Artists/Drawings Research Archives

Art, Drawings, Sketches, Editorials, Paintings of Jeeps

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All American Wonder II Painting

September 16, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Books, Features

UPDATE: Just to emphasize, this is a recreated version of the original painting.

Thanks to Scott for this link. The sale is for a 22 x 28 inch painting made by an artist named Daves from the original version of this image by Sessions. According to the seller, this painting was used as the cover image for Ray Cowdery’s book All American Wonder II.

https://willysforsale.com/ads/the-original-22×28-inch-painting-cover-of-all-american-wonder-ii/

“Here is the opportunity to own the original painting that was used for the by now iconic book on WWII jeeps ‘All American Wonder II’ by Ray Cowdery. The book is a ‘bible’ for any WWII jeep enthusiast and/or restorer. The author had this oil painting made by an artist of the name Daves to resemble a WWII Willys advertising by Sessions. It graces the cover of his book, and this painting is the only original in the world. On the back a large rubber stamp of the author and his former address. It looks amazing, the colors are vibrant, there are of course no holes or other damage. It looks amazing even unframed and will become a centerpiece in anyone’s jeep collection.”

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Jeepney Phase-Out Plan Illustration

July 15, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: Jeepney.

Artist Roni Santiago created this illustration as a comment to the Philippine phase-out of the Jeepneys (posted by Mario to FB). It seems to be a riff off the Bill Mauldin illustration of the solider with a gun pointed at a tired old jeep.

Bill Mauldin’s famous illustration (as reprinted on the cover of the Nov 1992 Smithsonian):

And as seen in a sculpture at the Shidoni Gallery near Sante Fe:

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Roger’s Newest Toy Find

July 6, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Models

Roger Martin bought this cool, Marine-made jeep.

He wrote, “I bought another Jeep. It was built by marine in August of 1948. He was a machinist on a ship during the war. The wheels are made out of solid brass. The toy is pretty heavy. I bought it from a guy yesterday who bought it in 1970 from the widow of the original owner that built it. The Marine that built it worked for Fisher body in Cincinnati, Ohio.”

Continue reading →

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Jeep Diaper Cake

May 21, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features

Under the things-I-didn’t-know, Ann tells me that folded material into shapes is 1) a thing and 2) is called a “cake”. To wit, she spotted this jeep made from folding diapers and material together (no glue). This is certainly more clever than if I tried to make a jeep using diapers and material.

From the Facebook Post: “A Jeep diaper cake for a new Mom!! She loved it and doesn’t want to take it apart!! LOL!! 10 washcloths, 6 blankets, 2 bottles, 1 pair of socks, 1 medicine dropper, and 55 diapers. I never use glue!”

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1000582063996149&set=pcb.1224982958173993

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Birthday Card from the 1970s

April 27, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features

Another little treasure found while looking through the family stuff is this card drawn on heavy stock paper by my aunt. An architect, she was famous within the family for the cards she produced.

The card below was drawn for my dad’s birthday, likely mid 1970s. No doubt folks can relate to it (though I teased my aunt during a phone call yesterday about the poorly drawn jeep … she is usually attentive to details).

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Dec 1942 Foreign Service Mag Cover

March 25, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Magazine • TAGS: Holiday.

I ran across this magazine on eBay. Given the cover, I couldn’t resist buying it, though there was no other jeep pics or illustrations within it.

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1944 VMail Letter With a Jeep Drawing on eBay

March 6, 2022 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Old News Articles

This 1944 letter looks like it appeared in a newspaper. The eBay description isn’t very helpful.

View all the information on ebay

“WWII
Army
Christmas V-Mail
Art Letter
63rd Signal Battalion
Willys Jeep

Named: T4 Robert Glashauser

Look over pictures to see the exact item you will receive and to determine the overall condition of this item.:

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Merry Christmas 2021

December 25, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Postcards

Merry Christmas everyone!

It’s a bit of a somber Christmas in our neck of the woods. Mom has been struggling over the past week with lots of confusion and health struggles. After a 36-hour wait in the ER, she finally made it into the hospital Thursday night. She had an operation yesterday (the 24th) to remove fluids from the sac around her heart. The docs extracted 700ml (which is a lot) and left a tube in to drain more. Needless to say, this indicates her heart is struggling mightily. Without some kind of miracle, she probably has weeks left at the very most. So, Ann and I are having a quiet holiday season at our new home this year.

We hope everyone else has an enjoyable holiday season with your families and friends. And, I hope you all are blessed with good fortune in 2022!

This 1945 Christmas Card was auction on eBay in 2015:

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Quackpot Poster on eBay

November 17, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features

Adam shared this ebay auction for another Quackpot poster. The image below is from a 2013 auction (it’s a better quality image than the one posted to eBay).

View all the information on ebay

“THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE VINTAGE, ORIGINAL “QUACKPOT MAINTENANCE” U.S. ARMY CONSERVATION PROGRAM POSTER

DATED – 1944, 20X14 INCHES IN SIZE

VERY GOOD SHAPE OVERALL. SOME SMALL TEARS ON EDGES. THE POSTER WAS FOLDED IN THE MIDDLE SO IT HAS A CREASE.

PRINTED ON POSTER: U.S. GOVERMENT PRINTING OFFICE -1944- 0-612414
ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT NO. 121-021

SHIPPED ROLLED
RARE,VINTAGE JEEP/WW11 POSTER”

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July 1944 Water Color

September 15, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features

Scott shared this link to a Watercolor painting by C. Baij. It shows American Soldier Uncle John 507 PIR; 82 ABN in France. He spotted it online at the Las Laguna Art Gallery.

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William Edwin Pidgeon’s Jeep Train Illustrations

June 23, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Old Images • TAGS: Jeep-Trains.

UPDATE: I thought this was a good post to revisit. I’ve added an obit to the post at the bottom.

======================

Originally Posted November 18, 2013: Australian Bill Pidgeon (Wikipedia) had a successful career as an illustrator, painter and correspondent from the 1920s through the 1970s. A three-time Archibald Prize winner, one of Bill’s descendants (Peter Pidgeon) has created a wonderful website devoted to Bill’s life. Among the items the site includes are drawings and photos of jeep trains encountered by Bill in the Pacific war-theatre during his trip as a war correspondent for The Australian Women’s Weekly. In his ‘war letters‘ are some detailed observations about daily life in Borneo following it’s release from Japanese control.

One of Bill’s more interesting observations was recorded in Borneo. On August 16th, 1945, he wrote:

From Labuan another four and a half hours of sitting on a barge like a redhot waffle iron will bring you to the area occupied by the 24^th Bgde. This is the land of the celebrated jeep train. Steam engines used to haul the train from Weston to Jesselton but on their hurried way out the Nips did their best to incapacitate the locomotives and the RAAF filled the boilers full of holes. So the engineers put iron tyres on the jeeps and shoved them on the rails and hooked the trucks behind.

Here is an example of an illustration and photo published on the site. There are others from an August 4-6, 1945, letter:

An additional illustration sketched by Bill that might interest restorers includes a detailed look at designs and colors used to mark one jeep train.

Obituary from the February 18, 19i81, issue of The Age, out of Melbourne, Australia:

1981-02-17-the-age-melbourne-victoria-aussi

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Creeper’s Jeep by Hardie Gramatky on eBay

June 3, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features

UPDATE: I found this article that highlights the inspiration behind the book Creeper’s Jeep. It was published in the Bridgeport Post on August 22, 1948:

The book is still available on eBay, but they aren’t cheap: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=%22creeper%27s+jeep%22&_sacat=0

======================

Originally published May 18, 2016: This book was listed on eBay.

“This listing is for a vintage book entitled “Creeper’s Jeep” by Hardie Gramatky. It is a cute story about a guy who owns this jeep that wants to share it with his family. They do not take to the idea at first but after a few incidents decide to give it a try. Great illustrations: see pictures. Former library copy with some of the usual markings.”

Continue reading →

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Late 1948 America’s Most Useful Vehicles Brochure

April 14, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features

UPDATE: There’s another of these brochures on eBay for $44.95 (plus $4.68 shipping).

View all the information on ebay

This 1948 jeep family brochure was likely produced in late 1948, as there’s a reference to an upcoming expectation “in early 1949” within the text. Outside of that reference, there’s no date stamp or form number. I’ve only seen few of these pop up for sale on eBay, so I snagged this one right away. I believe it represents the earliest and most complete (in pics and text) listing of the full line of jeep models for the civilian market (it lacks any military models and business-focused models, such as the Package Delivery Vans).

I especially like the illustrations. The discussion of the different factory divisions at the back was interesting, too. Including the covers, the brochure is 26 pages.

Continue reading →

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Cover of Colliers Magazine in 1946

April 6, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Magazine

UPDATE: I found an inexpensive issue of the February 2, 1946 Collier’s Magazine, so I scanned the cover. It has the Welcome Home Johnny sign celebrating’s soldiers homecoming as a farmer races his jeep down the road. I found no jeep related stuff on the inside.

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Jeep’s Best Burlap Potato Sack

March 31, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features

This potato sack sold for over $60, though I don’t know the exact selling price. Jevon Aasand (1921-2000) owned the Aasand Potato company, but I’m not sure who owned/managed the Jeep’s Best brand.

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Joe Dope Slams on His Brakes

March 28, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: Joe-dope.

A good digital example of Joe Dope slamming on his brakes from the National Archives:

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1942 Jeep Figment to Fact Article

March 25, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Old Images, Old News Articles

This “Figment to Face” article about the jeep’s conception-to-reality story landed in a variety of newspapers across the US, though this is the best scan of it so far (which doesn’t speak too highly of the other scans, as it shouldn’t). I wondered how many other drawings were made that weren’t realized with the standardization of the jeep.

The article appeared in the Daily Reporter out of Greenfield, Indiana, on October 19, 1942:

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1942 War Production Board Father’s Day Poster Bantam BRC-60

March 5, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features

The War Production Board produced several different “Father’s Day” posters (other posters at the gov archives), including this one with an illustration of a Bantam BRC-60. It also included a letter, though it’s not clear to me how the letter and poster would have been displayed (newspaper? magazine?). Father’s Day fell on June 21st in 1942.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165318061

PHOTO CREDIT: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165318061

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James Sessions WWII Images on Menus

March 2, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: Menu.

Bill shared an image of a menu from the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha. It was one of several hotels that featured James Sessions’ images on hotel menus. Anyone know the history behind why hotels were doing that?

For a complete overview of the Willys-Overland WWII (and post WWII) illustrations featuring jeeps, this page demonstrates how the illustrations unfolded over the years 1941-1946. For an analysis of how the changes in verbiage may have reflected changes as Willys-Overland during the war years, view this page.

I’m sure there are more examples than the ones gathered below. Here is what I have so far:

This is the Blackstone Hotel example that Bill shared:

This one is from the Lexington Hotel in New York City:

And this one is from the Hotel New Yorker:

This menu:

The Benjamin Franklin also ran this other menu with a different illustration:

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Judy the Jeep Girl

February 28, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Comics, Features

In an effort to promote Bond drives during World War II, around 1944 Sgt. Jack Kreismer created “Judy the Jeep Girl”. The character, sometimes described as a paper doll, while other times described as a cartoon, has proved a difficult image to track down. To help raise bonds, July ‘traveled’ from California to Salt Lake City, then on to the Washington, D.C.

A photo of Jack and Judy appeared in the June 1, 1945, issue of Minute Man. It’s the best example of Judy the Jeep Girl that I could find:

You can see that Jack (on the left) and Allen Overby (on the right) are holding a booklet. Apparently it is a souvenir booklet that features Judy.

The only newspaper representation I could find for Judy is a less-than-perfect sketch that appeared in the Salt Lake Telegram on June 19, 1944. Judy is left to the man in the box (sauna?).

Later, on January 15, 1945, Elenor Roosevelt commented on Judy’s activities:

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Alaska Road Trip Puzzle w/ Jeep

February 24, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: Puzzle.

My wife thought this puzzle was too good to pass up, given our 2017 Alaska Or Rust trip, so she surprised me with it. This puzzle is available through a variety of sellers (one of which is Amazon). The illustration was done by Ken Zella.

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March 1950 Dealer’s Day Booklet

February 11, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features

As best as I can tell, this booklet was part of a Willys-Overland Motors Dealer Day presentation on March 30, 1950. This particular booklet came out of Canada, so I am not positive whether this was a Canadian event or a Brand-wide (US, Canada, and other?) celebration.

At 5″ x 7″ the booklet is smaller than I thought it would be.

Continue reading →

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Painting of Coffee Plantation CJ-5 on eBay

January 29, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features

I’m not sure what this is worth. It is currently priced at a buy-it-now price of $92.

View all the information on eBay

“Wonderful artist rendering of CJ-5 Jeep. 1970s in a coffee plantation or cocoa plantation setting. (I’m thinking inspired by the popular TV icon Juan Valdez). Not sure if this was done for Ford Brazil or AMC given that Ford do Brasil built these for the South American market. In any event, this is a fantastic, original rendering on artist board of the era. You can see pencil lines underneath paint. I’m not an artist so I don’t know if it’s acrylic paint or watercolor or ???

Measures approx 16″ x 11″ and is in very good condition for its age. There Issa bit of very faint spotting in the yellow sky area but it’s barely noticeable; corners are bumped but framing will cover that. The blue strip at bottom of rendering appears to be painted tape.”

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What I Saw At Willys Overland

January 28, 2021 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features

UPDATE: Apparently, I never published all the pages in this circa 1947-1949 booklet. Also, there’s another one of these booklets on eBay right now: View all the information on eBay

This was originally posted October 23, 2014: Eddie Devlin of the Willys Overland Engineering Art Department sketched a variety of drawings of the factory. Some were published in a book called “WHAT I SAW AT WILLYS OVERLAND”. I’m not sure if the booklet was sold or used as a promotional device.

Continue reading →

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Dec. 1945 Outdoor Life Magazine Story on the Jeep

December 16, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Magazine

UPDATE: Originally Posted July 26, 2014. There is currently an issue for $7 on eBay.

The December 1945 Issue of Outdoor Life Magazine contained an article titled “A Jeep Will Get You There”. It is filled with photos of a VEC CJ-2A used for a fishing trip. The photos aren’t the best, but still an interesting article. Outdoor Life also featured the story on the front cover.