Here’s a photograph from a December 1941 issue of Mechanix Magazine that shows a Ford GP participating in war games at the dawn of the US’s official entry into WWII.
Features Research Archives
Tim’s Hill Climb at the Monroe Adventure Park
Steve forwarded this video of Tim’s jeep Priority running the Hill Climb at the Adventure Park in Monroe, Washington. I don’t know anything about the Park, but here’s a link to the website. Here’s an article about the “Prison Break” event. Here’s the Facebook page.
Priority is powered by an aluminum V-8 followed by a Ford Top-loader four speed that used to be in my father’s jeep. It’s got a Parkette fiberglass body with a Bobcat hood. He runs an independent suspension that has been updated since I last saw the jeep, so I’m looking forward to my next climb underneath it.
1955 Meyer Offset Angledozer Brochure on eBay
Good Food, X-Rays, Jeeps and a Camel
We were hunting jeeps, as we do anytime we are traveling in the car, when I heard Ann shout, “That’s a camel . . . NO, that’ s horse . . . No, that’s a Camel.”
Those weren’t words I expected to hear as we drove into the small town of Waitsburg, Washington, just a short drive north from Walla Walla. But, sure enough, there amongst two cows was a Camel eating some feed. It’s just strange the things you can find when you start looking.
Modern Mechanix Tests the Jeepster and Station Wagon
In the January 1950 Issue, Modern Mechanix took the Jeepster and Station Wagon for test drives. Below is page 1. You can see all the pages at the Modern Mechanix Blog. In summary, the review isn’t all that flattering.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mi-tests-the-willys-jeepster-and-station-wagon/
Jeep Junkyard in Djibouti
It sure looks like there are some parts worth saving. This was taken in The Republic of Djibouti, Africa, and posted on Flickr. After some searching, I discovered these are probably Hotchkiss (see m201 website).
Part II of the Don Prine Story
Part II of the Don Prine ‘Old Man’ Story can be read in the September issue of JP Magazine. It has also been published online at this address: http://www.jpmagazine.com/featuredvehicles/154_1209_the_old_man_and_the_jeep_part_2/
Here’s a picture Marty took during the interview. Don Prine is on the left, Christain Hazel in the middle, and Herm Tilford (Herm the Overdrive Guy) on the right.
View more pictures of the meeting here: http://www.pnw4wda.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2630
You can view Part 1 of the Don Prine Story at JP Magazine
What’s a Jeep between brothers?
From the Vale Valley Website comes this story of one brother buying CJ-2A #No. 23995 for another. It’s written by Raymond Bleesz. You can see pictures of his jeep on the CJ-2A Page.
It is said that the Willys Jeep won the hearts and minds of all those who served in World War II, and that the jeep won the war.
My 1946 CJ2A jeep, No. 23995, was in the assembly line of production when the war ended.
This jeep with its “Go Devil” four- banger engine, a body from the Willys Ford Overland Co. in Toledo, Ohio, was one of thousands produced during the war years and later into preproduction civilian jeeps at the end of the war.
In 1990, this jeep was given to me as a birthday gift by my brother, who had purchased it from a good old boy in Frederick, Md., towed it across country and presented it to me upon his arrival here in Edwards. . . . . . .Read more below
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20120812/EDITS/120819972/1021&ParentProfile=1065
1954 Scheneker Snow Plow Brochure on eBay
Research is Such Tough Work . . .
Last Tuesday Ann and I hit the road to do research for the next book. Having written much of the book already, I still have many details to add. Nothing can replace following the pathes of your characters to see, smell, and hear what they would see, smell hear (hence the reason I need to write a book with Europe as the backdrop 🙂 ). In this case, we had the follow the characters as they ferried from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, drove up to thePort Townsend area and then ferried over to Whidbey Island and finally ferried from Whidbey to Mukilteo to drive back to Renton. While we had to take three Washington State Ferries and cross one floating bridge, the characters travel in different ways to different places, so I’m giving away little with this information.
Here are a few pictures from our trip. In this picture, we are on the Ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. You’ll note the new addition to the Seattle Waterfront on the right of the photo, the giant ferris wheel, which doesn’t look so giant against the buildings in the background:
Here I am at Port Gamble, enjoying the sites and sounds of the quaint little former company town (ok actually I am checking email):
Ann found a big gun at Fort Flagler. She does enjoy her weapons. She provided a running tutorial on what was missing:
As the suns sets at Mutiny Bay, we snap our picture at the exact location I include in the book:
Pauls Frame is Finished Baking
Paul’s been eagerly awaiting the completion of his frame’s powder coating. I told him that it was too pretty to put under the jeep. Instead, he ought to hand it in the house. No response to that idea so far . . .
Paul writes, “Early this morning (to retired folks it seemed real early) I traded a fist full of cash to a local businessman and in return I received a beautiful black powdercoated Willys frame fresh from the curing oven complete with that new frame smell. Quickly hauling it home I positioned the frame inside the connex slightly ahead of the body while leaving enough room to safely install the springs and axles. I needed to somehow support the frame high enough to allow the axles to fit underneath while not damaging the new coating and still allow the frame to be easily raised and lowered. Did I mention this proposed support structure had to be cheap?
While the connex is incredibly strong the metal roof is way weaker than the weight of the snow we receive during a normal winter so years ago (to prevent the roof from collapsing) I reinforced the roof structure with full length headers bolted to the connex sides and 2X4 doublers positioned right below the original roof bows. With all this structure just waiting for me to use I attached the ends of four ratchet straps to the headers and hooked the opposite ends to the Willys frame. By adjusting the tension of the straps I was able to position the frame level and at the height necessary for clearance of the wheel and axle combination. I normally carry four ratchet straps in the truck (you never know when you’ll run across something that’s just too good to pass up so I’m ready to load it up, cinch it down and head for home at a high rate of speed before anyone changes their mind) they were quickly removed and became the Poor Folk Deluxe Adjustable Lift. This worked GREAT! Total cost…nothing!”
Racing at the 2012 PNW4WDA Summer Convention in Oregon
Here’s a great video of a run at the 2012 Summer Convention held this year in Camas Valley, Oregon. There are a few more videos posted as well.
1957 Jeep Jamboree from Texas
I purchased this small article about a Jeep Jamboree in 1957. The event was held on South Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas. This two page spread has pictures and a bit of info on the action. As soon as I get my scanner working again, I’ll larger versions of this.
1955 Meyer Snow Plows and Angle Dozers
Paul gets some early shots of Crazy Ralphie’s GPA
UPDATE: I’m reposting this February 2010 post in honor of the SEEP that appears in my next book. Ann and I spent Wednesday on a journey to review some of the places I will mention in the book. I’ll report on our research tomorrow.
Apparently, Paul cornered Ralphie in his garage today and refused to leave until he got some pics for us. Ralphie’s GPA is well on its way to being a great looking rebuild. Thanks to Paul and Ralphie!
Paul writes, “Crazy Ralphie’s garage suffers from the usual garage problems, no matter how big your garage is it still isn’t big enough to hold all the tools and projects you want to stuff inside so the work area becomes a bit cramped. I’ll be able to get better pictures this summer when things can be moved outside but for now these pictures will have to due. The poor little GPA is sandwiched next to the chassis of a 1934 Ford four door sedan which is tight against a 1956 Caddy convertible undergoing restoration and every flat surface becomes a parts storage shelf until the pile becomes a pyramid towering towards the ceiling.
Crazy Ralphie is in the background of a couple of photos working on the body of the 34 Ford but he’s locating missing parts and doing some work on the GPA in the meantime.
The UPS guy just delivered my new Buick 225 V 6 radiator and I didn’t anticipate it’s arrival until the end of the month so it looks like I’ll have something to work on tomorrow what with building a mount and fabricating brace rod/hood prop combinations. I got my taxes done and Uncle owes me money, it just doesn’t seem right to put that money into a savings account when I could buy Jeep parts instead so I was on the phone ordering and the tax return has been killed.”
1955 Tops and Other Options Brochure on eBay
I thought these top brochures were informative. So, I’ve posted four of them.
This brochure breaks down some of the differences between Koenig Hard Tops.
1950s Whitco Top Brochure on eBay
1957? Jiffy Cab Brochure
Kaiser Willys Partners with Cereal Companies for Contest Prizes
1) Colin shared this video clip. In the 1950s Post Cereal partnered with Kaiser Willys to giveaway a CJ-3B as demonstrated by this video. All customer had to do was write down on a piece of paper their favorite Kellogg’s cereals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=SkDM7HHprXY
2) (from an earlier post) In this 1960’s Kelloggs All Bran Contest, Kellogg’s partnered with Kaiser Willys to giveaway a CJ-5 or DJ-3A Surrey, plus an Aruba vacation. 1,500 model Surreys (Tonkas maybe?) were given away, too. The box below was sold on eBay in August of 2012.
1955 King PTOs and Winches Brochure on eBay
These King PTOS and Winches were produced by Koenig.
1948 Roper Brochures for the Dozer Blade and Post Hole Digger
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
This is a pair of early brochures for the Roper Dozer Blade and Post Hole Digger.
1960 Brochure for the Meyer Angledozers on eBay
I didn’t know these Meyer plows were called Angledozers.
Milk River’s CJ-2A Fire Jeep & T-shirts
I ran across Milk River’s website, located in Alberta, Canada. To help support the Milk River Fire Department, they have printed t-shirts with an illustration of the department’s 1947 CJ-2A Fire Jeep. You can email them here for more information: http://milkriver.ca/government/town-departments/emergency-services/47-willys-t-shirts-for-sale/sendto_form
Here’s a picture of their Fire Jeep:
Bruce’s Trailer Makeover
Bruce wanted to share some before and after pictures of a trailer he saved. As you can see, the before picture shows a pretty tired trailer. However, after six weeks of work by Bruce, the trailer looks like a great match for his flattie. Thanks for sharing Bruce.
Bruce wrote, “I purchased this trailer locally (7/2/12) for $600, more than i wanted to spend. however, it was simple to transport so i bought it anyway. they are hard to find.
Every nut, bolt and screw was removed, and all 20 leaves from the springs. All of the u-bolts and one shackle were replaced. All rust was removed. The floor had a few rust holes on the side that i duct taped over and then rhino guarded (black spray) the interior. I picked up a 3×6 rubber floor mat from u-line that fits nicely inside.
The trailer had home made fenders that were welded on. Once i removed them, gaping holes were left. I found new fenders at ‘tractor supply’.
After:
1968 Montgomery Ward Replacement Parts Book on eBay
Did you know that both Sears and Montgomery Ward companies both sold replacement parts for jeeps and scouts? See the next post for the Sears version of this catalog.