Here’s a collection of ads published in the Saturday Evening Post between 1950 and 1951. This will prove useful as you read through the post underneath this one.
Features Research Archives
‘Meet The Jeepster’ Brochure
This introduction to the Jeepster book is curious for its lack of any ‘Jeep’ branding. I’m guessing this booklet was produced in 1948?
10th Annual Willys Rally May 24-27th
UPDATE: The Rally is this weekend. I hope everyone has a great time!
This year’s Willys Rally occurs late this month May 24th-27th in Moab, Utah. Roberto Flores produced another great bit of artwork for the event. T-shirts with this design are available for purchase.
Jeepster Pin on ebay
Smokey Bear Postcard on eBay
Cool postcard. Too bad the jeep isn’t more accurate. This is a tribute to artist Rudy Wendelin.
View all the information on eBay
“VINTAGE SMOKEY BEAR POSTCARD – TRIBUTE JEEP.”
1957 Photo of FC-150 w/ Louisville Health Dept Mosquito on eBay
Cool photo.
View all the information on eBay
“1957 Jeep FC Press Photo. City of Louisville. Transportation Division. Louisville & Jefferson County Health Department Mosquito Control Project.
Pages: 1
Details: W 10 x H 8 x D 0.1 Weight 1”
1943 photo of Jeep stuck in the Solomon Islands on eBay
UPDATE: A different version of this photo is up for auction.
View all the information on eBay
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Original Post March 22, 2014: “1943- U.S. Marines pull jeep from mud on Bougainville, Solomon Islands.” This was on eBay.
Willys-Overland Saturday Evening Post Ads 1948-1949
These are all the ads I could find on Saturday Evening Posts published between January 1948 and December 1949. Again, it seems Willys-Overland’s advertising was an exercise in experimentation. Some notes:
- City-And-City Campaign: The first obvious item is that Willys-Overland ran its wagon city-and-city campaign in 1948, but did not run all the ads produced in the Saturday Evening Posts (as documented here). Collier’s Magazine also got a few as did Life Magazine.
- W-O Graphic: In a November 11, 1946 (see 1946-1947 ads here), ad Willys-Overland used script for Willys Overland Motors. In December 21, 1946, the script was accompanied by the graphical representation of Willys-Overland in the form of an yellow “O”, colored red on the inside, with a yellow “W” atop that design.
The scipt disappeared in January on 1947, leaving only the W-O logo. In February and March of 1947 the W-O logo was absent from ads, but then in April of 1947 it made a brief return, before disappearing again.
In Febrary of 1948, the W-O logo reappeared, this time with the ‘Jeep’ logo hovering above it. That combo was used through May of 1948.
In June of 1948, the ‘Jeep’ was dropped in favor of just the W-O logo. By July, the W-O logo disappeared for 1948 and 1949. - CJ-2A Barely Advertised: Trucks and wagons dominate the advertising. There’s only one ad in two years for the CJ-2A and none for the CJ-3A. One reason for this is that Willys-Overland expanded their advertising to other magazines. The Farming magazines (Farm Journal, Country Gentleman, and others) were more CJ-ad oriented.
- ‘Jeep’ Product Badge: Through 1948 and most of 1949 Willys-Overland was advertising ‘Jeep’ Trucks and ‘Jeep’ Station Wagons. However, in late 1949 the company began a switch to WILLYS ‘Jeep’ Station Wagons (see October 15, 1949 ad), then the ‘Jeep’ name was relegated in December 1949 to a small (new) badge, while WILLYS became the more prominent branding once again. Here’s how the badge looked.
In January of 1950, the company shortened WILLYS ‘Jeep’ Station Wagons to Willys Station Wagons, dropping the ‘Jeep’ entirely. - From ‘Jeep’ to WILLYS: After February 1950, Willys-Overland dropped the ‘Jeep’ badge and the ‘Jeep’ branding of the wagon as a ‘Jeep’. Instead, the company went full WILLYS branding, as seen in the September ad below. This seems incredibly strange, given the company had finally won the Trademark for JEEP that year (June 13, 1950 Awarded JEEP registered trademark).
Why did Willys-Overland drop ‘Jeep’? I have no idea. But, it’s no wonder the average person is/was confused about whether a wagon is a ‘Jeep’ wagon or a Willys wagon!
- In October of 1946, Willys-Overland introduced the phrase, “Makers of America’s Most Useful Vehicles” within its ads. That phrase would accompany ads into the 1950s. However, in December of 1949, Willys-Overland introduced a new phrase, “World’s Largest Maker of 4-Wheel-Drive Vehicles”. This phrase was only used once in 1949, but a variation of that phrase would eventually grace Willys-Overland ads (or Willys Motors) in the form of “World’s largest manufacturer of 4-Wheel-Drive Vehicles”. I don’t have dates for when the former was dropped and the latter adopted … yet.
Below are the 1948-1949 ads from the Saturday Evening Journal:
Army Story Includes a General and Bob Hope
This story appeared in the August 12, 1950, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, page 56. It highlights the challenges of being an Army jeep driver.
1943 Bantam BRC-40 Postcard on eBay
UPDATE: Another of these postcards is now on eBay.
View all the information on eBay
“U. S. Army Signal Corps. Jeep Soldiers Out For Refreshments.”
Original Post February 20, 2014:
“You are bidding on a vintage 1943 photo postcard of a Jeep, soldiers and a lady. The card reads, Photo by U S Army Signal Corps. The card is postmarked Camp Pickett, VA 1943. The card is in very good condition.”
The K And K Mower Patent
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.”
Break-in Instructions for a 1961 Wagon
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.”
1944 Photo of Eisenhower in France **SOLD**
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
This photo appears to have been published as part of Eisenhower’s 1948 book “Crusade in Europe”.
“Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in a jeep at front line positions in France in September, 1944 . . . Get. Eisenhower’s own book of the war, “Crusade in Europe,” to be published Nov. 22, will be a treat to military men in studying the strategy of the war and its campaigns, but perhaps the most interesting part of it to the layman is his inside estimate of the war leaders. . .”
Willys Special Service Tools Brochure
This Essential Special Service Tools brochure by the Miller Manufacturing Company appears to have been first published in late 1945 or early 1946 (I’m assuming this based on the Willys-Cars-Trucks-J sign on the cover). It was then updated with this second edition in December of 1948.
These aren’t best scans, so I’ve had to do repairs in Photoshop. I’ve actually had this digital brochure scan for several years, but finally had a chance to assembled the scans yesterday, after Maury noted that this has the Willys sign, which would make it the latest document we’ve found with the Willys-Cars-Trucks-J sign on it. There’s a companion brochure for Trucks in the post below.
Willys Truck Special Service Tools Brochure
This Essential Special Service Tools for Trucks brochure by the Miller Manufacturing Company appears to have been first published in January of 1948. It was then updated with this second edition in December of 1948.
These aren’t best scans. so I’ve had to do repairs in Photoshop. I’ve actually had this digital brochure scan for several years, but finally had a chance to assembled the scans yesterday, after Maury noted that this has the Willys sign, which would make it the latest document we’ve found with the Willys-Cars-Trucks-J sign on it. There’s a companion brochure for CJ-2As in the post above.
Jeep Day at “The Buck” — June 1, 2019
Mark Smith from JeepTruck.com is encouraging any vintage jeepers to join in Jeep Day at “The Buck”, June 1, 2019, in Quarryville, PA. You can show off your jeep, put it through an event, or just watch!
1946 Powered By Willys Engine Badge
UPDATE: Maury pointed out that a porcelain sign of this badge sold in 2017 (see bottom).
In the April of 1946 issue of the Saturday Evening Post (same month in Colliers, too), Willys-Overland introduced a new advertising badge for the Willys engine.
As you can see in the introduction ad (A New Chapter), it was matched with the announcement of the Willys-Overland Jeep Station Wagon, though the ad hides the wagon in anticipation of its summer of 1946 launch.
The badge made a second appearance within the release-announcement of the station wagon in the August 18, 1946, issue of the Saturday Evening Post.
The next month, in September of 1946, the badge appears for a third time, again associated with the wagon.
As quickly as the badge appeared, it disappeared with the same speed. For the October 1946 ad, which included a wagon in it, the Saturday Evening Post seemingly replaced the engine badge with a smaller badge, one with a “W” over the “O”. It’s the earliest jeep ad I can find with that badge (if anyone knows of another, earlier ad, please let me know).
At some point, there was a porcelain version of the sign. One sold on eBay in 2017:
1946 -1947 Willys-Overland Sat Evening Post Ads
Below is an aggregation of Saturday Evening Post Ads for the period January 1946 – December 1947.
As mentioned in the post above, there was an engine badge that appeared briefly. Another curiosity is the shift in March 1947 to black and white ads for the CJ-2A. Perhaps that was done to further differentiate them from the wagon and truck ads?
1957 German Fire/Rescue Wagon
Blaine shared http://oldiesfan67.canalblog.com/archives/2016/11/07/34522726.html with pics of this cool wagon.
Summer Outlook
My family spent the weekend celebrating Dad. Friends and family gathered together on Saturday afternoon to hear my overview of Dad and share stories about him. I think Dad would have enjoyed the laughter and lovely memories shared by all. Here’s the front of Dad’s flyer.
With that final event passed, life should return to normal, at least until mom decides she wants to move.
We don’t foresee many trips this summer, except a few couple-day drives, so I hope to get some good work done. We will also be spending the summer looking around to see where we want to land when we buy a house (assuming everything goes according to plan).
Finally, if anyone has any interest in Rusty, the 1956 DJ-3A that’s been partly restored, drop me an email. I don’t see any way I’ll be getting to Rusty anytime soon (Biscuit will be the first project I tackle once I have a garage again). So, I’d like to find a home where someone can use it. Here’s Rusty’s rebuild thread: http://www.ewillys.com/tag/rusty-dj-3a/?orderby=date&order=ASC&more=1
A Big Thanks!
A regular reader, who I’ll keep anonymous unless he’d like to come forward, thought he’d add a few items to my jeep collection, so he sent me a box with all these items in it. So, I big THANK YOU for the donation.
Spring 2019 Issue of Dispatcher Has Arrived
The newest issue of the Dispatcher Magazine should be hitting your mailbox soon, unless you aren’t a subscriber. If you aren’t a subscriber, then you should be! This week there’s a lenghty article on the Super Wagoneer, something about which I knew very little.
1958 Early Photo of M-679
This early press photo of the M-679 was on eBay.
“1958 Willys Jeep 4×4 XM 679 Panel Van Press Photo. US Navy. Original.
Condition: Hole punched.
Pages: 1
Details: W 10 x H 8 x D 0.1 Weight 1”
1958 Brochure of 4 Wagons … Kaiser Foil Contest
UPDATE: Mike found a much better image of the back of this brochure on Facebook.
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Original Post from Aug 2013: This is one of the stranger brochures I’ve come across. It’s part of Kaiser Foil’s 1st Annual Barbecue contest. The brochure is 28 pages. This one sold on eBay.
“Original color catalog , 7 x 6.5 , 28 pages . Covers and pages have bending at the corner , also all pages are stained and wrinkled at the corner . This brochure is filled will barbecue hints and many recipes showing various products . The rear cover shows a Jeep Station Wagon which was an award in the Kaiser Aluminum Championship . The covers of this catalog are made from aluminum .”
2019 Willys Jeep Reunion May 17-18 Aurora, OH
UPDATE: Reminder that the Willys Reunion takes place this coming weekend. No, we won’t be there, but a bunch of other folks plan to go.
The 27th Annual Willys Jeep Reunion will be held May 17-18 at the Bertram Inn in Aurora, Ohio. As usual, we expect to see in excess of 100 Jeeps in attendance. Plus, at the swap meet, there will be vendors from all over the country selling New-Old-Stock and good used parts to help you with your restoration project or to find that rare replacement part you have been hunting for. Who knows what treasures and bargains you might unearth there?