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Day 24 – Apr. 12th: Dan’s FCs and The Lost Romanian

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

<– Day 23 – Apr. 11th: Vintage Cars and Campers | OVERVIEW | Day 25 – Apr. 13th: Port Why-Knee-Me –>

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Dan Horenburger and I in front of his Streamline FC Motorhome. See more pics here: http://thefcconnection.com/dan_horenberger_fc_motorhome.htm

Our home for Friday and Saturday night was the Thousand Oaks Hampton Inn. Thousand Oaks was great in part because they had some good food stores. The local Whole Foods had some sliced bison meat they sold in a warming bag (kind of like they do with chicken). Since Ann avoids beef most days (beef protein sensitivity) having some Bison was a treat for both of us!  Not only do they have food, but this small community seems to have more shopping per square foot than most. There are shops everywhere, but not many houses (that we can see) to support them all.

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Saturday we did a big loop. The drive north and west on 23/118 was particularly beautiful, due to the beautiful rocky and hilly terrain. The remainder of the drive (especially 101) was full of traffic.

On Saturday, after sleeping in late (due to being awakened by someone walking very heavy in the room above us at 4:30am), our first adventure was a meeting with Dan Horenburger, who has collected an amazing collection of Forward Controls. It was a unique treat to have him share their history with us.

Dan explained that he was brought home in an FC after being born. Clearly he caught the Willys Sickness within just a few days of his birth, the poor guy. By his mid-teens he purchased and rebuilt his first FC. By then there was no turning back, so instead of medication or therapy, he embraced it. Since then he’s spent many years searching for unique vehicles. Fortunately, his professional (carousel restoration) allowed him to travel far and wide to search for them. As you will see he’s been successful.

Here are some of the Fire FCs he owns:

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He also has this rare Mobile Driller attachment on the back of an FC-170:

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Day 22 – Apr. 10th: Balboa Island and Pier

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

<– Day 21 – Apr. 9th: Day 2 at Disneyland | OVERVIEW | Day 23 – Apr. 11th: Vintage Cars and Campers –>

On Thursday we drove down to meet a friend of my mothers and her husband on Balboa Island.

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Today we drove to Balboa Island.

They took us out to Ruby’s on Balboa pier:

Even we couldn’t pull of this photo. It’s from this magazine: http://newportbeachmagazine.com/taste-of-the-town/

We gorged ourselves on hamburgers, fries and chocolate shakes. The best part of the day was getting some of the down low information on my mother from her longtime friend. And, as Mom reads that previous sentence, she is wondering just what Karen told me . . . lol 🙂

<– Day 21 – Apr. 9th: Day 2 at Disneyland | OVERVIEW | Day 23 – Apr. 11th: Vintage Cars and Campers –>

 
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Alex’s 1974 Ebro Diesel Rebuild

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

Alex just completed a rebuild and modification of this Ebro Diesel. It’s now his daily driver. He added a couple features to allow his daughter (pictured here) to carry her surf boards.

http://tahiti-pacifique.com/hobbies/CJ3A/DIESEL/1974%20diesel%20jeep.html

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Orange County Jeep Works

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

Mike Lacovelli,owns Orange County Jeep Works in Middletown, Orange County, New York. He bills the company as “A unique Jeep shop where we build your dream vehicle. If we can’t fix it, it can’t be fixed! Call 845 649 1182”

Learn more:
https://www.facebook.com/OrangeCountyJeepWorks
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130318/LIFE02/303180303

Here’s one of Mike’s unique builds:

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1943 Photo of BRC-40 on eBay

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

This Bantam BRC-40 was towing the 20 ton truck behind it.

View all the information on eBay

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March 1945 Photo of Custom Wrecker on eBay

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

Here’s a pure utility custom wrecker from WWII.

“1945- U.S. troops sit in the “jeep wrecker” they created and with which they tow in jeeps that have run into trouble  on the Western Front.”

View all the information on eBay

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Day 21 – Apr. 9th: Day 2 at Disneyland

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

<– Day 20 – Apr. 8th: California Adventure w/ Mrs. Soggy Bottom | OVERVIEW | Day 22 – Apr. 10th: Balboa Island and Pier –>

Most of this week Ann and I stayed with Josh and his wife Quinn. Josh is a long time friend of mine that I haven’t seen in nearly four years (and had yet to meet Quinn and their new son Jacob). So, we spent a couple evenings having a few drinks and catching up (yes, probably more important than even eWillys!). I even got a chance to do some cooking: poached salmon in a mushroom stock with rice pilaf for dinner and some eggs benedict with hollandaise made, in part, from a vinegar/shallot reduction (best hollandaise I think I’ve ever made from scratch — sorry, no pics).

On Wednesday April 9th Ann and I made it back to Anaheim for day two of our Disney adventure, this time on the Disneyland side. It was a good day and we stayed until the very end to watch the water show and fireworks. I can’t imagine the coldest of hearts doesn’t feel their inner child peak out as disney music booms from the speakers while the water shows, dancing, and fireworks fire up the imagination. Here are a few pics:

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Welcome to Disneyland!

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Me about to ride the Thunder Train.

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Ann with the Matterhorn in the background.

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After a thorough exploration of the park, I concluded there are no jeeps on the premises. However, during the Jungle ride, I am pretty sure I spotted an upside down Mighty Mite. Though I couldn’t positively prove this was the case, after Googling it, I discovered there are pics of a Mighty Mite from the Disney World Jungle Cruise on the G503 site. I guess I’ll just have to go back and investigate more . . .

<– Day 20 – Apr. 8th: California Adventure w/ Mrs. Soggy Bottom | OVERVIEW | Day 22 Apr. 10th: Balboa Island and Pier –>

 
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Rebuild of a 1973 Racing Jeepster

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

Sandy Cone and John Ulfeldt built a racing Jeepster back in the 1970s that was highly successful. Now the Jeepster is being rebuilt back to its original specs. Learn more about this unique rebuild at the racejeepster site: http://racejeepster.com/Race_Jeepster/Welcome.html

 
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Pitt County, North Carolina, M-38

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

Buz forwarded this photo from the East Carolina University archives. The photo is dated June 09, 1962, and shows National Guard vehicles from Pitt County, NC.

https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1779

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Couple SAS Photos from Charles

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

I don’t have any background on these, other than they are SAS photos.

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1943 Ad for Jeep’s Toughness on eBay

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

Marc spotted this unusual ad.

View all the information on eBay

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1946 Photo of Jeeps in Tokyo on eBay

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

Looks cold.

“You are bidding on an original 7 x 9 press photo of Tokyo Japan Army Jeeps at 5th Air Force HQ, covered in snow as the heaviest snow in more than 20 years blanketed Tokyo. Photographer Tom Shafer. Dated 2/12/1946.”

View all the information on eBay

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Get to Know your Jerry Cans

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

Marc discovered these two technical manuals that discuss Jerry Cans.

http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-10-7200-200-13.pdf

 
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Day 20 – Apr. 8th: California Adventure w/ Mrs. Soggy Bottom

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

<– Day 19 – Apr. 7th: From McDonald’s to Ruby’s | OVERVIEW | Day 21 Apr. 9th: Day 2 at Disneyland –>

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Yep, I found the Willys truck near the Grizzly Water Slide in the California Adventure Park. How could I resist a photo with it? Of course, I could not.

Our goal for today was simple: Go to Disneyland’s California Adventure Park. This was made possible by the kind donation of a reader who wishes to remain anonymous coupled with Disney’s active military only three-day $129 park hopper pass. That pass allowed us to do one park yesterday (California Adventure) and one park today (Disneyland). (how is she still active military you wonder? The Air Force refuses to release her fully from duty because of what she did with them).

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Today our drive was short, as my buddy’s place is close to Disneyland.

Even better, because Ann can’t stand for long periods of time, Disney’s handicap system provides us a way to avoid standing in lines for the ‘fast pass’ tickets. I won’t go into explaining how the Disney Fast Pass vs the standard waiting line vs the single line vs the handicap line all differ from one another, because it does get a little confusing. But, I do have to thank Disney for making the experience possible for Ann (and others).

Now, why am I calling her Mrs. Soggy Bottom? Because we made the mistake of riding the Grizzly Water Ride as our second ride. She got his with a lot of water, causing her shorts to get wet. It was she who called herself Mrs. Soggy Bottom 🙂

The “Cars” ride was by far our favorite. It starts as a typical ride, but then turns into a road race. Pretty fun! What I found most amazing about this ride was the rock wall over and behind it. The rock looks so real and is enormous (see second pic — huge!!). I’m sure it is fiberglass/plastic/cement . . . but the paint, and look, down to the dirt at the bottom of one of the faux mesas’s, was incredible.

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Some other pics:

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Tomorrow go back for a second day. This time we will go later and stay late to see the evening water show.

<– Day 19 – Apr. 7th: From McDonald’s to Ruby’s | OVERVIEW | Day 21 Apr. 9th: Day 2 at Disneyland –>

 
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Anyone know the “6” Nose Piece History?

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

Several people have asked about the history of the “6” nose piece. Anyone know how many and the time frames they were produced?

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Poor Cherokee Jeep

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

Tim shared this small bit of news from beachtreenews.com

“Around 4:19pm on Wednesday afternoon a vehicle went through Lindsey’s Market on Hwy 79.  Michael L. Hutchison (DOB 3/1/81) of Oak Ridge Road, claims that a van stopped in front of him and he could not stop, so he left the road, went through the parking lot, and into the building. Hutchison is lodged in the Butler County Jail and charged with operating a vehicle on a suspended/revoked, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of Alcohol/Drugs, .08, first offense, and possession of marijuana.”

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Day 19 – Apr. 7th: From McDonald’s to Ruby’s

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

<– Day 18 – Apr. 6th: Wurlitzer to Wigwam | OVERVIEW | Day 20 Apr. 8th: California Adventure w/ Mrs. Soggy Bottom –>

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On the pier @ Huntington Beach, California

On Monday we and my ‘squaw’ awoke in our ‘teepee’ to a beautiful morning. The $70 we paid for a night at the Wigwam was a splurge for us, but we slept well and enjoyed the uniqueness of the experience.

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The grounds are nicely kept and the area was clean.

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Today we drove from San Bernardino to Fullerton, then on to Huntington Beach, before returning to Huntington.

Our first task of the day was to visit San Bernardino’s contribution to the world: The very first McDonalds in 1948. It turns out the ‘birth’ story of McDonald’s are actually two stories, the official McDonald corp stance and the actual truth. Thankfully, the founder of the Pollo Loco restaurants in Southern California has saved this original history (despite McDonald corp efforts to tell a different story). Even better, he’s made the museum free. Now, I wouldn’t drive hours out of my way to visit this, but if you are near San Bernardino, it is worth a short detour in my opinion.

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Though not the original build, that is part of the original sign and this is the original location of the very first McDonalds.

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Part of the mural on the side of the building commemorates the launch of the first McDonalds.

According to the McDonald corp, the first McDonald’s was started by Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, IL. It turns out that, yes, the Des Plaines location was the first McDonald’s Kroc started. But he launched that one as a franchisee of the McDonald brothers. It wasn’t until 1955 that Kroc bought out the McDonald Brothers and gained control of the business. Here’s some fast-food info:

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History of the Hambuger

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Paul’s Maverick

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

Paul just purchased this early Maverick. Note the emblems on the side. He believes it was blue and white. Though the red paint isn’t the best, he says everything else looks real good.

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1943 Book/TV Stand Houston, TX **SOLD**

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

UPDATE: Was $2250. **SOLD**

This is different.

“I made this one of a kind TV stand / bookshelf / hall table, using the remains of a REAL WWII Jeep! These are not replica parts. I’m down in Houston, but I will be traveling to the Ft. Worth area very soon, so delivery is not out of the question. The Jeep’s hood opens so you can display items behind the grille. Please feel free to ask questions.”

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Day 18 – Apr. 6th: Wurlitzer to Wigwam

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

<– Day 17 – Apr. 5th: Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor | OVERVIEW | Day 19 Apr. 7th: From McDonald’s to Ruby’s –>

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Our wigwam for the evening . . .

We began the morning driving the I-10 to the El Capitan theatre (owned by Disney) at the heart of Hollywood. It wasn’t all clear to me how this would play out, but somehow we were going to hear Rob Richards play on one of the last five remaining “Fox Specials”, of which Farny Wurlitzer, a relative of mine, once said were his masterpieces.

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Today we travelled from Ontario to Hollywood, then back out to San Bernardino.

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Not enough smog in LA to block out the Hollywood sign on Sunday!

Rob was kind enough to email me back in December to tell me he’d welcome our presence at the theatre so we could meet and he could play for us. How could I pass that up? So we agreed to meet on Sunday for a 12:40pm show. I didn’t quite understand it at the time, but Rob would play music on the organ as people streamed into the theatre prior to the movie (which today was the Muppets).

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At the agreed upon time, Rob whisked us inside (comped tickets no less — how do these things happen to me?) and began playing for just Ann and I. He bounced between various disney songs as the pipes and bells and whistles bellowed from the right and left of the front row.

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Blurry, but you get the point. We have the theatre to ourselves for a short time. We even scored some free popcorn and a drink!

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Jim’s DJ-3A Restoration

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

Colin shared these photos of Jim’s restoration. Looks great!

Colin writes, “Here are a few of photos of Jim Sullivan’s 1961 DJ3A Dispatcher.  The restoration on this little Jeep is fresh, like a month old now!   I will include a couple of photos of it when Jim bought it from Bob Tomson about 5 years ago and then a few that I took yesterday morning in front of an Ice Cream shoppe and antique store in Glendale AZ.

The engine and transmission were both rebuilt, all new wiring, upgraded upholstery, floor mats, carpet in the rear compartment, and a 1950s Willys Jeepster/station wagon steering wheel were added.  It has 15 inch powder coated wheels, but small VW size tires.  The paint is 1959 Ford truck blue, which is the same as Pepsi Cola blue.  It has the stock small hubcaps with the raised “W” in the middle.

It has what appears to all of us familiar with it, a reinforcing metal channel on top of the hood, right down over the center seam , which looks like it might have been a factory approved or even a factory installed item (See last photo).  It looks too good to be an aftermarket or homemade deal.  There weren’t any modifications showing to the underside of the hood and it appears to have been spot welded to the hood.  A professional looking addition, regardless of how it came to be there.”

Pics of Jim’s DJ-3A before the restoration:

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After restoration (Note Colin’s Surrey in the background):Jim's-dj3a-3 Jim's-dj3a-2 Jim's-dj3a-1

 
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Day 17 – Apr. 5th: Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor

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

<– Day 16 – Apr. 4th: The Borrego Springs Jeep | OVERVIEW | Day 18 Apr. 6th: Wurlitzer to Wigwam –>

We didn’t do a lot today. I got caught up on emails and ewillys, worked out (trying to do a better job of that this trip), and relaxed. We also slept. A lot.

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Oh yeah, we also ate some ice cream, too. At a Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor no less (Ed Note, as of Dec 2020, the site is no longer live).

When Ann and I were kids Farrell’s was the place to go for birthday parties (Me in Renton, She in Pasco). Farrell’s was loud, crazy and sugarlicious. Then in the mid-1980s Farrell’s closed quickly. The reasons for the closures are hinted at in this history of Farrells: http://www.farrellsusa.com/history-of-fun.php

So, when Ann found a brochure for Farrell’s in the lobby of our hotel, she got very excited. After unsuccessfully trying to convince me that we should have Farrell’s ice cream for breakfast, we agreed to go yesterday afternoon. Even better, it was located on old Route 66 (not that there’s anything left over from the original Route 66).

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Picture on the wall outside of Farrells in Rancho Cucamonga

Though the wait was long, we enjoyed ourselves. The place still captured the spirit and look of the original Farrell’s. There is still the famous Zoo on the menu (feeds hordes of children). The sounds of birthday songs and drum banging reverberated throughout the restaurant. The ice cream was better than dairy queen, but certainly no Zingers. But, that’s okay. It’s all about the fun and about recapturing good memories from bygone youthful days.

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A very happy wife. This was the first ice cream of the trip. No more until we hit Zingers in Oregon.

Sunday we get to hear a Mighty Wurlitzer Organ and receive a short, behind the scenes tour of it.

<– Day 16 – Apr. 4th: The Borrego Springs Jeep | OVERVIEW | Day 18 Apr. 6th: Wurlitzer to Wigwam –>

 
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Robert and His Father’s Rebuild

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

Robert sent this wonderful note to me. He asked me to share it in case it motivates others with their projects.

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My name is Robert and I am writing to thank you for hosting ewillys because it has had a great impact on my life. My father and I decided to get away from the rock crawling scene and build an old willys jeep with a small block Chevy motor because my father was a GM mechanic in the 80’s. However, being from Pennsylvania almost all old jeeps have fallen victim to the rust of the northeast, and as a result, finding a willys worth having was no easy task. After several failed trips to purchase potential projects I stumbled onto ewillys and my father and we decided to purchase a jeep from the west coast.

My father called on over 50 ads from your site and eventually got a call back from the owner of a 1942 GPW with a SBC 305 in Portland, Oregon. The seller was willing to deal with shipping the jeep! Therefore, in early December of 2010, we blindly purchased the jeep sight unseen and prayed it would eventually arrive at the house. The jeep arrived at our house in Pennsylvania a few days before Christmas! The truck driver spoke very little English, but did advise that the jeep ran very poorly and had almost no brakes at all. However, a few negatives could not overcome to excitement my father and I shared upon confirmation that we had not wired some stranger thousands of dollars for a mythical willys, and the jeep was wonderful.

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After the long awaited arrival of the GPW we decided to that even though the gas tank said “remove from boat when fueling,” and the seats were mounted on handy angle we would test the brakes and drive the jeep if at all possible. We determined that we could take a short drive down the cul-de-sac since I could not physically push the jeep when the brakes were applied. As we drove in front of the house the transmission was screaming louder than the motor and steering column was far from safe. That being said, we had to see what a barely running 305 would do in the light willys jeep. Therefore, taking the condition of the jeep into consideration it felt like we were flying when we came back past the house. We began to slow the jeep far before the stop sign and made the turn into our drive way to end our first drive. To our surprise, when my father depressed the clutch pedal to the floor the clutch did not disengage, and as you can imagine this quickly became problematic because the one brake that was sort of working could not even begin to slow the v8. This put us on a crash course with the garage door! Fortunately, my dad is quick on his feet and killed the ignition in the nick of time which allowed us to stop before hitting the house.

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Some Pics from Charles

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

Here’s a few wide ranking pics from Charles.

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This CJ-2A was part of a wedding in Leavenworth, WA. It appears a few other times in this blog: http://prranchwedding.blogspot.com/2012/01/country-chic-wedding-peacock-feather.html

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Cool junkyard photo

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From Charles: belgian air force – note the british corporal stripes (driver) on his sleeve

 
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1943 MB in Lithuanian Museum

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

Charles spotted the of photo of this jeep from Lithuania. It turns out the jeep is in the Vilnius Energy and Technology Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. According to the sign next to it the jeep is a 1943 MB. The facility also appears to have an interesting car collection. You might want to drop by the next time you visit Vilnius.

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