติน | 17 ต.ค. 67 [1/5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IUzrjuf60P4/mqdefault.jpg)
There’s a lot to admire about this guy. It’s inspiring to see what he has accomplished. Kinda humbling for the rest of us.
I just saw your 49 Mercury EV conversion collaboration on Rich Rebuilds Channel. I immediately subscribed to your channel and Stealth EV. That is an inspiring car and a gift to the world. Thank you!
Man, always adored the '50 Packards.... And the Airflow coupe... This lot is Car Guy Nirvana....
I'm excited to see the Lincoln Zepher come to fruition.
As a Shop Manager for 35 years I have to say you have one sweet operation. Very very impressive. Enjoy all your efforts.
Got to go on a tour that was hosted by Lee, what a nice man he was. Other than the obvious cool car stuff, I was especially impressed how clean and organized it was (they even mop the shop floors at end of the day!) Thanks again Lee!
You are doing what I wanted to do 20 plus years ago, so of course I love it. Being an individual with no shop right now, all I can do is enjoy looking. Great job on the craftsmanship, and the attention to the right details is amazing.
Love you silly brand!! That Hudson pickup, WOW, beautiful!
Thanks for the tore very cool stuff in your collection you never know when you have to pull a part from your storage yard. You are lucky to have worked hard to get your business off the ground and put many people to work 👍🏽 love it.
Nice to see a shop with out all the drama or grab ass going on.
Agreed. The silly ass drama on those cable channels is pointless and annoying. I find that I'm alienated from those programs.
@@dougn2350 that's cuz those shows aren't for car guys.
You mean like a real shop? I've worked for dealerships and Independent....none of them are anything like the Discovery Channel.
I don't think I could afford a poster from this shop - but - I sure can look and dream.
Tracer- You too? !!!
A great tour. Ive never seen so many Ford Broncos in one place. But the 1934 Airflow is my favorite. The 1937 Lincoln Zephyr I wouldnt throw out of the bed. Thanks for posting.
Jonathan, Thank-you so damn much for showing me the Aiflow after you got it. You are by far the man, Jonathan. The facility is larger ( square footage wise) than I thought. Great video. Wayne
WOW, Very Impressive. I can't believe how large your buildings and parts are, let alone your storage area. A lot of projects to come out of your shop. Congratulations.
One thing I noticed and thought was totally practical and awesome was the use of the Big Red Harbor Freight 5 drawer tool carts. In my most humble of opinions, if it works, why pay a fortune for a name. Hats off you you Jonathan and the crew at ICON for not being sucked into the mainstream Cornwell, Snap-On, MAC, S&K, Matco band wagon. I love the work you do and some of your ques have been "borrowed" in much simpler aspects to my own vehicles. The simplistic yet very useful and practical implementation of tech and old "Skool". Kudos!! Zip~
ZippoVarga he also had pittsburgh engine hoist in the video. that's a harbor freight product as well.
Guys that are just starting off will go with harbor freight because that's what they can afford. They'll soon discover that stuff is junk and hard to work with, so they wind up over time, dedicating larger chunks of their paychecks for nicer tools. No different than a $200 walmart bicycle vs. a $5K ride. Both are just bikes...
So many cool projects on the go there! Absolutely love what you guys do
Many thanks for the tour. 👍🏼
I love Hudson pick up.
Glad you have an old Volvo also.
Sick shop, incredible inventory! love that Catalina wagon! Keep up the great work.
Mr Ward I love your brand. At 50 years old I use to take old model cars and put them on new drive trains. Wish I had the brains years ago to start a business. You guys are kick ass.
Love the changes to the shop Jonathan as well as the expansion. Keep up the great work.
I absolutely love what you're doing, from the Broncos to the Derelicts... I see your vision, and am a huge fan.
Great Video ! A beautiful tour of your clean, well organized, and huge shop ! Thanks Jonathan ! To create wonderful cars you need that much room to build them. The shop has a logical order and very nice tooling machines and high-tech machines. You are a modern day Henry Ford, Dodge Brothers, Harley J. Earl, and Bill Mitchell among others. Of course, you are very well known as J. Ward in the USA automobile world ! I like how clean the shop floor is. Great maintenance department ! I like all of your future projects. Please keep creating and showing ! Cheers !
Awesome shop! Your work has been a huge inspiration on my wagoneer project, your attention to detail is unparalleled. I'm excited to see what you guys do on the jeep reformer in the back too! keep it up!
Thank you for the great tour and congratulations on the success of the business. Good to see so many folk employed.
love your work, amazing attention to detail. any true car guy can appreciate what you do
Thanks for the tour! Those future derelict projects look awesome with great potential :) Of all the stuff you do the derelicts and now th Thriftmasters are my favorites
Jonathon- What a pleasure! Many vicarious experiences you've provided me, through this 17 minute tour. Thank you!
Absolutely amazing. Making a living at something you love and giving others a cool job, as well as filling a customer's dream. Kudo's J. Ward.
Really great tour, Jonathan! Love the dedication for all those guys NAD gals, who just love the olde iron ;-).
just watched again you have some very nice motor's. thanks for video cant get enough of them.Tony.
I appreciate your aesthetic and the wisdom of refusing to compromise quality. Thanks for the tour.
Awesome, you are a gifted artist that the world needs around. Keep-um comin. And thanks for the tour.
I like Shop Talk. Jonathan, your one smart fellow. Thanks for the tour. Impressive!
Wow! Your knowledge of models, makes, years is incredible..Im not sure how a guy like you can meet any deadlines, you must still need to cruise back alleys and pull into 7 11s on your way to the office, to have a closer look at some NEW junk! Thank you for the tour !
JW. Eternally envious! Love job and your work. Bespoke retro updated improved automotive art!
I have watched you build some tremendous cherry cars! Geek on! Please! Offend away!! The patina on these cars the Hudson included are freaking awesome. I cant wait to see what your gonna feel and tweek on next! Thank you keep it up!! Bill
It's really frustrating to see a great channel like this doesn't have much views considering all the car freaks around the globe .
Loved the tour. Amazing number of cool cars you have out in the yard.
Love It.. Can't wait to see the Suburban AND the F250..
Jonathan, I found your youtube channel totally by luck. At first I thought you were a shade tree mechanic but man was I wrong!
I love what you are doing and look forward to every single vid you put out!
That white delivery truck towards the end made by Ward, that is Ward Body Works that used to make school bus bodies.
I really enjoy your build style. Always have been a fan of the rat rod look, or Rat-ina as I call it. And your modern mechanical upgrades produce a one-of-a-kind, functional and fun-tional retro ride~!
That has been the best shop tour in both, in depth and high quality video I've ever seen! I would love too see what happens to that 70s Ford!
enjoyed the tour very much thank you all kinds projects awsome job Jonathan
Hello from New Zealand ...Thanks for the tour ...
Ive seen a few of your Resto-Mods, Awesome, Awesome work.....Love that Merc tesla killer, cant wait to see it rollin......
Love it! Love your work. Love your approach.
now this guy knows how to organize things. impressive operation. J.W for Prez!
@Kurt Foster
Damn straight! Impressive, indeed.
The derelict cars are some of the best car out there the work you do is amazing and inspiring
Love your work, best wishes from the UK.
Those ICON RestoMods are outrageously beautiful. Look original and blow the doors off everything out there.
I love your work and have been a fan for years.
I have a custom '55 Nomad and a numbers matching '54 3100.
Someday I will need something built by your fantastic company.
Its a lovely work place John....overheads is huge....as the guys are getting your taste, they will grow as you grow.....thanks a lot for sharing.....
Fantastic video! Really enjoyed seeing how it all works and the amount Broncos you keep in stock.
Hard to believe you could still find that many Broncos in that good of condition ! I rarely see things like that in Wisconsin .
Picking your 2002 to keep nice problem! So many choices so little time. Thanks for the tour
this guy has to be the coolest boss in the world.
don't know about that look at 16:01 that guy looks like he wants to strangle the boss after he called em slackers
Love what you do! It´s amazing! Following you from Aguascalientes, México!
Have watched this tour several times and love it. Of special interest is the Hudson pickup.
I believe I may have seen that pickup before you Robert. I remember because as the camera passed I could hear angels singing and my heart came to a standstill.
Thank you for the tour! I especially love the Derelict brand!! ... Can't wait to see that '47 Pontiac come to fruition!
My first car was a round tail light 2002. So much fun to drive, very direct steering. It had a cloth folding sunroof and gauge pack from a CS.
I can see it be completely insane as a reformer, with better brakes, suspension and power.
so good of you to keep doing these videos you rock! !! glad to see a humble guy have success
Great Shop, awesome builds.
Jonathan,
love what you do for the hobby. great to see all the pending projects...that said you suck grabbing all these great low mileage originals before me lol.. please do a video on each of the ones in line...it is awesome to see the before and after shots!
Wonderful shop and great work! Keep it up!
Love your work. I fell in love with Toyota trucks early on. My first car was a super clean silver 1989 Toyota 4Runner v6 manual with 10k miles, but being young and uninformed I didn't appreciate it and totally messed it up with stupid mod choices over the years I owned it. I'd absolutely love it if you guys did one of those to teach a younger me a lesson in appreciation.
I would love to see a video about your digital workflow (like CAD, CAM and maybe FEM).
Thank you for this TH-cam Channel, the craftsmanship you put into your projects is really inspiring
That 1947 Hudson red pickup is amazing!
It was good to see my old RR cloud 1 in the background. Please do a video of this project when it's done. The car was mine since 1984. Lots of good memories!
ICON meets classic BMW? That just might be downright amazing!
Love the process vids Jonathan. Weismann made the absolute best BMW based vehicles I've seen and driven - much prefer the 6 cylinder to the 8's. The suspension is magical and may provide some worthwhile inspiration for your 2002/1600's underpinnings.
I'm wondering, with your AD and high-end client base, if there might be market for 40/50's cab-over flat beds for transporting vehicles (track cars and otherwise) - think powerful, high-speed (ish) diesel transporter which crosses mountains and long distances in comfort. Target market is car collector with numerous marks wanting to get his prizes to show, tracks, auctions, etc. These guys absolutely know JW, and want a JW creation, but maybe don't see themselves in your current product line. Maybe ring up Jay and Jony and see what they think.
thanks for the tour! awesome cars
What's the story on that 928(?) Porsche(?) at 16:36? Anyway, quite enjoyed the tour! Living in Tokyo now where I hardly ever drive, so the nostalgia of California and cars in the Old Country is quite nice to have via your channel.
@Jonathan Ward
WOW! Your shop and your overall program, are amazing!
I had seen a few of your appearances on Jay Leno's Garage, but I had no idea of the grand scale of your production operations.
It's extremely impressive, how well conceived and thought out your program is.
And the level of organization and cleanliness in your shop, and even in your inventory lots, is fantastic.
Those are the kinds of details that set your company apart from most of the pack.
Those are traits that I would want, in any company that I might consider working with, on a resto-mod project.
It's just a commitment to excellence that results in the highest quality end product.
I'd love to work in an environment like that, as part of a production crew, too.
Looks like you have a kick-ass team!
Hello Jonathan, what do you think of a 1947 Buick Roadmaster Convertible in mint condition? I've done some research but still can't make my mind up, need your advice, please. I'm about to drop 90k for it.
Great looking car honestly. All is factory original and has less than 8000 miles on it.
Not sure what you mean by "if stock be patient" 😓
I'm asking the owner to take it for a drive; any noise, feeling, etc...that I should / should not expect?
1953 is also an excellent year for GM cars, especially convertibles.
I've had 3 of the 2002 bmw's. Love them as much as my yota.
Excellent , Love the old cars and old pick up's, we don't have this in Australia
Great tour, really getting to be a large operation. Congrats.
Thank You. great tour.
Excelente video muy detallado, tienen un taller super. Muchas camionetas esperando volver a rugir.
Veo varias bronco, jepp, ford, land cruiser.
Pero no veo hasta ahora una legendaria Nissan Patrol. Por que??
Saludos desde Perú
Nice shop - good tour. You guys do it right. Keep your 2002 Beemer as is. Icon needs to do Opel Manta's as a little car derelicts. Plenty of them around to support an ongoing line. Go crazy, or make them street sweet. Swoopy, flowing lines, big greenhouse and they have potential :D
Love the Icon work! Excited to see the EV Merc -- I'm in the process of converting my '50 Ford F1 to full electric as well!
Great video, thanks for the tour.
Jonathan, I see you are using a Dji Osmo to do the filming. You can greatly reduce the 'bobbing' effect you get when walking by using the 'Osmo Z-axis arm'.
Thanks for the tour too.
Amazing establishment i must say. so neat and organized.
Seen a video with the Dudes doing the Roadkill . They did an episode and called it something like Roadkill Extra and did a walk through at one of their friends yards and that guy had a bunch of those BMW 2002's , like a dozen or more , just to let you know there is some bunched up , not sure what that guy is doing with them..... they are just sitting in a yard ....lined up ??? Great Video , awesome builds . I'm a Disabled Journeyman Truck/ Transport mechanic ( shoulders & Body wasted ) nice to see the excellence . Good work there J.W.
Unreal collection of projects!!
Thanks for posting the shop tour! Saw the early video on Jay Leno. Loved it! Have subscribed! 😃
Mr. Ward! How good to see you. We, missed you. Keep up the good work.
Creates six figure rolling works of art with the same engine hoist that I have 😊 I love all your work thanks for sharing with the videos
really nice of you guys build a Brazilian car, I'm a brazilian and I know that our car culture is very weak and every time i see people doing this type of restarations that somehow relates to us it puts a huge smile on my face ! (sorry about the bad english)
You guys should do a Karmann Guia as a derelict !
Can´t help myself, but every time I see some new video, I can´t say other thing, that you and your project look very likable and inspirational ;) Regards from Slovakia!
Hey Jonathan, Great tour! I bought a new J62 in 1990 in Little Rock, AR when I was in the Air Force. Always wanted a J45 but, alas, settled for the J62, which I loved and kept for eleven years. Sold it for $11,000 in 2000. What are they going for today? Do you get parts from Spectre, are they still around. really like their diesel conversions. Thanks.
Cool stuff Jonathon...good on ya' Dude - we know it don't come easy!
As an owner of a very original 30s car with great patina, id love to know the process you use to remove surface rust and rejuvenate orignal paint.
Nice inventory of cars out in the yard. Like those mid-50s trucks.
The Airstream might make a cool RV, ala the Dodge Travco... Saw one once with a 12 VALVE Cummins which was pretty sweet. I wonder if you ever use the original motor when that motor is kind of "Icon-ic"... I saw a '49 or '50 Olds 88 sitting in the woods with trees growing up around it when I was a boy (I'm 68 now) back in NH. Had the 303 cube Rocket V8, olive green with yellow lettering on the valve covers. First car I really fell in love with. Beautiful lines / shape, and that V8 motor back then was very desirable. It still inspires day dreams all these years later. I can see it all cleaned up, cammed, tri-power, headers, flowed. balanced...
I was addicted to Motor Trend, and Road and Track as a teen, when Ford went to Le Mans, and beat Ferarri, I was over the moon! Carrol Shelby was God incarnate. The Daytona Coupe and the GT 40 were the most beautiful cars I had ever seen.
Of course I could never afford to own and maintain such beasts, but in the late '70's I bought a '71 Pinto (a WHAT?!?!), the one with the trunk, not the hatch back. I know this is gonna seem really off the wall, but that motor was bullet proof. Easy to work on. Only thing was, the cam wasn't properly hardened and the lobes wore enough to cause it to make a very distinct clacking noise. I wanted to replace the car, I had paid $200 bucks for it, and couldn't justify just buying another car while it still ran. Plus it went through a foot of fresh snow like it wasn't even there. Anyway, one night after work, as I drove home from Springfield, VT to Claremont, NH; I put the thing into 2nd (automatic) and put the pedal to the floor. Took I 91 north to Ascutney VT with that motor wound out all the way and waited for it to explode. Nothing happened except it ran like a rather loud mil spec chronometer, and I swore I'd never sell the goddamned thing. I found out that a similar motor was used in sand rails for desert racing and that there were racing parts available for it. I conceived a plan for turning it into a GT (point) .40! Internals balanced and strengthened, two side draft Webers, header, Abarth style exhaust exiting in the centre of the rear. Interior redone in sheet aluminum, SW gauges, side windows out of plexiglass, roll cage, buckets with racing harnesses. Independent rear end, Koni shocks.
You get the idea. I know, crazy right? Why bother? All I can say is when I picture that car in my mind, with the blue paint and the wide white racing stripes... I'd still like to build it. Maybe as a mid engine configuration... trans axle... If I had the dough, oh well. Go figure.
In the song "Hangin' Round Here", from the album "The Tiki Bar is Open"; John Hiatt sings: "it's an old man's dreams that a young man fears. I learned that, Honey; just a hangin' around here..." maybe that's got somethin' to do with it. What ifs being what they are as the clock starts winding down.
"Tesla Killer" is quite a statement and should be a very tall order! I would love to see more details as that build comes together!
Man I love that orange Bronco...I would love to see you guys do a Jeep FC150. Thanks for the eye candy. I'm saving up!
Do you guys use aircraft type wiring harness connectors? It sort of looked that way, if so, man that's awesome, such a detailed thing but in the long run cannot beat the durability they offer, I know rally cars use aircraft connectors too as they're unlikely to fail with all the bouncing around.