If you haven’t figured it out by now, Ben likes aluminum—a lot. The hood and fenders were custom made from aluminum, as are the milled bumper caps. Beneath the hood, a Griffin radiator made from—you guessed it, aluminum—keeps the engine cool. The engine bay is hot-rod quality, with no visible wires or vacuum hoses. The only things that can be seen flanking the engine are the Optima RedTop battery and the Ford Aerostar master cylinder.

The tub is a Kaiser unit that was a rental Jeep in Hawaii in a previous life and came without a tailgate. Ben is 6 foot, 3 inches tall, so he moved the Racecraft suspension seats as far rearward as possible and put them on the floor. Then, he reworked the firewall so that it comes straight down for an extra three inches of legroom. A GM tilt column is topped by a Corvette steering wheel, making entry and exit easier. The column passes through a custom dash that holds enough Auto Meter Sport Comp gauges to monitor all of the engine’s functions. The dash is polished aluminum, naturally, and swings down to allow access to all of the wiring, as well as the MSD ignition and coil that sit inside of the passenger compartment to keep the engine bay uncluttered.

The distinctive red, white, and blue paint has become a Bower calling card. It was laid down by an eccentric painter named Joe Collins, who was a friend of Ben’s. When Ben asked him to lie out the graphics, he replied, “I am a painter, not a graphic designer!” So, Ben spent hours designing the stripes himself. Then, when the paint job was done and Ben asked how much he owed, the Joe replied, “You don’t have enough money to pay for this paint job. Let’s just say that you owe me a favor.” Ben didn’t think much of it until three years later when Joe called and told Ben to go buy a car trailer and deliver it to him. He gladly bought the trailer knowing that the price was a fraction of what a custom paintjob costs.

The tub is topped by a six-point rollcage with the front bars raked backwards. Instead of a windshield frame, Ben uses a sheet of polycarbonate that attaches directly to the cage and functions as a windshield. Up top, an aluminum roof rack has enough room for a week’s worth of Rubicon supplies.

Good, Bad, and What It’s For

Long before King of the Hammers, Ben Bower built a Jeep that can go fast and carve dunes but still has what it takes to cross the Rubicon. He admits that the Rubicon is not as easy as it used to be, and he is in the process of building a new flatfender with independent suspension at both ends and an aluminum Rodeck engine. Ben has shared his knowledge with numerous King of the Hammers racers and is using the latest technology on his new Jeep.

Hard Facts

Vehicle:1948 Jeep CJ-2A

Engine:383ci Chevy V-8 (sand), junkyard 350ci Chevy V-8 (rocks)

Transmission:TH400

Transfer Case:Dana 20

Suspension:Leaf springs (front), Mercury independent rear

Axles:Dana 30 (front), independent Dana 44 (rear)

Wheels:15x10 Weld (sand, front), 15x18 Weld (sand, rear), 15x8 polished Western (rock)

Tires:15x12.5 Desert Trak (sand, front), 15x21.5 Dick Cepek paddles (sand, rear), 33x12.5R15 Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ (rock)

Built For:’Crawling and dune riding

Why I Wrote This Feature

Ben spends as much free time in the dirt as he can, either on two wheels or four. He can be found at almost every off-road race and event in the West with his wife, daughter, and son. They are easy to spot as they are all north of six feet tall, and Ben drives a custom F600 motorhome with a paint scheme that matches his flatfender. From the custom firewall for more legroom to the dual engines, Ben’s Jeep is unlike any flatfender we have ever seen.