It’s a Jeep thing

Sun City residents tool around the community in sedans, SUVs, RVs, golf carts, three-wheel bikes, and regular bikes. Occasionally they follow grandchildren who ride around on roller blades or scooters.

But have you ever seen any resident driving a 63-year-old U.S. Army jeep like the ones used in the Korean Conflict? It looks like it just came off the assembly line, because it’s been restored and rebuilt by a Sun City resident and his friends at a Hampshire auto dealership.

It’s for sale for $21,000, according to a classified ad that William White of Neighborhood 4 placed in the Sun Day recently.

White is a car enthusiast by his own admission. He’s 87 years old, and instead of retiring to a rocking chair or the golf course, he is still pursuing his vehicle-restoration hobby with gusto. He restored a 1966 Corvette once, and in recent years he has turned to restoring military jeeps. Along the way, he is re-living some exciting memories of his military service as a combat engineer in the Korean Conflict in 1951-52.

When the Sun Day staff received his ad, we couldn’t resist telling his story as part of our recognition of Veterans Day in 2015.

“I’ve been a car nut since I was young,” said White, whose energy, big smile, and cheery attitude all belie his nearly nine decades of life. “When I came to Sun City in July of 1999, I had another jeep, a World War II model built in the early 1940s. It had a trailer and I enjoyed driving it around local streets once in awhile. I also displayed it in a couple of classic vehicle shows put on by Cynthia O’Conner-Smith (former lifestyles director at Sun City), at the Prairie Lodge parking lot.”

White was a tool and die maker who had a shop in Elgin for awhile after he retired from the Army in 1969.

“My car hobby is not full-time,” he said.“Every once in awhile, I get a bug to acquire a classic car or old military vehicle, fix it up to look good as new, keep it for awhile, then sell it and move on to the next project.”

This latest venture began in 2010, when the restoration bug hit him again. He was surfing the Internet, looking for opportunities. Unbelievably, he discovered a ’52 jeep for sale.

“When I served in Korea, I was in an Engineer battalion and we built bridges and roads, fixed all kinds of things, and we rode around in World War II jeeps and trucks, because that’s all the Army had in those days. I knew that Willys Overland had contracted to build a new generation of jeeps for the Army starting in 1950s. I had never seen one, so I got real excited when I talked to this guy who lived out east. We agreed on a price and he shipped it here.”

White explained that this jeep’s body and exterior parts were in excellent shape, but the engine and undercarriage parts were a mess.

“I don’t know much about the vehicle’s history, but I doubt that it ever left the states,” he said. “It didn’t show a lot of wear and tear.”

He took it to some auto technician friends at Fenzel Motor Sales in Hampshire, who had helped him with his first jeep project in the ’90s.

“The guys down there love old jeeps, and they did a beautiful job restoring and rebuilding everything under the hood and underneath the body. They also repainted it and now it’s just like a brand new jeep,” he said.

White spent his later years in the army as a drill instructor at stateside bases in the ’60s.

“Now,” he said, “I’m getting older and I have to wind down. I can’t drive jeeps around Sun City too much longer…It’s time to start downsizing. This is probably my last restoration bug.”

The license plate on the jeep appropriately reads “EUSAK 51.” That means “Eighth U.S. Army Korea, 1951.” Symbolizing a guy with a keen sense of history and a love of vehicles.

By the way, White’s personal vehicle is a Chrysler “Jeep” model. Why not?

A 1952 M38 U.S. Army jeep, in mint condition, anyone?

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