Book Review Building a WW2 Jeep - Sean Dunnage

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by von Poop, Apr 22, 2021.

  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Building a WW2 Jeep.
    Finding, restoring & rebuilding a wartime legend.
    Sean Dunnage.

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    Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
    Pages: 272
    Illustrations: 220 colour & black and white illustrations
    ISBN: 9781526755506
    Published: 2nd March 2021

    To be honest, I was expecting this to be a little flimsy, as often seems the case with books relating to restoration, but how wrong I was.

    One Canadian man's honest and interesting diary of four years building a usable Jeep.
    He's not apparently a mechanic, though obviously mechanically competent, and runs the entire gamut from finding the base vehicle (which involves purchasing several machines until getting one he can really use) to final fiddling with gloveboxes and windscreen wipers.
    Not a complete step-by-step guide, which I imagine would be near impossible given the potential variety of types, but as close as you're going to find from the perspective of a normal non-professional chap.
    He isn't precious about deciding what to do. More pragmatic about using new and old parts to get as close as possible to the Canadian contract vehicle he's aiming for within a realistic budget & time frame.

    Crisp, clear, colour photographs on every page, showing details that not only interest nerds like us me, but I imagine might prove useful to people on the restoration trail. Also including screw-ups, after-market fitting problems, and how he solved them.

    It's very much his personal journey, as I assume all such restorations will be, but I found it thoroughly engaging, lacking waffle, and nicely produced.
    The sort of thing an MV magazine might cover as a series of ten articles, but much much better than that format could ever manage.
    Can't say I've learnt a tremendous amount about Jeep history. Many other books are available on that score and he makes that quite clear. Though I've definitely gained a far clearer understanding of how the things fit together

    Recommended.
    (And if you're restoring one yourself, it's never going to exactly match your circumstances, but looks like it might be very handy in pointing out a few potential pitfalls.)

    Cheers to P&S for the review copy.
    ~A
     
  2. Dan M

    Dan M Active Member

    Should anyone wish to communicate with Sean Dunnage, he posts under his own name on Maple Leaf Up dot net.

    There is a current thread about his new book which can be read at:
    http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?p=278464#post278464

    Cheers,
    Dan.
     

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