Road back rough for 1958 Jeep
Albertan took on big restoration job — and he has the bills to prove it
Project cars are funny. Often they take far more investment in money, labour and time than the restorer really intended.
When the project is done, their owner can find themselves with profoundly mixed feelings. On one hand, a completed project is a triumph of determination and problem solving. On the other hand, it is the hard- to- justify expense.
Some years ago, Glenn Fry was on a business call to a ranch west of Calgary.
“I was collecting Jeeps at the time,” he said.
“I was buying them wherever I could find them. Everywhere I went I’d ask, ‘ Do you know of any old Willys Jeeps lying around?’ ”
It turned out this particular family did.
“The guy said, ‘ We have a cabover.’ He said it was pretty short.”
Fry knew right away that he was interested, because what he was hearing described was a Jeep Forward Control pickup, and a hardtofind FC- 150 to boot.
In the mid- 1950s, Jeep’s truck offerings were dealing with increasing competition as other manufacturers began to offer models with fourwheel drive, once Jeep’s exclusive specialty. The new truck designed by Willys, who owned the rights to Jeep, was a big change from the traditional North American pickup.
Instead of having the cab behind the engine, the new vehicle had the cab over the engine and front axle.
Called “forward control” in Europe, that was the name Jeep attached to its new offering when it appeared as a 1957 model. There were two models. The FC- 150 was on the same 81- inch wheelbase as other Jeeps and also shared their 134- cubic inch F- head in- line four- cylinder engine. The FC- 170 had a longer wheelbase and a six- cylinder engine
“The thing was absolutely hammered,” Fry said. “It wasn’t all rotted out by any means, but this thing had had a rough life. There wasn’t a panel that didn’t have a dent in it.”
Originally sold in Salmon Arm, B. C., the sure- footed little 4x4 pickup had been used by Alberta ranchers to check on their cattle.
“They were telling me stories that they used to winch it from tree to tree,” Fry said. “When it died, that’s where it sat. For 32 years.
“A smart man would have left it there,” he said. “We arrived at a price but, really, they should have paid me to take it away.”
Fry’s new project, a ’ 58, sat on his property for a couple of years before he found a welder with skills he felt were up to the task of repairing and restoring the FC. Using the cabs from another FC- 150 and an FC- 170, the long process of cutting the three cabs apart and piecing together one good one began.
“When I picked it up, the frame was broken,” Fry says. “It had a piece of angle iron welded in but it was cracked in two other places.”
In addition to the frame repairs, the engine, transmission and fourwheeldrive system were sent out to be rebuilt. A new bed and tailgate were found in New Jersey. Fry said there are few new old- stock and no reproduction body parts to be found. All that could be done in the interior was to use a material similar to the original, as there is no original material to be had.
Fry admits there had to be some compromises. The very complicated mechanical fan was replaced by an electrical fan, for example.
“It’s only got 75 horsepower and it was using 40 of them to work the fan,” Fry said jokingly.
An alternator replaced the original generator. The repaired frame was boxed at the suspension points.
“That’s not one- hundred per cent correct, but I built it to drive,” he said. “In the FC community, this is one of the most correct restored ones that you’ll come across. I didn’t screw around when I built this — and I have the bills to prove it!”
The restoration took close to three years, he said, and “lots of money.”
Somewhat triumphantly, he said his goal of taking the truck to get a tree for Christmas of 2014 was accomplished.