by Matt Konkle
Quadratec Channel Editor
MOAB, UT - The shining, dark cherry red Willy’s truck sat quietly in the Walker Drug parking lot on a sun splashed Monday afternoon. Almost watching, really, as day three of Moab’s annual Easter Jeep Safari event clicked along. Traffic hummed on Route 191, or South Main Street as the locals call it. Glasses clinked and music wafted from the nearby Mexican restaurant. Things were starting to pick up.
Less than 100 yards away, the Jeep concept show booth was a flurry of activity as workers put the finishing touches on demonstrations, moved around product and unboxed booklet after booklet. Cars pulled up and people got out – no doubt attracted to the giant Jeep signs.
And yet, after merely a few steps, their path began to veer as person after person noticed the Willys and drifted over to check out the interesting dark cherry blotch of color in an otherwise grayish parking lot.
Mike Schnell was talking as more and more people surrounded the truck. They pointed, whispered at its features. But the swelling crowd didn’t annoy Schnell. If anything, it fueled him. Not to mention, as the truck’s owner, he is used to the attention. In fact, he says, the truck sometimes can even stop traffic.
“Just this morning, we were headed out to our trail run and we just pulled off the pavement to air down and this truck is coming down the road the opposite direction from us and they spotted this truck here,” he says. “They jammed on the brakes and stopped, right in the road, and out comes a girl from JP magazine. She hands me this business card and says call me – we’re gonna set something up.”
There are certainly other Willys trucks around the area for EJS week. Some nicely restored. But what sets Schnell’s version apart isn’t just that he nicely rebuilt an old classic – its how he rebuilt that old classic. As well as why.
Schnell, 59, president of Maverick Oilfield Services Ltd. in Calgary, AB, took a 1955 Willys Truck and fused it together with the drivetrain, dash and other components from a 2014 Wrangler JK into something that has the ultimate in looks, while providing modern comforts and ride quality.
And all because of a challenge.
See, Schnell’s brother Craig was in the midst of restoring a 1952 Willys Wagon, but had veered off into focusing on employing a Toyota engine and Ford differential into the build. Mike suggested his brother should nix that stuff and instead keep Jeep DNA flowing throughout that vehicle. From there, well, you know how brothers get.
“(Craig) was telling me he was building this Willys Wagon – with a Toyota motor, Ford diff and all – and was fighting the frame,” says Mike Schnell. “Every frame he found was rusted through, so I said Craig, what you should really do is fix up that body and put it on a newer Jeep donor chassis, and keep it all going with Jeep parts.”
“So he said Mike, if you are so smart then you should do it. And I went, game on brother. You know how brothers are. You can’t turn down a challenge from your little brother. You wouldn’t ever live again if you turn down that challenge.”
With the challenge accepted, Mike Schnell began his vehicle search, eventually finding an all stock, no rust Willys truck advertised on craigslist. Soon after, he tracked down a wrecked 2014 JK Rubicon with only 10,000 miles on an insurance auction site, and he now had the parts he needed to implement his plan.
Vehicles in tow, Mike Schnell dropped them off at a trusted automotive shop called Fueled Toyz in Taber, AB, southeast of Calgary, and let them go to work. It took about eight months to effectively merge the two different era Jeeps together as the company widened the grille, hood and fenders to accommodate the JK’s 3.6L Pentastar engine, and reworked the bed in order to fit the JK frame.
For interior work, Mike Schnell chose a local Calgary auto restoration and customization shop, Cascade Vans & Interiors, and gave them an idea and color scheme he wanted done. They took the JK seats and secured them to the back cab, added leather throughout the cabin, incorporated the JK dash, as well as including small but unique shotgun shells accents around the cabin. They even installed a custom storage cabin to the interior cab roof complete with integrated lighting.
”They all put my vision into reality,” he says.
From there Mike Schnell added aftermarket parts starting with a RIPP Supercharger for extra power, then choosing a 3.5” Rock Krawler long arm suspension lift kit, 17” Fuel rims sporting 35” Toyo Open Country tires, Poison Spyder front and rear bumper, JW Speaker headlights, JK door handles and mirrors, and Rock-Slide Engineering power steps designed for TJ Wranglers.
“Those (TJ power steps) were just a guess that they would fit the body, as the body is curved and I knew the JK ones would not work,” Schnell says. “So we got them and put them on and they fit perfect. They just tended to stick a little, so I called Dave at Rock-Slide and he said come over, and they fixed it right up. Excellent customer service and I haven’t had an issue since.”
Mike Schnell even had shotgun shells, matching the interior, incorporated into the front hood ornament, as well as front and rear bed end caps. Plus, he installed custom Willys hub caps into each rim – including the spare. In fact, true to his word, just about the only non-Jeep part on the vehicle are the retro Ford taillights.
While he was thrilled with the finished look, Mike Schnell says there was one minor thing he would change.
“If I was gonna do this all over again, at the right stage, I would cut and make this back wall about four inches longer,” he says, pointing at the back cab. “These seat backs are permanently attached to the back of the cab, and we shaved it as much as we could, but it’s still a tight fit. I’m not a big guy, but if I were a big guy, then it would be a struggle to drive.”
For many, with all this work into the vehicle, they would probably just put it out on display only or maybe take it around town for some light riding. But Mike Schnell, who also owns a 2012 Wrangler Rubicon, says this rig is a daily driver, as well as something very capable off-road – something he can wheel around his local Calgary-area trails, as well as the red rocks of Moab, which he has done the past two years.
As far as restoration projects go though, Schnell says he feels this one will end his run.
“I think this one will definitely be it for me,” he says. “If I started another, I may not have a wife anymore.”
Vehicle Stats
- 1955 Willys Truck mounted on 2014 JK chassis
- 118” wheelbase
- 4800 pounds
- 3.6 Pentastar with RIPP Supercharger
- Automatic transmission
- 440 hp at crank
- Dual exhaust with catalytic converters.
- Fuel 17” wheels
- Toyo Open Country C/T 35” tires
- 3.5” Rock Krawler Long arm lift kit
- Oversized drive shaft and U joints
- Rubicon sway bar disconnects
- Distressed brown leather interior
- Poison Spyder front and rear bumpers
- Rock-Slide Engineering Power Steps to fit a TJ
- JW Speaker headlights
- Ford model A taillights
