UPDATE: Thanks go to Floyd for updating this post about the jeep monument in Loreto, Baja, Mexico. Sadly, it appears this jeep is no longer sitting on the cement pad shown in the pictures from Guillermo De Lara (see at bottom). Instead, it’s sitting in someone’s backyard. Floyd didn’t get a chance to see what’s currently sitting on the pad (if still there) and Google Earth still shows the jeep at that spot.

Here are Floyd’s pics. He was visiting Loreto for 10 days and walked past the jeep multiple times, but didn’t notice it due to the leaves and dark backyard.

Using Google Earth, I screen captured these two pics. So, now we have a better idea of where this was located when sitting on the cement slab of the monument.

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Originally posted September 27, 2019:

I ran across information about the above monument by Guillermo De Lara when he posted it to the Facebook page of Jeep CJ Mexico. There’s more history about this posted to this Baja thread: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=31087. However, according to a book by Ann O’Neil, the actual jeep was a pickup and not an MB/GPW like that pictured. I’ve purchased the book and will update this post with the actual vehicle and the broader story.

According to Guillermo’s explanation, “This is a monument to a willys. It was the first vehicle that entered the San Javier Mission to the Sierra de la giganta with an altitude of 1,668 m above sea level in 1952. helped rebuild the mission and saved many lives. Loreto Peninsula of B.C.S. Mexico”

Original text of plaque:
“junio 26 de 1997 de Jesucristo
Este jeep pertenecio al Sr. Cura Dn. Modesto Sanchez Mayon,
llego a Loreto el 29 de nov. de 1947.
Este veiculo fue un instrumento util en la
reconstruccion de la Mission de Loreto B.C.S.
Quedando terminada el ano 1955.
Fue el primer veiculo que entro por este
camino a la Mision de San Javier, el 26 de nov. de 1952.
Como un homenaje del Pueblo de Loreto a los
10 anos de su fallecimiento el 26-6-1987.
Loreto B.C.S. 300 anos de evangelizacion y cultura.”