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Heading for Greenville, Oh

November 9, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Yesterday we drove, through rain, winds, and fog, from North Platte, Ne, to Springfield, Il, where we spent the night. Today we got up to more gray skies and winds. Fortunately, our purpose there was to spend time in the Lincoln Memorial Museum, so we didn’t have to worry about the weather. However, we found a different storm inside the museum: classes of young teenagers running, talking and noisily exploring the museum. Some were paying attention to the things they saw, others weren’t. Our favorite quote of the day came from a teenage girl who thought the re-enactment of the Lincoln’s showing in the Capitol following his assassination had a coffin containing the body of Washington rather than Lincoln. Ann and I looked at each other rolled our eyes and walked onward.

However, apart from the noise, the museum itself was creative and interesting. The hall of voices was particularly interesting. The exhibit was designed to show how many differing voices Lincoln faced when deciding how to deal with the Emancipation issue.

Tonight we will head for Ann’s great aunt’s house.

Below is the Lincoln Museum and Lincoln Library.

That Lincoln gets all the women ….

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2004 Jeep Wrangler – Willys Edition

November 9, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, Other 4x4s This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I admit I don’t pay too much attention to the new jeeps, so I was surprised as Bob to hear about the ‘Willys Edition’ Wrangler. I figured others might not have known about it either. You can learn more about them here.

Here is one of them for sale: http://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/2667511424.html

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Roberto’s Canvas Heads to South Carolina

November 9, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, videos • TAGS: Roberto-Flores. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Roberto took a video of the canvas he created. It is now being shipped to South Carolina. You can see how he illustrated it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMjIfkw8tUE

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Gray, Drizzly day on the Road

November 8, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

It is a gray, drizzly day on I-80. We are approaching Omaha, Nebraska, where we will sell a camera lense, grab some lunch, head south on I-29 and then across on highway 36 through Missouri in hopes of reaching Springfield, Illinois tonight. Tomorrow, Nov 9th, we will visit the Lincoln Presidential Museum, because according to Ann, it is one of the best Museums she has visited. She also can see some potential in leveraging some of their ideas for a jeep museum. On Nov 10th we will land at Bob’s, who will put us weary travelers up for the night. The next day we head for Tonowanda, NY.

My intrepid co-pilot spotted this horse walking across the road. She pulled quickly to the side, so I could get the shot. You just don’t see that everyday.

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Another Double-Ender in Rawlins, Wy

November 8, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: Double Ender. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Last night we stopped for gas in Ralwins, Wy, and spotted this double ender parked outside of a Sinclair gas station. If you aren’t familiar with doubleenders, here is a flatfender version.

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No updates until Monday Evening

November 6, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I had a wonderful day with my kids today. Tomorrow brings a couple meetings and then a drive east as fast as possible in a hopeful attempt to outrun the snow. So, expect updates tomorrow evening, connectivity premitting.

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Long Island or Bust

November 6, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, GPA (SEEP) This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Neither rain, snow, sleet or hail will stop us as Ann and I begin our trek across the US with Long Island and the retrieval of some paintings for my parents as our ultimate goal. Ok, maybe the snow and sleet will slow us a bit, so I hope to see none of either! On Saturday we arrived in Salt Lake for a quick visit with my kids. We begin the trek west on Monday.

As we passed through Idaho on our way to Salt Lake on Saturday we made a quick stop at Josh’s for my first ever chance to drive a GPA! Even though it doesn’t go anywhere just yet, it was still fun to pretend. Josh has plenty of work left to restore this rare vehicle and continues a search for parts. So, if you have or know of any GPA/SEEP parts, please add a comment to this post and let him know! Thanks Josh!

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Buz Visits the Good Guys Hot Rod Show

October 30, 2011 • CATEGORIES: CJ-3A, Features, Unusual, Willys Trucks • TAGS: CJ2A-Truck. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

On Saturday Buz stopped by the Good Guys Hot Rod show at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. He saw some cool vehicles and took some pictures of them for us. Thanks Buz!

Buz reports that the makers of these bags are waiting for approval from Jeep to produce this tool bag. He says everyone there wanted to buy this one prototype.

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1920 Trip of 25,000 Miles

October 29, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Camping, Features, Trips, Unusual This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

A few days ago in Omaha Ann took me to a favorite local chain called PepperJax. Somebody decided to turn the concept of a buritto shop — where the customer moves down from station to station as someone builds their burrito — into a philly steak shop. So, you can get steak over rice, in a sandwich, in a salad, and more. It was quite good, with the bun made fresh minutes before my sandwich was built and piled high with steak.

After devouring my sandwich, I was admiring some of the old pictures hanging on the wall when I spotted this interesting photo. I tried to find more information about it, but the story escaped my searches. A caption underneath the picture states the image was of an Auto Camp taken September 23, 1920 at Elmwood Park in Omaha, Nebraska,. On the car, which appears to sport all metal spoke wheels (or maybe part wood), were the following phrases:

1. ONLY A FORD
2. 25,000 Miles in 1 YR
3. OVER – 11,000 M in 3 months
4. over 5,000 towns and cities
5. ______ OR BUST (I couldn’t make out the first word).

The car is pretty strange. There must be a good story here. Below is the whole picture followed by a closeup of the car.

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Chemical Smoke Testing At Dugway in Utah

October 29, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: A reader at Wes’ offroadaction site noted that these are likely pictures of smoke testing rather than chemical testing as claimed by the Tribune. You can view Harold’s response here.

I spotted these pics at the Salt Lake Tribune’s online site. I wish there were more close ups of the equipment.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52661179-78/lookback-dugway-weapons-testing.html.csp

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Willys Cab, Dodge Frame & Peterbuilt Front Ross, Tx eBay

October 29, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, Unusual, Willys Wagons • TAGS: Nice. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

From the “I would never have though of doing that department” comes this unique build.

“Custom 1 Ton Truck, 1953 Willys cab stretched 2 foot, with Peterbilt hood, sitting on a 1 ton dodge frame 12 valve cummings diesel, automatic transmission, it haS 142,000 miles on a complete drive train. has tilt/cruise control, a/c and heat work, runs and drive excellent. comes with a 27 foot flatbed trailer, has 2 7500 pound axles, tires on the whole rig are in excellent condition.

You can contact Frank at 254-855-4677”

View all the pics on eBay

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A Flattie at Crazy Horse Memorial

October 27, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Today’s journey took us in and out of the Black Hills and, as I write this, we are cruising towards Billings. The first stop today was the Starbucks in Rapid City, SD, where we managed to cause problems. Somehow, Ann and I got too busy talking and managed to drive right by the order box. When we got to the window and explained that we missed the box, the servers quickly began jumped into action. Mayhem and disaster followed as car after car backed up in the ordinarily slow-paced town, while the servers attempted to stick our order in between the finished orders of others. By the time we drove away and saw the line of cars behind us, we knew we would never be welcomed back. I’m sure the servers were muttering ‘damn tourists’ as we drove away ….

Our next stop was Mt. Rushmore. This was very cool to see in person, more majestic than pictures make it. I guess the Park Service has also embraced the majesty, by charging a kingly price for parking of $11.00. Using some stealth techniques, we snapped some pictures and left for our next destination, the Crazy Horse Memorial.

The Crazy Horse Memorial costs $10 per person to enter, but for the money there is plenty in the visitor’s center to see. After touring the building, I spotted a flat fender in a painting by Jake Eggars hanging on one of the walls. I thought that was a bit strange, the color and look of the jeep (the color and bumper both unusual) that I wondered if it was drawn from a real jeep. So, when I got back to my computer, I started doing some searches. I finally discovered the below pics of the jeep taken in April of this year. No place is too remote for me NOT to find a jeep 🙂

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyhorsememorial/5672487678/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyhorsememorial/5671920257/in/photostream/

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James’ 1950 CJ-3A Project

October 25, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Builds, CJ-3A, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Seventeen year old James emailed me the other day asking if I’d like to stop by and see his jeep while I was in Denver. Of course, my answer was yes, so we arranged a time to visit yesterday.

After meeting him and his father, I learned that this was James’ first vehicle project. After deciding he wanted an old flat fender, he looked around some before he found a great deal on a 1950 CJ-3A with an overdrive, a sound body and frame, and a running engine. Unfortunately, after buying the jeep, he quickly discovered his 6’8″ body was a little lanky for a flattie. Since he is a little big for it, his goal is to give it a light restoration, get it running good, and then sell it. It looks oike a great father/son project and I wish them the best of luck with it! So, expect to see this CJ-3A available on eWillys at some future point. Thanks goes to James for emailing me and sharing his jeep.

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Roberto’s latest drawing

October 23, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: Roberto-Flores. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Roberto decided to track the evolution of this illustration as he created it. Below are a couple of pics, but you can see them all here. Thanks for sharing Roberto!

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Pikes Peak

October 23, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I made my first ascent of Pike’s Peak today. Accompanied by Ann and her nephew Michaes, we braved the beautiful blue skies and perfect temperatures to wind our way to the 14,110 foot summit. From Colorado Springs it took about an hour to reach the peak. Three things surprised me about the ascent. 1) The toll road cost $39 to drive (car plus 3 passengers); 2) Santa’s workshop sits at the base of Pike’s Peak (who knew)?; 3) The concessionaire at the top of the peak is famous for its donuts (which were pretty good).

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A Unique Hunting Jeep

October 21, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, M-38 • TAGS: Hunting. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Paul forwarded me some images from a friend of his who built this hunting jeep for a client. I think there is some nice work here. Thanks Paul! My weapons specialist gf thought it was very cool!

Paul wrote, “this M-38 was built by a friend of mine (Rob Fife), who is a master at fabrication. He restored the M-38 for a customer, who then decided he wanted a hunting rack on it. He built the frt/rear racks to be quick attach, with quick pins, and the rear seat mounts on pedestals so it can be used front or rear. Then the customer decided he wanted to use in parades so gun mounts were added for (3) airsoft m60’s for crowd control. It handles good and isn’t too top heavy.”

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Paul’s 2WD Street and Parade Jeep

October 18, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: Nice. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: More pics added to this post that show the build process. Thanks for sharing Paul!

Paul wrote to me a couple days ago to share his nearly completed project. I’ll bet it will be a kick to drive. He notes that eWillys “gets part of the blame for my madness.” Yeah, I’ve heard that a few times 🙂

“My project is a 1949 CJ-2A that i inherited. It has a custom tube chassis, 2wd, rack and pinion steering and 4 link rear suspension. The body is stretched and frt wheels moved forward. The 5.0 ford engine has an aluminum head and a roller cam. The tranny is a c-4 auto. The rear end is built with a narrowed 3.73 8.8 inch ford with traction lock. The fuel cell mounts under rear seat. Finally, the markings on the jeep are from my unit in vietnam. It is going to be a street rod and parade car. I have had a blast building it so far and hope to have it on the road soon.”

THE BUILD PROCESS

THE BUILD PICTURES:

Continue reading →

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Pete’s Sawtooth Mountain Video

October 17, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, videos, Willys Wagons This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Pete from the Old Willys Forum created and shared this mini video. It sure looks like the summer has set on Idaho.

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Nate Completes Another Build

October 15, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features • TAGS: Nate. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Readers will remember that at age 17, Nate finished his first flat fender build, a 1953 CJ-3A. Not content to spend 2011 driving his jeep, Nate emailed me today sharing with me that he spent the past year building a second jeep with a custom suspension. He’s been sharing his project with the folks over at earlycj5 site and has a variety of pictures that show build from start to finish. Well done again Nate! (Some readers might also remember Nate’s ideas)

I only posted one pic below. Here are all the pictures: http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?88481-Building-a-new-and-improved-Jalopy-frame

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One time I carried a moose on the front of my jeep ….

October 13, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

From the Missoulian, a newspaper in Missoula, Mt, comes this picture. A friend of mine spotted in the Sunday paper and thought of us (she’s a historian, not a jeep person — good to have friends all over 🙂 ).

The caption with the picture: In another photograph from the end of a successful hunt, Eddie Churchwell displays his bull moose in front of Missoula’s Fire Station 1 in 1955. The moose was taken from the Lolo Creek area and brought home on a Willys Jeep.

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What about the FC-160?

October 13, 2011 • CATEGORIES: FC150-FC170-M677, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I had to update this page because my links I had used no longer work. Fortunately, I found an image of a FC-160 from India (at least the Flickr page claims it is a FC-160 — feel free to correct me on this). This picture was taken in January of this year by Vaibhav Bhosale.

“In 1965 Mahindra & Mahindra of India began assembling the Jeep FC Forward Control. Mahindra introduced its versions to include the FC-160. The FC-160 (and later FJ-160) uses a frame which is 2.33 meters in length. The FC-150s frame was 2.05 meters while the FC-170 used a frame of 2.63 meters in length. Thus, the FC-160 was an intermediate truck, marketed to supplement the FC line and the final version was only manufactured by Mahindra & Mahindra.

The pick-up box was designed and manufactured by Mahindra and there were other bodies which were available. Additionally, the base FC-160 chassis was used in the manufacture of a mini-bus which uses the basic front face of the FC. Currently, Mahindra’s FJ-460 and FJ-470 van or mini-bus vehicles still retain the appearance of the original Forward Control. These vehicles can accomodate from 11 to 15 passengers plus the driver”

Caption from flickr: One of the three Jeep models built by Mahindra & Mahindra. This vehicle was used by my school to train the students on Automobile subject. We used to play hide n seek when it got abandoned.

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1949 Fire Jeepster Oklahoma City, OK SOLD

October 12, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, Fire/Police/Industry Vehicles, Jeepster, Unusual This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $5000

“For Sale 1949 Red Willys Jeepster (Novelty) Fire Truck Excellent Condition, Runs Good, Siren and Horn great for attention, parades, etc. Garaged. Asking $5,000 or Best Offer. My father who died several years ago drove it in many parades, full of kids of all ages. Lots of fun and has been well taken care of, but time to sell as we are losing the storage building it has been stored in ”

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Jeep Trip this weekend to Idaho City, Id (near Boise)

October 11, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Event, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Doug contacted me tonight. He and some friends will be making a trip up to Idaho City to do some Jeeping. I drove above Idaho City last year in Biscuit and there are some fun places to explore. I only got lost once. Below are the details. Btw, take the bear and mountain lion and heard wolf warnings serious!

Idaho city

“There are a few Willys owners here in the Boise area who are taking a trip this next Saturday, Oct 15. Several of us met up about a month ago and made the trip to Idaho City. We had 2 CJ3Bs, a M38A1, M37 and M35A3, it was really cool. This will be our second trip and the last one for the year.

If there is anyone interested but cannot make this trip, they can contact me at: willysjeepcj3b@gmail.com and we will get them added to our email list.

Old Jeeps and military vehicles: join us for a drive on the Boise National Forest, Saturday, October 15. Travel will be on public roads in and around Boise N.F. Family and friends welcome.

Trip plan: Depart from Reserve St. alongside Fort Boise City Park in downtown Boise at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Travel up Shaw Mtn/Rocky Canyon Road #260 through the foothills to Robie Creek/Clear Creek Road #261, then Grimes Creek Road #364 to #307 and take 307 into Idaho City. Todd lives on the Hwy. 21 side and will be meeting us at the jct. of #260 and #261, so anyone coming from that side can do the same. Idaho City has a long and interesting history.

Here’s a link to the C of C website. http://www.idahocitychamber.com/ Gas and grub at Idaho City, then backtrack to Pine Creek Road #366 .

If time and weather permits, we’ll go up Pine Creek Road to Shafer Butte, circle Bogus Basin Ski Area, get on #275 below Bogus and take it back to Rocky Canyon Road. Total distance, including the Shafer Butte section, will be approx. 100 – 120 miles. Elevations will be between 2500’ and 7500’. Highway 21 is nearby in case you need to leave early.

Maps? There are many roads in this area, some public, some private, some with travel restrictions. The Forest Service office on Overland in Boise (next to Walmart) has two types. There are black and white “Motor Vehicle Use Maps”, one for each of the 5 ranger districts on the forest. They’re free, get all 5. They contain info on this year’s travel restrictions. You’ll need the Mtn. Home and Idaho City maps for this trip. They also have a large, color “Travel Map” for $9. It’s over 10 years old but gives a good overview of the entire forest. Todd, who lives in the area and travels it often in his 3B, has noticed that the forest maps aren’t always complete, so he uses topos too.

A final note: Todd also reminded us that he’s seen bear and mountain lion and heard wolves while travelling in this area. There was a mountain lion attack near his house last week.

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Goose’s CJ-3B

October 10, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The last time Goose shared images of his CJ-3B, he had just finished a four month restoration. Over the last nine months he had a chance to make a few additional updates and take some more pictures for us. You can see his original post here. Nice angles on the pics Goose!