Willard Battery Cover

1941 - 1945, Willys MB & Ford GPW jeeps, NO EBAY, Craigslist or COMMERCIAL SALES.
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Rustman
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Rustman » Mon May 24, 2021 7:18 am

claybuster84 wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 6:11 am
Do you still have any of these available?
Not yet. Hopefully in the next 45-60 days they will become available. We have to spool up and meet the outstanding requests first.

I see you are a new member on the G. So welcome! Have a good look around. Lots of knowledge here. If you haven't had the chance yet I suggest reading through all 20 pages of this thread. It is very educational. More than just a product for these Jeeps it is the story of a man who set out to have a better battery for his own Jeep and in the end made somewhere around 100 more for other people. Out of his kitchen as I understand it!

Mifflinburg Body & Gear Ltd. Co. has taken over now. But our first priority is fulfilling the standing orders that had been placed with Robert. Once we have cleared those and sorted some technical details we will be making more to sell. We will post updates to this thread.

Matthew
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/


Savannasbob1
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Savannasbob1 » Mon May 24, 2021 7:59 am

It was great to hear that Robert is still with us and working on his health, that is the most important thing in all this . He has developed a great product for us and l now we all appreciate that. Now let's see where the new process will bring us, looking forward to getting my two some day.

irakli
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by irakli » Mon May 24, 2021 6:19 pm

Savannasbob1 wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 7:59 am
It was great to hear that Robert is still with us and working on his health, that is the most important thing in all this . He has developed a great product for us and l now we all appreciate that. Now let's see where the new process will bring us, looking forward to getting my two some day.
Well said.I am so thankful to Robert and wish great success to Mifflinburg Body & Gear Ltd to benefit all Jeep entuthiasts.
1944 Willys MB
1978 VOLVO TGB 1111

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roblenzz
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by roblenzz » Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:44 am

I appreciate all of the response with this. The project is in good hands and Matthew will take it where it needs to go. I'm sorry that I just couldn't keep up with demand. I didn't realize it would be this big! In the beginning I thought maybe 15-20 but was I wrong! Time for me to get back to projects I've been neglecting like putting a new floor in a script tub.
'42 GPW
'43 GTB
'51 Dunbar Kapple M100
'42 Converto trailer
'42 Mk II USN bomb cart
'44 Mk III USN bomb trailer
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Rustman
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Rustman » Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:37 am

Good morning and happy Sunday to everyone. At Mifflinburg Body & Gear we normally don't handle any business on Sunday's. Emails and updates wait until Monday. Normally. But I know the battery covers have been a hot topic. Especially for those who had requested them from Rob via this thread. So here's the skinny.

We are working on it.

Turns out some of the products being used before are temporarily unavailable. Fun fact. When the power disruptions hit Texas back in the winter that took down refineries that make the base component chemicals in the resins used in the casting process. This disruption has not been entirely resolved still! We found another supplier and have been experimenting with their products. Yesterday we did our first test castings. Here's one. It looks great from the front but has some flaws that will prevent it from being for sale to anyone here. But you might find it in a "Seconds" bin at the Convention. Anyway, we are plugging away and wanted you all to know you haven't been forgotten. Here's case number X1.
fullsizeoutput_1515.jpeg
Matthew
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

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Ez8
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Ez8 » Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:38 am

They look amazing. It will be worth the wait for a high quality product. Thanks for keeping us updated.
MB# 215159 D.O.D 2-25-43
Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=96&t=209632

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ajlang
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by ajlang » Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:21 am

Looks really good guys. Cant wait to see the finished product.

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Michael O.
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Michael O. » Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:29 am

Looks great and I can’t wait for these to hit the market as I need several!
Michael O’Connell

Too many jeeps…and a Dodge.

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Tim Shanteler
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Tim Shanteler » Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:42 am

looks great...........
Tim

1945 WC-57 81674456
1944 WC-52 81750129
1945 MB 430629
1943 Ford GPW133609
1943 Ben Hur 0347395 (Gertstenlager)

Rustman
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Rustman » Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:26 pm

We haven't forgotten any of you. But I've been traveling for work and unable to work the cases themselves. But that hasn't stopped the work entirely. We are making some changes to the top and Bryan has been doing 3D design for us so we can make new masters. Here's just a teaser.
Screen Shot 2021-07-29 at 12.04.08 AM.png
We should have something to show at the Convention in two weeks.

Matthew
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

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Johnny
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Johnny » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:26 am

Hello Matthew,
I'm very interested by your repro of the Willard battery case SW-2-119. I have a NOS Willard battery case(with some cracks) with a different number (SW-1-90) made in the same period. The color that was used seems redder than the international orange (see photos)? What do you think?
Johnny
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Rustman
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Rustman » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:29 am

Johnny,

That's great! We were just discussing the color on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Here's a collage of three original pieces and a period piece of advertising. Same as you said, more red than orange. Seems the adverting shows a more orange color, but the actual batteries are more red.
907B3CDD-5B57-42BA-9A75-C7864DF6AE4D.jpeg
Matthew
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

Acoyle
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Acoyle » Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:51 am

Hi Roblenzz.
Are you still doing the Willard battery covers as I would really like to buy one from you.
If so would you be able to ship one to the UK.
I would need one to fit a 12v diesel battery.
I hope you can help as they are awesome and would look fantastic in my jeep.
And I’m sure a lot of the guys in my reenactment group would want one for their jeeps.

I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Tony

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JAB
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by JAB » Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:40 am

Acoyle wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:51 am
Hi Roblenzz.
Are you still doing the Willard battery covers as I would really like to buy one from you.
If so would you be able to ship one to the UK.
I would need one to fit a 12v diesel battery.
I hope you can help as they are awesome and would look fantastic in my jeep.
And I’m sure a lot of the guys in my reenactment group would want one for their jeeps.

I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Tony

Welcome to the gee. In case you missed it:
roblenzz wrote:
Tue Apr 27, 2021 6:52 pm
Hey Gents,
Sorry about my lack of communication... major life changes happening with me and had to go dark for a bit. I'm going to try and pick back up but I'm not sure I'll get
to everybody. I still have my list that I was whittling away at a while ago, i just can't guarantee that I'm going to get to everyone. I'm sorry. I'll see what I can do but I really appreciate the support and feedback with this project. And I apologize for not getting back to everyone who PMs me or messages me on Facebook, it just gets to be a lot.
Hope everyone is doing well
Rustman wrote:
Fri May 21, 2021 4:56 pm
Announcement!


Mifflinburg Body & Gear Ltd. Co. entered into an agreement to purchase in whole Robert's battery cover enterprise. 2 days ago to my home arrived nearly 100 lbs of original battery cases, casting masters, molds, instructions and the customer list of those still waiting. In the next couple of weeks we will be working diligently to cast and ship cases to those who have been waiting patiently. I've begun contacting you. Look for a PM from Rustman or an email from Admin@G18Parts.com depending. We will be honoring the price set by Robert for the outstanding orders.

Simultaneous to this we are also doing a lot of R&D, exploring alternative methods and materials. Robert has done an incredible amount of work and we invested heavily into that. But we want to go the next step. We have our ideas but want to hear from you as well. We would like to hear from owners of Robert's cases and learn what you had to do to get from an Optima battery and one of these cases sitting on your bench to a running electrical system in your MB or GPW. And for those who want Auto-lite and Delco we haven't forgotten you.

Matthew Picciotto
Co-founder
Mifflinburg Body & Gear Ltd. Co.
Admin@G518parts.com
-Jeff

GR8GPN2U!!!

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Rustman
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Re: Willard Battery Cover

Post by Rustman » Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:18 am

Time to give everyone an update. We have been very busy with other parts of the business and the MVPA convention. But here's a prototype I casted last week. Here I'm using the top elements from our other products to make a top to the case that is very thin allowing for an easy connection to the terminals. We aren't ready to go into production yet. But we are getting closer:
IMG_6617.jpeg
IMG_6838.jpeg
IMG_6839.jpeg
Matthew
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/


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