The history of DESPERADO

In the end of 1989 the time had finally come, I was going to buy my own Jeep. Because of the high exchange rate of the Dollar the prices of Jeeps where very high then. So I decided to buy one that needed a rebuild. After putting an add in one of the national newspapers, I found one. It was a Jeep CJ7 for a reasonable price,but in a terrible state. The owner had started grinding and welding, but was stopped when he saw how bad it really was. I thougt that I could do better and the deal was made. On the trailer we took my new wreck home and the rebuild could begin.

Together with my brother Herman We rented an old barn to create some workspaced and then I started to disassamble my Jeep. The body was totally gone, where the frame mounts used to be were only holes, without tools, only with the human strength of two men, we could lift the body from the frame. The frame needed some repairs also. First the frame was sand blasted, so we could see all the holes and other bad spots. After that all the bad spots were repaired and if needed reinforced. Finally the frame was galvanized to achieve the maximum protection against rust.

Everything exept the engine and the transmission was totally disassembled. All parts sandblasted and galvanized if possible. After that all was painted with two component epoxy coating. Everything that looked only a liitle worn was replaced with new. After all my Jeep had to be as new (or better).

The body was so bad that repairing it was impossible, so it had to be replaced.There were a few options: A good second hand body, a new fiberglass body or...... a stainless steel body. Stainless steel looked perfect to me, but stainless steel bodys were not for sale, so we thought that we could build a stainless steel body by ourselves, My brother Herman who is very experienced in forming and welding sheet metal wanted to help me with it. In fact it was so that the first year he worked on the body all by himself, while I was busy with the frame and the mechanical part.After that we finished the body together. And as I say it myself, the result is perfect..

After two years of work the body was finished, but the time and the lust to build the hood, fenders and grille from stainless steel also, was gone. I finally wanted to drive my Jeep, so for the rest of the parts I bought fiberglass ones. Before painting I fitted all the parts very precise, and I drilled all the holes that were needed later for assembly. On a small trailer (which was also the frame we builded the body on) we took the parts to the painter. After six weeks it came back in beautifull 'Pasadena Blue' and the final buildup could begin.

It took another few weeks of hard working to finish before the holidays. But finally op the 28th of July 1992 the moment has come, three days later then planned we could leave for a holiday in france and Spain. Before we left I placed the name DESPERADO on the hood, because that would be the name of my Jeep for the rest of his life. On the first day it seemed to me that the oil pressure was a bit low, but after two and a half year of work I needed a vacation so I decided to drive on and see how far it would go. And after all that was rather far. On the way back home,after 2000 miles the engine took his last breath, 600 miles from home. After one week Desperado was home again, and a new engine was swapped in. Since that day DESPERADO has given me many miles and hours of very fine Jeeping.