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Volume 1, Issue 1 August 1999
The Toronto Star WHEELS Saturday, August 28, 1999 By Brian Dexter Staff Reporter If you fancy zipping around in
a World War II Jeep you just might like to meet Markus Schneider. The 31-year-old sheet metal
worker and welder has turned his hobby of restoring such vehicles into a
full-time job. On his rural 11-acre property
at Coulson, off Horseshoe Valley Rd. west of Orillia, Schneider has a
treasure trove of 45 old Jeeps, most of them waiting to be refurbished. His workshop, home basement
and a barn also house thousands of parts for the Jeeps and many of them,
like fuel filters and tires, are brand new, some even with original
packaging. At one time he was a
professional racing driver sponsored by BMW and he raced a Mosport and in
Montreal. Schneider says that if
someone can bring the core of an old Jeep to him he can probably restore it
as new for something between $ 8,000 and $ 14,000. “ If you buy a new TJ today
you’ll spend over $ 20,000 but you lose big time in the first year due to
depreciation. “Yet with an old Jeep that’s
been restored you’ll find it gains in value every year.” Schneider says he’s booked up
for restoration work until next year, but on Sept 11 and 12 will hold a
military vehicles flea market at his property on the Oro-Medonte Line 7
south of Coulson. “There will be people here
with everything from Jeeps to tanks,” he says. “It’s also planned to form a
Jeep Club.” Schneider says he finds the
refurbishing of World War II and Korean War era jeeps fund to do. He gets engines, like the
famous 63 hp four-cylinder Go-devil, rebuilt at a machine shop in Aurora. Otherwise, he basically fixes
up everything else himself including new electrical system wiring and,
where necessary, making body parts out of 18-gauge steel. He’s also skilled in making
new canvas tops for Jeeps on a basement sewing machine. Jeeps were mass produced for
the U.S. Army by Willys-Overland and Ford although the American Bantam Car
Co., of Butler, Pa., was active in the early stages of Jeep development
with a vehicle called a BlitzBuggy. One 1940 prototype was
nicknamed the Quad. In Canada some later models
were built by Ford at Oakville and in the U.S. The last military Jeep, Model
M38A1, rolled off the Ohio production line of the former Kaiser Jeep Corp.
in 1966.
It’s Jeeps galore for Coulson Rebuilder
Markus Schneider lovingly restores WWII icons
At one time he was a professional racing driver sponsored by BMW and he
raced a Mosport and in Montreal.
