Features Research Archives

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Maine Willys Sales Company Bangor, Maine

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

The Maine Willys Sales Co, appears to have launched in 1946 in Bangor, Maine. By 1949, the company was located in multiple Maine cities, including Bangor, Rockland, Lewiston, Portland, and Augusta. At some point, circa 1949, the Augusta branch sold six jeeps to the Forestry Department. The below image posted to the Forest Fire Lookout Association’s FB page documents this purchase:

1947-1950-maine-willys-jeep-sales-forestry-trucks

Here’s an ad from the March 30, 1949, issue of the Bangor News. Note that multiple cities are listed under Maine Willys Sales:

1949-03-30-bangor-daily-news-maine-willys-sales-lores

It’s likely that 1949 wasn’t kind to the Maine Willys Sales Company, because the February 09, 1950, issue of the Bangor Daily News reported that Chrysler had taken over the Maine Willys Sales Company property, though nothing was mentioned about what happened to the company.

Later that year, on June 15, 1950, a large ad appeared in the Bangor Daily News, but only the Maine Willys Sales Company of Rockland appeared on this list of dealers.

1950-06-15-bangor-daily-news-maine-willys-sales

The above ad strongly suggests that Maine Willys had dwindled to just one city in Maine by the summer of 1950. The company’s name was rarely seen in the newspapers after this ad.

The last reference I found for the company was for a July 11, 1953, article in the Bangor Daily News that mentioned an accident where a driver backed into the Rockland Maine Willys Sales showroom, shattering two large windows.

 
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1945 Article on the Jeep’s Rough Ride

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

In his Conner’s Corner column for the Lewiston Evening News on October 16, 1945, Sam Conner didn’t have a “Kind Word For Jeep”, at least in regards to the pounding ride it offered. It was a fair complaint.

1945-10-16-lewiston-evening-journal-jeep-rough-ride

 
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Bird Brains

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

UPDATE: When we left for Seattle Friday morning there was no nest. However, upon returning from Seattle robin had fully rebuilt the nest (that would be the third nest in three days). So, grabbed some fending wire and have temporarily installed it over the cross beam. I think the problem is solved for now …

Yesterday on my way out to the shop I noticed a new addition: a Robin’s nest2. That’s it is over the sign really ticks me off. So, I checked for eggs (because I’m not a monster) and, not seeing any, I removed the nest.

This morning, I see ol’ bird-brain back at it, rebuilding the nest in the exact same spot (see pics of the new nest being rebuilt below). Well, that ain’t happening! Looks like there will be a battle of wills!

2022-04-28-bird-nest-shop1 2022-04-28-bird-nest-shop2

 
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1948 Jeep Station Sedan Wagon Brochure

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

This rare wagon brochure popped up on eBay. It’s the first time I’ve seen this one. When fully opened, it is only about 6″ x 9″. the brochure introduces the ‘Jeep’ Station Sedan wagon sporting the lightening inline 6.

This is the front page:

1948-wagon-brochure-lores1

This is the back:1948-wagon-brochure-lores2

This brochure opens horizontally to reveal this page:

1948-wagon-brochure-lores4

This shows the backside fully opened:

1948-wagon-brochure-lores3

 
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Mid 1960s Cutlas Wheel Cover Brochure

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

I don’t have a specific date for this brochure, but it shows that Cutlas Manufacturing was selling a couple different types of wheel covers, including the “J” covers. It is marked Form 105, but is not dated. This was likely published between 1963-1965.

1960s-cutlas-wheel-covers-brochure-lores1

1960s-cutlas-wheel-covers-brochure-lores2

Maury shared this example of a factory photo with the “J” hubcaps. He says, to the best of his knowledge, this was a 1966 CJ-5 factory photo:

1966-Jeep-CJ-5-01

 
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Jeep Pics from Stumptownblogger.com

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

Blaine spotted some jeeps on this blogging website with an Oregon State focus. This first photo shows an FC in the background.

This next photo shows an early wagon at the 1948 Strawberry festival:

This photo shows an ad which appeared in magazines, including early Four Wheeler Magazines, so I’m not sure why it appears in this blog.

 
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The Caissons Go Rolling Along

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

UPDATE: Grant spotted this video whose first segment includes the music at the bottom and glimpses of some early prototype jeeps (Bantams various points, mostly between :30 and 2:20 and a Ford GP around mark :50): 

 

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Originally published March 27, 2019:  Carl pointed out that the 1944 sheet music for “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” sheet music included a jeep on the cover (#1 below). After some searching on eBay, some other popped up. I bought the bottom one that features the Ford GP and Willys MA.

  1. This was posted on eBay in 2019:
    1944-the-caissons-go-rolling-along1
  2. Also available eon eBay in 2019:
    1944-the-caissons-go-rolling-along2
  3. Also available on eBay in 2019:
    1944-the-caissons-go-rolling-along3
  4. The music I bought in 2019:
    1944-the-caissons-go-rolling-along4
 
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Birthday Card from the 1970s

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Another little treasure found while looking through the family stuff is this card drawn on heavy stock paper by my aunt. An architect, she was famous within the family for the cards she produced.

The card below was drawn for my dad’s birthday, likely mid 1970s. No doubt folks can relate to it (though I teased my aunt during a phone call yesterday about the poorly drawn jeep … she is usually attentive to details).

karl-eilers-bday-card-marilyn-perry-lores

 
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Old Photos and Family Stuff

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

On Friday, Ann and I headed over to Seattle to help wind down mom’s house and clean up what’s left (spoiler alert, still more to do …).

The house is pretty much ready to sell, though we still have some odds and ends to remove. We had though the house would hit the market this week, but it turns out that there is a title snag with one of the two parcels. One parcel was some land and the house, while the other parcel was just a piece of land. The land’s title wasn’t filed correctly, so we have to fix that (and of course everyone related to the title purchase and payments has died).

Among the items I brought home on this trip was a surprising collection of dad’s baby congratulations, cards, letters, and wester union cables, from 1933. Also in the mix were condolence letters from the death of my aunt Anita (apparently, my grandfather said Anita was shorthand for ‘little Ann’ (Ann was my grandmother’s name, which I thought was a sweet reference) when she was only 13 in 1944.

Some of the more surprising letters and postcards were from my great grandmother (Leonie Wurlitzer Eilers), who sent my father letters, whom she addressed as Master Karl E. Eilers, II. This rather weighty title for someone under 10 years old partly reflects the fact that Dad was named after his grandfather (and Leonie’s husband) of the same name.

Another surprise was that my grandfather wrote a letter to dad in 1971 a month before he passed. In the letter he discussed his prostate cancer and the pain of urination. He still had three weeks to go before he expected to be done with his treatment (unfortunately, he didn’t last much longer).

 

 
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Dutch’s High Hood to Low Hood Project

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

Bill shared this post about a rough CJ-3B that was rebuilt into a CJ-2A-looking jeep. The result looks good, but it is also a good reminder that what appears to be a particular model may not be so thanks to the interchangeability of parts.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1946-jeep-cj-2a-1953-cj-3b-mechanical-mules-and-a-covid-project/