1942 Willys MB "Jeep in a Crate" | JeepsterMan
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- Опубликовано: 16 мар 2023
- Experience a blast from the past with our Jeep in a crate! Perfect for the avid Jeep enthusiast, this authentic reproduction from MD Juan recreates the original WW2 shipping process. Join John from Jeepsterman as he takes you on a tour of this fascinating crate and its contents, including a fully disassembled Willys Jeep. Witness the precision engineering and attention to detail that went into creating this faithful reproduction. Don't miss out on this incredible piece of Jeep history - order yours today from Jeepsterman and relive the glory days of the iconic Willys Jeep! thejeepsterman.com/products/j...
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When i was in high school. I graduated in 1982, these were still available in magazine ads
In the mid 90s there was a phillipino missionary that came to our church and someone had sent them a crate jeep... a few years before. Not sure what year they actually got it though.
I was stationed in Germany in 84 we still had them on our tac site they were fun to drive
Grad in 82 as well, I used to comb thru the JC Whitney catalog looking at all the parts I could get for the military Jeeps.
They weren't available unless you ordered one through the mail, C.O.D., and actually received said Willys MB or Ford GPW. What it was was an ad for government surplus with a picture of a Jeep on it to lure you in.
Same here I graduated in 77 and I remember the kits in popular mechanics, mechanix illustrated and even backs of some comic books. I also remember seeing ads for old used WWII govt. jeeps advertised for $50-!? No idea what that was about except they were just old beat up worn out Jeeps is my guess
Post WW2 "Jeep in a crate" is not an urban legend, my father ordered one from one of my comic books, I think it was in 1960 but not certain of the date or year. I do remember my mom staying on the lookout for it, my dad's excitement as he opened it up and he& a friend of his hoisted it out using an engine hoist. He complained that the engine was only secured by 1 bolt but it was a complete Willie's.
Yep. I remember them being advertised in the backs of outdoor magazines and such. You could get them for next to nothing.
I recall the JC Whitney catalog on the last century offering complete new bodies for the flat-fender Jeeps. along with hoods, windshields, etc. Maybe even the frame?
It is an urban legend. The advertisement in question was found in popular mechanics and other magazines for decades. It was an advertisement for government and military surplus auctions. Sad thing is sending 49.95 got you a listing of government auctions that was available for free by writing to the proper authorities. There weren't many "Jeeps in a crate" but the ones that were packaged that way were primarily sent as lend lease items to the Soviets. Jeeps were normally shipped on ocean vessels in a stacked fashion no more than three high. If your grandfather did actually buy a "Jeep in a crate" he likely had the last remaining one the Soviets didn't use that somehow survived the war still packed in a crate. And if you know anything about the second world war in the Soviet Union- that is more than unlikely. I've done much research on this subject. Everybody knows someone who bought one of these things but unfortunately it just never happened.
@@DJeepThoughts Your information is erroneous in that it's incomplete! As I said before, it's NOT just an urban legend! When I was a kid in Cali. my dad ordered one from an add in one of the comic books he bought my brother's & I. I still remember he & a buddy of his using an engine hoist to lift it.
Then you need to figure out where it came from, see if you can find some old pictures or documents and compile that for posterity. So far no concrete evidence of anyone finding and buying a "Jeep in a crate" exists@@THEFAITHFULPALADIN
My dad bought one of these in 1965 and the old girl is still chugging around on our deer lease. We named her Nelly Bell after Roy Rogers jeep ours came complete and even had a spare transfer case and transmission and a couple of spare water pumps and a extra vacuum motor for the windshield. It hasn't had a top since we've owned it. Thanks for the memories.
Yup still at the cabin
😅😅I saw these advertised in some magazine in the early 90s. I guess it could have been a hoax.
Back in the 70’s I remember hearing the stories about those. Never could be in the right place at the right time. But I have one now!
My grandfather bought one of these surplus Willys Jeeps around 1957, 58. I remember going for a ride in it. Great time.
I remember in the early 70's seeing ads in magazines for a "Jeep in a Crate" for what I believe was $75.00. never could come up with that much cash but I dreamed about it.
I bought one in a crate at an auction at the Army Depot back in 1986 for $400. It was packed in 1951 and stuffed into a corner of a warehouse with a dozen of its friends for 35 years. I can tell you that the original crate was nowhere near as pretty as that crate, and mine came with the driveline installed, just had accessories and wheels/tires to install.
You bought a WWII jeep in 1986?
@@DJeepThoughts yep. They had it sitting in storage at the Army Depot since 1950. It was there to have communication equipment mounted to it but it never made it out of the crate.
And I don't suppose you have any records of that? If you did you could possibly be the first person in history with actual evidence of purchasing a "Jeep in a crate." So far no evidence exists.@@johndoran3274
Bull shit
@@johndoran3274want to sell it ?
My dad served in the Army in WW2. He once told me he could have bought a Jeep in the crate for $750 but opted instead to buy a Pontiac because he didn’t think the ladies would be impressed by a Jeep. After the Pontiac cracked a camshaft he’d wished he had bought the Jeep :-)
We need to sell jeeps in crates again. We have japanese importing used kei trucks into usa but we should really just bring back the jeep willys how it was instead. I livw where peoole like to offroad and an original willys but brsnd new is exactly what i need.
He was right, though. Those jeeps weren't fit for highway driving or for ladies. They were made for off-road, really dirt road, with hard seats and slow driving.
@@Havanorange Yea even back then he knew the Jeep was a tool, not really for civilian use. I think he was just lamenting about the good ol days.
I think, that surplus Jeeps cost much less than $750 just after the war. A surplus WLA Harley Davidson motorcycle was only $24.
My dad served in wwii also. He said they were selling jeeps for $50.00 when he got home. Like your dad, he wished he'd bought a couple😯
Dad had a real 1942 Willys that was a former military Jeep. It was small and slow but fun to drive. I believe we converted it from 6v to 12v. That old flat-head 4cyl was so easy to work on.
My grandfather bought a used civilian-style CJ after the war to use as a farm tractor. Several implements were made for war-surplus and civilian jeeps such as planters, cultivators and even plows. It served acceptably on their small acreage for several years, although it had a golfball-sized hole in the engine block.
I grew up in the Netherlands and in 1982 we visited a Army Dump and they Sold two Wiliy,s in a crate ! I can tell you they were not cheap. Also they had several Motorcycles in a crate . So I have seen them . Thanks for your great video.
After WWII my father testified at the war crimes tribunals at Rabaul, while he was there he bought a brand new Jeep for £5
He negotiated with a ship's captain to ship it back to Australia but unfortunately the ship had to sail before the Jeep could be delivered to the dock and it was left on the wharf
Oh no! 😢😂😢
Bummer! These are exceptionally rare in Australia
@@OffGridInvestor
I live in Grafton there are three or four around town that I known of
My Grandfather bought one of the 1943 Willys Jeeps. I learned to drive in it, in the back 20. Later had lots of fun with it at the hunt camp!
My high school buddy had a fully running one of these on his farm back in the 1970s. It was a blast to drive through the woods, ponds, and to abuse.
Classic, reliable, old school engineering! Little to no complicated electronics or computers. Easy maintenance. Nice! 👍
This one is so old school it doesn't even have an engine or drive train. Talk about old tech!
As a kid I watched a friends father take one apart and clean it and put it back together again then we drove it back in the woods man what that thing be worth now
4:17 .... That's a HUGE benefit ... not just including the frame .. but having the body pre-fitted AND assembled. You probably will take it apart again to fit the drive train and springs etc ... but fantastic it's mounted perfectly .. literally save you a half summer of Saturday afternoons !! :)
Adding to "the myth"... I grew up on a ranch and my father bought two of these, and one trailer.
They weren't $50 like most of the magazine ads claimed. The most expensive one was $300 but came with a trailer.
Both Jeeps were brand new, in crates. Assembly required.
Assembly wasn't a big deal. Absolutely everything was included... even battery acid that we had to pour in!
The only "flaw" was that the numbers on the sides of the hood were crudly covered with black spray paint. Fortunately it was fresh enough that it wiped off pretty easy with a rag soaked in mineral spirits.
My father bitched for decades that he paid too much. Then again, $300.00 was big money back in 1960.
We worked those poor Jeeps pretty hard but were also very meticulous about preventative maintenance.
I was the last kid to leave in the late 60s. My parents sold the ranch soo after I left for Vietnam. The Jeeps were left with the ranch. 😢
My best friend in high school got his for $5! Yes $5! His was also new in the crate and once we got it to his house, I helped him put it together.
He still has it!
Usually the stories you hear are... "My uncle's next door neighbor's best friend knew someone that bought one etc...
I can testify in front of GOD with witnesses that are still alive, that I personally saw, touched, assembled & drove three of these!
Obviously there were more as there were several in my high school parking lot too. (Some are even pictured in my yearbook.)
Bottom line, the "myth" has some truth to it.
Oh a neat thing I learned was... when goofing off & crashing one, it's easy to repaint the damaged area(s) with Rustolium brand paint.
Simply mix a 2 to 1 ratio of forest green with red oxide primer and you get a near perfect ww2 shade of O.D. green with just the right amount of gloss! Pinky swear! It works or my dad would still be kicking my butt!
Wow that's the most elaborate one yet.
My Dad and I went and looked at some Jeeps a guy in Rockford Illinois was selling back in the ‘70’s. The Jeeps all came cut into 2 pieces, the story being that the government couldn’t sell usable military equipment to the public.
This guy in Rockford would weld the vehicles back together and sell them. We didn’t buy one but I wish we had.
I did the leg work for all of you that was wondering........ $13 k for the kit in the "pretty" box. Alternate shipping containers are less.
In 1967, Tunick's Junk yard, in Stamford, CT, had many of those jeeps in crates. They were $200 each. I looked at them but, the problem was that the electrical wiring harnesses had deteriorated so that you had to make a new one. That was beyond my capabilities at the time. I remember them advertised in the backs of magazines at that time too. Good Luck, Rick
somewhere in that era you could buy most any Jeep parts through JC Whitney, including a harness and most of the metal
@@rupe53 You're right but, I didn't find Whitney until a couple years later. Good Luck, Rick
The electrical wiring harness would be like 6 wires in total. But, hell, if you need an excuse not to buy, it's as good as any.
@@erik_dk842It was reality. I was 16 and didn't know anything about wiring. My father was against it so, he wouldn't have used his truck to bring it home for me.
Surely you could've got an auto electrician or mechanic to make a new wiring harness. How much wiring could there have been?
My Dad said there was a guy going house to house back in the late 50s in the country selling WWII jeeps for fifty bucks.
Unfortunately, he didnt buy one.
By the way, the WWII jeeps that were shipped in crates had the engines and drivetrain installed.
From what I have read all you had to do was mount the tires, install the battery and fuel it up and you were good to go.
Back in 2010 when I lived in Alabama I spent the better part of a year restoring a 1950 willys Jeep, thank God the transmissions were easy getting correct part was a chore, but you have something like this that is not a rust bucket 90% complete wow that would have been a lifesaver got my attention for sure
My dad during his apprenticeship at lever brothers during ww2 built kit form jeeps
Very nice kit sir, My Jeep was a 1942 Ford Jeep I bought when I was in the U.S.M.C I was discharged in 2001 after second tour in the sand box.
Thank you for your service.
As late as the fifties you could buy a jeep in a crate from army surplus.
The jeep was used to the point that it wasn't cost worthy to repair anymore. The crate included the drive train with many miles on it.
I saw an article in a car magazine about someone who had bought one and restored it for highway driving. This was in the late '50s.
Bull shit
There are still quite a few Willy's Jeeps on the island of Java in daily use. There are clubs that go out 4-wheeling on Saturdays, and some mountain tours use them.
The MCLB Barstow annex in California has about 25 or so brand new (used) early models that where once ready to be shipped to Korea and almost all of them are sealed for long term storage the Corp used to break out a couple once a year for parades they only have around a few miles on them and they all have original issued equipment or accessories.
We had them stacked in front of the surplus store in Oscoda Michigan. They were 200 dollars in the crate. 1968
What was the store? I lived there in like 66-68. Never saw the store. I can’t imagine that with all the military up there. That they would have lasted 2 minutes. For Sale. I’d like to see a picture or add.
@@CSltz must have been a secret sale..
Very great Video...cool.
I love this. Thanks for this
I actually bought one in a crate in the mid 50's from the us miltary at Burtonwood Lacs. for the HUGE price of £45 😀😀😀😀. I built it and used it for some fun trips but got an offer to good to refuse. Good Memory though . Thanks for your film.
I remember as a kid in 1959 seeing the ad in the back of a magazine for a crated jeep and I'm remembering $450 at the time but I was just a kid. My older brothers dressed in war surplus in the winter when Army & Navy stores were in every town. A lot of our camping gear was WWII and Korean War surplus. We also played war with GI bring-backs like mint helmets and holsters. Hate to think how they got banged up. I remember a PT boat plying the waters of Lake George, NY as a kid. The war had been yesterday and the surplus was everywhere; I'm sure you could have gotten a CG-4 still in a crate back then. Too bad what had been everyday is now challenged as urban legend or myth. Time moves too damned fast and too many people today are out of touch with the past.
In the late 70's these kits were available thru some Army surplus stores. Two were purchased in my town.
This is super cool! Maybe a series of videos of you guys showing how to assemble it.
That's a beauty
Thats freaking sick! I'd love to see one of these used in a build video.
It's actually very healthy.
Hell, the crate and boxes are pretty neat too!
Back in the early 70's you could sign up for a Jeep-in-a-crate for $55, and be eligible to attend the auction. There, you would bid for crates of "jeeps." But, the caveat was that you never knew what parts were inside. It might be a crate full of fenders or a stack of frames, or some windshields and seats, etc. In the end, you had to preview a huundred crates to get enough parts to assemble a single working Jeep.
@OutnBacker Had a neighbor whose uncle had purchased Jeeps in crates via government auction circa early 60s. He remembered also, that you had to purchase a lot size of minimum 10 crates, but could increase lot size by 10, up to 100 iirc.
The uncle had a used car business, which aided in access to auction mailings/listings.
@@jamesthompson8008 I have been to auctions like that here in Australia. Some of the things I bought were crazy. I saw a really cool multimeter,in a canvas pouch . I bid on it and won,my bid being $15. What i actually bought was a crate full of the damned things for $15.
back in the late 70's a friend and I had a custom Van shop Cincy Street Vans. On our way to pick up a clients van we saw a WWII jeep buried to its axels in a front yard. We stopped and asked if they wanted to sell it. Nice old guy said if you can get it unstuck its yours. We got it out and replaced the brake lines tuned it all the usual stuff and it ran the little 4 cylinder was quite pepe. A lot of great memories with that jeep.
This stuff still exists. I met a gentleman who had numerous 1942 WGA Harleys in both olive drab and rare navy white! Still in pallet crates never used. He even had sidecars. Price he wanted was not crazy but I didnt have the money
My Dad bought a surplus British war time Army motorcycle unused in the 1950's Came in a crate. 😄👍🇬🇧
Back about 1986-7 I put 2 Jeeps together in the Army. My captain ran over his jeep with his tank , and sometime that same year we got authorized an extra jeep on our TOE for our XO. Fun, and a good way to avoid the detail monster. Could spend a week putting 1 together (if you tried;)
M151A2's IIRC
Very very cool...
3:30 The frame and welding is WAY better than Wartime Production!!!
in 1977 a friend (retired USAAC/USAF) at the Pima Air museum told of the time, I can't remember if it was in the US or the UK, just after the war when he went down to the docks and bought a Jeep in the crate but had to uncrate it on site and leave the crate....it was more needed
@jimvelde6041 I could see that, the military equipment far less important than the packing materials to get other items back to USA.
I'd read in a book about US War efforts that when the war ended, the government had absolutely no way of knowing the true inventory of materials/parts/supplies for close to a year or more, as so many things were in production/transit/supply at the time. At wars end, lots of planes were decommissioned with only the delivery flight time from factory to air base on them.
Looks good. Good video.
OMG, I would love to have a WWII Jeep!!!
Yes, war surplus Willys Jeeps were sold off by the gov't after the War and were still in their crates. My father purchased one in the late 1940's or very early 1950. It was used on the farm in North Dakota. My oldest sister learnt to drive in this jeep. My brother crashed it and it was later sold off for parts.
They were not in a crate
VERY COOL!!!!
I used to see adds for WW-II jeeps still in the crate in Boy’s Life magazines during the late 60’s and early 70’s when I was in the Cub Scouts and later the Boy Scouts.
Had a friend in the 80's buy three jeeps in a crate from an Army Surplus Store there were parts missing,. He had enough parts to build two fully functional Jeeps. They were $250 each.
According to my father he bought 4 boxes for the wood at a surplus auction. And inside was a complete Jeep. That was in the early 50's. By the time I was born (1959) him and his friends trashed it on Denman mountain Grahamsville NY. All the trails to the blueberries was put in by him.
had a 52 willys I bought from a South Dakota farmer in the mid 70s, loved that thing would go anywhere
This absolutely did happen, at least thru the 70s. A neighbor friend's dad bought one from government auction when I was a kid and I watched him open the crate.
Very cool!
Nice crate.
I could have used that back in the early 1980s. I had a rusted-out 43 Military jeep. The body was a total loss. We ended up with a frame, engine, transmission, and axles. Working on an extreme budget with a goal of having a functioning 4WD, we ended up buying a mail carrier jeep front end (fenders and hood) and a Wrangler body. To our surprise, all the holes lined up and we just bolted it all together (well, after we reduced the machine gun mount on the cross member). It ended up being registered as the 73 Wrangler. We sure could have used your kit!!!
Hey I’d love one of these over a modern 4 wheeler. Road legal and looks good
Actually, my dad gave me an actual WWII jeep that came from a ranch he bought in the 1950s. I grew up driving it and testify that it was beat up and had the original flat head four cylinder engine. It was a fun vehicle to learn how to drive.
Growing up in the 60's I can assure you they were very real and advertised in the backs of many magazines. We all lusted after them.
NICE . Very nice !!!!
My uncle got a surplus Jeep I think it was pack in cosmoline (?) and he used it to pull a rack of reel mowers then when he, my Dad and another uncle bought a hunting cabin with 400+ acres, it became the hunting Jeep to truck the old guys up the mountain to their stands. The engine cracked and my dad fixed it with “Liquid Metal” and it ran at least another decade, it was also a vehicle that us younger men learned to drive on too.
My wife is from the Philippines, and she grew up around a jeep cause her father was a "jitney" driver, had his own jeep/s, I believe he had several. She told me she used to help him repair them. I'm thinking I want one of those jeep in a crate someday myself once I get a different home with a shop or garage. Technically, a person could store one in a metal shed I think, like a 10x14 or 10x16.
Check out MD juan in the philippines,they make replicas.
I was going to say
My grandfather was on the wharfs in Auckland New Zealand ,during WW2when a ship load of jeeps in boxes were unloaded. They had to unpack some and a US officer, somewhat younger than grandad said he was taking too long and attacked the crate with a crowbar. The wheels had to be installed and fuel etc added but they were ready to go . They aslo Shipped air craft the same way. Theres a vid here on YT showing how a team was to assemble a Corsair (I think) in the field and get it ready for flight.
The vid I saw was a P-47...
You could order jeeps right up until early 80’s .. they sold for $50 but the shipping is where the price went up but it was still cheap.. you could order them from multiple publications I.e. comic books, various magazines etc
I have always wanted one
Amazing
Just found your channel and Subscribed. Nice jeep
Back in the early 60s there was a wrecking yard only a mile or so from where I lived and that guy had at least 20 Jeeps in the original military crates stacked on top of each other in a huge lean to area with Jeep frames and engines,axles and crates of parts.Lots of complete Jeeps from the 40s and 50s with their military markings.
That yard is gone now and I haven't been down that road in years.
So urban legend no I remember them clearly.
I was in the Marines 79-83, and occasionally the motor pool would get a new in the crate M151 jeep. Allegedly, the wiring harness was assembled, and the pistons were on the crank shaft, but everything else was wrapped and boxed. Procurement price in 1969 was about $900, from the stencils on the crate.
Those jeep bodies are made by MD Juan in the Philippines.
Yup... it took me a few minutes into the video to figure out that _md1_ is actually *MD Juan* ....silly closed-captioner.
Unless I missed it, you don’t address one of the most important questions anyone considering a “complete” kit like this should be asking, and that is how does one go about titling and registering it? Does it come with an MSO?
Really nice wood.
I remember in the late 70s they were selling these things complete in crates for $250. I begged my dad to buy one that we could put together as a bonding thing… but he was just too busy trying to finance his families needs.
I never felt I’ll will toward him, but I’ve always been sorry we couldn’t make that happen. Even more so now.
There were many of these left in Australia after WW2. Sent to auction & sold for about, (then), 10 Aust. Pounds.
My father said after WW2 you could buy large crates from Army surplus. People bought them to use as sheds, garages, or workshops. Many were delivered with military equipment still inside.
I was twenty one in 1967 and hung out at a Gas station owned by a WWII Marine Vet and a fire station full of vets and they all told me it was an urban legend. And I never saw an add in any magazine
very nice , I have seen the original assembly video with the crew ,they did it under 5 minutes I think
Id buy a Willy's over receiving a new Chrysler for free.
Good Video/Info.
There were ads for Army Surplus Jeeps in the back of Mechanics illustrated. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.
A freind of mine bouight on in the 1980's. Army surplus used. It was disassembled. Was widely advertised in magazines.
There use to be a add in Popular Mechanic Magazine from a place in Gulfport, Mississippi that had them army jeeps !!
When I was a kid, after WWII, I remember a lot of people driving surplus jeeps but they didn't come out of a crate.
I WANT ONE!! 😁👍👍👍
You could order them into the 70’s, I believe, because of the surplus. My grandfather was our local fire chief and ordered one to build a small brush rig. They used it until 2018.
I saw a video a couple years ago where some company was making complete jeeps like this includingdrive train and engine. I believe it was somewhere in the south Pacific?
growing up in the sixty's in Tacoma, Washington my old veteran neighbor told me after WW2 the army buried over 500 of brand new jeeps in a crate in the back of Fort Lewis behind their arty range
We had some stories similar to that in Australia. One went that Jeeps and whole aircraft in crates were buried somewhere outside Sydney in New South Wales (possibly near what was called "the Putty Road"). In WWII northern Australia (Darwin) was getting bombed by the Japanese and there was a real fear of invasion. 1940's preppers if it's for real. I'd like to think that someday in the future the urban sprawl will result in major excavations for new housing and infrastructure, and those relics may be surprisingly unearthed and be reassembled as museum pieces. Urban legend? Who knows.
Cool!
Very nice😊
I remember seeing these advertised in comic books, Soldier of Fortune and Gung Ho magazines for 400.00 dollars back in the 70's and 80's.
I was brought up in the 50s, 60s--during this time in the Popular Mechanics mags there would be ads for these surplus Jeeps--about $150(?) I was very much a fan of Military Surplus stores, several in Seattle, never saw orheard of anyone owning these units--Mikey, Belfair, Wa
this is very cool. Easily adapt the gauge facia for right hand drive. Fit Landcruiser drive train and straight six and you are good to go...
I had Jeep idis in my teens. I got a fiberglass body and made my own jeep from the ground up.
back in the 80s I worked for a guy whos family collected and restored military vehicles,,
for a side project for the shop was putting together a jeep set up like this one,
by the time I got there it was a rolling chassis and I helped put the engine and trans in, and set up the break system
I was going through wooden boxes like you have there for break parts and such,
everything was still wrapped with cosmo paper
it was all brand new and I am thinking it was a 41-42,
the funny thing is it was made for france and everything down to the stamps and labels on the block were written in french,
Ahhh man! Now if only they did this in CJ2A or CJ3A.
Sweet!!
Years ago, my dad told me about his buddy buying a Jeep in a crate back in the 70's. It was from an ad in the back of a magazine. He sent them the money, and when he received his 'Jeep,' it was just a rusty frame with some axles attached, and nothing else. I can't' remember what he paid for it :P
My uncle bought 2 in the 60s. Used them on the farm like side by sides.
My father with his partner bought four of them in the crates originally from the Vietnam era sold to them before they even had a chance to assemble them this is in the mid-70s he assembled one of them and his partner kept the other one
Jeep in a box after the war was a thing. My dad went to an auction as a young man in London Ontario and saw Jeeps and Harleys still in the crate never touched up for sale to the highest bidder
I bought one of these back in the mid 1990s, purchase direct from MD Juan, shipped in a wood create, I loaded it in my 1952 Willy pickup. I think I paid like 2500.00 for it plus shipping 750.00.
2:32 .. The no drivetrain Jeep is so versatile though ... you could make it 2WD or 4WD .. it could be Electric! .. or diesel, a full toyota drivetrain is popular ... you can build it anyway you want!!