By Mason Duffey
Many of the students in the automotive restoration program have gained their love for classic cars over the years from all kinds of places, such as toys they played with when they were kids or from a tv show they watched that inspired them. Some of the students seemed to have been surrounded by cool cars since they were born. This is the case for Billy Farkash who has been around vintage Jeeps nearly his entire life. He claims that his aunt and uncle really boosted his love for these off-road machines. Farkash remembers their seventies Jeep truck that was built for driving off the beaten path. His aunt and uncle weren’t his only inspiration; his father and grandma also own Jeeps. In total, his family has 8 Jeeps including a 1967 Jeep Kaiser M715 military truck.
While living here in Kansas, Billy spends his free time working on the three Jeeps he has here. The Jeep on the left, shown in the picture below, is a 1963 Gladiator. It is one of the first five hundred ever built of that model. He plans on keeping the original patina but also making it drivable. The Jeep in the middle is a 1971 J200 short-bed pickup that is going to be used as a parts truck for a project he has back home. The Jeep on the right is a 1980 Cherokee that came from the local town of Roxbury. The town originally purchased this car for the fire department, and it stills wears its hand-painted fire department logos, today. Billy plans on keeping the original style of this Jeep and continuing to drive it daily.
Billy is a sophomore in the restoration program and is hoping to work in a restoration shop after he graduates, preferably one that specializes in Jeeps or military vehicles, which sounds perfect for a guy like him.
