Yongsan Legacy Building a hot rod in 1950s Korea
The Jeep is ready to start. / Courtesy of George Breen
By George Breen
As a young man I had one passion: Cars! Fast cars!
So, in 1958, when I was drafted to Korea I usually had Saturday and Sunday free. I needed something to keep myself entertained. So the natural thing for me was to build a car.
I knew this would not be an easy task. Building hot rods in the military is not a normal thing to do. And of course, the only parts I had access to were military parts. No civilian cars in Korea in the 1950s.
Located behind the shop I oversaw was what we called an “evac” lot. This is the military term for junkyard. This is where most of the parts for constructing this car would come from.
I did most of the work building the car in my shop at night and on the weekends, while the officers and most of the higher-ranking NCOs were in the village or the NCO club having fun!
Being that we were limited to using military parts, my idea for the simplest car was to begin with a jeep frame and axles because they were smaller and lighter than most military vehicles, and then install the largest engine we could find.
Work began in fall 1958 with finding a jeep frame in the 570th junkyard and bringing it into my shop, cleaning it up and brushing on new paint, which we acquired from a young Korean civilian named Kim who worked at the company paint shop. Kim was also an artist.
During the day I was searching for a usable engine and at night we were busy installing the front and rear axles and brakes on the frame that now looked new.
View of the evac, the junk yard in the 570th Ord. Co. Das, later Niblo Barracks. / Courtesy of George Breen
In the 570th co., I could simply take an old defective auto part to the Direct Exchange (DX) and exchange it for a rebuilt, workable unit. On one occasion, I met the 570th DX manager, a Floridian named Robert Horne.
Horne and I talked for a short time about Florida, him telling me he was from Fort Meyers and me telling him I lived in Lake Wales. I had raced against a man from Fort Myers many times, and Horne knew him! What a surprise!
I now thought I could trust Horne, so I told him, as his eyes got larger and larger, about my hot rod Jeep! After Horne told me how much trouble I could get in for doing this, he said:
“Breen, I have been told that in years past, there was a WW2-era fire truck, here at the 570th. This truck has been gone for years now, but a spare rebuilt engine remains in my storeroom. The engine is all covered with dust but has never been run after being rebuilt in the rebuild depot in Japan! And the good part about this, is that the engine has been written off our inventory list for years and no one knows it is still here!”
And there it was! A dusty but like-new GMC truck engine! I cleaned off the location on the cylinder block that had the engine size stamped on it: 270 cubic inches, just as I thought!
“Horne, I have got to have this motor!” I said. “Man, 270 inches will pull this little Jeep like a race car!”
My newfound friend told me he would move the engine to the large back door, and I could take it to my shop.
I had finally gotten the perfect engine for our new creation!
As we worked on it, I measured the length of the GMC engine. It would be necessary to remove the center section of the front axle so we could move the longer engine more forward.
From my previous hot rod experience I thought a 1956 Chevy transmission would bolt right up to the GMC engine if a Chevy flywheel was used. In the 570th co. we had a sedan shop that did repair work on the staff cars the “brass” used. So the next day found me at the sedan shop, trying to “con” these Chevy parts. Here again I was forced to give my secret away, but I left with all the necessary Chevy parts.
We now had our Jeep frame on wheels and the steering complete. It was exciting to push it around and steer it! It was now time to install the big engine and Chevy transmission. Bolting the Chevy flywheel to the GMC crankshaft would prove to be our greatest challenge. If not for our good friend Horne working in DX, we would have never completed this.
We picked this assembly up and lowered it down into the small Jeep chassis. It was going to work! Things were looking good, but now we needed a body.
There were a number of Jeep bodies in the 570th EVAC lot. But all of them had unit numbers and markings painted on, so I was afraid the body from one of these Jeeps could be traced back to our car. In a few days, once again, fate would smile upon us and our project.
On a Monday afternoon, I watched as a Jeep with four MPs aboard escorted a U.S, army 3/4-ton truck carrying four bundles that were covered with a heavy cloth like material. Once inside the Evac lot, they shoved the bundles off the truck. What in the world could this be?
The MPs told the shop officer the complete story. It seems they had caught four Korean “slicky boys” walking down the road with these four large bundles strapped to the a-frames on their backs. They had cut a Jeep body into four pieces.
The shop officer had no interest in four pieces of Jeep body, but I sure did!
We didn't dare go and retrieve the pieces that first night. We had fears someone would need to investigate the stealing of this Jeep body further! We did not go near the stolen Jeep body for four weeks.
We thought it would be safest if we went in just before closing time. It worked, and soon I was welding the Jeep body back together. After almost a week, the body that once was in four pieces now looked like new!
The following night we placed the body over the engine and it fell in place on the frame. How long had we waited for this moment to come?
We now had everything working, lights included and a one-piece windshield installed! The little car, our pride and joy, was ready to start!! No paint, but everyone felt this could wait.
My tour of duty at the 570th and my life in South Korea was near complete! I only had a few weeks more and I would rotate back home. Hale would leave before me and Witte after me. I was beginning to feel sick as I thought about this. But now we had our car to start and drive.
We decided to take it out for a spin the following Saturday evening, after most of the 570th members would be in the village or the club.
Just after dark on Saturday night we proudly pushed our little car out of my shop! As we stood around this simple little one-of-a-kind car, we felt like a family seeing their newborn grandchild.
Someone finally said, “Breen, this was your idea, you start 'er up.”
I jumped in the driver's seat and my girlfriend Marie was in the passenger's seat.
I twisted the key and the big engine roared to life! Marie now had her arms around my neck! The 570th was now sounding like a stateside race track on a Friday night! If we ever had a secret, we didn't have one now!
George Breen does "donuts" on the hard dirt surface in front of shop one, with his girlfriend Marie next to him. "We were enjoying doing this at night, so things are a little fuzzy!" / llustration by George Breen
Marie and I drove the car in the open space in front of shop one and then we parked it back in my shop where it had been built.
Many hours, much labor, but truly a labor of love.
Some folks play golf, some people fish. But some of us must think of a project, put it together with our hands, and see it perform.
From my heart, a special thank you to all my military friends who helped make this miracle possible.
Visit yongsanlegacy.org to read more about the history of Seoul's disappearing U.S. garrison or to contribute your own memories, or read Breen's hot rod story in full.