This December 20, 1954, Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletin introduced the Auburn Jeep-A-Trench to the Willys Special Equipment Line. No brochure was included with this document (unless it was removed).
Features Research Archives
May 1949 Salesbuilder
This issue May 1949 Salesbuilder has seen some better days, but the info matters more to me than the condition. The cover boasts about “smooth” the new Jeepster is, but I never discovered what was so “smooth” about it, unless the company was referring to the new fabric top?
Most interesting to me was the pic on the last page, lower right. It shows the Palmer Dealership sitting right next to a Koenig sign, leading me to wonder if somehow the two businesses were related at some point? I knew both were out of Houston, but it never occurred to me that they might be connected.
October 1954 Willys Adds Gran Hydraulic Lifter to Spec Equip List
UPDATE III: This is a merge post, adding a nicer scan of the Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletin, this one dated October 29, 1954, to the original Gran Hydraulic Lifter history post. This doc welcomes the Gran Hydraulic Lifter to the Willys Special Equipment list.
More on Military DJ-5s
Gayland shared these photos showing the military DJ-5s offered by AMC in the early 1970s. Time has tinted the images. The “brown” Army jeeps are actually OD green for the Army, while the Navy “white” jeeps may actually be haze gray.
US Army Jeep Photo:
US Navy Jeep Photo:
Refrigerant Tank Folk Art Jeep
Roger Martin spotted this unusual jeep made from longs and a refrigerant tank. It sold on Facebook for $55 in just a day.
1942 GPW Sold for $28,500
Blaine shared this GPW that just sold for $28,500! You can see all the info on Bring-A-Trailer’s website: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1942-ford-jeep-gpw-5/
May 1951 Wagon Comparison Brochure
This 34-page May 1951 Form No. SWC1-10M-551 wagon comparison brochure is one I’d never seen before it hit eBay. The size is about 5.5″ by 11″. It’s not in the best of shape, but it’s there and readable. The front page has a rectangle cut out so that the table of contents on page three shows through cover.
I wonder if an equivalent brochure was made for the truck? I doubt anything was made for the universal jeep, as there wasn’t much to compare to it by 1951.
October 1954 Willys Welcomes Warn Hubs
I wasn’t aware that Kaiser Willys put out a series of Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletins, but I now have examples of at least four of these that I will publish over the next week or so. It’s unclear how many were published or how long this lasted.
This particular example, dated October 08, 1954, welcomed Warn Locking and Automatic hubs to the Willys Special Equipment Line. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first time Willys included hubs in its Special Equipment line. As of 1954, Warn was likely the largest producers of hubs. Free-Lock quickly became the second largest producer of hubs, but that wouldn’t be until 1956 (See Free-Lock Hubs history for more info). To the best of my knowledge, Free-Lock was never added to the Willys Special Equipment Line.
3 or 4-Door Hy-Rail(?) Wagon
Steve shared this photo from the Just-A-Car-Guy website, which was in turn was shared from a French(?) website. This looks to be a three or four-door Hy-Rail wagon. You can learn more about these at Willyscountry.com.
FC-170 Ashtray on eBay
Andy shared this one. Starting bid is $129.99.
View all the information on eBay
“Vintage 1950s RARE Dealership Promo JEEP Willys FC 150 or FC 170 TRUCK Chrome Ashtray”