Author Archives: deilers

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1943 Photo of Football Players Pushing Jeep on eBay

May 4, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Below is a press photo of the ‘push-a-war’ photo in the original 2014 post on eBay

“1943 Press Photo Camp Joe T. Robinson, football players push a jeep for training. This is an original press photo. A new use for the versatile jeep is shown here. The jeep is being substituted for a charging sled. Captain C.R. Goodwin, Special Projects Officer of the 66th Div. soon at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, is getting a “ride” while directing the training of a gridiron team which is part of the camp’s athletic program. Photo measures 9 x 7.25 inches. Photo is dated 11-15-1943.

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Original Post February 2014: I stumbled up a collection of photos from the Signal Corps Collection in Record Group #111, Still Picture Branch, National Archives at College Park, MD: http://www.history.army.mil/photos/WWII/Preps/WW2-Prep.htm

This photo seems to show the opposite of a tug-a-war. It’s a push-a-war!

THE CAPTION FROM THE SITE READS: Training. Football Training in the Army. A new use for the versatile jeep, as it’s being substituted for a charging sled. Capt. C. R. Goodwin, Special Projects Officer of the 66th Division at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Ark., is getting a “ride” while directing the training of a gridiron team which is part of the camp’s athletic program. (Nov 43)

Here’s a photo of a Jeep Assembly line in England:

England. Jeep Assembly Line from which a completely assembled jeep can be produced every three minutes. Assembly Depot 0-640, Tidworth, Wilts, England. (8 Sep 43) Signal Corps Photo: ETO-HQ-43-6606 (Lt. Ray)

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1962 Perkins CJ-5 Rochester, NH $11,500

May 3, 2020 • CATEGORIES: CJ5 • TAGS: Diesel, Nice, Stock. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Price now $11,500. Was last listed in 2018. This may have been purchased and is now being resold?

https://nh.craigslist.org/cto/d/rochester-1963-willys-cj-5/7116116047.html

“4 cylinder Perkins Diesel (Factory)
3 speed with overdrive
2 speed transfer case
Hubs, New tires
Good body and paint
6’ quick switch plow
Tow bar Full cab
Excellent driver”

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Sta-Bar Kit Brochures

April 23, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This 2012 post has been updated to reflect the existence of two different Sta-Bar Kits.

Two different manufactures (were there any others?) offered stabilizing kits that were meant to reduce some of the horizontal shifting that can occur when using a rear lift.

Here’s a detail look at a Monroe 3pt Hitch without a stabilizer hit.

The Roper Manufacturing Company out of Zanesville, Ohio, manufactured a set of bars that pivoted on special vertical plates attached to the ends of the PTO bar and attached to the lower links as highlighted below:

Here’s the Roper Sta-Bar Kit brochure:

The Green Manufacturing Company’s Green Star-Bar Kit has bars that appear to attach to the outside of the lower links in a similar manner to the Roper kit. I can’t tell how the kit attaches to the PTO bar or how that might differ from the Roper setup. The pricing shows it was slightly less expensive than the Roper Sta-Bar Kit.

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1956 Blackhawk Jeep Jack

April 17, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This brochure originally appeared on eBay in 2013. This image recently popped up on Facebook along side an actual Jack. So, I’ve included that image with this 1956 Brochure:

“Year: 1956
Type: Original Print Ad
Grade: Very Fine ++
Authentication: Dual Certificates
Image: Two-Color
Approximate Size (inches): 7.75 x 11
Approximate Size (cm): 20 x 28
Description and Condition
This is an original 1956 two-color print ad for the Jeep-Jack, from the Blackhawk Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Warn Overdrive Catalog from the late 1960s (?)

April 16, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Books, Features, OD Saturn/Warn This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This was originally posted in 2012, but it’s worth a repost.

Dad never had an overdrive in his jeep, but did have this catalog (No. 1842). I suspect he built a few of these for Al Carroll.

I’ve attached a few random pictures below, but the PDF link includes all the pages and is downloadable to your computer.

http://www.ewillys.com/pdf/Warn-Overdrive-Parts-Catalog.pdf

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January 1957 Willys News

April 11, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Magazine • TAGS: Jeep-Willys-News. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This was on eBay.

Some good DJ-3A & FC-150 photos and some rare early swamp racing photos.

“Original salesman’s non color catalog , 11 x 17 , 8 pages , includes salesman’s messages , salesman’s contests , shows some models , etc.”

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A Jeep Rambler on Flickr

April 9, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Features, Unusual, Willys Trucks This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Originally posted to Flickr in 2012 (https://www.flickr.com/…/71473…/in/set-72157629836314396 )
According to the photographer:

This was taken in Durkee, Oregon – about 1 block from the Durkee, Post Office. (I am not sure if the Post Office is still open). You can actually see this vehicle in Google Street View if you look in the field at the southeast portion of the intersection of Old US Highway 30 and Oxman Ranch Road in Durkee. ….

Link to Google (you can see all sides of it pretty well): https://www.google.com/maps/@44.5810948,-117.4643278,3a,75y,91.3h,96.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syRerHg5QL0Xrk9L1y8brfg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

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Originally posted in 2014:

Doug sent this beautiful photo of a Jeep Rambler hybrid he spotted on Flickr. One commenter called it a Jambler. All-in-all, this combo could have looked a lot worse! Note the builder even stenciled ‘JEEP’ onto the back tailgate.

The photo was taken by ‘Old White Truck’. There are some beautiful photos and some humorous captions on his Flickr photostream.

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Dan Details the Thor “Lectro-Matic” Hub

April 8, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: I posted this Thor post over a decade ago (how times flies). Below is a look at the switch used to engage the Thor “Lectro-Matic” Hub, which came from this post. Since the below post was first published, there’s also been some history about Thor Products on a shared on another post.

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Originally posted January 2010:

Dan dropped this into my inbox this evening. It’s a detailed look at the Thor “Lectro-Matic” Hub (or lectromatic hub). Dan completed this 18 page document, with disassembling the hubs and discussing each step. You can download the PDF here. Great work Dan!

Dan writes, The Thor “Lectro-Matic” hubs off of my 1955 CJ-5 were a bit of a mystery. These must have been some of the first “push button” 4WD systems to come out. There was little to no information on them so I decided to take them apart and see just how they work. Here is what I have learned.

When my Dad said that they were electric, I assumed that they had a little motor that would “spin” them in or out of engagement. What I realized was that they were more like a solenoid or electromagnet.

There is a coil of wire on the wheel side of the hub. When power is applied to the coil it becomes a magnet and draws itself to the axle side of the hub. There are little “teeth” machined into the facing sides of the hub. These teeth engage and the axle side of the hub turns the wheel or magnet side of the hub. A wire is ran through the back of the backing plate through a hole and provides the electricity to the magnetic coil. A contact mounted on a spring transmits this electric power through a slip ring inside the brake drum to the hub.

I imagine that the hubs could be engaged while the vehicle is moving, but I think this would cause the teeth to slip for a moment and lead to premature wear of the teeth. A toggle switch or a maintained push button could be used to turn the hubs on and off. One could even use a limit switch on the 4WD lever of the transfer case to automatically turn them on when the vehicle was shifted into 4WD. The hubs would only remain engaged as long as power is applied to the magnetic coil. If you left the switch on and had run power directly off of the battery to the switch, it would eventually drain your battery after the engine is shut off. If you ran power from the ignition switch to the on/off switch, your hubs would automatically disengage as soon as you shut off your engine.

If for some reason they didn’t want to work, there was a little screw on the outside face of the hub that you could turn to manually engage or disengage the hubs (as you can see below).

On the top of the hub you can see the wire that passes through the brake drum to power the magnetic coil.

Download and read the entire document here

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Mechanix Illustrated Magazine: Jiving up the Jeep, Articles 1-4

April 4, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Old News Articles • TAGS: Mechanix. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Steve obtained copies of article #2, so now this list is complete!

Nine years ago there was a post about “Jivin up the Jeep”, which referenced a series of articles in Mechanix Illustrated Magazine. At that time, I could only locate articles #3 and #4. Steve Zamell just shared the earliest of the four with me (Thanks!). And, I found a poor image of article #2 So, below you’ll find information about all four articles.

According to the information on this Modern Mechanic Post, the October and November 1946 issues of Modern Mechanic magazine each included an article titled “Jivin up the Jeep” that shares various modifications. Those articles were a big hit across the US, as readers from all over sent in follow up suggestions and ideas. That led to an additional two articles, one in April of 1947 and one in November of 1947. I’ve shown the pictorial portions of the articles below. There’s additional content on the 1947 links.

From October 1946 Part I – A few Jeep ideas:

From November 1946 Part II – I just bought a cheap issue of this magazine. I’ll update these poor pics found on a current eBay ad once I receive my copy of the magazine. Looks like this article covers the creation of a custom hardtop:

From April 1947: Custom Tops

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Joe Donham Willys Dealership near Oakland, Ca

April 1, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images • TAGS: Dealerships. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Blaine spotted a post that provides more background on the Joe Donham and a pic of how it looked as of 2006.

http://berkeleyheritage.com/eastbay_then-now/roadside.html

According to the website post,

Joseph B. Donham (1895–1982), who followed Warren at this location, was general sales manager for the Val Strough organization in the 1930s before striking out on his own. After running a used car dealership in Oakland, he opened an authorized Willys dealership at 2747 San Pablo Avenue, being the first tenant to lease the new showroom. Donham’s Willys dealership operated here from 1953 through 1956. After the car maker ceased production, Donham switched to selling used cars at this location and ran the Dalton & Norton Chrysler dealership in San Leandro. According to his son, Joseph Donham, Jr., Donham owned several East Bay used car dealerships while working as general manager of S&C Ford in San Francisco.

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Originally published in Feb of 2012: This image shows a Willys Dealership in the East Bay area near Oakland, Ca. Donham’s Willys dealership operated from 1953 through 1956.

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1946 CJ-2A Concord, WI $3800

April 1, 2020 • CATEGORIES: CJ-2A This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Price dropped to $3800.

(02/11/2015) Has an f-head.

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/for/d/sullivan-1946-willys-jeep-hard-top/7100671414.html

“**vehicle is located in Wisconsin, running the ad this way because we receive lots of calls from out west.**

1946 Willys Jeep with hard top & Title. First production post WWII available to retail sale.
CJ2A civilian jeep w/1965 4 cylinder F head. (Willys F 134 hurricane inline 4-cylinder)

This particular Jeep is a good runner, just no time to continue the project. CLEAN TITLE, odometer reads 70,356.
Not interested in selling it to be stripped for parts, it is for a good home only!

Needs an electric starter bendix (pinion gear).
The Engine is equipped with the early style point & condenser.. All original, other than the newer 1965 engine, shock/springs and scoop hood. The original hood comes with the package.”

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2005 Traveling Jeep Exhibit

March 24, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Features, Museums This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: A reader named Jim actually served on the USS Slater. He spotted this post from 2013 and had some insights into the real history behind the USS Slater jeep:

I was pursuing the many facets of ewillys when I found a page with our jeep (the USS Slater jeep) ! I got a good laugh when I got to the last picture of it (the plaque).

This is why:

First, this is our jeep a number of years ago in a parade.

Way back when, some “idiot” member of the board thought it would be an idea to auction off the jeep. No one knew what happened to it after that. Then, several years ago I went on a hunt for it. I found it! Where? The Chrysler Traveling Museum”! Apparently, the auction winner had sold it. (to a museum?)

Then, in the picture on eWillys I see on the plaque (last pic below) where it says “This particular vehicle was owned by the US Navy and served on the USS Slater”(during Korea).

Well just to correct their version of history, during the Korean War the Slater had already been given to Greece where she served for the next 45 years in the Hellenic Navy! DE’s (Destroyer Escorts) did not usually have jeeps. because they couldn’t fit them onboard!

My search for the jeep got me to Chrysler and I emailed them. Not that I would expect them to give it back, but…. Then I get this email back:

The funny thing is all this is happening just months after the posting on your site in October of 2013! I especially like how a so-called “historian” believed how it came to be!

Well, according to this letter they were still touring the country in 2014 (which answers your “where is it now” question from 2013)!

When I am finished with my jeep and she is all lettered up as the USS Slater jeep, I think Chrysler may have a little competition!

Ciao for now,
Jim

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Originally Published 2013:

Joe shot these photos back in May of 2005. He writes, “I visited this DiamlerChrysler Corp. traveling exhibit in Virginia Beach, VA back in 2005, photographed it and posted the story on the G503.com website back then. (when the ewillys.com concept was but a dream for sometime in the future.) I’ve included the link for you to read as background and to share with your readers. I found the follow-up comments by other G503 members the most interesting based on their expert knowledge/experience of the subject.”

Anyone know if they still run the traveling exhibit?

http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=105&t=61931