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The Flat Fender Club of Butler Drops by the Reunion

May 23, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Sebastian wrote me yesterday, telling me he and some buddies made a special trip to visit the Willys Spring 2011 Reunion.

He writes, “Yesterday I went to the Midwest willys reunion in Mason OH. Altough we did not take our jeeps, some members of the Flat Fender Club of Butler went there to see some nice willys. It was a busy day, about 4 hours each way (from Pittsburgh). A very long day as you can imagine, totally worth it as shown in the pictures: http://flatfenderclubofbutler.wordpress.com/ (top post). I thought you may want to take a look.”

Here’s a couple of his images. See all of them at the link above.

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Another gun mockup

May 23, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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A reader and his son have been restoring a CJ-2A and have mocked up their own .30 cal gun.  They shared the below pic with me.  Thanks!

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Area 51 Jeep (and a mockup A-12 Spy Plane)

May 21, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I spotted this unusual image today. It was published along with some other declassified photos from Area 51 (which doesn’t exist btw) and published on National Geographic’s website.   I wished I had a close up of the jeep.  I’m glad there’s a guy standing in front of the jeep or I would have thought it was a toy jeep.

One time I drove north on the extra-terrestrial highway (Nevada State Route 375).  I’ve driven all over the west and that was one of the strangest highways I’ve ever driven.  There were several different events that left me certain there was some strange things going on out there.

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Shep’s Mock Browning M37

May 21, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, How To This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Shep built this custom M37 and thought others might be interested in it.  Thanks for sharing!

Shep writes, “Just wanted to show you some pics of the dummy gun I made a couple days ago.  This dummy gun for the most part is based on the browning M37; which was actually put on tanks instead of Jeeps in Korea.  But I thought it was one of the coolest looking of the Browning .30 cals so decided to use its specifications.  For the main box of the gun, I used an old piece of 1/4 inch 3×5 tubing, which I found was a mistake because almost all other pieces I welded too it was close to 1/8 inch, thus the voltage on the welder had to turned way up to penetrate the box.  The barrel shield was the hardest part.  I had to measure all of the distances correct, and I couldn’t start drilling with 13/16″ bit, I had to work my way up.  The handle on the back is an old axe hand I cut down and threaded.  The bolt shucks back and forth and the sights flip up and down.  The gun pivots up and down as well as side to side.  The pedestal has an ammo can bolted to the side for realism.  I still need to drill the bolt holes for where it mounts in the back of my Jeep, but overall I think this is gonna look good in the M38A1.  The gun also comes off the pedestal, I hope to make an attachable bipod for it in the future.  Hopefully I get pulled over because the cop thinks it’s real, that means I did a good job making it!”

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Spring Willys Reunion Update

May 21, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Event, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Bob’s been busy with his camera this morning on what appears to be a beautiful Saturday in Mason.  He reports that fun was had at a local Mongolian BBQ last night, keeping some of the folks busy until late.

See all the photos here.   There seems to be a little something for everyone.

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A CJ-3B Buried in the Snow in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada

May 18, 2011 • CATEGORIES: CJ-3B, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Someone is saying to themselves, “I knew I should have put the jeep in the garage.” This CJ-3B is located in Iqaluit, a Canadian town way up and out there, in relation to me anyway.  The photograph was taken just a few days ago (as best as I can tell) by Ron Wassink.  I think the jeep is for sale, too, for those that want to take a REAL road trip, but bring your back hoe to dig it out of the snow.

From Wikipedia, “Iqaluit was founded in 1942 as an American airbase, geographically located to provide a stop-over and refueling site for short range fighter aircraft being ferried across the Atlantic to support the war effort in Europe. Iqaluit’s first permanent inhabitant was Nakasuk, an Inuk guide who helped American Air Force planners to choose a site with a large flat area suitable for a landing strip. Long regarded as a campsite and fishing spot by the Inuit, the place chosen had traditionally been named Iqaluit – “place of many fish” in Inuktitut – but Canadian and American authorities named it Frobisher Bay, after the name of the body of water it abuts.”

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The Houston Art Car Parade (May 20, 21 & 22)

May 18, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Mark wrote me to share with me one of Houston’s unique cultural events.  They were the originating city for the Art Car Parade. Houston launched the parade in 1988 with 40 cars and a couple thousand spectators.  Today the number of cars in the parade will top 250, with around 250,000 spectators. The 2011 Houston Art Car Parade will be held this weekend.

Naturally, did a few searches to see if I could any jeeps, but I only found two.  So, below them are a few curious creations that have appeared over the years.

Here we have the PEEP JEEP, a jeep decorated with peeps.

This appears to be a bengal jeep of some sort:

And here are some random pics:

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Dan’s CJ-5 / His Grandfather’s CJ-5

May 17, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Dan continues to make good progress on the reconstruction of his grandfather’s CJ-5.  Below, Dan  shares  both the latest images and images from 20 years ago, with him driving.  If you don’t remember the non running, poor condition of the jeep, you can view the early restoration pics here.  Thanks Dan and keep going!  And, I promise I’ll up there sometime this summer to collect the beer you offered 🙂

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Pete’s Trip Down To Moab

May 17, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features, videos, Willys Wagons This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This past weekend Pete, from the Old Willys Forum, drove down to the 2nd Annual Willys Moab Rally 2011 put on by Casey Dimmitt.  He reports that they had plenty of fun and wished they could stay longer.  Pete put this video together (I think to make us all jealous so that we’ll join them next year!).  Thanks for sharing Pete, I love that area!

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