Museums Research Archives

Jeeps that have museums

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“Big Red” in the lobby of Warn Industries

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

Doing some hub research today I ran across images of  “Big Red“, the CJ-2A that lives in the Clackamas, Oregon, facility of Warn Industries.  It’s a beautiful looking jeep that I plan to visit one of these days.

If you haven’t been to the Warn website, stop by the history page and check out the picture of the two odd jeeps taken early in Warn’s history when the shop was located in Seattle.  I contacted Warn about the photos, but they couldn’t provide any additional information about the jeeps.  I’ve never seen the body and frame modifications like those any where else.  It looks like it turned CJ-2As into a truck.

Big Red:

Here’s a shot from the 208 Sema Show from Truckin

 
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LeMay – America’s Car Museum

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

Last month LeMay – America’s Car Museum (ACM) opened its downtown Tacoma location.  The location can hold up to 350 vehicles, many from the LeMay collection, but others are there, too, making it one of the world’s largest automotive museums.  However, as Ann pointed out, it isn’t so much a museum as a gallery.

The building complex is four levels and uses a parking garage as its organizational metaphor.  Visitors begin on a main, very spacious area with curved wooded beams that have a nice warmth.  As you walk slightly upwards on this main floor, the vehicles at the pinnacle are a Dusenburg and a Tucker.  As I’ve mentioned, I always wanted to see a Tucker in person and I wasn’t disappointed.  Fortunately, the car is positioned so you can walk around the entire vehicle, unlike most of the vehicles.

Once the first level is complete, visitors can walk down ramps as they begin the descent into the garage portion.  A ramp leads to a flat floor, then another ramp leads down further until the bottom floor is circled.  At that point, visitors begin ascending  the other side with another set of ramps that lead back to the surface.

My main goal of this trip was to see the Tucker and explore the museum.  I didn’t expect to see any jeeps, because my last review of the museum’s online records didn’t indicate there were any.  However, on one of the underground floors we were pleasantly surprised when we spotted the familiar WW2 grille.  Unfortunately, as we got closer, I discovered this was a poor example of a jeep.  Even the sign said the vehicle was “titled a 1945 MB, but made with parts from 1941-1944”.   Problems with this included a passenger side fender had lots of rust underneath (not evident in the pics).  Brackets were welded on to the rear and sides of the body.   There was no windshield.

Despite the jeep experience, the museum is beautiful with a large number of mostly American cars.  Poor Ann had to listen to my occasional frustrations about how the museum was missing opportunities to educate and entertain people.  She bore my rants well, as usual. Guess that’s why I’m marrying her 🙂

Note, due to the low light and the banning of tripods, Ann had to use her cell phone to take pictures, so these aren’t as good as usual.

 
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A Visit to Tillamook, Oregon

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

We just got back to Seaside, Oregon, after a long trip down the Oregon coast.  During our drive we squeezed in a visit to the Tillamook cheese factory, visited the Blue Heron cheese store, and dropped by to see the jeeps and planes at the Tillamook Air Museum.

The building at the Air Museum was very cool, as it is the largest wooden structure in the world.  According to the website, “Stationed at NAS  Tillamook was Squadron ZP-33 with a complement of eight K-ships. The K-ships were 252 feet long and filled with 425,000 cu. ft. of helium. With a range of 2,000 miles and an ability  to stay aloft for three days, they were well suited for coast patrol and convoy escort. Naval Air Station Tillamook was decommissioned in 1948.”

The facility is now an air museum with thirty air craft.  Also housed at the museum are two jeeps. One jeep is a very nice CJ-3A that may (or may not) have been used by the Navy.  No documentation is provided to show what its history was, but its paint job suggests a Navy affiliation.

The second jeep, according to the documentation, is a “1944 Willys Jeep. However, you can quickly see this is a militarized CJ-2A. The only military Item I could see was the front grille.

Here are a few pics:

 
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Micro Car Kapi JIP @ the Microcarmuseum

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

Blaine forwarded a picture of the Kapi JIP yesterday.  The picture was taken at Bruce Weiner’s micro car museum in Madison, Georgia.

While Frederico Saldana is said to have patterned this after the American Army Jeep, it looks much more like a CJ-3B/Wagon hybrid.

View all the pictures here

 

 
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Pima Air and Space Museum MBs in Tucson, Az

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

Jim forwarded me the following images he took of the MBs at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Az.

Jim writes, “The 390th Bomb Group Museum has a B-17 flying fortress on display, a long with a MB that has been restored and donated to the museum. It needs a fuel tank flush, new radiator hoses, and I bet a carb rebuild. I hope to assist them on this the next time I make it home. There is also a MB on display in another hanger that is part of a display dedicated to the Red Tails fighter group. I am sending a few pics of them. They have one of the largest aircraft display’s around!”

Here’s the 390th Bomb Group MB:

And this is the Red Tails fighter group MB:

 
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Mark Smith’s Jeep Museum in Georgetown, Ca

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

I learned today that Mark Smith opened a museum a couple months back in Georgetown, Ca, at what I believe is the Jeep Jamboree Headquarters.  At this point, it isn’t so much a museum as a collection of some rare jeeps, but they are nice looking jeeps.  According to the Jamboree website, Mark organized the first Jeep Jamporee in 1954, traveling across the Sierra Nevada Mountains by way of the Rubicon Trail.  It sounds like he is still going strong!

You can view all of them here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150857454023765.513239.143647533764&type=3

 
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Play Jeep at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, Illinois

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

If you visit the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, Illinois, and have kids, make sure to stop by the Mary Ann MacLean Play Museum in the basement of the building.  Here’s a pic of it form the State Journal-Register and a story, too.

 
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Pics from the WAAAM

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

Ralph’s CJ-2A.  More on his Jeep later.

It was a gorgeous day at the WAAAM military day.  Ann and I are both sun burnt and relaxing to a couple bloody marys to help us cool down.  We met a lot of nice folks, sold books and t-shirts, and got to check out a variety of jeeps.

Brian, who is the resident jeep guy at the WAAAM has about eight jeeps (I lost count, so I could be wrong on the exact number) just at the museum.  Some have been restored and some are hidden away in one of the ancillary hangers, which Ann and I got to see.  Brian’s jeep of choice is the M-38A1, but he has a variety of them at various places he owns.  After talking with Brian a bit, he offered to show us his dad’s 1976 CJ-5 that he bought new.  He said it only has 5000 miles on it and sports the original LEVI package.  I have never seen an original LEVI package like he showed us.  Even Brian doesn’t get to drive his dad’s jeep … (see the pic at the bottom of the post – everything is original).

I wanted to thank Ralph for dropping by in his CJ-2A.  He has read eWillys for a few years now and lives in Hood River.  He came by to enjoy the planes, meet me and purchase a book.  Later in the day we walked out to check out his jeep.   Thanks for coming by Ralph!

Thanks to Blaine for dropping by as well.  I’ll see you again at the FC Get Together!

Here are a few pics:

My gal just loves a big gun.  We learned from one of the visitors that the reason these jeeps don’t tip over when the 106mm cannon fires is that it actually fires in two directions, backwards and forwards.  She was very happy to explain this to me!

Me working hard

All Original CJ-5 with LEVI Package

 
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Mile High Jeep Club in Central City, Colorado

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

This great photo was shot August 14, 1965, and can be seen at the Denver Public Library Digital Collections.

http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/194/rec/1

 
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Jeep Pics at the Denver Public LIbrary

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

I was looking for something, can’t even remember what at the moment, when I ran across this picture of jeeps at a race in Cripple Creek, Colorado, on Hemmings.  That lead me to the Denver Public Library Digital Collections where I found a variety of pics.

Here is one image of kids on a jeep as part of a war bond effort.

http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll23/id/9467/rec/7

Here is a second photo:

http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll23/id/9461/rec/8

The caption on this photo notes these men are wounded vets and are touring the Gates Rubber Plant in Denver.

http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/36084/rec/20

Here are some post war jeepers exploring mining areas in Colorado in the 1950s.

http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/14795/rec/23

 
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Paratroopers and Paratrooper Vehicles in Carentan, France

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

Jeff was vacationing in France and Belgium when he ran across two businesses located in Carentan:  Paratrooper and Paratrooper Vehicles.  He thought I might have known about them, but nope I did not know about them.  Carentan is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy.  If anyone else has been here (or can translate the website better than I), feel free to comment!

Jeff writes, “I was just in northern France and Belgium with the family on vacation and was in the Normandy area which incorporated a D-Day beach tour. Stayed in Carentan and came across Paratrooper. I am sure you may have known about them. I visited both businesses which are in different locations. I took some photos of the restoration location, Paratrooper Vehicles and thought you would like to see them.”

Thanks for taking these.  I will add this to my list of must visit places when we do our Great European Jeep Tour.  When are we doing this tour?  I’m hoping in time for the the 70th anniversary of DDay.

Continue reading

 
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Kempner Power Wagon Museum

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

Originally posted June 15, 2009 (See, there is even a Power Wagon Museum!)

At some point early in his driving life, my dad owned a red Dodge Power Wagon.  I’ve never ridden in one myself, however I found a place where I can explore several different models: The Kempner Power Wagon Museum.

The Kempner Museum is an owner-owned museum, with the owner displaying vehicles and other items he has collected over the years.  Recently, the owner, with his wife’s blessing he notes, built a building to house the trucks and other related materials.

This museum does not take a ‘hands off’ approach, rather people can climb into these vehicles, touch and explore them.

The museum is located in Kempner, Texas (museum info), which is roughly 150 miles south of Dallas.  I’m adding to my list of places to visit soon.

 
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Image from New Jersey State Police Museum

• CATEGORIES: Features, Fire/Police/Industry Vehicles, Museums, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Steve discovered this image in the New Jersey State Police Museum archives.  The museum was kind enough to allow us to publish it.

Steve rights, “I did some research with our museum staff and found this picture from 1951 of a state trooper driving a WW II Willys MB that had been converted for police use. Looks like it may have been used in rural areas as a sorta fire jeep. See the large fire extinguisher on the left fender skirt …. Coincidentally, one of our troopers (Trooper Joseph C. Walter Jr. #685) was killed in the line of duty in a motor vehicle accident on 9-7-52, I believe in that very same jeep.”

 

 
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Allis Chalmers M7 Snow Tractor at the Wright Museum

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

Glenn forwarded this unusual and rare Snow Tractor from the early 1940s located at the Wright Museum in New Hampshire.

The M7 was conceived as an Army Air Force rescue/utility vehicle. It was found that most plane crashes occurred on the climb out of or approach to an airport. With the large number of northern bases in remote locations, getting to these aircraft was difficult at best – impossible at worse. Shown above with M19 Trailer.

Manufacturer: Allis-Chalmers
M7 Snow Tractor (SNOCAT)
Crew: 2
Engine: Willys MB, 4cyl. (134.2 c.i.)
Horsepower: 63
Date Manufactured: 1944
Number Produced: 291
Weight: 2, 620 lbs
Range: 160 miles

 
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Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum

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

I ran across the cool picture below at roderblog.com during a search for collages.  It was taken by Jeff Roder at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Pueblo, Colorado.  Neither Ann nor I have been there, but I’m sure in our travels we’ll wander through there as the ‘Eilers Bar’ is in Pueblo.

From Roderblog.com:

Here is a photo of the MB that I found on Flickr.  It was taken by jwm1049.

 
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Ann and I Visit the WAAAM at Hood River, Or

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

While driving to Vancouver on Monday, Ann and I decided to visit the five year old Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM).   So, about noon we pulled off I-84 and drove into downtown Hood River expecting to locate the museum quickly.  However, it turns out the museum is located a few miles away from town near the airport.  As soon as we realized we didn’t know where we were going, we cranked up the GPS and that guided us up the hill and over a dale or two.  We even passed a FC-170 off to our right.  Finally, we arrived at Air Museum Road.

Since it was Monday at noon, there wasn’t a flood of visitors, which worked out great for us because the staff could take the time to explain and answer all of our questions.  In fact, everyone was noticeably friendly and knowledgeable.

The first thing we learned is that WAAAM has one of the largest collection of working antique planes and vehicles in the country.  All the different planes, tractors, jeeps, automobiles, trucks, motorcycles are housed in two giant hangars with multiple exits.  In fact, some of the planes and vehicles are privately owned, but stored free of charge at the museum.  Owners can come in most any time and take their property out to fly or drive them.

Every month the museum holds a “Second Saturday” event.  That’s when volunteers arrive to give rides and show off the vehicles.  In May of 2012, a special Military Day will be held on the Second Saturday. That date is May 12th and I’ve been invited to talk a little about jeeps and sign books (and maybe ride in a jeep or two???).  It should be fun!

Here’s an introduction to the museum:

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

While I had fun looking at all the cars and planes, it was the jeeps I was there to see.  We saw the following jeeps:

1941 MB Slat Grille

Undated MB

Close up of the Poster:

Continue reading

 
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Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Mesa, Az

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

Blaine forwarded this picture of this jeep from the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force at Falcon Field in Mesa, Az.  Since Ann and I will be staying in Mesa and will be down there a couple days before this year’s FC Roundup, we plan to visit the museum.

Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, this is a mix of CJ-3A and M-38 parts. Once again, the reason for a jeep museum.  Hopefully, the airplanes are more accurate.  Looks like I need to schedule a meeting with the curator.

 
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Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

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

I’d never heard of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, located in McMinnville.  However, Ann visited there a few years ago and says it’s a beautiful museum.  Moreover, there is a B-52 there that they allowed her to go underneath so she could describe how they used to load and unload weapons.  The Spruce Goose is also there.

Besides all the airplanes, the museum also has a jeep.  This picture was taken by Joe Swallia on 2011.  Note the hubs.  They looks like early Warn hubs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallia23/6529054991/in/photostream/

Interestingly, here is a picture from 2010 which shows a different jeep. You can view it at The Wander Gossage blog.  Maybe there are two jeeps there?

 
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Yellowstone Howe Fire Truck

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

Until 1996, Yellowstone National Park had a 1960 Willys Truck with the Howe Fire Apparatus on duty.  The NPS still owns the truck, but it is now stored in its historic vehicles collection.  The vehicle collection is not open to the public, however the vehicles were filmed as part of a Discovery Channel segment on Hidden Yellowstone.

You can learn more about their firetruck here.

 
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Toledo Lucas County Library Jeep Images

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

The images I shared last night came from the Toledo Lucas County Library.  If you have some time, check them all out here.
http://images2.toledolibrary.org/getdcdata.asp?typesearch=keyword&key=jeep&B1=Search&how=cp 

This is a beautiful shot of a 6×6:

Willys 6×6, year?, courtesy of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, obtained from http:///images2.toledolibrary.org/.

 

 
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Wooden Jeep in Chateau in Europe (France I think)

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

I spotted this on Flickr.  I thought it was the same wooden jeep that was spotted in France here, but I think this is a different one (the jeep below only had 8 slots, while the one in the link above has 9 slots).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7430965@N05/4961130135/#DiscussPhoto

According to the photographer Spottedlaurel, “There was a ruined Chateau just outside the village near where we stayed, and in one of the beautifully refurbished buildings there was a museum full of life-size things made from wood. F1 car, tractor, motorbikes, all sorts of things. The bonnet lifted up on this to show a wooden engine inside.”

 
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General George Patton’s Jeep

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

Located at the General George Patton Museum of Leadership, this jeep certainly has some unusual modifications.  I found the pictures below on Flickr.  They were taken by Greg in 2009.

The Patton museum is located on the Fort Knox installation along US Highway 31W, just south of the US Highway 60 intersection.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregf422/3903068384/in/set-72157622192028989/

 
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Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Al

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

UPDATE:  Brandon visited this museum recently and files the following notes, “The museum’s collection includes Ford GP #1, Bantam BRC-40, Willys MA, GPA, slat grille MB, GPW, and M38.”

The Veteran’s Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Alabama, houses three early jeep prototypes.

From the Website, “The Museum displays more than 30 historical military vehicles from World War I to the present, as well as tableaus, artifacts, and other memorabilia dating back to the Revolutionary War.  Supporting organizations include the 19th Alabama Infantry, which sponsors exhibits from 18th and 19th Century conflicts, and the 8th Air Force Historical Society, which sponsors a Bomb Group briefing room.  Both of these organizations support ‘living history’ presentations at the Museum.”

Pics of the museum at G503

Pics from 42fordgpw.com

There appears to be a Bantam BRC 40 in the back, a Ford GP to the far left of the photo, a Willys MA just to the left and another Ford Pygmy to the right.  I haven’t found any other info that describes what the museum has.  Anybody been to this museum?

Here is a closeup of the Ford Pygmy from the museum site.

 

 
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War Museum in Pyongyang, North Korea

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

In case you plan a trip to North Korea, you won’t have to leave behind your love of Willys, for the War Museum in North Korean Museum has a captured one there. http://www.travelthewholeworld.com/northkorea.html

 

 
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WWII Monument & GPW at the Cole Land Trans. Museum Bangor, Me

• CATEGORIES: Features, GPW (Ford MB), Monuments/Statues, Museums This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Roberto spotted this unusual monument from the Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor, Me.

Here is a GPW and trailer the Museum displays. The image was shot by Gary and Audrey and posted on their blog: