Michigander’s Moab Adventure, 15 Years in the Making

By Marcus Amick - April 26, 2017

Jeep

Jeep lover’s venture in preparing ’46 Willys to tackle EJS is as fun, fast and fascinating as the Utah event itself.

Every die-hard Jeep owner who has ever traveled to Moab, Utah for Easter Jeep Safari probably has some kind of personal story to share about his or her vehicle. In fact, we bet there are hundreds of them that go undiscovered each year at the annual mega-gathering. And yet, it’s hard to imagine any story being any more interesting than the one of Cole Quinnell and his 1946 CJ-2A. His military-themed model of the first civilian Jeep is as attention-grabbing as it is powerful, putting out 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque.

ALSO SEE: What Folks on the Forum Are Saying About this Build

In some ways, Quinnell’s journey to get his Flatfender to the 2017 Easter Jeep Safari is as adventurous as off-roading on one of the many trails in the breathtaking area in Utah. It’s an adventure of a different nature, a lot of which the Michigander has been documenting on his Facebook page.

Jeep - Moab

Let the Fun Begin

Quinnell’s first trip to Easter Jeep Safari, also known as EJS, was in 1997 after he acquired the CJ from a friend who had already stripped most of the parts off the Jeep. At the time, Quinnell was living in California.

“He had taken the ‘good’ parts he wanted off the Jeep and was ready to give what was left to someone who was going to make a planter out if it in his yard,” Quinnell explains. “I asked if I could have it instead and build it into a functioning 4×4 again.”

“I had no interest in trying to make the body on this Jeep nice.
My intent was to use this thing — and use it hard.”

Quinnell, who’d already been restoring hot rods, then went to work to find parts for the Willys CJ. The primary goal, he explains, was to build a reliable 4×4 capable of handling some of the hardest trails in the country.

“I quickly realized I had no interest in trying to make the body on this Jeep nice,” he says. “It would take way too much work, and then I’d be worried about damaging the body off road. My intent was to use this thing — and use it hard.”

Jeep - Moab

MA*SH Meets Muscle

Initially, Quinnell’s focus for the build theme for his CJ-2A was to make it look like he found an abandoned military Jeep and then scrounged parts to make it drivable. It gets its power from a 400-horsepower engine, which is what you’d expect from someone who builds race cars. But why a military-themed CJ?

“I probably watched too many M*A*S*H episodes,” Quinnell jokes, after mentioning that he’s always had a fascination with vehicles from the World War II era. “Before starting the build, I even thought about taking the body out to the desert and shooting a few bullet holes in it, just to add the right effect.”

“Before starting the build, I thought about taking the body and shooting a few bullet holes in it, just to add the right effect.”

Two of Cole’s friends jumped on board to help him tackle the project. But as you might expect, converting a 1946 Willys CJ-2A into a vehicle with 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque isn’t the easiest of projects to tackle.

“The first challenge is that a 1946 CJ-2A is extremely short; the factory wheelbase is only 80 inches,” explains Quinnell. “That means that you can’t fit a five-speed transmission or much of anything between the engine and the rear axle. So, the transmission we used in my Jeep is a late-1960s GM SM420 4-speed.”

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Finding Just the Right Fit

There were also a number of issues tied to finding the right axles, and the challenge of building a durable-enough frame for the Flatfender to do hard off-roading.

“A 1946 frame was not engineered for the type of use I had in mind for this Jeep,” he explains. “Some people patch and reinforce a factory frame, but then you also have to add suspension and steering box mounts, and whatever else for the way you want to build the Jeep today.”

The build also required working through some wiring issues as well. Then, making the project even more challenging, Quinnell set out to complete it in 14 days so he could drive the vehicle from Los Angeles to Easter Jeep Safari in Moab.

“A 1946 frame was not engineered for the type
of use I had in mind for this Jeep.”

Following another trip with his Flatfender to the annual Jeep gathering in 2002, it would take Quinnell another 15 years to get back to Utah for the EJS event.

“I tried to get the Jeep ready for the 2015 and 2016 events, but I didn’t get it done in time. Finally, this year, things came together,” he says. “I finished the Jeep and the folks at Unlimited Offroad in Fenton, Michigan, trailered it to Moab for me.”

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