An article in the July 13, 1951, issue of the Toledo Blade reported on three kids who climbed the fence at Willys Overland and commandeered some jeeps.
Features Research Archives
M-38A1 Pics from Charles
Video of Jeeps in Amsterdam following WWII
I spotted this Amsterdam video with jeeps on this Facebook page. It shows a jeep helping manage traffic following WWII.
1944 Article on Jeep Testing at Washington State College
In July 1943 the Ordnance Department released a jeep to the Washington State College (now University) for farm testing. A year later the College produced a bulletin titled “The Jeep as a Farm Truck-Tractor for the Post-War Period.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a copy of that document online. But there’s a hard copy at the WSU library (which is only a couple hours from me). Anyone have copy of that?
In August of 1944 the Spokesman Review published this article based on the information.
1973 Photo of CJ-5 in Vermont on eBay
This CJ-5 is shown navigating a closed road in 1973.
“1973 Jeep Drives Through Washed Out Road Windsor Vermont Press Photo”
Structo Ride on Fire Jeep **SOLD**
UPDATE: Was on eBay. SOLD for $191.50.
” VERY WELL CARED FOR Vintage Structo Toys Fire Dept. No 26 Pumper Ride On Jeep Truck WITH RARE CRANK SIREN INTACT. This truck is about 25 1/2″ long and about 12 1/2″ tall.
There is some wear to the paint from age and some rusty areas on the wheels and body of the truck. The steering wheel turns easily and the wheels turn with it in same direction. Having the siren intact is VERY RARE (See other similar trucks, all sold without the siren!). The siren does crank and rattles, but may need cleaning after 50 years of storage! The truck says Fire Dept. No 26 on the top of the hood of the jeep and on the rear it says PUMPER. On the sides of the truck are painted on pictures of firemen hats; a fire extinguisher; and a shovel and axe.
It has been in our family since purchase in the ertly 1960’s. This truck is in used but very good original condition.”
Wheeling Discs and New Tires
Paul continues to make progress on his jeep. He received his tires and has made some custom stainless rim discs.
TIRES:
He writes, “The New Tire Fairy arrived at the house today with eight brand new STA Super Traxion 6.50-16 tires along with eight new inner tubes for the little Willys. I’d been searching the internet for a vintage looking narrow tire with an aggressive tread design that would look good on the Willys so shortly after I discovered these tires I put my credit card to work and placed my order.
I wanted to replace the brand new but 30 year old tires on the Willys so that accounted for 5 tires and I needed 3 more tires for the military trailer (I want the trailer to have it’s own spare tire) so that’s why I bought eight. Shipping wasn’t too expensive since I wasn’t in a hurry and compared to Coker tire who wanted to ship their tires 2nd day air ($1,100 for the tires and an additional $900 for shipping) it was down right reasonable by Alaska standards.”
WHEEL DISCS:
He writes, “I bought some poster board that was large enough to make full size mock ups of the stainless steel wheel covers I’m thinking of making to cover the plain steel wheels I’ll be using on the Willys. The six larger holes are 1 & 1/2 “ diameter and the smaller holes are 1 “ in diameter. I’ve made other discs, some with more holes and some with less holes on each disc in various patterns but I keep coming back to this design. It’s simple, the spacing of the holes is easy on my eyes and the wheel covers make the tires appear larger and more heavy duty.
Each hole will have a reinforcing ring fastened to the back side of the disc either by 1/8th inch diameter monel raised head style rivets or 3/16” dimeter stainless steel machine screws (the size of the machine screws used on the door just below the window). These doublers and rivets are for style only and not necessary for strength. Each disc will be attached to a wheel by six stainless machine screws and these screws will thread into steel mounts welded to the wheels.”
“Above is the first wheel disc with the holes drilled and the rivets installed. I gave the plain disc a brushed finish to see what it would look like … I think it’s about as close as I can come to matching the body finish. These wheel discs need to be easy to clean and easy to touch up the finish so a mirror polished disc would require lots of maintenance to keep the metal shiny. I don’t have enough energy to keep up with the mirror finish.
I finished riveting the last two wheel discs today then I cut a hole thru the center of the front wheel disc slightly larger than the Warn hub so these discs could be test fitted to the wheels on the Willys. The tires on the Willys are still the old new ones and not the new, new ones I recently received since the steel wheels currently on the Willys have the wrong offset and will be replaced with the correct wheels in the near future. Anyway, I think these discs match the Willys much better than the aluminum wheels I was originally planning on using.”

The wheel discs attached. The discs came out a little darker, but that’s probably because of the angle. The discs are made of the same stainless as the rest of the jeep. These are the old tires, not the new ones.
1945 Photo of Custom Jeep in Hawaii
UPDATE: **SOLD** $22.50. Was on eBay.
Here’s a radical jeep design!
“1945- Members of the 237th Medium Ordnance Maintenance Company in Hawaii shown with their “streamlined jeep” made from two wrecked jeeps, discarded chromium, and four “belly-type” auxiliary gas tanks discarded by the Air Force.”
1942 Article Explaining the new Farm Jeep
This June 19, 1942, Milwaukee Journal article describes early farm jeep tests at the Auburn facility.
Marx Jeep w/ Rare Box on eBay
I’ve seen plenty of Marx Jeeps, but finding one with an original box is rare.
“Vintage MARX WILLYS JEEP Pressed Steel Toy Car + Box *EX* (USA) Neat and hard to find 11″ pressed steel Willys Jeep in original box. This toy would rate as the cleanest one I have ever seen except for the front grill area where I’m guessing the paint reacted and flaked off. Other than the grill issue this toy is bright and shiny as day one with a crisp and clean box to match. Good luck. NO RESERVE!”




























