Features Research Archives

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Pics from past Chicago Auto Shows

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

The Chicago Auto Show website has an archive of images from past auto shows.  Some of the pics include a variety of different jeeps.  Some of these you have probably seen before and, hopefully, others you haven’t.

Last year Bruce shared documents which indicated Willys Motors planned to have a Hong Kong black and gold theme for 1960.  In the pics below, you can see the Hong Kong theme, but hard to tell what the colors are.

1951:

1954:

1959: (you can see a bigger version of the same photo at thefcconnection).  This must have been released as a PR photo.

1960: I thought the description on the bottom of this photo claiming the CJ-6 link was interesting.  I’m assuming the mistake was made by the person who assembled the auto show archives?

I found the advertisement below on Flickr. According to the information on Flickr,
this ad was for the 1960 Detroit Auto Show, but showed 1961 vehicles.

1961:  The Hong Kong Exhibit (though I haven’t quite reconciled the 1961 show date from  Bruce’s document).

1962:  Here’s something from International Harvester.

1964:

http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/show_history/default.aspx?d=1950&y=1950
 
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Holiday Postcard from the MacArthur Museum Archives

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

From the archives of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock, Ar, comes this holiday image on a post card.

 
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19th Annual Spring Midwest Willys Reunion Mason, Ohio

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

Next weekend, May 20-22, the 19th Annual Spring Midwest Willys Jeep Reunion and Swap Meet takes place in Mason, Ohio.  Click here to learn all about it.  Bob will be providing up-to-the-minute photographic coverage for eWillys readers . . . oh wait.  I forgot . . . Budget constraints at eWillys corporate forced us to change from up-to-the-minute coverage to up-to-the moment-bob-feels-like-posting-images-and-simultaneously-has-internet-connectivity-and-isn’t-doing-something-more-important coverage. Thanks for volunteering Bob!

 
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A 1941 MA in Bali?

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

Well, sort of. Rudolf spotted this MA looking jeep for sale, but it turns out the owner combined some MA body parts with a Mitsubishi built CJ-3B.  It sure turned out well. You can see some restored MAs at Gavin’s Site.

 
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Bantam Jeep Festival Update

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

I received an update from the Festival organizers.  Click on the pic to learn about all the updates.

 
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A ‘Coke’ Jeep

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

I’ve never been a big fan of the DJ-5s (just not my thing), but I think this might be the best use of a mail jeep since they stopped delivering mail!

http://cubamomurals.com/wordpress/2010/08/lions-club-rolls-out-the-good-times-for-september-25th-car-show/coke-jeep-3/

 
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2 Pepsi Jeeps

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

UPDATE:  I suggested that the Surrey owner hadn’t gone full out with the Pepsi theme, as the racer below had.  Lester correctly points out that the Surrey represents an older color scheme (which was before my time). If you look through these images, you’ll see the Surrey has the earlier, full color scheme of light blue, red, yellow and white colors. Thanks Lester!

I’m sure the pepsi folks wouldn’t want to be left out, so here are 2 different pepsi jeeps.

 
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Finally, Just Some Soda Pop

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

I think this builder couldn’t decide between Coke or Pepsi.  I found it at jeepfan.com.

 
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John’s D44 Rear Axle Modification

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

UPDATE:  I initially had this as a front axle modification, which was clearly incorrect (the lack of a stearing knuckle should have been my first clue!)

Thanks to John for putting together the narrative and the images!

“Thought some other folks might find this interesting, especially those that have swapped to the D44 rear axle.

While trying to cobble some parts together to build a D44 front axle for my CJ6, I  noticed that the GM D44 small bearing spindles that came with the flat top knuckle axles had the same number of  stud holes as the offset D44 in the back of my CJ.  Knowing that the 2 pc. axle shafts were a weak point, I had kicked around the idea of finding a 71′ offset flanged axle, and installing Herms FF Kit. I figured the flanged D44 would be a long shot, and I didn’t really like the tapered shafts in Herms kit, as you have to pull the spindle to get the shaft out.  So,what to do?  I ended up at R&P 4wdin Oregon City, and asked Richard and Paul what they thought about using the GM spindle to make a full float axle kit. At this point, Rich got a twinkle in his eye and asked me to follow him out into the shop.  From some shelf, he pulled a half machined spindle out, and said, “like this?”. Perfect!  This kit probably wont be for everyone, but was a homerun for me. It lets me run the same Ford 1/2 ton hub and rotor as the front(to keep things 5 on 5.5), the same internal splined locking hubs as the front, and GM calipers.  Overall the FF kit added 2″ of width to my rear axle (same as the front), and I got an axle shaft that is full diameter(30 spline inner, 19 spline outer), and is removable without pulling the spindle.  I ended up running a late 70’s Cadillac caliper (that uses the same GM backing plate as the front), and has a E-brake. And all for a little less than a grand.  I hope somebody out there will find this as cool as I did.
Thanks,
John
“im a doughball”
 
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Various WWII Jeep Images

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

Bob forwarded some links to jeeps from the WW2 In Color website and the Lone Sentry Site.

FROM WW2INCOLOR:

FROM LONESENTRY:

 
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2 Photos from W.E. Duggar

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

Bob pointed me to these two images taken by SFC W.E. Duggar while stationed at Fort Sill, OK, in 1942 as part of the 1st Infantry Division – Dixie Division, 167th Infantry, 3rd. BN.  The first one is particularly wonderful.

 
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In Bali, Rudolf Continues to Find WWII Jeeps

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

Rudolf has found a variety of interesting jeeps for sale in Bali.  Here are pics of an unusual GPW.

 
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More Images from the McArthur Museum

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

You can view the first group of images here and learn more about their history. he MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock, Ar, only exhibits one jeep (shown below), but they do have a variety of WWII Jeep photos in their archive, many of which include captions.  Here are 9 of them.  The photos are part of the Allison Collection of World War II Photographs, the captions of which come from the ACME wire service.

The caption for the image below is: Yanks Hunt Eggs (CQ) in France
France—Holding a lettered board written in French and meaning “have you any eggs?” two Yanks ride in a Jeep and hope for a positive answer from French girls in the city of Rumegies, France. Driver and sign holder is Pvt. Maury Sanders of Corinth, Miss. The other Yank, Pvt. Albert Frank, Burlington, VA., looks on.  Credit: Army radiotelephoto from ACME.

The Caption for the image below is: On one of the most dramatic journeys recorded in the annals of the war, so far, Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stillwell, at the head of a band of 114 Americans, Burmese nurses, Chinese, Indians, Britons and Anglo-Indians, covered 140 grueling miles on their retreat from Wuntho, Burma, which began on May 4th, 1942. For days the band struggled through the torturous heat of the dense malaria-infested swamps and jungles of Burma, to reach the banks of the Uyu River, where they were forced to abandon the few Jeeps and trucks they had, to proceed on home-made rafts, down the river to the Chindwin and Thenge to Imphal on the Indian frontier. They arrived at their destination, Dinjan, India with only a few cases of malaria and heat exhaustion. Considering what they had been through, their journey was remarkably successful. Here, in a series of 25 official U.S. Army photos, just arrived from India, the story of the retreat is graphically presented.  New York Bureau
This bridge was repaired by the Chinese on time, and Major General Franklin C. Sibert, starts ahead of the first Jeep in the column.
Credit: (U.S. Army Photo from ACME)

 
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Cavalry Man Jumping a Jeep

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

A writer, and ‘recovering ranch girl’, named Tamara Linse wrote a nice bit of history about the 115th Cavalry Horse Mechanized, which was a National Guard unit from Wyoming that served in WWII.

She notes that early resources were scare.  She writes, “The 115th Cavalry was activated nine months before war was officially declared. The entire 115th Cavalry Regiment, all 1,086 men, was inducted into federal service on February 24, 1941, the day they boarded a train for Fort Lewis, Washington.

Like all wartime training facilities, Fort Lewis was unprepared for the influx of soldiers. The men trained with stove pipes for cannons, sticks and brooms for rifles, and jeeps marked “TANK” for enemy armored vehicles. Aircraft used sacks of flour for bombs.”

She also mentions that while some soliders were excited to see the new jeeps, motorcyles, and other mechanized vehicles, other soliders would only give up their horses when you pulled their reins from their (I hesitate to say cold, dead) hands.

In the article, she includes an image, courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives, which shows a horse jumping a jeep.  You can check out the entire article here. You might also like to read why/how Men are Like Plants.

 
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The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum Madison, Ga

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

While looking up this Crosley (which I’m not quite sure is a Crosley), I discovered the largest Mircocar Museum in the world.  The bad news is that it appears closed until Fall 2011 for renovations.  However, you can look through the virtual tour to see the types of cars owned by the museum.

 
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Think Twice Before Going Around a Locked Gate

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

According to NWJEEPN.com, an offroader made the mistake of going around a locked gate in order to explore some dirt roads in Clark County, WA.  He was caught and punished. As part of his sentencing, he had to publicly apologize via the below YouTube Video.  That seems a novel use of YouTube.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmXGe9FBCE8

 
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Glenn Miller’s Jeep Band

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

According to the University of Colorado, in 1943 Glenn Miller was asked to “organize a group of outstanding AAF bands to boost morale.  Each would contain musicians especially selected from the draft.  Each would be trained to play both inspiring marching music and outstanding dance band music.  He envisioned himself as a morale and band builder.  While working to achieve his objectives, Miller encountered frustrating opposition from some officers within the military bureaucracy.  He did, however, have powerful allies in Washington, who helped him to circumvent red tape.”

Called the “Band of the Training Command of the Army Air Forces under the direction of Capt. Glenn Miller” and stationed at New Haven, Ct, Miller continued to run into some problems. “A famous, if exaggerated, story soon circulated wherein a military official scolded Miller for ruining traditional Army marching music, saying that Sousa marches were as perfectly fine in 1943 as they had been in 1917, to wit Miller reportedly replied, “Tell me, Major, are we still flying the same airplanes that we did in 1917?”

Despite continued flack from those who disagreed with Miller’s plans, Miller continued to make changes. A newsreel eventually captured a practice session. “The newsreel showed off what was called the ‘jeep band’.   That is, the marching band’s big drum sets and drummers that were carried aboard jeeps and driven alongside the musicians as they marched on the Green or at the Yale Bowl.  The AAF apparently thought Miller was doing the right thing because he simply kept on doing it, much to the delight of the young people in the services who were marching and listening to Miller’s “updated military music”.

This image comes from the University of Colorado Music Department.  I searched for other images on the net, but didn’t have any luck.

 
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The Wonderful Life of Wilbur the Jeep by Wilbur Schram

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

You might have seen one or another of these images illustrated by Normal Rockwell, but did you know there’s a story as well?  Published in the January 29th, 1944, edition of the Saturday Evening Post, the story was written by Wilbur Schram, who went on to be called the “father of communication studies” in the United States. The story appears to be a fun, fictional tale of a jeep named Wilbur and his exploits.  Unfortunately, I could not find any copy of the full text anywhere on the net.

Here is the best snapshot I found on Flickr about the article.

Here are closeups also found on Flickr

 
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All Dressed up for a Wedding

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

Claus forwarded this story and pics today from South Africa. As I told him, marriage can be a rocky road, so it only makes sense to start out newlyweds in a jeep!  You might remember Claus’ brother’s build, which can be seen here.

Claus writes, “The past weekend my brother was asked, by one of his friends, to provide his jeep as their wedding car. Apparently the jeep was centre of attraction and completely shadowed the newlyweds hehehe :-). It even was part of the decor at the reception hall.”

 
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Jeep Delivery Truck from the Chicago Auto Show

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

Craig spotted this cool image of an unusual “Eat More Bread” delivery truck.  He believes it was shown at the Chicago Auto Show in 1960.  I looked through the Chicago Auto archives, but didn’t have any luck finding other examples of it.

I found another example of this rig in “The Story of the Jeep

According to the CJ-3B Page, Willys-Overland considered a large delivery truck back in the erly 1940s, but apparently decided not to pursue them at that time.

 
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A Tornado Decimates a Truck

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

Sadly, Keith filed a post-tornado special report today.  He noted that while he, his wife Patsy and their son survived the storm as it blew through Chattanooga, his truck wasn’t so lucky.  To make matters worse, he was just about to install a new starter and get it running, but until he completed that fix he kept it uninsured.  So, place your antenna flag at half mast and wish Keith and his family well.

 
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Early Rusted CJ-2A Images Heathcote, Ontario, Ca

• CATEGORIES: CJ-2A, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I ran across these images today of a rusted CJ-2A.  The photos were taken in 2008 by Dave Scottin Heathcote, Ontario, Canada, and posted on Flickr.  Check out the governer throttle along with the 3 datatplates.  I think this sitting in a junkyard or in an area with other rusted vehicles.  If you scroll over the map on Flickr, you can see exactly where it is.  I think there might even be some useful parts on this, too.  Given the governor throttle, I wondered if it might have a rear PTO (Click on the 3rd photo and I think you will see the top of a cutoff PTO lever).  You can even almost make out the serial number on the data plate (click on image 2).

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

 
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MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

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

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock, Ar, only exhibits one jeep (shown below), but they do have a variety of WWII Jeep photos in their archive, many of which include captions.  Here are 8 of them.  The photos are part of the Allison Collection of World War II Photographs, the captions of which come from the ACME wire service.

According to the Museum’s website, “James Allison, a sports writer working for the Houston Press, noticed that many photographs not printed in the daily newspaper were routinely discarded. He received permission to save these images, and by war’s end he had amassed a collection of more than 4,600 photographs. In August 1977, Allison donated his collection to the Arkansas Museum of Science and History”.

 
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The FC-170 Power Hoe

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

Craig shared this unusual FC with me.  If you missed this featured FC at theFCConnection, click on the image below to see and learn a little more about this custom FC-170 Power Hoe.

 
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Russian’s and Americans in Korea, 1945

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

Alex spotted this jeep-as-gathering-spot courtesy of photographer George Silk and Life Magazine. The image was taken in October 1945.  I wonder if the film shot by the cameraman on the left still exists.