Features Research Archives

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Automatic Transmission in DJ-3As, DJs and Others(?)

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

Dave asked me about the type of adapter used on DJ-3As and FJs to connect an automatic transmission (which may have been the Borg Warner model 12 according to David Sapp mentioned in his comment to this post, though I have no documented evidence of this, but it should be out there somewhere). Essentially, a adapter plate is bolted to the back of an L-head/F-head engine, to which the transmission bell housing attaches.

After some searching, Dave spotted the adapter in an FJ supplement book. Here are the pics.

fj-auto-transmission-plate2-lores fj-auto-transmission-plate1-lores

Meanwhile, a discussion from 2012 on the topic of DJ-3A automatic transmissions yielded these pics showing a BW transmission connected to an L-head with a similar looking plate.

automatic-transmission-dj3a-1

automatic-transmission-dj3a-2

As for the rare shifter that’s been captured in some pics, this pic is the best I have (from a DJ-3A automatic). It confirms Barry Goodwin’s comment on another post that the transmission lacked a “Park” feature. Instead, the driver would put it in neutral when parking (and I assume pull the parking brake).

dj3a-automatic-transmission-shifter

If anyone has a document that confirms it was the M-12 BW transmission that was used, or has more pics or is aware of other useful discussions on this topic, please let me know. There isn’t much info about these setups on the web.

FYI: Based on my research, it appears the Willys Aero cars of the 1950s used a GM Hydramatic rather than a BW transmission.

 
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Sacramento Jeepers Pin on ebay

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

This neat quarter-sized Sacramento Jeepers pin is available on eBay for $14.95 (or make offer) and free shipping.

View all the information on eBay

“US Quarter is there to show size. This item will be packed well and Shipped with USPS First Class with tracking.”

sacramento-jeepers-jeep-club-pin1 sacramento-jeepers-jeep-club-pin2

 
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MD Juan Virtual Tour

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

Mike shared this video of a brief MD Juan factory tour. The video, in part, demonstrates the scope of equipment necessary to make some of the parts. It’s not a trivial investment in stamps and computer equipment.

 
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Kurland Hubs and Kurland Histories

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

One of the rarest type of jeeps hubs are the Kurland hubs. I’ve only had one pic of these hubs (thanks to Ted Jordan) until yesterday when Richard Darr forwarded me a photo of a set of hubs he acquired. This led me to a quick dive into the internet, which yielded the following.

A variety of searches related to “Kurland” and “Kurland Motors” yielded results in both Los Angeles (a city whose name appears on the hub) and Denver. In fact, there were Kurland Motor companies in Los Angeles, Denver, and Grand Junction, Colorado (also known as Kurland Junction Motors).

The Denver location was opened as early as August 1946, as an ad in the Windsor Beacon out of Windsor, Colorado, mentioned the new Universal Jeep arriving for delivery (soon).

1946-08-29-windsor-beacon-kurland-motors-ad

I couldn’t location much information about this Denver Willys distributor, other than Kurland Motors was instrumental in the launch of the Mile High Jeep Club in 1956 and that Kurland Motors, at least for a short time, marketed Kurland-branded bumpers about that same time.

Regarding Kurland Junction Motors, I was able to locate this ad from February 22, 1948, (The Daily Sentinel, GC, CO):

1948-02-22-daily-sentinel-gc-colo-kurland-junction-motors

Now, were the Denver/Grand Junction Kurland dealers connected to the Kurland Motors of Los Angeles that also sold Willys-Overland vehicles? If they were related, I have yet to find a connection. But, at least I was able to unearth more information about the LA Kurland.

1948-12-05-los-angeles-times-kurland-opens

CREDIT: December 05, 1948, issue of the Los Angeles Times

As the article suggests, the Transport Motor Company lost some key personnel. Perhaps Transport Motors had decided to exit its Willys-Overland relationship?

At some juncture, it appears Kurland launched a line of free-wheeling hubs. These hubs were stamped with 1) KURLAND, 2) Los Angeles and 3) Patent Pending. Unfortunately, I could find no patents related to the hubs. In fact, the only information I could find related to the hubs was a reference to a CJ-2A being sold with a set of the hubs.

1955-11-10-independent-long-beach-cal-kurland-hubs-ad

November 10, 1955, Independent News, Long Beach, CA.

Here are the only pics I have of the hubs:

KURLAND-HUBS-RICHARD

CREDIT: Richard Darr

ted-jordan-kurland-hubs-backs-lores1

CREDIT: Ted Jordan

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1951 Wagon and Trailer Trip to Ensenada, Mexico

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

In 1951, Kurland Motors provided the Los Angeles Times automobile editor, Lynn Rogers, a wagon for a journey down to Ensenada, Mexico. A description of the trip was printed in the October 21, 1951, issue of the Los Angeles Times.

1951-10-21-los-angeles-times-wagon-camper-trip1

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Reviving a 1959 CJ-3B

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

Bill shared a video via Autorevolution.com that highlights the saving of a locked-up CJ-3B.

 
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Video: Saving a 1946 CJ-2A

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

Thanks to Chuck for sharing this video about saving a CJ-2A.

 
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Overdrive Differences

• CATEGORIES: Features, OD Other, OD Saturn/Warn This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Will shared pics that show some of the differences between a Warn overdrive with a Husky overdrive. Regarding finding Husky parts, my best guess for parts would be Herm Tilford.

Will writes, “A little while back there was a discussion on the different overdrive units. There where several different units produced and maybe others but the ones I’ve seen are Warn, Dualmatic, Saturn, Husky and ATV overdrives that all looked similar. Saturn is a direct decedent of the Warn as Advance Adapters purchased the tooling from Warn to make the Saturn. I don’t know much about the Dualmatic or ATV except ATV is still produced as is Saturn.

Anyway I had mentioned that the Husky had a different angle to the planetary gears, Sun gear and bowl gear than Warn. These pictures show how the Warn had much more tooth angle than Husky and as such these parts do not interchange and Husky parts are near impossible to find.”

IMG_8652 IMG_8651 IMG_8650

 
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In 1957-58 4 Italians Drove to Toledo the Long Way

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

UPDATE: This was first posted in August of 2016.

This September 13, 1958, article from the Toledo Blade told the story of four italians who drove what appears to be a WWII jeep a distance of 80,000 miles from Italy to Toledo. The men, all newspapermen, planned to drive another 15,000 miles back to Italy. What a trip! I wonder if their counterparts in 2013 knew of their countrymen’s adventure?

1958-09-13-toledo-blade-italians-world-adventure1 1958-09-13-toledo-blade-italians-world-adventure2

 
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Re-Grading the Little House Lawn

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

In another of the series of why-I-am-not-working-on-jeeps-right-now posts, the warm weather has allow me to get busy the last couple of days regrading the lawn next to the guest house. The previous owner had put a garden next to the shop. We wanted that to go, because it was in the shade most of the time and because it didn’t make sense for us in that location. In addition, there was a negative slop into the south side of the guest house. Finally, we want to add a walking path along the lawn side of the shop and install some new sprinklers (line were laid for this area, but, we have discovered, the growth of the lean-to-structure (at back) and the construction of the guest house a few years ago appear to have been built, in some cases, over the original lines. So, we are having to locate this sprinkler line as we go.

Here’s what it looked like when we bought the place:

little-house-south-lawn2
2804-s-wilgus-prosser-26 copy

All those issues led me to regrade the area this weekend. Pulling up the grass turned out to be the most difficult part. So, I used my fork-lift forks to stab, then lift the grass. The result was this jumbled mess.

2022-03-26-grading-little-house-lawn1

Eventually, I got all the area roughed out, with the sod and dirt piled in one big pile.

little-house-south-lawn-dug

With the roughing-out completed, today I will spend some time using a level to see what other work needs to be done, mark the future walk-way path, and layout some additional lines and sprinklers.

Now I just have to find a place for all that dirt!

 
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Anyone Recognize this Seat?

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

Dave’s been trying to figure out some wagon seats he has, but he’s got one seat that he can’t identify (he isn’t sure it belongs to a wagon).

He writes, “I do have one seat that I don’t know about.
Thinking it’s a jeep seat as I got with other jeep stuff but that’s no guarantee.
32” wide. Non folding. Some of original brackets cut.
Believe that part of rear bracket is original. Threaded holes into uprights.”

Here are some pics:
seat-1-dave-lores

seat-2-dave-lores

Meanwhile, Dave was investigating wagon seat differences in general. Neither of us could locate a good source of information on the differences through the years. However, using some of his wagons, he was able to surmise the following. Can anyone provide additional details on the seat differences or point to a good source??:

Per Dave, “Drivers seats are approximately 32” wide, on sliders. Early wagons did not fold (I only have a ’49 with which to compare). Some slightly later wagons driver seats do fold, but I don’t know when that stopped.

Passenger seat seems fairly consistent all throughout, about 15″ wide, long legs fold and tumble. Intermediate or rear narrow seats also about 15” wide, shorter legs fold and tumble.

Wide rear or intermediate seats as stated in parts book, 25” wide. Early ones were non folding, rear legs stab into floor brackets. Maybe also before mounting change became folding. Later fold and tumble.”

 

 
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Dec 1942 Foreign Service Mag Cover

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

I ran across this magazine on eBay. Given the cover, I couldn’t resist buying it, though there was no other jeep pics or illustrations within it.

1942-12-foreign-service-magazine2

 
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1953-1955 Kaiser’s Attempt to Standardize Marketing

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

UPDATE: II: Barry Thomas has updated his thoughts on this video at his Farm Jeep site:

https://www.farmjeep.com/2021/08/01/a-jeep-movie-that-was-never-released/

====================

UPDATE I From July 11/2021: This video was shared by the Goddess herself, Deborah. It used the 1954 Willys Export Company’s brochure as the lens through which is shows the variety of jeeps in this movie clip (in color no less). You can learn more about the various forms of this brochure below. This brochure did not have a form number.

=========================

Originally posted January 12, 2020: As noted by Edgar Kaiser in 1955, one of the key reasons Kaiser bought Willys’ assets was that Kaiser didn’t feel Willys-Overland was pursuing the consumer market aggressively enough. As a part of Kaiser’s strategy to move that direction, the company created a wide variety of brochures, folders, direct mail pieces, product booklets, post cards, a Jeep family 16mm movie, and other merchandising materials.

Much of these documents have been scanned and available on the internet, but no one (that I’ve seen) has assembled them together to see what items were available at the time the CJ-5 launched.

So, consider this a draft towards that goal, as I still have some more scanning and locating of documents so I can interlink everything together.

To begin, here is one of the earliest examples of the Kaiser Willys team creating a standardized family of similar brochures that highlight each of the models. Nearly all the first wave of documents were created in 1954. How do we know this? Because the January 1955 Kaiser Willys Sales and Dealer News highlighted these merchandising aides:

1955-01-kwnews-pg8-lores

Note that other brochures mentioned in this Kaiser Willys Newspaper include the upcoming  Jeep in Public Service (24 pages), the Jeep in Industry (24 pages, might have ended up this one?), and the Jeep in Agriculture (unclear to me which this is). I do have the brochure shown in the lower right, but it’s in Spanish. So, we can conclude that those were all published in 1955 (there are no publish dates on them).

Here’s an order form from 1955. It’s form numbers for the ‘vehicle folder’ brochures match those shown in the photo below this order form.

1954-merchandising-material-order-form-lores

Here’s a photo from an ebay post that shows all the vehicle ‘folder’ brochures together (the form numbers I have for the vehicle brochures below match the numbers on the order form above). I only have 7 of the 10 brochures, or I’d take a photo of my own like this.

1950s-willys-motors-equipment-catalog3

Form #s for 9 of the brochures in the pic above, and one not included (w-221-6): CJ-5 (W-239-5), CJ-3B (W-201-5), 1 Ton Truck (W-205-5), 4WD Station Wagon (W-221-5) (see W-221-4 here), 4WD Sedan Deliver (W-227-5), 2WD Utility Wagon (M-221-6), Cargo Personnel Carrier (W-215-5), 4WD Field Ambulance (W-228-5), 4WD Utility Ambulance (W-230-5), Jeep Fire Engine (W-229-5), and the Commando Fire Truck (W-240-5).

Below are some various brochure covers from the twenty-plus page brochures ….. (Note, one promotional document not listed in the order form was the Willys Story, 1950-1954).

1954 Willys 4-Wheel Drive Form W-1772:

Scannable Document

1954 Jeep Specialized Vehicles and Equipment, Spanish Version, No form or document number on the brochure:

1954-los-vehiculos-mas-utiles-del-mundo1

1955 updated version of the Willys Specialized Vehicles and Equipment Brochure (again, does not have a Form #):

jeep-specialized-vehicles-and-equipment-brochure1-lores

1955 Willys Jeep in Public Service, Form W-991-5:

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MotorTrend Article on a CJ-2A M-38 …

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

soni-m38-cj2a-motortrend

Bill shared this article that describes this custom build as a 1948 M38. However, it’s appears to be a modified CJ-2A. It’s an interesting build, but calling it one of the “greatest flat fenders ever built” is a stretch (in my opinion).

https://www.motortrend.com/features/willys-m38-flatfender-rock-spider-soni-honegger/

“Fans of the War Wagon, the Scorpion MK1, and this apocalypse-ready toy hauler might already be familiar with this Willys M38 (the military version of the civilian Jeep CJ-3A) built by Soni Honegger. It’s been called the “Slickrock Spider” for its remarkable ability to articulate its way over and through some of the hairiest obstacles known to four-wheel drive vehicles, especially with Soni at the helm. Let’s take a look at what makes this machine one of the greatest Flatfenders ever built.”

 
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1947 Ad For Caravan Visit

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

A discussion with Barry Thomas of Farm Jeep has led to us looking deeper into the relationship between the Schenecker and the Glenn M. Rogers companies, which led to me finding this ad.

There’s no wind today, so just a few updates as  I need to get to work outside.

1947-07-09-Star_Gazette_Wed-caravan-ad-lores

 
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Customers Stage Demo in Plattsburg, NY

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

UPDATE: Here’s one from the archives …

Originally Posted July 24, 2015: This Willys News article from July 1955 highlights an annual customer jeep demonstration in Plattsburg, New York. That’s the biggest teeter-totter that I’ve ever seen. We used to do something similar back in the 70s as part of payday events.

1955-july-aug-willys-news-willys-dealers-testing3 1955-july-aug-willys-news-willys-dealers-testing2 1955-july-aug-willys-news-willys-dealers-testing4

article continues below . . .
1955-july-aug-willys-news-willys-dealers-testing5

 
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Ranger & Remodeling

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

We’ve had some family visiting this weekend, which is why updates have been thin the last few days. More updates Monday.

First, earlier this week some nearby folks who were moving to the west-side of the state posted their 2015 Full-size Polaris Ranger with Turf mode and low miles (1800mi) plus spray equipment for sale for $7000. The price was too good for us to pass up, so we brought this rig home.

2022-03-12-polaris-ranger

One big reason we got this was that Ann’s knees preclude her from using a stiff clutch (like that of a jeep), so this is a much more practical vehicle for her to enter/exit and drive around the property. In two days it has already proven its value (for fun and work).

The weather hit the mid-60s yesterday, so I’ve been able to get more of the old dove-cage removed. the next step will be to move the propane tank. Meanwhile, I’ll be leveling the dirt in anticipation of adding gravel and then raised garden beds. Here is a before and after comparison (the wood had has been removed and the area is actually partly dug out).

Before-after-dove-shack-lores

In the meantime, during a cold stretch in late Feb/Early March, we made more progress inside. This time, we’ve completed the remodel of a room that was, under the previous owner, an entertainment room, then it became our bedroom when we moved into he house. Now that we’ve moved into the master bedroom, it has become Ann’s craft room.

Here is a before pic taken by the previous owner:

2804-s-wilgus-prosser-17-prev-seller-photo

This photo shows roughly the same angle:

2022-03-08-craft-room-remodel1

And a few other photos. It is kind of any odd room. We didn’t want to change too much as we are may be remodeling this whole area in a couple years.2022-03-08-craft-room-remodel2

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Stratton Lift @ FarmJeep.com

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

Barry updated a Land Rover post that takes a look at a Stratton-lift-like 3-point lift behind a Land Rover.

https://www.farmjeep.com/farm-rover-a-stratton-lift-for-the-land-rover/

land-rover-lift

 
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Newest Authenticast Surrey DJ-3A

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

eBay has been a bit frustrating lately as there has been a dearth of interesting vintage jeep items to purchase (especially interesting brochures). However, I did spot this Authenticast jeep for sale. The front bumper is broken (which seems the norm), but I do have the broken piece, so I will try to put it back together. Importantly, the straps, fringe and spare tire are all there (these are the three things most often missing).

authenticast-surrey-dj3a-0-lores authenticast-surrey-dj3a-1-lores authenticast-surrey-dj3a-2-lores authenticast-surrey-dj3a-3-lores

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Signage @ eWillys

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

The other day I replaced an old antique yoke the previous owner had hung over the shop door with this eWillys sign. The sign was given to me back in 2013 by the Spring Willys Reunion committee, along with a Toledo Brick award, as a thanks for my work with eWillys. It’s hard to believe that that event was nine years ago!

2022-03-08-ewillys-sign

Now that I have additional wall space in the shop, if anyone has some vintage jeep signs that you just don’t know what to do with them, drop me a note at d@deilers.com and maybe we can work something out.

 

 
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Year? Mil-Ner Ambulance Model 475-4WD Brochure

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

I missed out on winning this brochure on eBay. Though stamped “1960”, the early grille plus the Willys-Overland branding on the brochure suggests Mil-Ner’s ambulance modifications may have been one of the earliest example of the Jeep being turned into an ambulance.

There is only printing on the front of the page. The back was blank.

milner-ambulance-model-brochure

 
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Early 1960s Dualmatic Hub Information

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

Dave found and shared these photos of a Dualmatic hub box with an information sheet inside it.

dualmatic-box-dave-franz1-lores1 dualmatic-box-dave-franz2-lores2 dualmatic-box-dave-franz4-lores3 dualmatic-box-dave-franz3-lores4

 
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The 4-in-1 Advertising Campaign

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

UPDATE: A twist on the 4-in-1 campaign shared below was the use of the term “4-Purpose Jeep” in some newspaper ads.

A few months after the introduction of the CJ-2A in July of 1945 Willys-Overland introduced the 4-in-1-functional vehicle advertising concept for the Willys Universal ‘Jeep’, which was an effort to quickly explain how Swiss-army-knife-like the new jeep could be. Perhaps, speculatively speaking, it was even a play off of the “4” in the 4-wheel-drive aspects of the jeep as well? Either way, for a short-time, in late-1945 and early 1946 Willys-Overland pushed the idea of the jeep as having 4 different functions for farm and industry.

I would argue that the campaign wasn’t very successful, or at least didn’t work for me, because just this morning I had to once again look up what constituted the “4”. In case you can’t remember, let’s take a quick look at how this campaign might have originated.

WHAT THE JEEP CAN DO: The earliest mention I have of the four functions was in the Saturday Evening Post’s November 10, 1945, two-page-ad, the first big splash of advertising for the new Universal Jeep, where W-O claims in bold at the top of the ad that the ‘Jeep’ is a vehicle capable of doing a “thousand jobs”:

1945-11-10-sat-evening-post-willys-jeep-2page-ad-pg71-lores 1945-11-10-sat-evening-post-willys-jeep-2page-ad-pg70-lores

Looking more closely ad the ad text, W-O never gets around to listing all 1,000 possible jobs for their new vehicle, but, after claiming the Universal “Jeep” can do almost Anything, the company breaks down the CJ-2A’s functionality into four categories: 1) As a Truck, 2) As a Runabout, 3) As a Mobile Power Unit, and 4) As a Tractor. But, absent from this page is the 4-in-1 branding.

The Four-Function Jeep: The very next month, Willys-Overland inches closer to the 4-in-1 concept by proclaiming in a second two-page ad on December 02, 1945, in the Saturday Evening Post, that the ‘Jeep’ was a “The Four-Function” vehicle.

Once again, Willys-Overland listed four categories, but this time a) changed the order,  2) softened the “truck” claim, changing it to a Light Truck, and c) softened the “tractor” claim, changing it to Light Tractor as the following category headers show: 1) Use it as a Runabout, 2) Use it as a Light Tractor, 3) Use it as a Mobile Power Unit, and 4) Use it as a Light Truck.

1945-12-2-sat-evening-post-willys-builds-the-worlds-most-versatile-vehicle-pg61-lores 1945-12-2-sat-evening-post-willys-builds-the-worlds-most-versatile-vehicle-pg60-lores

Still, as of December 1945, the term 4-in-1 still wasn’t used in the company’s major advertising campaigns.

The 4-IN-1 Jeep: That changed on January 19, 1945, when W-O published a third two-page-ad with the title “For Business Or Farm, The 4-IN-1 ‘Jeep’ Does More Jobs … Tougher Jobs“.

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The Land Rover’s History

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

Bill shared this video about the origins of the Land Rover. The early footage is particularly interesting.

 
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Camping in the 1970s

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

Blaine shared this post showing a vintage camping thread from the 1970s. If like me, you camped with a motor home, I expect this will feel very nostalgic. There are even a few jeep pictured. There’s some great Utah/Colorado scenery as well.

https://www.coastresorts.com/cforum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26221472/print/true.cfm

1970-camping2 1970-camping