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Puget Sound Boondockers 4WD Club Patch

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

I was able to purchase this old jeep club jacket patch. The Boondockers was a club based out of the south sound area, mostly Auburn (minutes from where I grew up). As of 1972 they had 11 members, most of whom had CJ-5s. I can’t remember ever seeing the club logo ever, but the group is documented in the PNW4WDA Region 1 book from 1972.

puget-sounds-boondockers-jeep-club

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I now have jacket patches from several PNW clubs. I hope to secure some more.

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Video of Steven Ward & His MB Readying for France

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

UPDATE: (if the video below is incorrect, here’s the original story with video)

This news video shares the story of Steven Ward and his MB getting ready for the trip to France. There were a quite a few jeep community folks who were there, including Ron Fitzgerald and Scott Schiller, both of whom did a variety of videos on Facebook like this one.

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California’s New Dismantler License

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

This photo has been floating around Facebook the last few days and, not surprisingly, folks are all freaked out about it. Of course, most never bothered to read the whys, the hows, and the exclusions surrounding it.

california-dismantling-law

First off, am I thrilled about this law? Not at all, but what the heck is the state of California supposed to do?

The Problem: California has a big problem with less-than-honorable parts resellers buying, stealing, obtaining vehicles, stripping them for some or all parts, and dumping the rest. An average of 1.2 million vehicles are abandoned every year (that is more than 3000 per day, though of course they aren’t all the result of illegal parts resellers).

That means the state has to deal with identifying, moving, and disposing tons of vehicles daily, along with any related hazardous waste. Let’s say it costs $100 to tow/handle/dispose of each vehicle (a low estimate in my opinion). That’s $120M each year. Thus, it’s not a trivial operations or budget issue.

How does this affect hobbyists?: There are exclusions for said hobbyists. For example, “Any person engaged in the restoration of vehicles of the type described in Vehicle Code Section 5004 or in the restoration of other vehicles having historic or classic significance” is excluded.

“The owner of any premises or property used in conjunction with any agricultural, farming, mining, ranching, or motor vehicle repair business” is excluded.

“The owner of any premises on which two or more unregistered and inoperable vehicles are held or stored, if the vehicles are used, or intended to be used, for restoration or as replacement parts or otherwise in conjunction with any business of a licensed dealer, manufacturer, or transporter, or in conjunction with the operation and maintenance of any fleet of motor vehicles used for the transportation of persons or property” is excluded.

If you’ve got a better idea? Then contact your state and suggest it; because, your state will likely be doing something similar, as this issue is a national problem. Look at these stats from the early 00s:

Among U.S. cities, Seattle police received about 4,200 reports each month in 2002, the New York City Sanitation Department picked up over 9,200 vehicles in 2006, while Philadelphia police towed over 32,000 abandoned cars in a 40-day period in 2000. One year after Michigan implemented a statewide data system for tracking towed vehicles, over 92,000 abandoned vehicles were removed.”

Given also that pretty much every town has some section of the law that discusses abandoned and junk vehicles, it’s seems obvious there are car abandonment issues everywhere.

So, in my opinion, this California law is specifically focused on shifting the cost of vehicle disposal away from the public and back onto parts resellers who are trying to skirt disposal costs. However, the marketing of this law clearly has to be rethought, as it sounds draconian to hobbyists everywhere (based on the Facebook responses).

 

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Blitz Buggy(?) Fire Truck Lincoln Park, NJ **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Features, Fire/Police/Industry Vehicles, Willys Trucks This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** … may have been relisted here: http://www.ewillys.com/2022/12/12/1957-blitz-buggy…oneonta-ny-14500/

(06/1/2019) This has a working pump and a freshly rebuilt flathead 6. The Blitz Buggy Fire Truck’s I’ve seen (one from 2014 & CJ-3B Page) didn’t have the pump on the front. So, I’m not sure if this is a hybrid Blitz Buggy or something else.

“Nice Willy’s fire truck. Working 500 gallon a minute pump with brush gun. Fresh rebuilt flat 6 .”

1956-fire-truck-lincolnpark-nj1 1956-fire-truck-lincolnpark-nj2 1956-fire-truck-lincolnpark-nj3 1956-fire-truck-lincolnpark-nj4

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1958 Jeepers Jamboree Photos

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

These 1958 Jeepers Jamboree photos reside in the UC David digital archives. They were taken by Jervie Henry Eastman.

Eastman also shot this photo of Ted Corder’s Willys dealership, located in Susanville, California. I’d say this was taken in the late 1940s?

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Auto Part Jeep Sculpture $94.99

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

Roger Martin spotted this jeep sculpture on Facebook. I don’t see it as being “Authentic down to the last detail”, but still a neat little item. The price isn’t so neat though.

https://www.facebook.com/commerce/products/1472356579484727/

“Authentic down to the last detail a jeep is ready for off-road adventure. Armando Ramirez transforms recycled bicycle and automobile parts into a realistic miniature replica. His creativity is fascinating. Ramirez does not give his sculptures a fine polished finish therefore smudges and scratches may be present.”

auto-parts-jeep-2 auto-parts-jeep-3

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Austin Champ Fire Fly Engines

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

As I’ve mentioned, I once made the ‘mistake’ of buying three Austin Champ fixer-uppers to save them from being crushed. Despite that experience, I joined the Austin Champ group, as sometimes I find Champs for sale and post the links on the site.

The other day someone posted a 1955 ad for the Champ Firefly, which was a type of fire engine built on the Champ chassis. I’d never heard of them, so thought folks might find these ads interesting.

Here’s a an actual Austin Champ NSL 418 Firefly Fire Engine:

The next three ads were all listed on this site: https://www.aviationancestry.co.uk/?searchQuery=Fire+Armour&startYear=1909&endYear=1980

The first two ads, from 1954, are for Champ Firefly Airfield Crash Trucks:

1954-austin-champ-rapid-rescue-ad3 1954-austin-champ-rapid-rescue-ad2

This 1955 ad is for Fire-fighting. I’ve yet to see pics of one of these restored.1955-austin-champ-rapid-rescue-ad

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Progressive Farmer Magazine Jeep Ads

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

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:

ads-torn5

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:

ads-torn3

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:

approx-dec-1945-progressive-farmer-pg11

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

1946-07-progressive-farmer-pg19

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

1947-05-progressive-farmer-pg49

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