I just spent a few days at the headquarters of Omix-ADA, the world’s largest aftermarket Jeep parts supplier, and I nearly fainted.
It’s not my fault, because the stuff I saw there would make any Jeep-nut weak at the knees. Between the new old-stock parts, the classic Jeeps in the historical collection, and the random bits of Jeep history, there was a lot to take in.
Earlier this year, I wrote an article about an amazing indoor Jeep junkyard in Colorado Springs. What made that place so special was the sheer volume of random Jeep parts meticulously organized in a giant warehouse. It was heaven on earth.
Well, Omix-ADA’s Suwanee, Georgia headquarters also has a huge warehouse of random Jeep parts, but on top of that, it has an incredible historical Jeep collection and an office decked out in Jeep history.
It’s a Jeep paradise.
[Full disclosure: Omix-ADA flew me to its headquarters in Suwanee, Georgia, put me up in a hotel, fed me good food, and let me drive their gorgeous classic Jeeps. I was living the dream behind the wheel of that Jeep Surrey.]
The Warehouse
Omix took a couple journalists back into their warehouse to show and tell us how they run the place. But I may have heard 5 percent of what the tour guides were saying, because my attention was bouncing all over the place at amazing Jeep parts littering the shelves.
New Old Stock Glory
Let’s get straight to what I consider the crown jewel: crates and crates of untouched, new old stock Jeep Cherokee XJ parts flown in from Malaysia. Omix told me these parts were meant to be used to build XJs many years ago, but for whatever reason, they just sat. So now they’re all packaged in a bunch of wooden crates in Omix’s headquarters. That’s a giant pile of them above.
I’m not entirely sure why there were new old stock parts coming from Malaysia, as I’m not aware of a Jeep Cherokee XJ plant over there, but if you look at the boxes, they’re all stamped with the Chrysler logo, and dated either September or October, 1996.
Atop the huge pile, a light shined upon the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen: a new old stock Jeep Cherokee body in a box behind some plastic wrap.
Here’s a closer look:
It’s not a complete body (it looks like it’s just the left and right sides), but there’s more. There was a box full of roof panels:
And a box of hoods:
I could almost build a brand new Cherokee body out of these body parts! (And trust me, I could use one, considering how much rust my XJ has).
But there weren’t just body parts. The boxes from Malaysia were also filled with never-before-used XJ axles:
And more unmolested axles:
And there were untouched transfer cases:
Plus, there were a bunch of other random XJ parts, like these exhaust pipes:
Seeing original Jeep Cherokee parts that could have been used on production cars was just mind-blowing. A borderline religious experience, for me. But even that didn’t compare to what I saw next.
One of the guys from Omix told me of a new old stock Jeep 4.0-liter inline six sitting in a box somewhere in the warehouse, so I went in later and searched. After a while of coming up empty, I asked a man who worked in the warehouse if he knew where I could find the greatest engine of all time, and he took me to a big black plastic box with Hebrew written on it. We opened it, and we witnessed true glory:
Yes, that is an engine known to reliably eclipse 200,000 miles sitting right there in a box, completely unmolested. Never before used. I wanted it badly.
Right next to the four-liter was a new NSG-370 six-speed transmission, the same transmission used in Wranglers starting in 2005.
And next to that were two boxes from VM, which apparently contained Jeep Wrangler 2.8-liter diesel engines.
Random Jeep Stuff
There was a lot more awesome random stuff in the warehouse besides new old stock parts, like the Jeep Wrangler JK doors in the picture above, and the copious body tubs all shipped in wooden boxes from the Philippines .
They were everywhere:
Here’s how they were packaged:
All the aftermarket body tubs came from the Philippines.
There was also a random 1957 Chevy Bel Air, and an old CJ-2a just sitting in that warehouse:
Windshield frames for old CJs:
Old CJ flat fenders:
A CJ-5 hood sits on a box somewhere in the warehouse:
Jeep Cherokee XJ header panels:
Old CJ seat frames:
Random propshafts:
Axle shafts:
Leaf springs:
Steering intermediate shafts:
Bell Housings:
The Historical Collection
Omix-ADA has an incredible historical collection on their first floor—among the finest Jeep collections in the entire world, if you ask me. I’ll let the photos do the talking:
Omix says this Bantam plow was one of two ever built:
Aside from the incredible cars, Omix’s museum has lots of old historical Jeep stuff, like these models:
And all these brochures and advertisements:
More Jeep stuff:
Here are some new old stock parts for the Ford GPA, the boatmobile from the museum (shown above):
A closer look:
The Office
The office itself is decked out in a Jeep theme, too. As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted with a bunch of Jeeps just sitting there in the lobby (with pans underneath to catch their oil, as all real Jeeps leak):
And the walls are covered in Jeep murals, pictures, and even grilles:
The whole place—the warehouse, the museum and the office—was among the Jeepy-est places I’ve ever been. I kinda want to live there.