Here’s the latest info from Bob Christy about his September jeep event.
Features Research Archives
Dodge Truck “Built to Take It” Video
Chuck shared this pre-jeep video about how Dodge tests its trucks to make sure they are tough.
Cletrac M2 in 1943
Update: this looked like a modified MB to me at first, but smarter folks than I straightened me out!
Kees Heids spotted this ‘tracked jeep’ in a Frontline segment on WWII. It looks different from the O’Laughlin.
You can see the jeep between timestamps 11:55 – 11:58. It appears only for a brief couple of seconds.
Here’s the pic:
Here’s the video:
Man Killed When Vintage Jeep Falls off Block
Patrick spotted this story.
The Ridgecrest, California, earthquake resulted in a one death. The man who died was working on a flat fender when (they presume) the quake knocked the jeep off of the jack and blocks and onto him. I couldn’t say if he was an eWillys reader, but none-the-less my deepest sympathies go out to his family.
There’s more information here: https://people.com/human-interest/nevada-man-killed-earthquake-working-on-jeep/
Be careful out there!
Beautiful Weather For a Drive
No updates today. They’ll resume Thursday morning.
We spent all day yesterday driving. Thankfully, the skies were beautiful and the temps moderate. A perfect day for towing.
1950 Photo of MacArthur and Jeeps in Korea on eBay
I can’t see General MacArthur too well.
View all the information on eBay
“1950 Korea General MacArthur Jeep Convoy Road to Yongdungpo 8×10 Orig News Photo”
U-Haul: Adventure in Moving
Let me start by saying that I’ve rented U-Haul trucks, trailers and dollies in the past without issue. So, I guess it was my turn …
I picked up the trailer in Pasco at 8:00. They were quick to get it hooked up for me, so quick that they didn’t hand me any damage sheet. Just in case, I figured I’d take a quick look at the trailer to see if there was any damage. It was good that I did, because I saw a bent light.
To be honest, I didn’t check it all that closely (I figured that’s what U-Haul is supposed to do when a trailer it turned in at a U-Haul location). So, I snapped a pic to record the damage just in case.`
Apparently, the Pasco location does NOT check their trailers closely, because when we arrived in Renton (3 hours later) Ann took a closer look at the light and found it was broken. We thought about just zip tying it in place, but felt that, given the length of the trip, we ought to get it properly repaired.
After a couple calls and a visit to the U-Haul website, I finally got through to a U-Haul rep. He was great. He promised someone would arrive in an hour. To U-Haul’s credit, a tow truck driver named Richard from Lynn’s Towing arrived on time, but he didn’t have the parts to fix the trailer. Richard, a forty year tow truck veteran, said I’d need to swap the trailer. He suggested I call U-Haul and tell them I needed a new trailer.
Well, after a couple phone calls, I found myself transferred to a dead phone line. Sigh.
However, while I ran into an awkward call system, Richard didn’t waste any time. He got himself connected with a local U-Haul to explain what happened. Then, he organized another tow truck driver to pickup our trailer, take it back to U-Haul and bring back a new trailer. This was all done as I was holding on the phone with U-Haul. Soon, Richardhad it all taken care of and he told me to hang up the phone.
So, instead of spending the night in Spokane, we spent the night in Renton, then headed out early this morning.
U-Haul’s slogan used to be “Adventure in Moving”. Yesterday, the company lived up to that for sure!
2019 Fort Miles 4th of July Parade
Joe shared these pics from the Fort Miles Living-History Group (261st Coast Artillery/1252d Service Command) participation in Bethany Beach, Delaware’s, Independence Day parade. The pics were taken in the parade form-up area. The group included both WWII & Post-War military vehicles.
Photo of Woman and Pink Surrey on eBay
1969 Ad for the Boulder TowBarGuide
This ad from the September 1969 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine shows the Boulder TowBarGuid, a winch that wrests atop a towbar. The same issue included a story on the winch, though not much background was provided about the company. The winch was manufactured by the Hilmer Company out of Boulder, Colorado.
M-151 Pencil Sharpener on eBay
This is pretty cool. An M-151 Pencil sharpener.
View all the information on eBay
“Vintage Miniature Enesco Die Cast Military Jeep Willys Pencil Sharpener”
Road Trip Starting Monday
Longtime readers remember that we purchased a DJ-3A that we named Rusty in September of 2016 in anticipation of our Alaska trip in the summer of 2017. A buyer on the East Coast recently purchased that DJ-3A and has paid us to trailer it to him. He’s getting a good deal on Rusty, while we are getting our costs for a road trip covered. It’s a win-win.
Unlike our normal tours, we plan to drive straight to our destination, then pretty much turn around and head back, though our return route will take us north with a goal of stopping at Glacier National Park, a place I’ve yet to see. Our goal is only to be gone about two weeks (rather than our usual 6-8 weeks).
Ramsey Company & Brochures
Claude Ramsey and his brother, Rayburn, originally founded Ramsey Winch Company as Ramsey Brothers Tool and Die in July 1944 to manufacture aircraft parts, tools and dies for Douglas Aircraft Company. Claude, realizing the need for a front-mounted winch for passenger cars and pickups, designed a crankshaft-operated winch (Model 101) to pull vehicles out of mud and snow. Demand for the Ramsey Winch increased to the point that the name of the company was changed to Ramsey Brothers Winch Manufacturing Company in 1947. In 1950, the company changed its name to Ramsey Winch Company when Claude bought out his brother’s share of the company.
Here’s a two-page brochure for the dual PTO units: DP-1 (for the Jeep Universal), DP-2 (for 4WD trucks and wagons), DP1-150 (for FC-150s), DP2-FY (for FC-170s).
This twelve-page Ramsey winch brochure from 1959 covers a variety of products. I have three of these brochures, so if you’d like to purchase one for $10, let me know.
Three Blue Surrey Slides on eBay
These slides feature a blue and white Surrey.
View all the information on eBay
“60’S – 70’S Amateur Color Slide Lot Photo Old Jeep Blue Chrome Pictures 03
Normal wear. Great shape.”
The Errislannan’s Metamet Jeep
The Errislannan family of Western Ireland purchased a jeep from Metamet in September of 1959. You can read the story and see all the pics here (thanks to Barry Thomas from Farm Jeep).
https://www.farmjeep.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/THE_ERRISLANNAN_JEEP_ver_2007_a.pdf
1953 Photo of M-170 Test on eBay
This old newspaper photo captured the testing of an M-170 at the Aberdeen Testing Grounds. Theres’ a description on the back fo the photo, but it’s not easy to ready.
View all the information on eBay
“8×10 inches with minor variation”
Modified Canadian MB
This Canadian jeep has some unusual modifications. The image was featured at https://captainstevens.com/military/mv/mvmarkings/, which takes a look at Canadian Military Vehicle marketings.
It’s believed that this is the front of the above jeep. As you can see, a rounded topper has been added to the windshield. It appears to be a nice bit of work. The windshield has also been converted into a vertical windshield.
Brazilian Rural Wagon Video
This Brazilian tutorial about the Willys Rural Wagon and Truck was spotted by Carl. Portuguese speakers might find it interesting.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but some of the Rural wagons and Jeepsters have a “Parkette”-looking fiberglass stripe along the sides. Maybe that’s where Paul Parker got the idea?
December 1942 Article About a Modified Bantam
This news clipping from the December 30, 1942, issue of Yank: The Army Weekly shares the story of a Bantam (no 1687) that was pieced together by the Ordinance Depot.
Koenig Standard Cabs Model 330 Full & 335 Half Cab
The Koenig Standard Cabs Model 330 Full and 335 Half fit CJ-3As, CJ-3Bs, DJ-3As and possibly others.
Ramsey Winch Zippo Lighter on eBay
The price on this seems high, but it’s a unique lighter branded by Ramsey Winches.
View all the information on ebay
“Zippo Ramsey Winch Tulsa Ok. RARE RARE RARE”
WANTED: Gates Commando Tires
Rich is hoping to find a set of vintage Gates Commando Tires. He’s open to different 15″ sizes from G70 to 10-15 or whatever someone might have. You can email him at squareweave @ shaw.ca if you have something.
Here’s a photo of what the XTs look like:
Mickey Thompson has reproduced a set of 27″ Gates for the dune buggy folks, but I’ve not had much luck finding any other vintage Gates-like tires.
Filip Rosz and Metamet
UPDATE: Barry Thomas from Farm Jeep shared this story of a family who purchased a Metamet Jeep.
Anita Long was kind of enough to share some photos and stories about her father, Filip Rosz. He worked for years at the British firm of Metamet, which in the late 1940s and 1950s specialized in refurbishing jeeps into a wide range of specialty models.
Filip came to the UK the hard way. According to Anita, he was originally from Lwow and in the Polish Home Army at the outbreak of World War II. During the autumn campaign of 1939, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets. Deported to a POW camp in Siberia, after two years he was released as a result of the negotiations of the Polish Government in London with the authorities in Moscow.
He travelled a long way to enlist in the 2 Polish Corps that was forming in the west, the 8th British Army. He went through a combat route to Iran and Egypt to Monte Cassino in Italy. He served in 3PU in the West as a mechanic and driver in the 2nd Warsaw Panzer Division.
After the war he was a displaced person, since his home town was now in Russia. He ended up in London and started working at Metamet, as it was owned and run by Poles in similar circumstances. Though listed as a Panel Beater, Anita says her father was the best welder at Metamet.
One Metamet employee Anita wanted to also mention was General Julian Zdzislaw Starosteck who, for a brief time, was the production engineer at Metamet before going to America and working on the Patriot Missile.
Anita tells me that Metamet was well known to a lot of Poles who came to settle in London. In fact, her Polish Step-father worked there briefly before he joined the Merchant Navy. He was too young for the war but did join the Polish Navy as a Submariner with the express purpose to ‘jump ship’, which did happen when his first pert of call outside of Poland was Edinburgh. He made his way down to London and hooked up with the Metamet guys.
Metamet not only rebuilt and sold jeeps, but also provided transportation for Film Garden Parties, events where British and American film and stage actors mingled with everyday folks. Filip was one of the employees that would chauffeur the stars in Metamet jeeps. At some point, he met his future wife Joan at one of the events.
Joan loved the Garden Parties and was an avid collector of autographs. She also would bring along her box Brownie camera to snap photos. For Joan, it was love at first site when she met Filip. They married in 1952. Only eight years later, in 1960, Anita’s father Filip passed away.
Anita labeled her father in each of these rarely-seen photos. A big thanks to Anita for sharing them.
Metamet and Garden Parties
Thanks to Anita Long for these images and for introducing me to Garden Parties. I had no idea such events had taken place. It was at one of these events that her parents met.
She wrote, “As a teenager my Mum was an avid film goer and her main interest was writing to movie stars and studios for autographs. In the summer time she would attend the Sunday Pictorial Garden Parties at Morden Hall Park in Surrey to see more film stars and hopefully ‘get’ their autographs.
The staff at Metamet would drive to the Movie Stars hotels and take them to the Garden Parties. I don’t think they drove them around at the park as my photo shows them at the temporary fencing where they parked them. The jeeps were the best way to chauffeur the stars to all their scheduled meet and greets for the fans on the day. Everyone got to see them as there were definitely no open top limos in those days! The boys at Metamet must have really enjoyed those days and I thank fate for the opportunity given to my Dad. If he hadn’t met my Mum there then I wouldn’t be here now!”
Anita shared this video from Youtube. At the 40sec mark you’ll see a couple jeeps behind Bette Davis:
Here are some photos:
You can learn more about Garden Parties and see some more jeeps here:
https://alondoninheritance.com/eventsandceremonies/the-sunday-pictorial-film-garden-party/
The site includes this photo, which gives a good look at the side of the 5-in-1 Jeep. It has a little bit of a Holden Ambulance look.
1943 GPW Metamet Saloon Body £14,995
Here’s a rare Metamet Saloon body jeep for sale in the UK.
http://www.milweb.net/webvert/78018
“Just one owner since military release, genuine 28,400 miles.
Metamet Saloon body fitted early 1950`s.
A very unique vehicle, chassis no gpp82293, supplied to a Mr HJ Odell the on 30/04/1952 and the only owner since.
Trade advert.”