AM General FJ-8A

Picked this up for a quick winter project. The 6 banger was DOA so i've got a good SB Mopar and auto trans to drop in it, so far I've just got it stripped and I'm sanding all the old paint off of the interior. I also sprayed the front clip and chassis with some rust converter. The last guy painted the inside with housepaint and a brush. I like the super short wheelbase and the right hand drive.

 

Hmm you gonna be a good humor man?

 

Cool.

And as a bonus if the wife kicks you out you can live in it!

Jay

 

Judging from the look on her face when I hauled it home; that's a real possibility.

 

On second thought if times get tough being a good humor man isn't a bad idea. Are the coolers still in it?

 

ice cream man !
ice cream man !

oh.. Sorry, just had a flashback:d

 

Pervert!

(why else would he want a really fast ice cream truck?!)

 

Will that fit on an s10 frame ?

Rich

 

They were; I sold em.

 

what year is it?

and what motor did it have?

 

Nah, if I need that my wife is usually pretty willing. Our local car shows are flooded with musclecars and the occaisional t-bucket or tri-five Chevy. Nice stuff but nothing that really makes you say, "I've never seen one of those before." I guarantee it'll be the only hotrodded right hand drive ice cream van on the lot next spring. By the way, it's a 72 and had an AMC 232 six in it.

 

Sorry man. This was just on TV!

 

I parted one of those out, I kept a few little pieces like the little blister on the side of the engine enclosure, the seat and the "pre-reversed" Ross steering box.

 

Here's a few shots from today; I've got the firewall painted and the inside pretty well stripped. I'm rethinking the small block Mopar idea; I think something bigger may be in order.

 

Those were originally made for the US Postal Service. Painting it in a postal theme of some sort might be an idea...

 

Not a bad idea; I'll have to think about that.

 

My Dad had something similar. He had a bunk across the back and a tow hitch. Small block Chevy. He towed a trailer with it all over Baja, CA. Not cars. Building materials for charity projects he was involved with. It was stout.

 

Big Block Mopar!

 

454/502/572 Chevy w/4l80E, a stout trailer hitch and you can haul anything that's not rooted deeply in the earth (and look good doing it)

Frank

 

It's got a really stout trailer hitch on it. I'll have to see what comes up on Craigslist for a motor; thought about a 472 Caddy or a 440 Mopar. It's pretty wide open, there's room for just about anything. As soon as I get the interior painted and the dash/ brakes back together I'll start looking.

 

a nailhead would look good in there.

 

That's just plain crazy.... in a good way, though...

 

Thanks; it was just too weird not to save it.

 

440+6 engine. Nothing says "Holy Shit! Here comes the ice cream dude!" quite like 550 horsepower and a hot cam! The kids will hear you for blocks, and you won't need that obnoxious noisemaker that plays those ice-cream-truck tunes!

 

I was thinking of Van Halen's version of "Ice Cream Man" for the musicbox.

 

Just picked this up; the deal kind of fell into my lap. Think an Olds 455 with a TH-400 will move this thing around?

 

Looks like a winner, I tore it down and everything looks good other than a leaking headgasket. Cylinders, pistons, bearings all have very little wear. Hopefully a basic rering, valvejob, along with cam/headers/intake and she'll be good to go.

 

Here's a few recent shots; I got about half the interior primerd, I'm working on the back half right now. I really haven't had to deal with too much rust, just several layers of paint. Looks like it was white, then yellow, and then light blue on the outside. The inside was grey, then purple, then someone painted it white with housepaint and a brush.Lots of sanding.<!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->

 

I've been doing a lot of patching, trying to get the hidden rust taken care of. Above the windshield was bad. The old dash panel was full of extra holes from several add on toggle switches and it had a cable shifter mounted in it. I'm moving the shifter to the floor, plus cleaning up the wiring so I made a new panel. It'll have the speedo, tach, oil press and volts, along with headlight and wiper switch. The speedo has the fuel and temp incorperated in it; I'm leaving them as is. The ignition and heater controls will be on the center console. <!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->Started on taking apart the back today. There are some rear corner panels that bolted on; I was going to leave them on when I painted it but i decided there was probably a lot of rust under them so I battled about 20 1/4-20 rusted bolts and got them off. I'm glad I did, there was a lot of hidden surface rust underneath. Also changed my mind about painting around the winshield seal and pulled the glass. Found the seal at JC Whitney, of all places. Lots of ginding and rustproofing today, but I think I'm making good progress.

 

Here's a few more.