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Builds: Claus Rebuilds a CJ-2A in South Africa

April 5, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Builds, CJ-2A, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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FEATURED JUNE 2010

Claus contacted me a little while back telling me he was from South Africa and asking if I’d be interested in seeing and sharing some pics of a CJ-2A he rebuilt.  Absolutely, I responded.  So, yesterday I received pics and a story of both his jeep and his brother’s jeep, which you can see here.  Thanks for sharing Claus!

Claus writes, “Its winter in the southern hemisphere and unfortunately this means wet weather for us folks in the Western Cape Area of South Africa. Sunny days are few in this time of year and I/we don’t plan many trips. It must be said that the nicest days are however also during the winter months – not too hot and no wind. All very positive aspects if you are day tripping with the old vehicles.

So now for the jeeps – There are not many flat fenders left in this part of the world – quite a few numbers of CJ2a were imported during the 1946-1949 for the purpose of farming. South Africa was also one of very few countries that ordered CJ2a’s in 1948 as Military vehicles. At that time the Union Defense Force (UDF) ordered 289 units, and these came in fact all standard from the factory in olive drap. Not many survived as they had to work hard on the farms or in service. Some that did continue to “exist” where built up as challenge vehicles and so the numbers decreased drastically. To date limited numbers are on the road – we don’t really have a vintage “jeep” club in the country so it is hard to tell how many are actually “alive”. It has however emerged that many people start to convert back to the original spec CJ’s which is nice.

I consider myself very lucky and after about 12 years of intensive searching, both here in South Africa as well as my home country Namibia, found a beautiful 1948 CJ2a in very good condition on a nearby farm. The Jeep stood for about 20 years on bricks in the owners shed so it has worked only for about 2/3 of its life and those must have been gentle years, because everything was still in very good condition. To top it all it had a complete PTO and monarch governor installed. The pto is currently off so I can restore it. I was also very fortunate to pick up a set of early WARN freewheel hubs (seen on the later pictures) So that in short is the story of my CJ2a. Attached are photos for reference.

Photo1: My Jeep when purchased

Photo2: My Jeep during a short day trip on a nice summer day in the Swartland district. (It just fits so perfectly into the landscape – water reservoir and windmill)

Photo3: My Jeep with new 10 piece canvas top ordered from New Life Canvas in USA

Photo4: My Jeep with original half cab installed

Photo5: My Jeep with new Half cab top installed

Photo6: My Jeep surf’ near Camps Bay

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Fire Jeeps out of the Netherlands

April 5, 2012 • CATEGORIES: CJ-3A, Features, Fire/Police/Industry Vehicles, International, Old Images • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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FEATURED JANUARY 2011

I was trying to locate some more interesting willys-related museums, but instead stumbled across the atlantic, landing in the Netherlands (back in time no less).  The result were these 2 great images of old Fire Jeeps with extended rears and wonderful details.  There are a few more smaller images of these jeeps at the Netherland focused website Brandweerforum.  They have some other non-jeep firetrucks there as well.

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Elizabeth Taylor on a CJ-2A

April 4, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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FEATURED DEC 2010.  

(NOTE: The link I had for this picture no longer works, but it was a part of the Getty Images)

I’m not sure if I’ve seen this before or not, but I don’t really care; that CJ-2A makes Elizabeth Taylor look mighty fine … or maybe it is the other way around.

A teenaged Elizabeth Taylor paints while sitting on the hood of a jeep in California, 1947. (KM Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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A US Postal Willys Wagon image from the Smithsonian

April 4, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, Fire/Police/Industry Vehicles, Unusual, Willys Wagons This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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FEATURED SEPTEMBER 2010

I didn’t know they made Willys postal right hand drive wagons!  The Smithsonian’s Postal Museum Exhibit has some great images of early original vehicles used to deliver mail.

From the website, “In August 1953, the first postal jeeps rolled off the Willys Motors assembly line. The model, the first U.S. car in three decades to have right-hand drive, was soon being tested on postal routes around the country.

Carriers used these right-hand drive vehicles to save delivery time on their routes. They were able to more easily reach the mailbox without having to park and go around their cars, or reach over the passenger’s seat to deliver the mail.”

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Builds — Edmund Angelus Automotive

April 3, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Builds, CJ-3A, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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dscn3831FEATURED IN FEBRUARY 2009

Matt’s provided us with a couple of projects completed by Edmund Angelus Automotive.  If you are near Roanoke, Virginia and are looking for someone to handle your rebuilds, you might consider them as they have rebuilt a couple of beauties.  Thanks for sharing Matt!  You can contact Matt at 540-354-4321.

Matt writes:  “Welcome to Edmund Angelus Automotive. Located at the foot of Bent Mountain in Roanoke Virginia. I do restorations and all kinds of custom work,heck I will paint a refridgerator if pays my rate of $38.00hr. The yellow jeep is a restoration w/a body kit installed. The Green CJ-3a is the second for the same customer, it also is a off-frame restoration with the original and complete make over with nearly 900hrs, the christmas jeep as it is called by the customers two little twin boys. These are taking an average of 18 to 20 weeks to do. I am currently doing B.J.#102, It is ’46 Willys Boyer Fire Jeep w/out the fire equipment. It found its way to me in literaly pieces and in lots of boxes. Now in week 19 I am acctually able to get in it fire it up and take it around the patch.”

Here’s a variety of pics related to these builds:

dscn3207

Continue reading →

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Mannerspielplatz: Outdoor Adventures

April 3, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, News This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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2006_06_01_actionpark_planFEATURED IN JANUARY, 2009

So, you wanna shoot guns, dig with backhoes, race a suzuki, work a jackhammer, and drive a dozer all in one day?  Where do you go?  How about a Disneyland for Dudes?

The most recent edition of Wired Magazine ran a very interesting article about the Mannerspielplatz, which I roughly translate as a “play place for men” (I knew those 3 years of highschool german would come in handy someday).  I went to the Mannerspielplatz, but even my rudimentary German isn’t quite enough to translate all the things you can do at this unique German park.

However, it did get me thinking — could you pull off something similar in the U.S.?  Of course, the version in my head has an jeep/4×4 focus, but adding some big machinery along with some old automobiles, a tank or some other cool stuff might really be fun.  Frankly, there’s all kinds of vehicles I always wanted to drive but never have had the chance.  If the insurance and liability issues could be successfully negotiated, which I’m sure they could, then this could be a really cool idea.

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Around the World in a SEEP called Half Safe

April 3, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Books, Builds, Features, GPA (SEEP), Unusual • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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half_safe_9FEATURED IN MAY 2009

The next time you are in Perth, Australia, make sure you stop by and see Ben Carlin’s SEEP named Half Safe.  Ben Carlin and his wife navigated their SEEP around the world back in the 1950s.  I found two website’s that chronicle the adventure:  David Brooks shows pictures along with the story and Leisure Wheels has a large article with a single pic.  Below is the beginning of the story and below that are a few pictures.  Ben Carlin also wrote two books about his adventure “Half Safe” and later ““The Other Half of Half-Safe”.

half_safe_8FROM DAVID BROOKS WEBSITE:  “Ben Carlin (1912 – 1981) was born and attended school in Western Australia. While awaiting demobilisation after service in India in World War II, Ben noticed a US amphibious jeep among other war debris, and remarked “You know, Mac, with a bit of titivation you could go around the world in one of these things”. For some never-explained reason, Ben was not certified insane on the spot, and eventually fulfilled his dream ….”

>>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF THE STORY<<

Half Safe Pages

SEEP Pages:

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Aerial Jeep from Life Magazine

April 3, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Unusual • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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FEATURED IN MAY 2009

UPDATE:  I found a long discussion, details and the pic below at this website:

From this website, vectorsite.net, I’ll put some of the content just to make sure it isn’t lost.

flying_jeep

“The AirGeep was first flown on 12 October 1958. Apparently it proved grossly underpowered, barely able to fly over a fence, and it was sent back to the shop, where the piston engines were replaced by a single 317 kW (425 HP) Turbomeca Artouste IIB turbine engine. The upgraded AirGeep flew in late June 1959. It weighed 1.1 tonnes (2,500 pounds) and could carry a payload of 550 kilograms (1,200 pounds), including the pilot.

The AirGeep was put through trials for both the Army and the Navy over the next few years. The engine was upgraded again to a Garrett / Airesearch 331-6 engine, which had a higher power-to-weight ratio. For Navy trials, which began in June 1961, the rotorcraft was fitted with floats, and redesignated the “PA-59 SeaGeep”.

* Piasecki wanted to build a bigger and better AirGeep, and the Army Transportation Research Command obliged them by issuing a contract for what Piasecki called the “Model 59K” and what the Army called the “VZ-8P(B) AirGeep II”, which made its first flight in the summer of 1962.

The AirGeep II was similar to the AirGeep, except that the aircraft was “bent” in the middle so that the rotors were tilted fore and aft, it seems to improve forward flight characteristics. The AirGeep II used twin 298 kW (400 SHP) Turbomeca Artouste IIC turboshaft engines, once again linked so that if one failed the other would drive both rotors. One engine could also be coupled to the landing wheels to drive the machine on the ground. The increased power allowed a maximum take-off weight of 2.2 tonnes (4,800 pounds). The pilot and observer had “zero-zero” ejection seats, allowing safe escape if the machine was on the ground and standing still, and there were apparently seats for additional passengers.”

As we learned, the rotabuggy was a bit of a failure. However that didn’t stop the military from investigating some type of ‘flying jeep’.  Now, I don’t know if the military really called it the Aerial Jeep or whether it was Life Magazine’s attempt to sell magazines, but the result is a pretty unusual flying machine:

life_magazine_aerialjeep

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2012 FC Roundup Report

April 2, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Event, FC150-FC170-M677, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I wanted to extend our thanks to everyone who made our visit at this year’s Roundup memorable and fun.  And a special thanks to Jesse for inviting me to attend, despite the lack of my own FC.  Also, I really appreciated everyone who told me how much they enjoyed reading this website.  Your feedback makes my efforts worthwhile!

On Saturday I was able to win a raffle price, 2 headlight gaskets (courtesy of Roy).  After winning them,  I announced my grand plan to build an FC around the gaskets.  Yes, we’ll build from the front of the FC (fc-150? fc-170? something else) to its rear.  I expect this is going to be a slooowwww project.

I even found the perfect FC project in Tucson as we drove out of town on Sunday morning; well, drove is a stretch.  More like, plodded along due to an overturned semi in Black Canyon whose delivery of vegetables will likely be delayed (though the local rabbits should have some good forage for a while).  Unfortunately, Tucson was in the opposite direction from where we were going and I suspect this incredible deal will be gone by the time I could ever make it back down there.

1961 FC-170 $450: (SOLD quickly after I posted it; it was in Tucson).  Check out the early hubs on this, too.

So, until our FC is complete, I will just have to enjoy looking at and riding in other people’s FCs. Here’s some random pictures from the event.  Thanks again to everyone and I look forward to the FC Get Together in Washington.  If you don’t have an FC, find one and join the fun next year!

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