Full Size Jeep Network

I recently bought an old king ranch built hunting car and I dont know what yr it is but im thinking it could be a 1966 67 0r 68 but it does have 350 dauntless engine. Its pretty much a rust bucket and has alot of frame patch work. The inner fenders grille support radiator support and some of the under body is rotted pretty bad. So far I have all donor parts needed to restore it but need to get it hydroblasted to get the rust off. All I know that it was one of a few jeeps made by the king ranch for the family and other ranches in south tx. All the woodwork is cedar and oak..


I plan on restoring it to a quail hunting car. Here are some project photos.








So far I have rebuilt the bumper and started adding seat / grab rails and will start putting in dog boxes in the rear. I plan on either rebuilding the custom fenders or take them to a boat manufacturer to make a fiberglass mold of the fenders. Its gonna cost some $$$ to get it to an appreciative enjoyment. Its been a fun project so far

Some photos of when I started taking apart the body parts.



Here you can see the cowboy weld repairs....apparently who ever drove the son bitch drove it like they stole it to break the front of the frame in half on both sides and the welds were not to impressive either....so after a moment of crying....I sucked it up and went to town on seeing what I can do to get the frame in some what better condition.

Nice find. Waiting to see more

Pic of the dash

Rebuilt the bumper earlier this week. Im pleased with it.

Here is a pic of the driver & passenger side cluster fudge of patch booger welds.

Had I owned a torch...I would cut this stuff out but since im more concerned about maintaining rather than museum restoration....I plan on grinding them and rewelding the patch and throw some undercoating to give it a better look than an eye sore.

I stopped by a ford dealership and got some f250 shock mounts and replaced the old rusty ones.

The second picture is the one that I like the best . I would like to see the under side of the hood the way they put the
hinges on the hood and to the front of the cowl.

Very interesting creature...

The family that sold it to me have photos of prince charles and prince phillip riding in it. Also many senators and political people have rode in this jeep.

That looks pretty cool. I would try to get it back its former glory and park it in my living room.

Very unique FSJ. Glad you saved it.


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Thanks for the replies.

Progress photos from this past week. I rebuilt the bumper made side grab rails and started on a dog box for the rear. Later on il start rebuilding the soft top rail and get a top custom made.

Pressure washed some surface rust before I headed back to san antonio. Look forward to next weekend.

Cool project! I've been on the ranch a few times as well as the Kennedy. They know how to build a hunting truck these days!

Who ever built it was a cowboy welder and didnt really have much sense in making things last but it is what it is. I dropped off the fenders to get blasted and going to make me a new tie rod this weekend and finish the seat grab rails and add aluminum to the dog boxes. I want to do a disc brake conversion and keep the stock rims.

Ive been on the King and kenedy ranch many times and one of my close friends leases a large part of the kenedy ranch for cattle. Might have to stop by the king ranch headquarters to measure the top they made for wagoneers they have in their garage.

And pics please...

Since I dont have a garage to weld or work inside....it might rain tommorow so I just might help a friend finish building his quail hunting truck and if sat is a better day I should get back to working on it.

Ive been ordering parts and doing small odds and ends on it but now im moving on to the motor pull so I can take the jeep to get blasted on the rust spots in march.

After inspection of the jeep it looks like the engine has been completely overhauled and with a new clutch so thats a good start. I recently bought some cheap chevy headers but failed to do the research about the motor. Then thought I could custom make some flanges for the headers but thats gonna run into an expense for redoing the exhaust so the idea here for me now is to keep it simple since its not going to be a hard core offroad or daily driver just a jeep to go out in the pasture hunting quail and taking out clients for a south tx experience.

pull the motor this morning without any trouble.

I started making a tie rod out of some 1.5 x.250 wall but realized it was to thick for adjustment for a spring under application so im going back to a stock tie rod. I almost finished the dog box but needs to get some aluminum for the flooring.

For now im just gonna paint the block and slowly add some things to the motor. The fenders got blasted so I will start rebuilding them with some 14 guage plate.

Im also going to use the stock manifold just get them blasted and throw some high temp paint.

I started adding composite decking to make a tool box. Wished they had a brown color but turns out you have to special order a minimum so I went what with lowe's had. Just an 8 foot piece cost $23 and for a 12" piece is $30 so yah its expensive and should of went with aluminum from the get go. I also welded some 14 guage to close in the side of the dog box and added some aluminum plate for the top. as you can see for the bed its wood so im gonna add aluminum to the top and mount the box in place once its done. Its also gonna get blasted and lined.

Also my cat decided to sharpen his nails on my newly upholstered bench seat so I was a bit pissed but happens when you dont have a garage.