surplus-jeep-sales Research Archives

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1945-1946 Ads for Army Surplus Jeeps in Minneapolis

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This ad appeared within the classified ad section of the October 04, 1946, issue of the Minneapolis Star. It was posted by American Motor Sales, which was located at 1220 West Broadway. Whether the company actually had Ford GPs for sale isn’t clear; most likely, it was just standard MBs or GPWs.

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A few days later, the Downtown Chevrolet Company advertised in the October 09, 1946, issue of the Minneapolis Star that they had 100 surplus jeeps available for customers:

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Subsequently, an ad was placed by Twin City Motors, which also claimed to have jeeps (either GPWs or FORD GPs or both):

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So, how did these companies obtain the jeeps? As we saw yesterday, there were some bidding opportunities that allowed Hyman Berg and others the opportunity to purchase multiple prototype jeeps. So, perhaps these Minneapolis-based companies also scored some prototypes that way?

What we do know is that the government was selling jeeps to veterans (previous stories highlight sale in Hawaii and California). And, those jeeps sold pretty quickly.

For example, in late 1945, the government’s War Asset group put 10,000 jeeps up for purchase by veterans. Those 10,000 jeeps were promptly sold (November 30, 1945, the Star Tribune):

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A month later, an article  from the Dec 08, 1945, issue of the Minneapolis Star, announced that another batch of 10,000 jeeps had been made available as of December 1945:
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Wilensky Auto Parts’ Ford GPs

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

UPDATE: The press photo at bottom appeared in the January 24,  1944, issue of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune (seen below). It seems that Harvey Wilensky must have also won a bid for jeeps about the same time as Hyman Berg did.

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Originally Posted November 16, 2013: This photo shows a lineup of surplus Ford GPs for sale. The selling price: $750 at Wilensky Auto Parts in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

ford-gps-for-sale-minnesota-newsclipping1 ford-gps-for-sale-minnesota-newsclipping2

 
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1946 War Asset Sale of Surplus Jeeps

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

UPDATE: This photo shows the crowds at the Benicia Arsenal. It was published in the June 30, 1945, issue of the Beatrice Times out of Beatrice, Nebraska:

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Originally published November 5th, 2020: The June 25, 1946, issue of the San Francisco Examiner shared the news that more than 5000 veterans lined up begining at midnight to purchase just over 1500 available jeeps, though not that many jeeps would actually sell. For most veterans, there multi-hour waits were in vain. The buyer of the first jeep discovered that his jeep wouldn’t start, but the motor pool helped him get it going.

1946-06-25-san-francisco-examiner-jeep-purchase6-lores 1946-06-25-san-francisco-examiner-jeep-purchase7-lores

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June 1946 Surplus Jeep Sales w/ Serial Numbers

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

UPDATE: I’ve added high-resolution examples of each of these articles. You can download the zipped file here: jeep-serial-numbers-sale-in-hawaii.zip

This is a cool find. It announces the first sale of jeeps to veterans in Hawaii for personal use (as well as business). There have got to be a few jeeps still around that originated at this surplus sale. This was published in the June 01, 1946, issue of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (page 4). I’ve divided up the list into multiple images. At the bottom of this post is a link for the entire clipping.

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First of three lists:1946-06-01-hawaii-tribune-herald-surplus-jeep-serial-number1

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July 1946 Jeep Surplus List

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

Some of the serial numbers are the same, but it also appears to include some new ones (I only did a cursory comparison). This appeared in the July 11, 1946, issue of The Honolulu Advertiser.

1946-07-11-honolulu-advertiser-jeep-surplus-sale-lores

 
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September 1946 Jeep Surplus Sale

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

This ad appeared in the September 06, 1946, issue of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. I have not compared this list to the previous lists, but it sure appears that a lot of jeeps sold over the summer of 1946. This list also contains more non-jeep vehicles.

1946-09-06-honolulu-star-bulletin-jeep-surplus-sale-lores

 
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1946 Article on Lincoln’s New Police Jeeps

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

This February 9, 1946, article shares the news of the Lincoln, Nebraska, police department’s new surplus jeeps. These war surplus jeeps out of nearby Fort Crook were equipped with radios obtained from the Omaha police department.

Clipping from Lincoln Journal Star - Newspapers.com

 
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1945 Article on How to Handle War Surplus

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

This July 15, 1945, article in the Evening Star featured a great shot of Ford GPAs. I thought the article was interesting, too. It highlights the challenges of managing war surplus (links to page 1 and page 2 of original article).

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MB at Omaha’s Surplus in Fort Worth, Texas

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

Gayland shared these pics of an MB located at Omaha’s Surplus, a place he called a “real Military Surplus Store, not one of those Army-Navy stores”.

Omaha’s Surplus

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1946 Photo Camping Out For Jeeps

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

This June 1946 photo depicts two soldiers looking to buy a surplus  jeeps.

“Original press photo from June 1946 depicts veterans waiting in line at the war assets administration building to purchase one of the 1500 used jeeps that went on sale.”

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1945 Photo of Surplus Jeeps in Columbus, Ohio, on ebay

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

That’s a lot of jeeps for sale!

“You are bidding on an original 7 X 9 Press Photo of Columbus OH Veterans RFC Jeeps Stored Depot Army Cars Parked. Orange thing taped to bottom but is otherwise in very good condition. Please see scan for details. Thanks for looking. Photo is dated 1945.”

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