14 Comments on “1947 Postcard of CJ-2A w/ Large Travel Trailer on eBay”

1. Mike March 23, 2020 at 5:54 am

   Imagine traveling down a long hill, ever so gently with the brakes, oh no, we’re fish tailing, kiss your “DUPA” good by.
2. Barney Goodwin March 23, 2020 at 7:39 am

   Mike, you’re spot on! When AMC introduced the V8 to the CJ5 in 1972, it would spell the end of the CJ5 if not the CJ altogether. In 72,AMC offered all 5 engines – 2 sixes and all three (3!) V8s including the 401 by special order, for an already unsafe vehicle at highway speeds. Soon, people were buying these and believing they could tow a 24′ motorboat or camper (usually a boat) behind it down the freeway or, as Mike pointed out, down the hill. They would jack knife and people got killed. Ralph Nader stepped in. V8s are gone. CJ7s are longer and wider, and then the Wrangler. On this early of Jeep, master brake cyl wouldn’t last 5 minutes if you could maintain control that long going down hill. A fascinating, frightening photo.
3. Barney Goodwin March 23, 2020 at 7:45 am

   Note that it’s a home made post card and not a business promo. No dealer in their right mind would risk the liability of this setup.
4. kevin connor March 23, 2020 at 10:34 am

   Single axle camper trailers not a problem for the CJ2a as demonstrated in the Roy Rogers classic ‘Nighttime in Nevada’. CJ2a page has an ad that would imply that the vehicle is quite capable of hauling a camper and family. Dad must have been an adrenaline junky.
5. Mike March 23, 2020 at 10:48 am

   Barney Goodwin, Thank you for your supporting comments, common sense has been lost in today’s internet world of misinformation. FACTS, NOT ILLUSION.
6. Barney Goodwin March 23, 2020 at 11:00 am

   How true, Mike. And I don’t care how many axles that camper in the post card has. I can look at it and see the weight. Photo shows 2 axles, not one. I’m sure an MB/2A/3A/5 can pull a single axle tear drop or pop up trailer, just as the MB/MC and MD could pull a 1/4 ton trailer.
7. David Eilers Post authorMarch 23, 2020 at 11:31 am

   At least not a dealer that wanted to stay in business!
8. Colin Peabody March 23, 2020 at 1:45 pm

   I look at this photo and think back to 1948. My dad returned to Illinois in February 1946, with my mom and me following from England a couple of months later. We lived for a while with my grandparents on their farm in Altona. Dad could not buy a new car so he bought a 46 CJ2A from a Jeep dealer in Galesburg equipped with field weights and plowed fields with it and that’s how he paid for the Jeep. My sister was born in early 1947 and my dad bought a Spartan Glider trailer just about like this one to live in and we lived in a trailer park in Yates City. When Dad took a job with Kraft in Peoria, he towed that trailer from Yates City to Peoria , a distance of about 20 miles, with the Jeep. He told me later that it just about ruined that Jeep after all the plowing he had done with it, towing the trailer maxed the poor little Jeep out. A short time later, my folks bought a house on the north end of Peoria, Dad got his 41 Hudson back from my grandfather who kept it during the war, so the Jeep got sold as did the trailer. My grandfather was able to buy a new 49 Mercury. I’m sure the day Dad hauled that trailer with the Jeep, it looked like this photo. The Jeep was a dark color with canvas top as well. So while as impractical and foolhardy as it seems today, times were different back then and you did what you could to get things done. My sister had health problems and a warmer climate was what the doctor ordered, so Dad bought a new 1951 Willys 2WD station wagon and we moved to Arizona in January 1952.

   As for the brakes on the Jeep not doing much good with the weight of the trailer behind it, the use of the transfer case in low range kept the vehicle speed down to a controllable amount I think. I had to do that a few times towing a small trailer down off the Mogollon Rim in eastern Arizona with my CJ3B about 50 years ago. Not much traffic back then. Going back up was a problem with the F-head 4 at altitudes above 6,000 to 8,000 ft. A 283 Chevy took care of that problem.
9. Terry March 23, 2020 at 3:27 pm

   In support of the photo , it does not show the jeep and trailer on the interstate, could be moving it around a camp ground, trailer park, or job site, no problem for a Willys .
10. Ill Chris March 23, 2020 at 4:09 pm

    Reminds me of the movie The long long trailer with Lucy and Dezi Arnaz.
11. doug March 23, 2020 at 4:12 pm

    My parents lived in a trailer like that just after WW2-that was “married Housing” for returning GIs going back to college.
12. Mike March 23, 2020 at 5:06 pm

    Colin, what a great story from the past, just like today, we do what needs to be done, we survive, that’s what life is all about.

    Chris, I remember that Lucy & Dezi Arnaz film, I think it was a 1950’s Ford vehicle pulling the trailer.
13. David Eilers Post authorMarch 23, 2020 at 6:56 pm

    Thanks for the story Colin! Yes, low range can help with the braking situation. As long as you don’t have to go too fast, that could work!
14. Another Bob March 24, 2020 at 8:25 pm

    Colin, great story. my wife and I live in Payson, and we’ve got a great view of the Mogollon rim from our front deck.