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Rosemary’s Obit

• CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
2015-10-31-halloween2

Rosemary, the queen of Halloween in her natural habitat (part of the garage converted to a dungeon the night of Halloween, 2015).

My mother-in-law passed away on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 76. She was a complicated woman. As I’ve alluded to in the past, her declining health was a factor in the summer-long hiatus of eWillys.

Between the pandemic, her cancer and her COPD, the last two years have been full of medical appointments, oxygen machines, 911 calls, drug management, and patient management. Two Christmas’s in a row have been interrupted with Emergency Room visits.

Much of the work (and frustrating grief) fell into the hands of my wife, Ann, who, through the deaths of her sister and father (both from Huntington’s disease years ago …. a terrible way to go), along with the deaths of several other relatives, has become someone of an expert in palliative (end of life) care, especially related to COPD and/or congestive heart failure. She was a huge asset to my father during his last years and I’ve learned a great deal from her about end of life issues.

My MIL was both grateful for our help and critical of our help during her ill years, because she could be critical of most anything. One of her favorite statements was, “whoever designed this [whatever it was] should be dragged out and shot.” We heard this more and more as she got more and more confused about technology and life; but she was certain she was right and the designer of said service/item was wrong. In fact, she was usually right about everything, whether she was actually right or not.

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Authenticast Surrey Jeeps

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

I’ve had a little more time lately to spend sometime on eBay. One of the things I stumbled upon last week was an authenticast Surrey in Cerulean Blue for only $30 (including shipping)!! Now that was a score! I then made an offer on a pink one that I found and that got accepted, too. Here are pics of both.

I was surprised that these have such good weight to them; they are about 1.5lbs. The one moving piece on both is the hood, which lifts (tilting up while the windshield tips back), but the straps must be removed from one side for this to happen.

The Blue one still has some fringe on one side, but a piece of the bumper is missing and a strap is broke:

cerulean-blue-surrey2 cerulean-blue-surrey3 cerulean-blue-surrey4 cerulean-blue-surrey5

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1973 Slide of Las Brisas Surreys/Galas

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

This 1973 slide that was on eBay is taken from behind two DJ-3A Galas/Surreys. In the background are some DJ-5 Galas/Surreys.

1973-las-brisas-slide-dj3as-dj5s-surreys

 
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San Angelo Die Casting and Manufacturing Products For the Jeep

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

Texas’ San Angelo Die Casting and Manufacturing company was founded by Raymond V. Hart, according to a May 23, 1998, obituary in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The company manufactured a wide range of inventions, from nut shellers used as far south as Brazil to jeep products as evident below.

One of the more unusual products was this jeep trailer. Somewhere in the eWillys archives is an actual example of one of these trailers. I thought it was a custom concoction, but clearly it wasn’t.

san-angelo-tex-trailer-gun-holster1 san-angelo-tex-trailer-gun-holster2

The company’s main jeep-oriented product was gun racks (the firm produced both jeep and non-jeep gun racks). This hard-to-find brochure from the San Angelo Die Casting and Machine Company explains why there are a number of jeeps with similar gun racks in them. That “No. 20” model is particularly prevalent in jeeps.

sanangelo-gun-rack-brochure1

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1954 “Harvest Your Sales Crop” Brochure

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

This literature was on eBay (and bought by me). Given this unusual document is dated October 1954, I wonder how many other docs like this were distributed to dealers and distributors. This is the first item like this that I’ve run across. I’ll get a better scan of it at some point in the future.

1954-sales-call-to-action

 

 
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Allstate Hubs of CJ-2A Lebanon, OR $65

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

They look like a good price for a vintage set of Husky produced and Allstate branded hubs.

https://corvallis.craigslist.org/pts/d/lebanon-willys-cj2a-locking-hub-pair/7378170580.html

“Surplus to my needs are a set of 2 matching Allstate locking hubs that came off of a 1947 Willys jeep flat fender. I do not know much about them other than the brand shown on them. They appear to need some cleaning, but I assume they work as they are supposed to. You be the judge of that.”

allstate-hubs-oregon2 allstate-hubs-oregon1

 
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Photo of 2 Early Wagons at a NC Drive-In Theatre

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

Blaine shared this vintage photo. It’s undated, but the Jeep wagons are early enough that I would guess it’s a late 1940s or early 1950s photo? It was posted to the Our State website. The article is about early North Carolina drive-in culture.

willys-wagons-drive-in-theatre

The wagon on the right is obvious, but the one forward and to the left is kind of hidden.

 

 
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Photo of Jeeps on an Aircraft Carrier

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

JR spotted this photo in an Air Force Commemorative Facebook Group.lt looks to me like the ship is shown near San Francisco.

jeeps-air-craft-carrier

 
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July 1944 Water Color

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

Scott shared this link to a Watercolor painting by C. Baij. It shows American Soldier Uncle John 507 PIR; 82 ABN in France. He spotted it online at the Las Laguna Art Gallery.

1944-07-water-color-france-by-Baij-C

 
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Knox Trailers

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

UPDATE IV: Here’s another Knox, this time owned by Clint. It appears to have a few mods:

clint-trailer-knox-lores

UPDATE III: While searching for any info on Knox trailers, Brandon ran across this post. So, he sent in some pics of his Knox trailer.  He recently sold it.

knox-trailer-brandon1 knox-trailer-brandon2 knox-trailer-brandon3 knox-trailer-brandon4

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UPDATE II (From July 13, 2021) : Here’s another example of a Knox trailer that Jared recently purchased:

knox-trailer-jared1 knox-trailer-jared2

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