Yeah, I rolled the Chili. Not a good day. Could have been much better, but much much worse for sure. I was able to drive it back home from Moab with good stability at normal highway speed, but it seemed like I touched every body panel, and pushed the rear of the body down on the frame such that the door panels had a wider gap at the top than the bottom.

I like a pristine vehicle, so I am not a candidate for 'just wheel the piss out of it, no worries about body damage now!' strategies. And I have good insurance (a stated value policy from Traveller's).

Carnage: A-pillar, crunched every body panel, squished the passenger door, dented the driver door. Broken wheel from a set no longer in production. Broken main leaf (!!!). Body tweaked and twisted a bit overall.

Here it is at the second body shop, the first one's owner had a stroke and though he thought he could still work it ain't looking good for him <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

The A-pillar is complicated to fix:

Doesn't look so bad, does it? The side is pushed in though.

So, a body swap is probably the best way to 'cure' the tweaked body blues. I obtained this one from the first body shop owner, paid a bit too much no doubt, but to a good cause (he is a friend as well):


The body had unexpected bondo however, so a panel from the Chili will be pieced in for minimal bondo results.

Who is doing it? Do you recognize this vehicle?


That would be a Toyota minitruck, purchased as a frame and body, that Terry melded with the remnants of his Jeep XJ that had rolled. Fantastic bodywork, very good re-engineering of the front end to accept a coil-suspended solid axle, and XJ drivetrain (4.0 I-6).

He also happens to be a manager of a body shop, does beautiful custom work, and without a doubt 'gets it' about custom 4x4 vehicles.

On tap are Glassworks front fenders, custom opened and strengthened rear fenders, 1" body lift from Roger Brown, and of course, red paint.

Stay tuned for the release of Red Chili 2.5

Sorry to hear about the rollover! Glad you're taking the opportunity to make 'er better than ever, looking forward to seeing the progress <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

why taller?

For not having an interior cage the damage is really not too bad. I'm super anal too but hell, I'd straighten the A piilar enough to seal a new windshield and call it a day. It may happen again. Was the hardtop on?

NICE to find a good complete body ..

Sorry to hear about the roll over. I can relate to not wanting a bashed up truck. Good luck with the repairs, it's good to see a cool truck live on.

Frank

This is what I would have done as well. Bill is kind of a perfectionist though. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Bill.....I think I may know a guy with a near prestine '87 body for sale up in Longmont.....if you are still looking, let me know.

The "If your rig isn't beat up-you are not a real wheeler", or now that it is dented I don't care anymore mentality actually does a lot of harm to our community. The non-wheeler will look at at bashed up rig and think that if the person cares so little about his rig, they definately don't have any care for the environment and are opnly out there to tear things up. I know what can happen on the trail, yet this is usually my first impression when I see a dented up rig as well. I am glad to see you are going through the effort to get your wheeling rig looking clean again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Are you going to Exo it once it is finished?