Mr. Fix-It-All Buys a Jeep Wagoneer for $2, How Much Will He Spend To Repair It?

So the Jeep expert went to see it, hoping to come back home with it up on a trailer. The vehicle had not moved a single inch for almost three decades.

James Aduskevich is the Jeep expert here. His YouTube channel looks like a collection of vehicles of all sorts, but mostly Jeeps. Mr. Fix-It-All (with a very low budget!) is going on a road trip to meet the owner of the Jeep Wagoneer, who was willing to sell him a 60-year-old Wagoneer that has been sitting in the exact same place for 28 years.

He took a trailer, a single spare tire – the owner told him he did not need more – and a $2 bill. Yes, you read that right. That is how much the man who owns the Jeep asked for his vehicle.

When James arrives at his destination, he finds the Jeep covered in rust. It does not have the original engine and transmission. The tires are buried in the soil, and the original paint is hardly visible.

Last registered in 1996 in New Mexico, the model is vintage enough to be cool and old enough to have everything mechanical on it. So, it still has a chance to be resuscitated.

James drags it out of its very narrow imprisonment. He has to dig around the wheels to help them move. When the wheels start spinning, they take vegetation with them.

Rust left holes in the 1964 Jeep Wagoneer

Rust has eaten up the sills and fenders, leaving large holes in them. The vehicle also needs a taillight. James instantly regrets looking in the cargo area, behind the rear seats, because there is the head of some animal, most likely a steer, in there.

The backseat does not look half as bad, and an ashtray for the rear passenger is installed in the backrests of the front seat bench. But those at the front need to be upholstered. The footwell hosts what is left of the wiring and some gauges hanging.

The glimpse underneath reveals interesting facts: a limited-slip differential, a Dana 44 axle, and a spare tire, but not a transfer case, which should have been there. All spark plug wires are cracked and there is a spark plug is missing.

The Jeep originally came with a column gear shifter, but this one has one mounted in the floor. There is oil in the oil tank at just the right level. A bit of fuel and the $2 Jeep starts running. Well, "running" is not exactly an appropriate term. But it is a sign that it is alive.

James tries to install a radiator from a 4.0-liter Jeep, but it doesn't fit, so he tries another one. He knows the makeshift piece will immediately overheat very fast, but all he wants to do is to see if the car can drive. That will help him decide what he wants to do with it.

$200, that's all James wants to spend to fix the Jeep

The clutch pedal drops to the floor, so there is obviously something wrong with it. A few tweaks in there, and the pedal works. James also removes the front seat cover by cutting it out of the car. While removing it, he finds the key, but apparently, that is not for the glove box or the ignition.

James is trying to fix the Jeep Wagoneer with as little spending as possible. He suspects that there might be something wrong with the transmission. "So, I am just ignoring it," he says.

He starts driving, but he feels like the fuel is not getting from the tank to the engine properly, and the car chokes. So, he is making efforts to make it flow through to its destination.

The driver's side front wheel needed to be replaced. James cleaned up the gauges so he could read them. The oil pressure seems fine.

Once he starts driving around the yard, he remembers he has no brakes. He is going to make some expenses to fix the issue. But he just started on this project and is determined to put it back on the road and drive his family in it, too.

He also has to get rid of the weird noise that the transmission is making and how the fuel can flow smoothly into the engine without the vehicle choking. However, he is only willing to spend 100 times more than he paid for the vehicle.

He only paid $2 for the car and $3.79 for a rotator. He did not include the burritos he ate on the way and fuel.