full restoration or leave alone with patina

[chesty]

My 52 willys m38a1 is forest green and has a lot of rust under seats, fender wells, etc took it to a friend who has body shop and auto restoration business ( think Kounts kustoms ) He said it would take a lot to repair and thought if I wanted no body hloes ie perfect tub I should do a repo tub. However he noted the perfect hood and overall patina and advised to " leave it alone" While am totally enamored with the patina and classiness of the " old corps" look I am interested in the feedback of all the veteran jeep restorers and owners on this site.....So please comment! I want to hear your thoughts!

[skyjeep50]

Depends on whether you want an authentic military vehicle or not. A repop tub will always be a fake, but it will look good. A patched original tub will always be original military, but might not look perfect. If the tub is salvageable, you might start with repairing the worst holes and leaving minor repairs for later. Fenders can be replaced if good take-offs can be found and it still remains military.

[Radtech]

I also depends how much money you want to put into it.Patching the existing body would be the cheapest and replacement floor panels are not that expensive.

[mdainsd]

I have a patina M38. Absolutely love having it.
Pluses: "Where did you get that old Army Jeep?" Draws lots of attention. I don't care if it gets a scratch or two. Always puts a big smile on my face. And, i love finding a part or accessory I want for it that is used and patina'd too. Even has the wrong hood on it, but so what?

Minuses: None that I can think of. I don't show my vehicles, and I don't care about anyones opinons of them.

Fix the floors if they bother you. Then enjoy. You can always go back and do a full restore later. They are original only once.

Here is mine.

thumbnail-7.jpeg (107.28 KiB) Viewed 2136 times

[Chuck W.]

It's only original once.

My barn-find mule, I love it's original patina.

[dpcd67]

They all have nice hoods; those rarely rust out, but the floors and body sides do.
Post a picture and we will know for sure how yours is now.
Rusted out floors, etc, is not patina.
Sounds like yours is not like the nice one pictured above; that one needs no restoration. Yours might, BUT, and this is only me, I would never actually pay anyone to do it; what is the fun in that? Either do it your self, which anyone can, or buy one already restored. A real body shop will charge you far more than it is worth, so if you have money to give away fine, but I don't. Which is why I learned to do them myself, long ago.
Anyone can mig weld and do body work; it is easy and rewarding. And painting military paint, any 8 year old would be good at it.
Mechanical; not much harder if you have a mentor. And ALL the TMs.

[chesty]

thanx for all the positive reinforcement to keep the patina. I was already parked there but needed the input from others experience and advice. I will post a picture as soon as I learn how to do it!

[dpcd67]

Take the picture. Save it on your computer. Then when you post a reply here, you see a block at the bottom "Attachments".
Go back to your picture and select it.

[Radtech]

If you just want it for a driver you can patch the holes with fiberglass kit from the auto parts store.It is simple you tape a piece of cardboard under the hole then several layers of fiberglass cloth and resin.I have done it on a CJ3 with rusted out floor board and tool box.You would never know it was patched unless you look underneath.

[Ken Perkins]

or JB Weld...back it up with painters tape 'till it sets...

[Radtech]

Unfortunately you can't patch large holes with JB weld.

[JMZ421]

I see "original" M38 floor sections for sale by military vendor on ebay.. You are much better off with original body and floor even if it's not perfect.
80% of the metal on the Jeep is the tub, replace that with new body and all the nostalgia is lost. I lkike the fact that WWII, Korean, and Vietnam veterans sat in my M38, on that original tub. John

[Joe Gopan]

Get rid of those 60+ years of added patina. Restore it, refinish it and get it over with. It will be more impressive.

[dpcd67]

We still have not seen it; no pictures, and we have no idea how it actually looks. As I said, rust is not patina and neither is jB weld. I like to make them look new again. Crusty old vehicles half eaten away hold no appeal to most.

[mdainsd]

Get rid of those 60+ years of added patina. Restore it, refinish it and get it over with. It will be more impressive.

Naw. Get a sea of restored M38s and one nicely patina'd original. See which draws a crowd.