Mike is to the left, I am behind the jeep, and Mark is to the right. We are looking over a jeep that they believe was one of MacArthur’s from the Philippines.

As I mentioned in an earlier post late Monday evening, Mike Ragsdale emailed me about a friend of his, Calvin Ishmael, who died this past June. Calvin had amassed an extensive collection of jeeps and parts. He’d been afflicted all his life with the dreaded Willys sickness, the poor guy. With his passing, his family was organizing and then selling what he’d been gathering for more that a half century (fifty-one years by Calvin’s own count). Mike thought that, since we were so close to Baton Rouge, we might want to come down and see Calvin’s place before it was sold.

Ann and her mother were excited for an adventure into Louisiana, so on Tuesday we left around noon and drove late into the evening. On Wednesday morning we met with Mike and feasted on a Cajun speciality, the Beignet, a sweet fried pastry tossed in powered sugar.

Somehow we didn’t get a photo of the beignets, so this one is from the internet.

Inside a café that had been around quite a few years, Mike explained that he’d been an avid reader of eWillys for sometime and had bought several jeeps off the site. At some point Mike needed some parts. Hearing that Calvin was a local with parts, Mike contacted him. One thing led to another and a close friendship blossomed. Mike explained that Calvin came from a large family, but no one else had the passion for jeeps that Calvin did, so with his death they were hoping to sell some of his jeeps and his extensive parts collection.

With our Beignets consumed, Mike explained that he’d lead the way to Calvin’s warehouse near Baton Rouge where we’d meet Calvin’s youngest brother Mark, the man who would lead our tour.

When we arrived, it wasn’t difficult to spot which warehouse was Calvins; rusty jeeps marked the spot.

Continue reading →