This two-page Ramsey Winch brochure is dated 1959, but given there’s a wagoner on the front, it’s likely front 1963 or later. Still, it’s got some neat illustrations about how to winch.

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This ad from the September 1969 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine shows the Boulder TowBarGuid, a winch that wrests atop a towbar. The same issue included a story on the winch, though not much background was provided about the company. The winch was manufactured by the Hilmer Company out of Boulder, Colorado.

Claude Ramsey and his brother, Rayburn, originally founded Ramsey Winch Company as Ramsey Brothers Tool and Die in July 1944 to manufacture aircraft parts, tools and dies for Douglas Aircraft Company. Claude, realizing the need for a front-mounted winch for passenger cars and pickups, designed a crankshaft-operated winch (Model 101) to pull vehicles out of mud and snow. Demand for the Ramsey Winch increased to the point that the name of the company was changed to Ramsey Brothers Winch Manufacturing Company in 1947. In 1950, the company changed its name to Ramsey Winch Company when Claude bought out his brother’s share of the company.

Here’s a two-page brochure for the dual PTO units: DP-1 (for the Jeep Universal), DP-2 (for 4WD trucks and wagons), DP1-150 (for FC-150s), DP2-FY (for FC-170s).

This twelve-page Ramsey winch brochure from 1959 covers a variety of products. I have three of these brochures, so if you’d like to purchase one for $10, let me know.

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I spotted this circa-1950 foldout-wagon ad for a good price on eBay. The wagon folds out horizontally to reveal the interior of a wagon.

It starts like this:

The wagon then flips horizontally to reveal the wagon interior and more text.

The backside of the image shows the exterior of the wagon:

This Jeepster invitation mailer(?) was included in some other items I got a few months ago. I would imagine it was part of the introductory campaign in 1948?

Generally, my interactions with ebay sellers have been excellent. But, of course, it was only a matter of time before I received some damaged goods.

Recently, I got a good price on three Willys-Overland Progressive Farmer Magazine Ads from the late 1940s off of eBay. However, the packaging was less than stellar; in fact, it was so poor that the package arrived like this:

Inside, each of the ads was torn in the same spot, meaning the USPS was a little too rough with the package (though I do think the seller’s poor packaging is really the primary issue).

Worse, the ads were wrapped in cellophane, without any kind of backing, making them difficult to remove without tearing the pages worse:

The good news is that upon being notified the seller refunded my money in its entirety and let me keep the fairly worthless ads. Still, I can eventually scan them and repair them in photoshop, some day.

And now for the Ads: This ad does not have a date on it, but given the “J” logo, I’d say it was December of 1945 or January of 1946, page 11:

This next one is from July of 1946, page 19:

This one is from May of 1947, page 49 (it also appeared in the May 1947 issue of the Country Gentleman Magazine):

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UPDATE: Here’s a Thor PTO winch for sale. See the brochure for it at the bottom of the post. (Thor also made hubs).

https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/pts/d/bakersfield-1960s-thor-pto-lb-winch/6912177380.html

“A late 1960’s Thor T-100 Pto 8000lb winch. Popular on old Willys and jeeps,
Very hard to find, in Excellent condition as far as running properly.
Hasn’t been used since the late 70’s always been stored in a dry place no rust, has some paint missing from being moved around over the years.
Asking 650$ Obo
I have no use for this but I’m sure someone restoring a project Jeep or Bronco would love to have an original winch from the era.’

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Original Post from December 2016: 

The Thor line of winches. Thor also had a line of hubs.