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Willys Powered Railway Maintenance Cart **SOLD**

October 16, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, Industrial-Welder-Generator • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE: **SOLD** Price Unknown

Car, Railway Maintenance, Mutigage , 8-Man, 60 HP Gasoline engine Willys Model MB Motor Car / Speedster

If this is not the most unusual and the most rare WWII vehicle I have had the opportunity to sell it is definitely in the top three. It was built for the U.S. Army Transportation Corp by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Co. Kalamazoo Michigan. It is serial number 5913 USA number M1013 and was delivered January 1945. What makes it interesting to me is they used everything they could from the MB, purchased right from Willys. The engine complete with oil filter, air filter, regulator, battery, bell housing and T-84 transmission and all of the gauges are the same as the MB. They even used the MB fuel tank and radiator. It is 4 wheel drive and that is accomplished through chain drive and a forward-reverse lever which gave three gear speeds in each direction so the transfer case was not needed. When it was found and purchased 5 or 6 years ago, it was still in very good running condition and had never been allowed to set outside. Most of the vehicle is wood and due to inside storage for 60 years 95% of the original wood was saved in the total restoration. You can see in the as purchased photos (yellow trim) how good the wood was, only the side rail boards had to be replaced mainly from being kicked and broken. Before restoration it was used on several Sunday rail trips in the Jackson Ohio area. It will go much faster that you will want to drive it. As you can see from the photos it was professionally and totally disassembled rebuilt, researched for paint scheme and reassembled. With the wood being in such good condition it was easy to sand down to the original colors and markings. It was shown at the 2006 MVPA convention in Dayton Ohio.”

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Jeep Mule Train at St. Simons Island in Georgia

October 14, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, Unusual • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I put this together based on some research tonight.  If anyone has corrections or additions, please let me know.

For years, though I couldn’t say how many, Marvin Long ran a Jeep Train that was also known as the Mule Train. As these photos show, he used at least two different types of jeeps to pull a series of two wheeled carts along the beaches of St. Simons, Island.  At least one source mentioned the train rides were for going out to the beach to collect shells.  Whether this was the principle reason or just one of the events is less sure.  Whatever it was they got to do, the ride was popular, as this article from the September 6, 1952, issue of Billboard Magazine described:

An early Jeep train can be seen in this photo from a book called St. Simons Island by Patricia Morris, which was also made into a post card.  It looks like there might be a jeep all the way in the reason, too.

 The use of a CJ-2A was followed up in 1955 (or later) by a CJ-5. This image can be found at this website:  http://ga67.herobo.com/island6.html

Mr. Long arrived at St. Simons in the late 1940s to take over the stables there.  He managed these for decades.  The land (all or most of it?) on which the stables were situation has been turned into  the St.Simons Land Trust.

 

 

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June 1954 Roy Rogers Comic Book **SOLD**

October 14, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Comics, Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.

According to the description, on the back of this comic book is a picture of Roy, Dale and Bullet in a Jeep.  No indication they are in Nellybelle or some other jeep.

“ROY ROGERS Western Comic Book, JUNE 1954, DELL Volume 1 No.78. 100% Complete With NO MAJOR DAMAGE, No Writing On Inside Pages. Comic Book Lays Flat, With No Water Or Mildew Damage. With Tight Spine. Very Nice Condition For Age. Some Covers May have Slight Minimal Nicks, Scratches, Minimal (slight) Spine Separation Etc., So See Scan For Details, As All Items Sold As Is, Due To Their Age. COMPLETE COVER SEPARATION WITH TIGHT SPINE AND ALL COLORFUL PAGES PRESENT, LAYING FLAT. The Rear Inside Cover Is An Ad For THE SCHWIN PHANTOM BICYCYLE, And The Rear Outside CoverShows Roy, Dale, And Bullet, In A Willys Jeep.”

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My ‘New’ FC-150s

October 13, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, toys This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I have been meaning to get a couple FC toys so that the next time I show up at a FC event I can be an official FC owner, even if they are FC-minis.  A couple weeks ago I finished up eWillys early, so I trolled through a variety of FC toys on eBay.  I came across two low priced, imperfect Corgie FC-150s out of the UK that would fit my minimal budget. I figured if I bid on a couple of them I’d walk away with at least one of them.  Instead, I guess no one else wanted them.  Thus, I ended up with two FCs.

These toys are a nice heavy weight metal, much heavier than I thought they would be. In fact, they feel heavier than some of the plastic Tonka toys I’ve seen.  Both toys could use some TLC, but I think I’ll keep them just the way they are.

Here’s an example of how the FC w/ the conveyer belt ought to look like.  Mine works, but the conveyer belt is missing.

Here are some more Corgi Jeep Toys on Flickr, too.  Apparently, Corgi made all kinds of vehicles.  A wide variety of Corgi vehicles have been photographed and placed on Flickr.

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