EMMA : 1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101

wayoflife

wayoflife

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Hey everyone, Cindy and I would like to introduce the newest member of the WAYALIFE family - a 1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando, also known as a C101 due to it's 101" wheelbase. As you can see in the photos below, this old lady is still bone stock and if you can believe it, still running the original 160 horsepower Dauntless V6 engine and TH400 automatic transmission. While she does have a few bumps and bruises and even a touch of body cancer in the passenger side rocker panel, she is overall a very clean Jeep and one that we look forward to working on. Of course, the best part is that we were actually able to driver her home, on the highway and safely at speeds over 65 MPH!

Anyway, here are a few pics that we took soon after brining her home. :cool:
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Here you can see some rocker panel damage on the driver side of the Jeepster that might be tough to pull out. Fortunately, if needed, replacement panels can still be found.
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There's also a dent in the driver side rear quarter panel but, I think I can get this one straightened out without too much fuss.
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The rear tire carrier was a homemade deal and we'll be pulling it off.
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The passenger side is in much better condition but the hard top is pretty beat.
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The front passenger side fender took on quite a ding when the old mirror that used to be on the door smashed into sometime long ago. Fortunately, fixing this shouldn't be too hard and if needed, replacement fenders can be found. The part that sucks is that there's a small growth of cancer on the rocker panel toward the rear tire. This will need to get cut out.
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Here are a few detail shots of the Jeepster.
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This will give you a better look at the fast back design.
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A look inside the back.
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I know it's hard to look past the nasty upholstery (this is going in a hurry) but, here's a shot looking inside from the driver side door.
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Shot from the passenger side door.
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Surprisingly, the doors are very complete and both works great.
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Nasty sun visors will have to be replaced.
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Shot of the center console and automatic shifter.
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Amazingly, the dash switches and gauges all work.
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The floor pans have a rubber matting on them but, giving things a look from underneath, I saw very little if any signs of rusting through.
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Finally, here are a few shots under the hood.
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And that's pretty much that! From here, Cindy and I will start cleaning her up, remove some of the nasty stuff the previous owner added and then we'll pull off the hard top and crappy roll bar that's installed. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some simple parts ordered up just to make this awesome Jeepster Commando a bit more ours. I hope you'll follow the transformation and enjoy the pics we post up along the way :cool:
 
1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

Okay, spent some time today washing, cleaning and removing crap off of our new Jeepster Commando. Here are a few shots of what it looked like with the homemade tire carrier off. Kinda reminds me of an AMC Gremlin :crazyeyes:
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Cleaned up the inside a bit and started to remove the nasty upholstery. The vinyl underneath is pretty damaged but, for now, I prefer it this way.
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Shot from the back - super clean now. You can kind of see the sun visors are free of the upholstery as well. Need to find some replacements.
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1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

It was hell to get off but, we finally got the old dash pad or crash pad off. While the upholstery peeled off easy enough, there was a ton of old adhesive still on the vinyl and baked on. Removing it has been quite a challenge and we're still working on it. The good news is that for the most part, the vinyl is free of cracks, or at least, any major ones. Here's a shot of the dash pad pulled off.
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Here's a couple of shots of what we're trying to get off. Lacquer thinner is working well but, some of it is really stubborn.
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Not too sure if we're going to be able to get this glob off.
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From day one, we had wanted to pull the hard top and roll bar off of this Jeepster and figured now was as good of a time as any to make it happen. Shot of the cab area with the top off.
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Here are a few shots of what she looks like outside.
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Just how she was meant to look!
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1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

Spent some time yesterday cleaning up the old dash pad with the hopes of restoring it. Here's a shot of what it looked like with it's nasty brownish upholstery.
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After pulling off the upholstery, there was all kinds of old adhesive and glue baked into it.
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Spending a lot of time cleaning, we were able to get most of the crap off.
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Some areas proved to be a lot harder than others though.
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A couple of shots of the dash all cleaned up and painted black.
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TaDa! Good as new!!
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:cool:
 
1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

Gotta a chance to work on Emma today. Started off with installing a new set of arm rests on the doors. Here's a before shot.
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And here's an after shot.
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Also cleaned up and installed a set of new sun visors. Here's a before shot of what the old ones looked like.
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After painting the hardware and installing new sun visors.
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Installed a set of new hood latches. Here's what the old ones looked like.
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And here's what the new hood latches look like.
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Started cleaning up the old hub caps.
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Finally, our new low back seats came in today and I'm eager to get them installed.
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:)
 
1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

Okay, it's been a while since I've updated this thread and thought I should bring ya'll up to speed on what we've been doing with Emma. As some of you may recall, the floor of this Jeepster Commando C101 was cover with a dynamat like material and we were concerned that it might be hiding some rust or worse. Needless to say, we decided to pull up the matting to see what was going on underneath it.
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Unfortunately, our suspicions were right as we found several rust spots that needed to be dealt with, multiple holes that needed to be plugged and even a large hole with cracks radiating from it that needed to be fixed.
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This is the large hole with the cracks around it. Looks like it once was the location of an improperly made seat mount.
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Here's a shot of what the floor looked like after removing all the matting.
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Time to clean up the loose rust and prepare the holes and cracks areas to be welded up.
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With most of the loose rust removed, there were a few spots that broke all the way through and would need to be patched or cut out.
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As you can see here, I was able to clear enough rust to open up a pretty good depression but, enough metal was still present that I decided to just patch it. The gaping hole to the right would need to be repaired.
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Time to weld up some of the excess holes.
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Having a copper spoon is real helpful to with this especially being that the steel on the floor pan is so thin.
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One down and about a dozen more to go.
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Using a sheet of stock steel of the same gauge that I bought from the local hardware store, I cut out a piece and fashioned it to match the hole in the floor pan. I used a magnet to help hold it in place until I could tack weld it on.
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Taking my time, I was able to get it welded on and get all the radiating cracks stitched up as well.
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Cleaning up welds a bit to make sure they don't interfere with the installation of the seat mounts.
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I know it's not the best solution but short of replacing the entire floor pans, I felt that some POR 15 putty would do well enough to patch up some of the rougher spots.
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After sanding, cleaning and treating the floor, I applied POR 15 Silver on the remaining lightly rusted areas.
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Finally, after sanding, cleaning and prepping the floor again, I painted the entire floor pan with POR Top Coat to give it a nice finish.
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Next up will be installing a new carpet kit and new seats - stay tuned. :cool:
 
1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

There was some factory weather stripping that was in the blue color that came standard on this Jeepster and I spent some time getting them painted black.
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I also picked up some new door lock buttons to cap off the thread-all that was sticking up out of the holes.
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The carpet kit I got came with an insulating pad but, much like the carpet itself, it needed to be trimmed and have holes cut out of it to make it work.
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Time to repeat the process on the carpet.
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It took a lot of effort but, I was finally able to get the carpeting installed as well as our new seats and seat belts and here are a few initial shots of what it looked like when all was said and done.
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1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

Fortunately, there's a lot of support out there for the Jeepster Commando and as luck would have it, we were able to track down a set of 4 hub caps with matching (right color) emblems. After a lot of work with some steel wool and some chrome polish, here's what we were able to get them to look like.
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We were also able to find a new grill medallion in the same color scheme.
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Finally, here are some all around shots that we took soon after Emma's first drive since bringing her home.
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Shot of Emma's rear end with new pre-1980 Nevada plate.
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A few interior shots.
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Looking down and into the tub.
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Up front shots and up higher.
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3/4 mug shot.
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Head on mug shot.
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Looking into the smokey sun.
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New hub caps.
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Beautiful rig! Now all you need to do to complete your collection is find a nice FC.

BTW I get first dibs on Rusty.
 
Nice find. Makes me miss my 67 & 69. At least power brakes were added. It doesn't look like you have power steering on it. If your interested in the bracket and gearbox pm me. I still have a few boxes of stuff from mine. Here's a picture of when my jeep decided it wanted to go over the side of the trail instead of up the trail. Great find👍 ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1438643883.252986.jpg
 
jnabird333 said:
Nice!.... but now we have to visit again to see it in person ;)
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Well, you're welcome to come by anytime :cool:

10frank9 said:
Beautiful rig! Now all you need to do to complete your collection is find a nice FC.

BTW I get first dibs on Rusty.
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As much as I would love to get my hands on an FC, what I really want is an old Willys Jeep or even Willys wagon or pick-up. But, even the FC would work to complete my collection of manufacturers. Our Renegade is made by Fiat, our JK's were originally made by Daimler Chrysler, I don't like to count Cerbus but, Nemo was made by them, Rusty is made by AMC and our new Commando is made by Kaiser. :yup:

piginajeep said:
It's so ugly it's beautiful !!

Congrats you jerks !
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You got that right!! Thanks :D
 
HighwayTrout said:
Congrats!

Hands down my all time favorite Jeeps are Commandos.
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Yeah, we've been wanting one for a very long time and are so glad that we were able to find this one. :yup:

BentMetal said:
Nice find. Makes me miss my 67 & 69. At least power brakes were added. It doesn't look like you have power steering on it. If your interested in the bracket and gearbox pm me. I still have a few boxes of stuff from mine. Here's a picture of when my jeep decided it wanted to go over the side of the trail instead of up the trail. Great find View attachment 157346
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Very cool, I still need to go through the Jeep and figure out what I want to do with it but, I will for sure keep you in mind, thank you.

MR.Ty said:
Awesome find! You have a great collection going for sure!
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Thanks! I hope to add more to it someday :cool:
 
1969 Kaiser Jeepster Commando C101 : The Newest Member of the WAYALIFE Family

You need a 44 GPW. That is the ultimate center piece if anyone's collection
 
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