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A CJ-3A Barn Find with only 6,000 Miles

• CATEGORIES: Features, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

A reader shared the following story about stumbling on a barn find somewhere in the Southeast. This is just a reminder that there are still some great finds out there . . .

My son and I went for a drive yesterday. Weather was sunny and warm. We stopped to get gas and decided were to go: a nearby town we hadn’t visited in a while. As we went through town, then turned down a side street that took us to the outskirts of town. The road was lined with old shacks and barns. As we passed by an old church, out of the corner of my eye I spotted two headlights and a slotted grill tucked in a old falling down barn. I immediately hit the brakes, turned around, and stopped to look. There was a older man in the yard.
I asked him if that was an old willys.
He said, “ya a 1953. It has 6,000 miles on it.”
“Can we take a look?”
He said, “sure!”
The old man explained to us he had traded a tractor back in 55 for it. He drove it for a year and parked it. It’s been there ever since. It was the most Original willys I have have ever seen. It had about 1 inch of dust on it and fern Boxes in it. After talking with him I asked the ‘Question’.
“Would u like to sell it?”
Real quick he said “No”, then walked away to his house. No goodbye. Nothing. Just walked away and went in his house. Weird. But now I know after all the reading I’ve done what a true barn find looks like. I hope it doesn’t sit there and rot. There was no rust on it. It was stuck in time. All original seats,bows, spare tire, tires, back seat, wipers,foot steps, mirrors, every thing.
So, I decided to stop from time to time and check on it. Maybe he’ll give in, eventually.

 

3 Comments on “A CJ-3A Barn Find with only 6,000 Miles

  1. Wayne Dunard

    I new about one like that in the late sixties. I worked in St.louis and lived in Louisania Missouri which was a 90 mile trip on old highway 61. I made that trip every Friday night and went back every Sunday. There was an old ford jeep sitting in a garage around the Davis turn off. Almost every month I would ask the lady if she wanted to sale it . The answer was always no, it was her late husbands. One day i went by there and the jeep and garage were gone. The lady had past away God only knows what happened to that jeep.

  2. craig

    recently bought a nice original 43 gpw that was “not for sale” for the last 30 years…be patient and polite and make a fair offer….you never know…

  3. SE Pennsylvania Steve

    Even though old jeeps are just about non-existant here where I live in “old suburbia”, I guess I’m like a lot of you. I’m always looking out for one in every open garage or shed, every visible side or back yard.

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