Features Research Archives

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Jeep Toy and Trailer in Monterey

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

Mike discovered this jeep toy by Salido in a small antique shop in Moneterey, California.

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Photos from the 2015 Midwest FC Gathering

• CATEGORIES: Event, FC150-FC170-M677, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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Roger shared these photos from his Midwest FC Gathering. He reported that the weather was great. He had more than 30 people and 9 FCs at the event. He also wanted to acknowledge & thank everyone for all the spontaneous help with food.

-Linda & George “The Grill Master” McGuire
-Sharon & Walter “The Grill Master” Calhoun
-Dan Laity, Dutch Oven “Chef”
-Everyone who set up canopy’s, tables, chairs, and helped clean-up.

He’s already looking forward to next year!

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FC150, Greg Houk (OH), Houk’s Jeep Parts,Fayetteville,OH

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170DRW, Ronnie & Susie Talkington (WV)

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George McGuire (PA), Dan Laity (OH), Wayne & Sally Trent (FL)

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1945 Article About the End of Joy-Riding in Paris

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

Steve shared this funny story about the seizure of jeeps in Paris to put a halt to free rides for pretty French girls. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3316764/posts

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Baling Hay in Vermont

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

Craig’s friend Mario put his jeep to use this weekend moving some hay bales.

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1943 Photo of GIs & Prisoner in Italy on eBay

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

The prisoner doesn’t seem all that upset about being captured.

“1943- Wounded German soldier is brought down from the hills around Salerno in a jeep ambulance for treatment at a dressing station behind Allied lines.”

View all the information on eBay

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Old Jeeping Photos of the Rubicon?

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

These old photos I bought off of eBay show aren’t the best. They capture a weekend of jeeping somewhere in California, possibly the Rubicon.

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Buddy Cowger: CJ-3B Uranium Hunter

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

According to this story, Buddy Cowger lost the use of his legs due to cyanide poisoning. That didn’t stop him from driving the backroads of Utah in search of Uranium. He was a friend of Charlie Steen, a famous Uranium hunter out of Moab.

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1955 Testimonial to the Jeep From a Tobacco Farmer

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

This testimonial was published in the July 1955 issue of Willys News.

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Hand Built Mini-Jeeps out of Bolivia

• CATEGORIES: DJ-3A, Features, Models This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Richard Michalsky builds “mini-jeeps” out of his shop in Bolivia. These jeeps are all metal. The first vehicle, an MB look-a-like was completed in 3 years. It is 25% Smaller than the original vehicle and is 2WD, but has made of the same details. It is powered with a 3 Cyl engine from a Kia 1000cc. It weighs around 1250lbs.

This second jeep is a civilian model. It’s styled different, but appears to be built in a way similar to the  MB-like jeep. It too is only 2WD. They look like a kick to drive around.

 
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1943 Photo of British Solider Using Umbrella as Shade on eBay

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

I spent far too much time in the sun today. I could have used an umbrella like this!

“1943- British Signaller W. Bale working on his jeep using an umbrella for shade on Sicilian beach.”

View all the information on eBay

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Don Visits the New Mexico Museum of Military History in Albuquerque

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

Don shared these photos of jeeps from his visit to the the New Mexico Museum of Military History Albuquerque, New Mexico (That is the Facebook page … it’s website doesn’t appear to be working). This place is only about a mile away from the jeep dealership that has the CJ-2A in it. Note the Ford GP! Don sent a selfie this time 🙂

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Merlin Visits the Top Kicks Museum

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

Anyone familiar with West Virginia’s Top Kicks Military Museum? If not, it’s worth a look. Merlin stopped by the other day and filed a detailed report on his blog. The museum has an extensive Jeep collection that even includes a copy of the CJ4 Jeep and a 6 wheeler.

https://hansonmechanical.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/a-million-jeeps/

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Joseph’s High School Project and His LED Taillight Kit

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

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Pete from the Old Willys Forum shared this news with me. Click on the links to learn more.

Joseph is working on his high school senior project this summer.  He is planning to build a CNC Mill machine that will mill wood, plastic, and aluminum.  He just launched a Kickstarter Campaign to sell his Willys Station Wagon LED tail lights as a kit, to fund the purchase of the CNC parts.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192462920/willys-station-wagon-led-tail-light-kit

Once he has the CNC machine together, he will use it to produce the circuit boards for the LED tail lights, and other small parts that he can sell to help fund his ’51 Willys Wagon build. 

http://www.oldwillysforum.com/forum/showthread.php?2989-Joseph-s-51-Wagon-Build

He is hoping to sell 25-30 sets of the lights to fund the CNC project.  It is an ambitious senior project for a 16 year old kid, but he has already raised 2/3 of the 30 day campaign goal in the first 10 days…  There has been lots of interest in these lights on www.oldwillysforum.com and hopefully from others who might not visit the forum to find the info on them.

Even folks don’t need a set of the lights, they can support Joseph’s Kickstarter campaign by pledging $25 or more and get a cool shirt he designed for the project.  If they are feeling philanthropic, they can donate any amout to the campaign… 

Here is what comes in the “kit”, for each tail light, which bolts in to the stock Willys tail light bezel.

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Glenn’s Accident in Miss Willy

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

A couple days ago Glenn Byron was driving to a local Parking Lot Hot Dog Stand Display in his DJ-3A “Miss Willy” when a 90 year old driver pulled a left turn right in front of his bright yellow Jeep. The driver claimed the sun was in his eyes and he didn’t see glenn. Glenn hit the brakes, leaving about 5 foot skid marks from all four wheels before impact.

A nearly new Subaru was the victim, hit on passenger side, side air bags deployed, and probably totaled. The impact caused Miss Willy to flip onto her drivers side and slide a very short distance.
Miss Willy has bent frame, broken windshield, whole nose screwed up, and who knows how much more.

Fortunately, Glenn seems to be okay, though he did get hit on the head pretty good, causing him to be a little foggy. He’s not sure, but he believes he was ejected. No one seems to know of for sure.

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Here’s the Subaru:2015-07-glenn-crash2

Miss Willys before the accident:

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1948 Photos of Frances Freeman at the Rare Bird Farm

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

These two photos were taken at Kendall’s Rare Bird Farm in 1948 showing Frances Freeman. It has since closed, though I have no additional information. Note the odd rear rim.

 
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Melbourne’s Thomas Blamey Monument

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

Field Marshall Sir Thomas Albert Blamey was memorialized in a monument in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. It shows him standing while gripping part of a jeep windshield. The way a July 1955 Willys News described it, I thought there’d be a whole jeep!

Thomas_Blamey_statue_Melbourne

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Blamey_statue_Melbourne.jpg Blamey is mounted on a jeep instead of the traditional horse. This conveys Blamey’s role in the technological transformation of the Army that occurred during his years of service

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1942 Photo of Cecil McAdams Towing Glider with Jeep on eBay

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

This was part of the training exercise at the Air Force’s Advanced Glider Detachment in Mobile, Alabama.

View all the information on eBay

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1971 Meyer/Husky Snow Plow Postcard on eBay

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

Steve spotted this postcard that shows both the snowplows and the options for equipment behind the jeeps.

View all the information on ebay

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Photos from the 2015 Willys America Open House

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

Paul reports that this year’s Willys America Open House was a big success. He’s posted photos on his Facebook page. Below are just a few of them.

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1944 MB Stolen at Cambridge UK Show

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

Keep an eye out for this stolen 1944 MB(?) taken from the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire, UK. Its registration is AMB644 and the hood number is 20497753-S. It was formerly stationed at Pearl Harbor.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-33537724

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Model Jeep on Display at the Met in 1946

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

Pfc. Harold B. Whiting of Plainfield, New Jersey, built an award-winning model jeep that in 1946 that landed temporarily on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This article was featured in the February 2, 1946, issue of the Afro-American. I wonder where that model is now??

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Jeeps Uncouth? Say It Isn’t So Texas!!

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

An October 26, 1951, article from the Times-News of Henderson, North Carolina, reported that the State Supreme Court of Texas ruled jeeps were “uncouth . . . without beauty of line or body”! Obviously, this didn’t sit well with Willys Overland.

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Progress on Biscuit

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

Last week I dropped by my parents house to visit. Naturally, I also had some sonny-do chores to finish, including my annual ‘sweeping of the roof’. Their tall fir trees might look beautiful, but eventually fall from the limbs and have to land somewhere. How they all seem to reach the roof remains a mystery to me.

The good news is I did manage to get a little work done on Biscuit. After swapping rear leaf spring combinations more times than i care to count, I finally got a grouping that puts the jeep level and the pumpkin at the right angle. That completes the changes necessary for the rear. Now I just have to finish off the engine compartment, brake, and clutch changes. I’m in no rush as the next book is the priority project, but hopefully by years end the jeep will be running again.

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Legacy Classic Trucks

• CATEGORIES: Features, Other 4x4s, Website This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Looking for a modern truck in a vintage package? Thanks to Guy, we now know of at least one option: Legacy Classic Trucks. Based out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the company specializes in rebuilding classic trucks of all kinds, including Jeep Scramblers and Dodge Power Wagons. The Four Door Power Wagon below is one example. According to their website, most of their trucks are built to order with a variety of power train options and are priced accordingly.

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Anyone Know about Pumps?

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

Charles in Belgium has these two pumps and plans to sell one. The problem is he’s not sure which one he should keep and is having trouble learning more about them. I did a little research and found other, more common WWII pumps, but couldn’t find any examples of these. So, anyone know if one is more interesting or more valuable than the other?

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