Mark suggested we try a to link as many presidents to jeeps as possible. This is meant as a fun, apolitical post. Hoover was the earliest President to live through the invention of the jeep, which is why I start with him.

#31 Herbert Hoover: The only mining engineer to become president, he won acclaim in the mining community for his and his wife’s translation of De re Metallica into English. As President, in 1930 he appointed John North Willys, founder of Willys-Overland, to the ambassadorship of Poland. Yeah, I know it’s a stretch, but it’s the best I could do.

#32 Franklin Roosevelt: Of course, there are lots of different photos of FDR in jeeps. Here’s on from 1942:

https://www.mcmahanphoto.com/lc405.html

#33 Harry Truman: I couldn’t find one of Truman in a jeep, but I found one of him inspecting a jeep in 1942 at Fort Banning:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F302374562461388960%2F&psig=AOvVaw3p3fqVgMXwt8UUpwp5Kd9z&ust=1605114822213000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=2ahUKEwj9yNfnvPjsAhVQATQIHbC5CI8QjRx6BAgAEAc

#34 Dwight Eisenhower: Like FDR, there are numerous pics of Eisenhower in jeeps. Here’s a press photo that sold on eBay:

http://www.ewillys.com/2019/05/17/1944-photo-of-eisenhower-in-france-on-ebay/

#35 John Kennedy: I was struggling with JFK until I found him in 1963 behind a jeep in Costa Rica thanks to the CJ-3B Page:

https://www.cj3b.info/Finds/FindsJFK.html

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John Ittel at age 16 in his first vehicle, a 1947 CJ-2A. https://www.farmcollector.com/tractors/farm-jeeps-zm0z20aprzhur

I received word yesterday that John Ittel passed away yesterday. He was well known at the annual Willys Jeep Rally for his collection of PTOs, lifts, and farm equipment. While I missed a chance to meet him, I did work with him in 2013 to purchase and ship him a rare Farm Aide Lift (see all the before/after pics here) from a farmer near me to his place in Ohio.

Here’s the Farm Aide lift’s condition before restoration:

Farm Aide Lift before John Ittel’s restoration

To make sure the lift arrived safely, I engineered a special crate for it. When John received it, he mentioned that he liked my crate and that I should go in to the crate building business. We both had a virtual laugh about that.

My warmest thoughts to his family.

The ‘great’ crate of 2013

This pic shows the Farm Aide lift in 2016, post restoration:

The Farm Aide lift after John’s restoration of it. (see all the before/after pics here)

If you are old enough like me (I can now get the over-55 discounts … wahoo!) to have worn an LED watch, you may appreciate this compelling rise-and-fall article of the US LED watch industry during the 1970s. (Around 2000 I stopped wearing watches … I have found that I really dislike wearing any jewelry/watches/etc and now even only wear my wedding ring when I’m out and about).

Well, even AMC got on board this short-tracked train digital watch trend by issuing AMC digital watches as dealer promotion items. A woman’s version of the watch is for sale on eBay. Unclear if it works or not, but it certainly is an unusual item. One of the pictures shows compares the man’s watch to the woman’s watch, but the man’s is not for sale.

View all the information on eBay

“Women’s AMC/Jeep Digital Watch. Dealer promotional item. Condition is “Used”. Has not been tested to see if it works. Was used for display only. It is gold in color. The larger men’s watch is NOT for sale and only used for a size comparison”

Men’s watch compared to the woman’s watch: