Mike shared this photo that was floating around Facebook. It’s possible that this was a Minnesota dealership, as a few research nibbles seemed to send me there, but I couldn’t confirm anything. I imagine this was taken between 1963-1965, given he models shown.
Monthly Archives: March 2021
1944 Article on “WAC Jeep Day” in Fort Worth, Texas
This May 18, 1944, article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram describes the upcoming “WAC Jeep Day”. The Fort Worth recruiting team would offer free jeep rides to those women who fit the WAC’s specifications. I’m guessing the women had to be “U.S. citizens between the ages of 21 and 45 with no dependents, be at least five feet tall, and weigh 100 pounds or more.”
1946 ‘Come in and Drive a Jeep’ Ad
Instead of qualifying for the WACs, it might have been easier to wait two years and drive a jeep with no strings attached! This ad published in the May 29, 1946, issue of the Knoxville News for the Sam Horne Company shows a woman test driving a jeep.
1945? Photo of CJ-2 with Compressor
There’s not specific date for this photo of a CJ-2 sporting a large compressor that’s powering a jack-hammer. This photo is housed at the National Museum of American History.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1814581
1960 CJ-5 Lake Orion, MI **SOLD**
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $2500.
This has a rear PTO.
“Barn find.Nice running little jeep. Needs full restoration. Has PTO off back.Cash only no trades.”
1952 M-38 Weatherford, TX $8000
UPDATE: Still Available.
(12/03/2020) Runs and drives, but body sounds rough.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/179951393742292
“1952 Willys Jeep M38 Comes with Bill of sale Trail Engine Runs and Drives Trans goes thru all gears Electric fuel pump Not original seats New Brake Lines New Master Cylinder previous owner put thick rubber on the floor with stainless steel plate on top of floor pans for reinforcement, the original floor pans are very rusty The M38 is a 68 yr old it has rust, and is a project. Kinda Rare only 60k produced Also has an Ultra Rare Arctic Top with the doors. Rear hatch also opens up. Appears to be in good condition. I can send more pictures upon request.”
1949 Jeepster Montgomery, TX $10,000
UPDATE Still Available.
(01/01/2021) Appears in good shape.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1795291390628678
“Fun car. Head turner for sure. Great parade car. Runs and drives great. It’s 71 years old so it’s got it’s leaks and quirks but easy stuff to manage. New water pump, fuel pump and fuel filter. Three on the tree manual. Seats and top are all in really good shape. I’ve had it serviced in the last year by a mechanic. Trying to get my garage back and ready to play with something else. Serious inquiries only.”
Year? CJ-2A Graham, TX **SOLD**
UPDATE: **SOLD** $3900.
(01/12/2021) This may have a 3A body and be built from various parts.
“**LOCATED IN GRAHAM, Tx Must pick up there**
Willys Jeep. The body has been bondoed and painted. It has an inline strait four-cylinder and a new carburetor. The tires are in good condition. Plexy glass window comes with it. We are not able to get it to run.”
1945? VEC? CJ-2A Oklahoma City, OK No Price
There’s no price on this and the pics aren’t very helpful, but the rear hubs suggest this could well be a 1945 CJ-2A. Also, the serial number appears to start with a “1”.
And the Packing Continues . . .
Over the past year, thanks to the pandemic and my Mother-in-Law’s health issues, we’ve traveled less. This has left more money to purchase vintage jeep documents. I purchased enough that I got behind on organizing them, so packing has been a good excuse to spend the past two days restructuring the binders so everything can fit.
There are binders of company brochures, 3rd party special equipment brochures, magazine articles, dealer newspapers, catalogs, and ads. This effort has been fueled by reader donations and ad revenue, along with gifts of from readers, so thanks to everyone out there! I see myself as the temporary custodian of these. My hope is to donate this collection in the future so others can benefit later. Much of the information on that table has been published on eWillys.
The binder on the lower right contains issues of Kaiser-Willys News, Willys News, and Jeep News produced from 1953-1963. I’d estimate I have roughly half of the issues produced. It also contains a couple issues of the mid-1950 Globe-trotter magazines (I believe there were more than 20 plus issues of those produced .. a guy in the midwest told me a few years ago he had two dozen or so he wanted to sell, but wanted $1000 for them; I couldn’t justify that on my budget at the time).
The set of binders shown below houses only domestic jeep-related brochures produced by Willys-Overland and Willys Motors (so roughly 1945-1962 … so, for example, there are no spec equipment brochures in those binders). I’d call this the core of my collection as I’m attempting to get all of these I can, including revisions to certain brochures (see next two posts). Unfortunately, some of the early brochures do not fit into the 8″x11″ binders, so I also have some large portfolio binders to house them (and large print ads, some posters, and other items) as well.
One goal of this collection had been to write an advertising history of Willys-Overland/Willys-Motors/Kaiser-Jeep, which showed the progression (and missteps) from the jeep as a 4-in-1-tool, to a jack-of-all-trades utility vehicle(s), to jeeps-as-a-fun toys, which the journey is the reward.
Part of the reason for making the smaller history posts over the years has been to write such a book in small parts; well, that and to determine if there was anything to write about. Because of this approach, there is plenty I can assemble from the site posts at this point to create a book framework, but there is still much more work to be done on that type of book.
At this point in life, I don’t want to write a book and simultaneously run the website, since for me that’s a 7-day a week proposition. Because, once I start writing, my head is so busy with ideas, and the need to write them down, that I can’t not write. I become obsessive, which is really the only way I can get big projects done (perhaps others can multi-task better?). After SLAG, which was two solid years of research and writing, I had to take a long break as I was mentally exhausted.
So, will a book arise out of all this? I’d say it’s a strong maybe, with a litany of qualifiers (Ann’s health, demand of the new home and property, and others). Whatever happens, I’ll keep collecting these brochures …
Somehow, this short post became a long one … how does that happen? Was I avoiding packing? Maybe …. Well, back to packing!