Jonny, our two year old, loves Jeeps. He talks about them, pretends to drive one and goes crazy when he gets to ride in mine. The girls were heading out of town for a week for a wedding so I decided to make Jonny his own Jeep while they were gone. I had no kit or specific plans, just a rough idea of what I wanted to do. I did this quick sketch, got out the power tools and got to it.

The final product is a little taller than Jonny (for now), is dark metallic green like mine, has headlights made from some flashlights and tires from a wheelbarrow. There is a bench seat in the back but Jonny keeps one of his little chairs in the front while "driving". The steering wheel is form a toy part replacement store and I made a working stereo out of a cheap mp3 player and some small speakers. The hood lifts up on hinges and is a toy box. The driver's door is hinged and has a magnetic catch. The side and rear view mirrors were made with small camp mirrors. Turn signals in the back were made with bicycle safety lights. There is an extra tire in the back for a spare. I think the keys to making it look like a Jeep were the grill and headlights plus the angles of the windshields, hood and back window.

Jonny spends a lot of time in this thing even after 9 months - almost every day!