Artists/Drawings Research Archives

Art, Drawings, Sketches, Editorials, Paintings of Jeeps

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Jeep Diaper Cake

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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

fabric-jeep1

diaper-cake-jeep1 diaper-cake-jeep2

 
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Birthday Card from the 1970s

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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).

karl-eilers-bday-card-marilyn-perry-lores

 
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Dec 1942 Foreign Service Mag Cover

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.

1942-12-foreign-service-magazine2

 
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1944 VMail Letter With a Jeep Drawing on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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

View all the information on ebay

1944-12-christmas-vmail-jeep

“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

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Postcards This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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:

1945-mb-merry-xmas-card

 
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Quackpot Poster on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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

1944-motor-pool-quackpot-poster1

“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

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.

1944-07-water-color-france-by-Baij-C

 
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William Edwin Pidgeon’s Jeep Train Illustrations

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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 24th 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:

1945-08-04-bill-edwin-pidgeon-jeep-train-ill2 1945-08-04-bill-edwin-pidgeon-jeep-train1An 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

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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:

1948-08-22-bridgeport-post-creepers-jeep-lores

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.”

creepers-jeep-book-hardi-gramatky1 creepers-jeep-book-hardi-gramatky2 creepers-jeep-book-hardi-gramatky3

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Late 1948 America’s Most Useful Vehicles Brochure

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.

Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos

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Cover of Colliers Magazine in 1946

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.

1946-02-02-colliers-cover-welcome-home-johnny-lores

 
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Jeep’s Best Burlap Potato Sack

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.

jeeps-best-potatoes-osseo-mn

 
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Joe Dope Slams on His Brakes

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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

joe-dope-slams-brakes-national-archives-lores

 
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1942 Jeep Figment to Fact Article

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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:

1942-10-19-daily-reporter-greenfield-in-jeep-drawings-vs-reality-lores

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

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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

 
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James Sessions WWII Images on Menus

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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:

New-Guinea-Jeep-bill-willys-overland-hotel

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

lexington-hotel-menu-thanksgiving1

And this one is from the Hotel New Yorker:

1944-manhattan-room-nyc-menu2

This menu:

1944-menu-benjamin-franklin-hotel-pa1

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

1946-menu-born-in-war

 
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Judy the Jeep Girl

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Comics, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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:

1945-06-01-minute-man-judy-jeep-girl-kreismer-lores

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?).

1944-06-19-salt-lake-telegram-judy-the-jeep

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

1945-01-15-evening-news-harrisburg-pa-judy-the-jeep-girl

 
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Alaska Road Trip Puzzle w/ Jeep

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.

jeep-puzzle-suns-out

 

 
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March 1950 Dealer’s Day Booklet

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.
1950-03-30-dealer-day-pamphlet-1-lores 1950-03-30-dealer-day-pamphlet-2-lores 1950-03-30-dealer-day-pamphlet-3-lores

1950-03-30-dealer-day-pamphlet-4-lores

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Painting of Coffee Plantation CJ-5 on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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.”

cj5-painting-coffee-man0 cj5-painting-coffee-man1 cj5-painting-coffee-man2 cj5-painting-coffee-man3

 
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What I Saw At Willys Overland

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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.

1950s-what-i-saw-at-willys-overland-1-lores 1950s-what-i-saw-at-willys-overland-2-lores 1950s-what-i-saw-at-willys-overland-3-lores 1950s-what-i-saw-at-willys-overland-4-lores

Continue reading

 
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1945 Christmas Card w/ From Budapest, Hungary on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Postcards This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Neat little unscripted and signed card with a jeep and Christmas tree from Hungary.

View all the information on eBay

“Original signed old Xmas card without envelope from Budapest 1945. Good condition, (please see scan). Dimensions are (folded): 108 X 155 mm.
I will send this item Worldwide. Shipping by registered Air-Mail only (Worldwide) is 4.20 $ for 1-3 Postcards.”

1945-jeep-christmas-card-budapest-hungary1 1945-jeep-christmas-card-budapest-hungary2

 
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The Future of Electric Jeeps?

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Bill shared this news. FCA held a sketch competition to solicit independent designs for electric jeeps. Three winners were selected. The first was a futuristic FC design; the second a buggy design; and the third an extreme buggy design.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/jeep-forward-control-revival-looks-like-electric-truck-perfection-151891.html#

This instagram page has more examples of these: https://www.instagram.com/p/CH0cVPJlned/

electric-fc-design electric-fc-design2

electric-fc-design3

 
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1945 Jeep for Junior Ads

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Did all the Kool Kids get Jeep For Juniors for Christmas in 1945? Well, more likely Kool Boys as the Kool Girls were offered a tea party set. Hopefully, the aspiring Jeep Girls asked (and received) the jeep, too.

Clipping from Arizona Republic - Newspapers.com

November 08, 1945, Arizona Republic.

Clipping from Arizona Republic - Newspapers.com

November 10, 1945, Arizona Republic.

 
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CJ-5 Glass Coasters

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These two glass coasters popped up on eBay last week for a reasonable price. Strangely, the image of the jeep is reversed. The gas inlet and steering wheel appear to be on the passenger side in the image.

glass-cj5-coasters1 glass-cj5-coasters2 glass-cj5-coasters3