Magazine Research Archives

Jeeps filled magazines in various ways. Some magazines reported on brand new ‘Blitz Buggy’ and other important develops about the jeep during WWII. Others reported on the changing models during its civilian life. Still others showcased how jeeps were used and the modifications done to them.

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Dispatcher Magazine Summer 2024 Has Arrived

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

This summer’s Dispatcher Magazine included some highlights from the Great Willys Picnic, the Willys Rally, and the Spring Willys Reunion. It also included histories of AM General and the Willy 6×6, plus articles on block crack repairs and the Jeep Guy’s Museum, whose billboard we saw as we drove north through Utah, though we didn’t stop because 1) we were on a time crunch and 2) we didn’t know if the parking lot could accommodate the coach.2024-summer-dispatcher-mag1 2024-summer-dispatcher-mag2 2024-summer-dispatcher-mag3 2024-summer-dispatcher-mag4

 
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1955 Article on Uranium Mining Includes Jeeps

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

UPDATE: This was originally posted back in January of 2020:

This August 1955 article in Popular Mechanics includes 2 CJ-5s. It took a nuclear scientist to locate the article (long story), but it dove tails nicely off yesterday’s Willys News post that included an article on uranium mining (last page of Willys News) about these two prospectors.
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“Streamlined” Jeeps From the Pacific

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

UPDATE II: Here’s another, similar ‘streamlined’ jeep posted by Mike Haines on Facebook. Note that this one appears to use a standard windshield and, thus, has a flatter cowl than the ones seen below:

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UPDATE FROM Jan 7, 2021: This post has been updated with a better version of the video:

The photos below are snapshots from the above video. They resemble the jeep shown below that was built by Wayne K. Pike. It was built by members of the 9th Service Squadron at the 13th Army Air Base on the island of Moratai. Note that it has a chrome/stainless trim strip absent from the car featured in the Popular Mechanics article below.

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ORIGINAL POST FEBRUARY 11, 2013:  You can view the entire Popular Mechanics’ issue on Google.

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Dec 1945 Popular Mechanics Page 6 Streamlined Jeep

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Dec 1945 Popular Mechanics Page 72 Jeep with Odd Body

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Dec 1945 Popular Mechanics Page 77 Men using Jeep like a plow horse

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Dec 1945 Popular Mechanics Page 73 Men us jeep to fix propeller

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Dec 1945 Popular Mechanics Page 70 Fixing Jeep Frame

 
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Hemmings Article on the 1958 Maverick

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

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Hemmings published this somewhat odd article (https://www.hemmings.com/stories/1958-jeep-maverick-special/) about the 1958 Maverick introduction. I use the term “odd”, because of the history that’s included. Let’s consider a few items:

  1. The company company formed in 1953 under Kaiser was called Willys Motors, Inc., not Willys Motor Company.
  2. Yes, W-O produced MBs, then MCs, but I’m pretty sure military production didn’t stop during 1956?? Seems there were some M-170s and M-38A1s produced? And what about the civilian jeeps sold to the military and government?
  3. Besides the military vehicles, I’m pretty sure there were one or two civilian jeeps produced for consumers prior to the introduction of the Maverick Special in 1958.
  4. How is there zero mention that there was an active relationship between the Maverick show, Willys Motors, The Kaiser companies, and the Maverick Special wagon (the late 1950s Jeep News issues certain thought it was a big deal)?
  5. Why was it a slow seller? Was it a lack of 4WD, poor marketing, an underpowered engine, or something else? Why wasn’t the market “ready” for this model?

This kind of feels like it was written by an AI program, then not vetted by an editor. In fact, it kind of feels like a regurgitated version of this news article: http://www.ewillys.com/2016/07/07/the-new-maverick-special/

Hemmings can do better …

 

 

 
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May 1980 Cracked Magazine Cover M*A*S*H & Jeep

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

Barney Goodwin shared this May 1980 issue of Cracked Magazine that features an illustration of M*A*S*H folks riding in a WWII jeep. I was a big fan of Mad Magazine, but don’t remember trying out Cracked.

You can have your own copy, as there are several for sale on eBay. (here is the cheapest I found).

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September 1966 Eastern European Caravan

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

UPDATE: More information on the goal of Kaiser-Jeep’s 1966 Eastern European Caravan. This article was published on page 7 of the May 14, 1966, issue of International Commerce, a US Department of Commerce Weekly magazine. In it, the Commerce Department’s ostensible goal was as an “imaginative technique to promote U.S. Exports”, as part to the U.S. Government’s continuing effort to promote East-West Trade. It’s possible the trip was underwritten in some form (cash or government favors or both) to encourage Kaiser-Jeep to participate.

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This September 1966 Four Wheeler Magazine article describes the scene when the Kaiser-Jeep sponsored Eastern European Caravan crossed into (then) Czechoslovakia, as a line of restored and refurbed jeeps awaited them. Remember, that no new parts had even available to these die-hard jeep fans since 1946, making their rebuilds even more remarkable. The Prague Jeep Club alone had more than 300 jeeps and 400 members.

The 1966 Jeep News Volume 12 Number 3 has more information.

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Winter 2023/2024 The Dispatcher Magazine

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

The Dispatcher Magazine landed here last week. Bill Norris takes a close look at the Jeepster’s history with an eight-page article, including a nice section on the carryover of parts from the station wagon. I didn’t realize just how much of it was similar to the wagon. Thanks in part to the addition of technical writer Sal Consalvo, the Dispatcher Magazine has expanded an additional four pages. Also, if you are frustrated at some of the current tools available for things like removing transfercase and pinion seals, checkout the article on Joe DeYoung’s jeep tools!

Finally, if you can, please get a subscription and support the magazine’s efforts!

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March 23, 1957, Issue Sat Evening Post

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

The March 23, 1957, issue of the Saturday Evening Post featured a jeep on the cover. John Clymer illustrated the cover. He was born not far from me in Ellensburg, Washington, where (to my surprise) the Clymer museum features his art. Guess I’ll have to stop in there and check it out sometime.

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This issue also included this ad, which was part of this 1957 series of three-pane-ads.

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Oct 1968 Review of the Wagoneer V8

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

Kaiser-Jeep must have arranged to have this article, originally printed for Four Wheeler Magazine, printed as a stand-alone ad piece for dealers and prospective customers. It’s printed in black and white, rather than color, and is eight pages. The form number is 69-02, suggesting this run was printed in Feb of 1969.

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Africa U.S.A. and Jeeps

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

UPDATE II: Here’s another Africa USA Postcard. It’s a available on eBay.

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UPDATED Aug 04, 2020: This post is an aggregation of Africa USA postcards and articles. Another postcard from the form adventure park popped up on eBay, this time with a CJ-5 pulling the trams:

View all the information on eBay

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Posted June 2019 on eBay, a CJ-3B pulling trams:

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From 2015: Africa USA, was part of a theme-park movement in the late 1950s that included New York’s Freedomland, Disneyland, Wisconsin’s Fort Dells, and others. By 1959, these parks were collectively generating revenue of $2 billion.

There is a feature article about these parks in the August 1, 1960, issue of Life Magazine. The picture below is from that article. You can take a ‘virtual’ jeep-train tour of Africa USA here (don’t expect much)

This article appeared in the December 1955 issue of Willys News. That’s the jeep train behind the animals.

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Oct. 1944 Pop Mechanics Sidewalk Jeep Instructions

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

The October 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics included instructions for building a “Sidewalk” jeep for kids (pgs 105-108). It also included on page six this image of an MB turned into a fire jeep.

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Now, for “Coasting in a Sidewalk Jeep”:

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Fall 2023 Dispatcher Magazine

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

The newest issue of the Dispatcher Magazine arrived yesterday. In it, Peter Gebhardt shared his restored FC-170; Francisco Diaz provides more info about Spanish Viasa vehicles, specifically the Vans, and Steve Serrao shares his X-98 clone build, plus more!

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1945 Yank Magazine Article

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

UPDATE: I originally posted this July 2, 2014. Thanks to Barry Thomas for the idea.

I’ve seen the cover of this September 21, 1945, issue numerous times, but never the interior story. So, here it is. Click on the story photo for a much larger version.

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August 1969 Cars & Parts Jeep History Article

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

I ran across this August 1969 Cars & Parts magazine on ebay with the below history about jeep history. In it, the author references the use of “GP” or “General Purpose”, claiming that was how the military referred to the jeep. I still have yet to document any evidence that during WWII jeeps were labeled or referred to as “GP” or “General Purpose”. So, I wish the article’s author would have included a reference or example (and welcome any examples).

As I have argued before, the switch from Ford calling its prototype a Pygmy to the company calling it a GP happened without explanation, other than this excuse: G=government and P=80″ wheelbase. But, if that’s the case, why wasn’t the first one called a GP? And, where is the GL, GO, GQ, GR, GT, GV, VW models built by Ford? And what are the chances Ford’s initialism, when sounded out as an acronym, *just happened* to sound like the word “jeep”, a term that was making the rounds about the time the Pygmy was dropped off at Holabird (according to later court testimony).

Anyway, here’s the article:

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May 1948 Outdoor Life – Bountiful Jeep Posse

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

Here’s another story with images about the Bountiful Jeep Posse. This appeared in the May 1948 issue of Outdoor Life. Interestingly, this article summarizes the environmental history and purpose behind the creation of the Bountiful Jeep Posse.

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August 1969 Nat Geographic Tour Jeep Pics

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

In August of 1969 National Geographic published a lengthly story on the state of Colorado. Near the end of the article is a photo overlooking Ouray with a few tour jeeps in the foreground.

I had hoped the FC-Tour Jeep that was depicted was mine, so I bought the issue on eBay, But, a couple clues indicate it is Craig’s tour jeep. Other tour jeeps shown are the white CJ-6, the red topless wagon, and the Commando tour jeep.

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July 30, 1945, The Postwar Jeep Life Magazine

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

Though I created this two-page scan from the July 30, 1945, issue of Life Magazine ten years ago, but somehow it never got posted. You may have seen it other places, such as Barry’s Farm Jeep page.

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Summer 1974 “Life with Putt-Putt” Article

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

This article, and the short two page article that follows it, appeared in the Summer 1974 issue of The Milestone Car periodical. I’d never heard of this publication nor the associated “Milestone Car Society”.

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Continue reading

 
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Sept 1950 Motor Magazine ‘Jeep Mountaineers’

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

This article describes the use of the jeep in the mountain west. There are some interesting notes about salt lick placement requirements, too.

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March 1961 Motor Trend Wagon Review

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

The author of this review evaluated his time driving in a 2WD wagon.

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Summer 2023 Dispatcher Magazine

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

The Summer 2023 issue of Dispatcher Magazine arrived in my mailbox yesterday. That cover photo is beautiful (much better than my lousy scan would suggest). The issue includes an unknown-to-me story of how the Olympics helped sell the Jeep Comanche. 
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Dec 1969 Man’s World Magazine

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

Here’s another Men’s magazine that depicts a jeep on its cover.

View all the information on eBay

“Man’s World Magazine 2nd Series Vol. 15 #6 VG 1969”

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Jeep Yakima Rodeo March 1959 issue of Modern Man

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

UPDATE: This post originally appeared September 28, 2013:

It’s a dirty business, but hunting down jeep stories takes me through all types of content. In this case, I had to search through several pages of bare female breasts and bodies until I found this story about a Yakima Jeep Rodeo from the March 1959 issue of Modern Man. I can report that accompanying the enthusiastic models were several other interesting stories . . .

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Uranium ‘Gold’ Rush

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

UPDATE: This was originally published April 22, 2015

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Credit for posting this rare magazine cover with a CJ-2A on it goes to: http://national-radiation-instrument-catalog.com/new_page_14.htm

The hunt for Uranium during the late 1940s and into the 1950s in the American West was a big deal. It’s also the last great mineral rush with-in the continental United States. Uranium’s grand paradox, as author Tom Zoellner puts it, is that “[t]he stability of our world rests on a substance that is unstable at the core.”

So large was the hunt for Uranium, the May 23, 1955, issue of Life Magazine noted that more man-hours had been spent hunting for Uranium between 1952 and 1955 than were spent seeking all other metals in history, at least according to the Atomic Energy Commission. Having spent considerable time thumbing through decades of mine related information prior to the 1900s, I find this claim dubious, but maybe someone can explain how this could be?

Still, the uranium boom captivated the imagination of the public. Uranium Fever was written and sung by Eliot Britt in 1955 and included jeep references. This great site shows how the search affected popular magazines of the time. In the Life Magazine article referenced above (pg 26), the author included a list of ultimate gear for prospecting. At the very top of the list was a brand-new four-wheel jeep for only $1,685, along with equipment and a map of the best places to hunt:

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Continue reading

 
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Spring 2023 Dispatcher Magazine Issue

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

The newest issue of Dispatcher Magazine arrived in my mailbox yesterday. The central article cover the history of the Viasa-Willys. This issue is the 10th anniversary of the launch of the magazine. If you haven’t subscribed yet, I highly recommend it!

https://www.dispatchermagazine.com/

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