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Mine has not been hacked up much. The front bumper has been replaced with a piece of channel but the frame rails are not hurt. The new"bumper" was only bolted with the two bolts in the end of the rail.I'm glad it was not welded on. Two holes, approx 1/2" were drilled in the metal panel between the grill and radiator to install two boat trailer type lights behind the grill.A hole has been cut in the dash for a radio , but no holes were made anywhere for speakers.The front half of the right fender appears to have been cut off with a air chisel.A bracket was welded to the right rear bumperette to attach a CB antenna.Like I mentioned in an earlier post a tailgate has been installed , but it was done well.So far I'm pleased with what I've been finding.

Here is one of my 41 Ford GP's that I had. There is a 1/2 thick steel grill. this Jeep came from Texas. Now after looking at this grille you might see the word WACO ? and if you need toe hooks, Just weld and weld and it should work. BTW if you need a extra tool box just get some 1/8 metal and weld. If you have a hard time finding a NOS spair tire carrier for a GP, Just find a 4 inch round tube, 1/4 thick and weld, it will work





I always say " if it wasnt for some of our great BUBBA's out there more Mv's would be in the scrap"

That box in the rear looks like an M38A1 battery box!

Usually those jeeps from Cattle country end up with huge cattle catchers on the front! My 42 GPW I picked up in Louisiana in 1971 had one with a 3" round solid steel bar stock bumper.

My 'A1 had CJ springs front and rear, with the spring mounts replaced with 1/2" steel plate bolted to the frame and the spring shackles replaced with ladder type raising shackles (steel flat bar with holes drilled in it). The front bumper was taken off and a 4" tube welded in place to the original bumper tabs. There is a brush guard that looks kind of like a WW2 style truck brush guard welded to the bumper with off road lights mounted to it (I kind of like the brush guard). The rear cross member received the standard 'welded on' hitch. Of course it was converted to 12v - with the wiring harness pretty much mangled, Douglas connectors replaced ans tossed out, alternator, oil pressure sender removed (the guy actually kept that, but tossed the temp sender). Rear lights replaced with 4" round (cut out the original tail light brackets). He added an early CJ5 hard top, windshield, and doors (which is, by the way, FOR SALE). I ended up buying a parts jeep with slight drivers side door way damage for the frame and a few other parts.

Stuff i found on my M38 when i started rebuilding it, the welds and bubba mods are horrible also found electrical wire used for throttle cable and used for shims in the clutch arm....Spent months fixing and rebuilding just to get back to stock....Enjoy

Bell crank tube cutout with channel welded in



Front bumper mod, cut away frame... had to rebuild frame


Engine mounts Welds are the worst i have seen



Under Gas Tank


Inner Fender holes everywhere


Filled 34 holes on drivers side wheel well


18 on passengers side wheel well


Tons of random holes in Firewall


Electrical Wire used as shim in the clutch/brake assembly

I love how bubba didn't even clean up his handy work after cutting off the cross member.

Wow iceman...seems Bubba perfected his artwork on your jeep...

Do these guys even bother to clean the metal before welding? Or even grind down what they do weld.

linx310 wrote:Wow iceman...seems Bubba perfected his artwork on your jeep...

Do these guys even bother to clean the metal before welding? Or even grind down what they do weld.

......Not Clean, over grease, never welded, used a old arch welder im sure and even had the shakes = welds on my jeep. i spent a full day with my plasma getting the old welds off

Bubba ruined the dash by drilling 76 holes in it so he could mount a 6 X 9 speaker inside the dash and the grill cover would look nice on the outside. I guess he didn't have a jigsaw, only a drill... Holes necessary for the tunes to get out.

I'll try to post a pic. It was easier to get another dash than mig up all those holes.

49T&C

I just bought a bubba'd M38A1 for parts. I believe I have learned some "Bubba" rules:
No wiring system is complete unless lampcord is used.
All fasteners must be 1" longer than required, so they can bend or rust.
Any part with multiple fasteners must use more than 1 type of fastener. If a phillips is used, the others must be a mix of slot head, hex head, or square head.
Any fastener on the firewall must have a nut. Bonus points for square nuts.
Window screen isn't just for windows, it makes fine reinforcement for bondo and as a bug screen for the radiator.
Don't throw away your old underwear, stuff it on top of the shift towers as sound deadening and water seal.
Creative use of metal plumbing tape for bracketry is encouraged.
No clamps? Just use steel wire. No wire? Twine will do.
Curtain hooks can be inserted into the wire loom to suspend it from .... something.

Well, quite a few talented Bubba mods on mine. Biggest was the insertion of an L 161 Willys Wagon motor (I-6) by cutting the rear of the firewall and building an underdash engine housing. Not the worst I've seen, and looks neat under the hood, but Bubba fabbed a large hinge for the accelerator pedal.

A few pics of the conversion...

And a couple more...

Your bubba is the Rain-Man of Jeeps.

Don't throw away your old underwear, stuff it on top of the shift towers as sound deadening and water seal.

i bought an m38 from above the salt belt, once i took the tub off i realized that all the original metal was rust and guy covered the entire tub with fiberglass tape stuff and bondo, I'll have to up load some pictures, cant stick a magnate on any part of the tub...at all.