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Rotabuggy Test Documents on eBay

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

It seems a shame that these documents are released for public consumption. The price on these is quite high. It looks like the earliest tests on the theory of the Rotabuggy occurred in August of 1941, which is earlier than I would have thought.

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“1941 to 1944 – Original RAF confidential and restricted file of the most bizarre World War II invention, a “flying jeep”, which became known as “Hafner Rotabbugy”, or “Hafner Gyroplane” in honour of his chief inventor Raoul Hafner (1905-1980), Austrian born British helicopter pioneer and engineer, known for his major contributions to the aerospace industry.”

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1956 Patent for Endless Track Vehicle

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

This patent application used a jeep to demonstrated how the endless track system would work on a vehicle not designed specifically for tracks. The patent was filed January 13, 1955.

According to inventor Fritz Riemerschmid, “Numerous constructions of the track! laying or crawler type have heretofore been proposed, but in all of these known cases special-type vehicles are involved, the construction of which either prohibits or renders extremely difficult the use of the vehicle under normal road and travel conditions.

Accordingly it is one of the main objects of the present invention to provide a crawler-type tracklaying undercarriage for automotive vehicles which, while being particularly suitable for travel over snow-covered terrain, can be quickly and easily substituted for the standard wheels of the vehicle. It is another object of the invention to provide a construction of the type indicated in which, except for the removal of the said standard wheels from the vehicle, requires no structural changes to be made in a given vehicle. Thus, the invention renders it possible, whenever it may be desired, to provide an automotive vehicle of any given type with a tracklaying mechanism which takes the place of the standard wheels on which the said vehicle normally travels.”

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The K And K Mower Patent

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

In February of 1948 Allan Keyser filed a patent for a side mower. It appears this became the design for the K And K Manufacturing Company’s Mower as seen in the brochures at bottom. You can view other early mowing apparatuses here.

“This invention relates to a mower attachment for the presently popular small, four-wheel drive, automotive vehicles popularly known as jeeps, and has for its principal object the provision of means whereby a mower bar can be quickly and easily attached to, or detached from, the vehicle so that it will be easily visible and easily controlled by the driver of the vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide highly efficient means whereby the angle of attack of a mower bar may be adjusted to suit the desires of the user and the requirements of the particular crop being harvested.”

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Break-in Instructions for a 1961 Wagon

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

Frank shared this pic of instructions that accompanied his 1961 wagon.

He wrote, “Thought you might find this interesting. It is the sleeve that came on the visor of my 61 Wagon. When I bought it it had 32,000 miles and now 42,000. The jack was wrapped in a newspaper dated 1961.”

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Portable Derrick Crane Patent

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Henry F Illies filed a patent for a portable derrick crane that could fit over a jeep on September 26, 1947.

“This invention relates to a derrick crane adapted to be mounted on a small motor vehicle and while adapted generally for supporting, raising and lowering or conveying heavy objects is especially adapted to provide a support for an’– auger such as is employed for digging post holes and by means of which the auger may be adjusta- -bly supported with respect to the vehicle, lowered gradually as it advances into the ground,”


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1955 Barbed Wire Distribution Patent

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A patent for the distribution of barbed metal band from a short wheel base vehicle, preferably a jeep or jeep-like vehicle, was filed in 1955 by the Acme Steel Company.

“The purpose of the present invention is to provide novel apparatus by which barbed metal band may be formed in a continuous process and distributed as it is formed in the place and arrangement in which it is to be used. A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus for distributing barbed metal band according to a prearranged plan and supporting it in the arrangement in which it is distributed. Another object is to provide portable apparatus having means for forming barbed metal band from a supply of fiat strip ma terial and for distributing the barbed band and arranging it during the travel of the apparatus. Other objects relate to various features of construction and arrangement which will appear more fully hereinafter.”

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The 1954 Power Tower Patent

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

This April 12, 1954, Power Tower patent filing by Wallace Johnson and Robert Fisher was said to be designed for other vehicles besides the jeep, but given it’s length, it’s hard to imagine it would work on anything that wasn’t flat like the top of the jeep.

Here’s a description:  The present invention relates to a power tower for use by workmen employed as painters, electrical fixture repairrnen, aircraft maintenance men, window washers, and a multitude of similar occupations wherein it is necessary toperform a task at some distance above the ground and thus ordinarily require the use of ladders or scaffolding of some type. More particularly, the invention relates to a workmans platform supported by a collapsible tower structure which in turn is mounted on a wheeled vehicle.

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1952 Test of an Auto Transmission in an M-38A1 on ebay

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

UPDATE: Still Available (and still the same $1999.99 price).

1952-m38a1-transmission-document6In the March 2015 Inaugural issue of The Dispatcher Magazine, Bob Westerman wrote an article about Willys-Overland’s test of an Allison Transmission in an M-38 and the failure of that transmission to meet the needs of the military. The document below depicts WO’s effort to follow up that test with a second test, using M-38A1s and a slightly more robust automatic transmission. though improved, this transmission still did not meet the needs of the military, as the below report highlights.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273768800168

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Harold Spieth’s Smooth Driving Booklet on eBay

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Harold Spieth was President and Chairman of the Board of Willys-Overland Motors when he wrote this booklet. It includes an illustration with a small Willys Wagon.

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“Condition: Excellent
Factory Original: Yes
# of pages: 1
Other info: Measures 5″ x 7″…………………SCARCE!
FREE SHIPPING with 3 or more Brochure purchases-”

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Product Merchandising Manual Circa 1955

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

Several months ago a reader purchased a product merchandising manual with over four hundred pages, used by the Willys Motors marketing department. Over the succeeding months, we scanned and assembled this into a PDF. I’m dating it at 1955 because it introduces the new CJ-5. It’s not entirely complete, but there’s lots in it.

I’d like to thank the generous reader for making this available to everyone! I wish everyone the best for 2019!!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OW3rP4Ay1l9fcMrLaIMTH2ordwssoDaV

Here are a few pages:

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Willys Overland Business Card on eBay

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

Maury shared this one. It’s unclear what year this might have been printed, but for the price you could buy a few thousand current business cards.

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“Here is a vintage, Willys Overland Jeep, The Overland Band business card, from Toledo Ohio. The card is in excellent condition. There are no creases in it. I do ship internationally. Please email me with any questions.”

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Garwood Dump Bed Manual

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Thanks to Andy for sharing a copy of Eric Voytko’s Garwood Dump Bed Parts and Instruction Book for the Universal Dump-O-Matic with Pump and Valve Assembly. Eric runs http://www.classicrefusetrucks.com.

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1950-51 “Quality and Present” Training Brochure on eBay

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

One more 1950ish salesman training brochure on eBay.

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“Original salesman’s part color catalog , 8.5 x 11 , 12 pages , 3 file holes at edge , also includes non color sales sheet , 8.5 x 11 , 2 pages , shows various Willys features , descriptions , etc.”

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Qualify and Present Quiz

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

This salesman brochure was a part of the salesman training brochure above.
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1950-51 “Joe Booth Gets A Break” Training Document on eBay

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Here’s another training document on eBay.

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“Original salesman’s part color catalog , 8.5 x 11 , 12 pages , 3 file holes at edge , also includes non color sales sheet , 8.5 x 11 , 2 pages , shows various Willys features , descriptions , etc .”

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“Joe Booth Gets A Break” Quiz

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

This quiz was part of the Joe Booth training brochure above.

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1950-51 “Willys Makes Sense” Training Brochure **SOLD**

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

Andy shared the Willys sales training document. I’d buy it at a cheaper price.

View all the information on ebay

“Original salesman’s part color catalog , 8.5 x 11 , 12 pages, 3 file holes at edge , also includes non color sales sheet , 8.5 x 11 , 2 pages , shows various Willys features , descriptions , etc .”

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Quiz from the 1951 Willys Overland Sales Training Doc above

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This quiz is part of the sales training document above.

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1946 Testimonial by Hickok Oil

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This testimonial was dated October 31, 1946.

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Willys Overland 1903-1953 Golden Jubilee Program on eBay

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

The staring price is $245. While it’s an interesting and rare document, it’s not worth that much (to me anyway).

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“Willys-Overland Golden Jubilee Program 1903-1953. Original, printed in 1952. Extremely rare! Excellent condition.
6 pages, great photos.”

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1948? Price List For Various Jeeps

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

This price list came from Willys Overland Sales book. Given it mentions the Jeepster, but not a CJ-3A, my guess is that this was produced sometime in 1948.

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Willys Motors Bulletin About Illuminating Jeep Signs

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

An anonymous reader we shall call “Mr. Packrat” has offered to share from time to time a collection of documents he’s gathered. So, many thanks to him for his ‘donation’ to our collective educational efforts!

This is the first item, an interesting look at the selling of signs to dealers by Willys Motors.

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1946 Testimontial from John S. Yaryan

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

The writer of this testimonial must have had a very low numbered VEC.

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Texaco Service Documents

• CATEGORIES: Documents This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Maury shared these Texaco service documents for Universal Jeeps — presumably CJ-5s, CJ-6s, DJ-5s, and DJ-6s, as it appears to ignore DJ-3As (oh the inhumanity!). You can download both documents as high resolution Tiffs and/or JPGS, printable here:
1. Doc 1 in Tiff format (90 MB)
2. Doc 2 in Tiff format (90 MB)
3. Doc 1 in JPG format (20 MB)
4. Doc 2 in JPG format (20 MB)

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Orchard Sprayers By Field Force Manufacturing

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Documents, Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

These documents were in a late 1940s Willys Overland binder.

There seems to be a very slight difference between the two sprayer packages offered by Field Force Manufacturing. One package used a pump with stainless steel non-magnetic plungers that gave the pump higher capacity and more pressure capability. It weighed slightly more, too.

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