Marc J. Frattasio
PO Box 30
Pembroke, MA 02359
May 31, 2026

I am writing today to praise Specialty Jeeps of Coshocton, Ohio. To be more accurate I am really praising the company’s founder Bruce Uher Sr., his son Bruce Uher Jr.,
and the rest of the crew at this fine business. If you have an old Jeep that requires restoration or repair there’s no need to check anyplace else. These people are terrific. They are knowledgeable, perform quality work, and are responsive. Most importantly, in my opinion at least, they are friendly and very easy to deal with.

Here's my story…

I first reached out to Specialty Jeeps more than a year ago. My wife Faith and I are both Navy veterans. Our military service is very important to us. We are involved with a couple of veteran’s organizations and are also active with the Shea Naval Aviation Museum. This is a small military heritage museum associated with old Naval Air Station South Weymouth in Massachusetts, a base that we both served at before the Navy closed it in 1997. I wanted to acquire a US Navy Jeep, not just for the fun of it, but also to help promote the museum.

So, I contacted Specialty Jeeps on the basis of a Google search and asked them if they could provide me with any leads regarding where I might find a US Navy Jeep for sale. As it so happens, green-painted US Army Jeeps are fairly easy to find but gray-painted US Navy Jeeps are much less common. What I was hoping to get from Specialty Jeeps was some insight into where to look, since I figured that a professional restoration shop would know. Bruce Sr. told me that he was not aware of any US Navy Jeeps being offered for sale at that time, but he told me that he’d keep me in mind should anything come to his attention.

Well, Bruce Sr. proved to be a man of his word. Months later he reached out to tell me that he had heard that a US Navy Jeep that his company had restored for a customer many years previously had been donated to a veteran’s group and that this group intended to auction it off as a fund-raiser. He sent me a few photos of the Jeep from when they were working on it and told me that he’d contact me again when he became aware that it was ready to be auctioned off.

I subsequently began to review various on-line auction sites on a regular basis and because of this I actually found out about the impending auction before Bruce Sr. was informed. I bid on the Jeep and in the end was the high bidder. After the auction concluded, Bruce Sr. suggested that I use the Auto Shipping Group to have the Jeep transported from Ohio to my home in Massachusetts, because they had favorable experiences with them in the past. This turned out to be good advice because the Auto Shipping Group proved to be terrific. Dealing with them was far easier (and less expensive) than I had expected. They were great. Bruce Sr. told me that Specialty Jeeps would help me in any way possible, and this is why I am writing this note today.

The auction company, Asset Intelligence Group Inc., which like Specialty Jeeps is in Ohio, had asked them to inspect the Jeep and prepare it to be sold. I asked Bruce Sr. if there was anything wrong with the Jeep that needed to be corrected. He told me that it was basically OK as-is, but said that at some point I should consider replacing a leaking seal. He told me that the leak was a normal consequence of the Jeep having been stored for a time the previous owner neglected the Jeep and left it sit outside for 6 years uncovered. He made it very clear that this was not something that had to be done immediately but was something that probably should be done at some point. He did not push me to fix it, nor did he even suggest that I have him fix it.

The previous owner had given the Jeep markings for a submarine that he had served on board. My wife and I had both served in naval aviation units at NAS South Weymouth so we wanted the Jeep to be painted up for an airship squadron that had been assigned to that base during the Second World War. Since the Jeep was in Ohio anyway, and it had been originally restored by Specialty Jeeps, I asked Bruce Sr. if he’d be willing to 1) replace the leaking seal, 2) install seat belts, and 3) strip the old markings and replace them with the markings of my choice. He readily agreed to do so
at a price that was very reasonable.

Bruce Sr. personally transported the Jeep from the auction house to his shop, which was a three hour drive in each direction I believe. He also offered to store the Jeep at his shop, at no charge, for however long it took for the work to be accomplished and for transportation to be arranged. He made it clear that there would be no hurry for me to get the Jeep off his property.

We are very happy with the Jeep. It looks terrific. My brother Damian, who is a recently retired truck and automobile mechanic with over 40 years of experience, was impressed with it. Bruce Sr. and the rest of the crew at Specialty Jeeps did a wonderful job on the original restoration as well as with the work that they did specifically for me. I have to mention that they did a few things that I did not ask them for, and they did this at no cost to me. For example, I had only asked them to remove the original owner’s markings, apply the markings that I wanted, and touch up some areas of surface rust (again, the Jeep had been stored for a time before it was auctioned off). Instead of merely touching up the paint, they completely repainted it. They also fixed the headlight dimmer switch, replaced the mounting hardware on the seats (simply because they did not like the way it looked – surface rust), replaced the oilcan on the firewall, and they did a few other things. Not only did they not charge me for any of this stuff, they flat-out refused to let me pay them. I could not believe it!

One more thing. After the Jeep was delivered to me the clutch rod snapped in two pieces. This had absolutely nothing to do with Specialty Jeeps. The clutch rod, upon inspection, showed rust on the broken surfaces. It had been fractured at some point in the past and there was no way that anybody would ever have known about it. The clutch rod could have snapped at any time and we were lucky that it failed when it did, right after it came off the trailer, instead of sometime when we were out on the road many miles from home. When Bruce Sr. learned about this, he immediately shipped us a new clutch rod free-of-charge. As you can see, these people provide top-tier service.

Due to harsh winter weather, rainy spring weekends, and my demanding work schedule, we have only just recently put the Jeep on the road. We absolutely love it and look forward to having it for a very long time. I can only find one fault with Specialty Jeeps, and that is they are located 800 miles away from where I live. I wish they were closer to me because if they were, I can assure you that nobody else would ever be allowed to work on my Jeep!

Marc J. Frattasio