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Just One Update for Sunday

• CATEGORIES: Features, videos, Women & Jeeps • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Updates will resume Monday morning….

Only 17 more days until we close on the new place. We’ve packed most of our stuff and are now doing minor repairs and maintenance, such as some trim painting, light landscaping, and, one of the biggest tasks, cleaning out our backyard waterfall and pond. It can be a pain to clean every spring, but it sure is nice to listen to on the back porch on a sunny day. It will also help sell this place.

pond

Our rather warm winter meant more green growth in the pond. So, we have to empty it, pull out some large rocks, scrub it, and fill it back up. No doubt we will lose some fish in the process. It all looks a bit dreary in back right now.

Here is how it usually looks (though this was taken in April, prior to many of the flowers blooming):

2020-04-20-backyard2

As we approach the closing date, I plan to take at least one, if not two weeks off to get the new place ready, move our stuff, and finish details on the old house to ready it for sale. But, don’t fret, there will still be new daily content (and some retread of older feature posts). One person who is responsible for providing new content is a dedicated researcher named John Hamrin, who has taken the time to go through the British Pathe video site to locate any videos with jeeps in it. He has now sent me over 100 links to videos, with more arriving as I type this post. So far, most appear to be WWII related. So, a HUGE thanks to him for his painstaking research and generosity!!

Finally, a word to one of our newest and most passionate readers, almost-two-year-old Miranda Tilford, who, has become a passionate viewer of eWillys. On Saturday morning (yesterday), Marty wrote to tell me that shortly before messaging me, Miranda came up to him and said, “Jeep, jeep, jeep”. At first he was confused at what she wanted, so she repeated, “jeep, jeep, jeep”. About that time, Marty realized that she wanted to sit down with him and go through eWillys. Sure enough, they sat down and scrolled through some jeeps. That poor, poor young lady has been afflicted with the Willys sickness already; there is no hope for her!!

So, in Miranda’s honor, with a nod to John’s video efforts, here are some WAACs trying out their driving skills with jeeps and trucks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiNSjOJEeUA

waac-driving-jeep

 
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February 1962 Issue of Jeep News

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

This February 1962 issue of Jeep News includes two good photos on page four of the DJ-3A-based mobile bar that was at the Las Brisas resort in Mexico. I have a color photo of that, too. It might be fun to recreate one of those.

Page three shares a little info on a twenty-eight page dealer booklet entitled, “Your Ten Major Retail Markets”. That’s a book I’ve yet to see anywhere.

Photos Photos Photos

Photos Photos

 

 
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1948? Willys-Overland Sign Program

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

This eight-page Willys-Overland Sign Program sold on eBay for $38 (plus $4 shipping) late night. The seller only provided two pics, so I was unsure if this would be worth the money. Given the front-page design of the brochure, I’d guess this was produced around 1949. The design is reminiscent of other Willys-Overland catalogs of the era (see examples at the bottom).

“This is a 9 X 11 8 page brochure of WILLYS -OVERLAND SIGN PROGRAM  FACTORY APPROVED shows products offered to dealers from Neon Products of Lima Ohio some slight scuffing on the covers…also has a order blank”

willys-overland-sign-program1

A 5-foot version of the Willys Service Sign sold out of Buda, Texas, for $400 back in 2014. It was likely sign model #WO-111 (the large sign pictured on the left side of the left page). These are the only two interior pages that were included in the auction ad:

willys-overland-sign-program2

====================

Similar covers from 1949 that have the style AND the WO logo. For example, Barney has this 1949 Parts List catalog listed on eBay:
1949-parts-booklet

There’s this 1949 Jeepster owners manual:
1949-jeepster-manual

And, this is a 1948 CJ-3A Owners Manual on eBay:
1948-cj3a-owners-manual

And this 1948 CJ-2A (with envelope) owner’s manual on eBay:

1948-cj2a-owners-manual

 
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1952 Photos of British Minister of Defense Earl Harold Alexander’s Jeep

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

These two photos show the jeep (likely a Ford GPW) of Defense Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the first Earl Alexander of Tunis (technically, Alexander of Tunis, Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, Earl, 1891-1969). The second photo is dated June 27, 1952. The jeep’s tires look much more aggressive than the standard NDTs. The windshield looks more like a 2A than an MB/GPW. Those doors look awfully thick. I wonder how heavy they were.

According to the post, captions, these are “Part of a series that Williams shot on assignment documenting the visit to Korea of British Minister of Defence Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the first Earl Alexander of Tunis. Here, Earl Alexander salutes as he leaves a Common Wealth Division bunker in his jeep.”

All three of these photos are part of the Pepperdine University Digital Collections.

  1. https://cdm15730.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15730coll5/id/1334
    1952-earl-harold-alexander-korea2
  2. https://cdm15730.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15730coll5/id/695
    1952-earl-harold-alexander-korea1
  3. https://cdm15730.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15730coll5/id/1148
    1952-earl-harold-alexander-korea3
 
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Cute little “jeep” Trailer

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

Jack Bowlin posted photos of the cute little jeep trailer he created, one that matches his jeep. I like it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1641202336209808/permalink/2742473362749361/

short-jeep-trailer1 short-jeep-trailer2

 
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1963 Video of Lifesavers and their Jeep

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

John helped me locate this short video from 1963 showing one of Cornwall’s surf rescue teams. In it, these brave young men demonstrate how they utilize their specially modified jeep to perform rescues. Baywatch it aint!

View the video here: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/jeep-lifesavers-aka-lifesavers

1963-video-clip-british-pathe-life-savers-jeep

 
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1949 Article Introduces the 4WD Wagon

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

This September 17, 1949, article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette states that the four-wheel-drive wagon evolved out of a military special order for four-wheel-drive-wagons. I’ve run across that fact previously, maybe on a brochure?

1949-09-17-green-bay-press-gazette-wagon-now-4wd-1-lores 1949-09-17-green-bay-press-gazette-wagon-now-4wd-2-lores

 
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2021 Willys Reunion is Scheduled for May 21-22 in Aurora, OH

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

The 2021 Willys Reunion has confirmed it will take place May 21-22 in Aurora, Ohio, this year. My lovely bride and I won’t be able to make it, but hopefully we’ll be more settled in 2022 and can visit at that time. Maybe we can even bring one of our jeeps next time!

2021-willys-reunion-announcement

 
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1945 Photo of Udem, Germany

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

Charles shared this 1945 photo from Udem, Germany, showing a British and Canadian forces, along with a of couple jeeps, one with a permanent looking top. What’s the vehicle in the lower right?

1945-udem-germany-british-canadian-forces-jeeps

 
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Military Jeep Photos From Various Databases

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

Here are some military photos that appear in various library databases.

1. This first one shows a jeep that was dug out from an avalanche in the Grand Tetons:

“lack and white photo showing a Jeep vehicle after being extracted from an avalanche at Glory Bowl in the Teton Range, Wyoming.”

jeep-avalanche-tetos

PHOTO CREDIT: Ted Majors and the University of Utah Digital Library Collections

2. Here’s a solider welding jeep fenders:

3. This 1947 photograph appears to be a Swedish family surrounding the family MB:

4. This 1947 photo from Sweden shows the same jeep as above. It seems like some of the folks from the top photo also appear in this one? 

1947-swedish-family-jeep2

PHOTO CREDIT: https://jlm.kulturhotell.se/items/show/142944

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