The CIO News out of Cumberland, MD, published a story on March 15, 1943, about the US Army and Navy honoring the workers of Willys Overland.
Features Research Archives
1956 Photo of Jeeps Outside the Reichstag
This photo from eBay Germany shows a couple MP MBs/GPWs with some nice tops sitting outside the Berlin Reichstag.
View all the information on eBay
“Arthur Grimm
Original Foto um 1956 zu einem mir unbekannten Film
Berliner Reichstag
Fotograf: Arthur Grimm
Shot: um 1956 – Abzug: um 1956
Silbergelatine auf Baryt-Papier
Blattmaß: 23,8 cm x 17,2 cm”
More Tour Jeep — Jeep Train Photos
Derek Redmond shared some more jeep-train and tour jeep photos he’s uncovered on various sites. Cool stuff!


Brief History of the ‘Sports Utility Vehicle’ Term
UPDATE: Terry points out that Ford used the marketing term “Sports Utility” in 1966 ads. Previous to that, in 1947, Crosely marketed a “Sports Utility” vehicle.
Crosely (see bottom of the ad):
This 1966 ad for the Ford Bronco has text near the bottom that reads, “Try the Wagon, Roadster, or Sports Utility at your Ford dealer now”. The Sports Utility model is the one with the half cab:
Here’s a 1966 Ford Commercial that identifies each of the models:
Original Post Jan 31, 2019: Dan ‘Scramboleer’ spotted this Motor Trend March 2019letter-to-the-editor about the origin of the term ‘Sports Utility Vehicle’. Essentially, Jeep’s marketing department was attempting to cease the use of the term jeep-like (and similar jargon) to describe offload vehicles. The concern was that it was diluting the value of the Jeep Trademark. So, they came up with the term Sports Utility Vehicle idea. The Journalists took it from there, shortening it to SUV.
Toy Fire Jeep From eBay Germany
At $190 Euros, this isn’t cheap, but it’s a cool toy jeep!
Lift Gate off of a Willys Truck Allentown, PA **SOLD**
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $600.
Steve spotted this rare item. I can’t tell if it was made specifically for the Willys truck or if it is an adaptation. The Lift-O-Matic was the lift gate that Willys-Motors endorsed.
“VINTAGE LIFTGATE OFF OF A 1958 WILLYS TRUCK”
2019 Jeep Outing in Costa Rica
Roger shared this story. A group of Costa Rican Jeep friends took their vintage jeeps out for an 2019 adventure to the beach, where they camped at least one night. This is their second ‘Willys Adventure’ together. You can see more pics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Willys-Pasión-Costa-Rica-1726644670912768/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2254856788091551 . Looks like fun!
1945 Article on How to Handle War Surplus
This July 15, 1945, article in the Evening Star featured a great shot of Ford GPAs. I thought the article was interesting, too. It highlights the challenges of managing war surplus (links to page 1 and page 2 of original article).
’57 Willys Or ’58 Chevy on This or That
TJ shared a link from Hemmings on a “This or That” article, meaning if you could only choose one, which one would you choose. Most folks on Hemmings leaned toward the Willys truck. I think I might be more partial to the Chevy (heresy, I know).
Just a Couple Posts Today
I spend the last couple days driving to, then back from Seattle. Dad’s been saying a few odd things, so I wanted to see how he was doing at his new Rehab facility. He may have the start of some dementia … on the joys of aging.
Because of my drive over on Sunday, I lost out on the chance to get this Dualmatic Sales Demo hub. But, I did score some cool wagon/truck/jeepster brochures fairly inexpensively. So, I’ll be sharing those at some point.
Here’s the demo hub. There’s not a good pic of it, but there’s plastic around the edge so viewers can watch how the levers engage/disengage the hubs.



















