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Bob admitted he couldn’t remember much about the races in these photographs, other than they were shot in the mid-90s in Lisbon, Ohio; but he got some great photos. Ok, truth be told, any photo that combines a flattie, desert dogs, and some mud is something I’d consider a great photo 🙂
And here’s a great M-170 Fire Jeep that was watching the action
Inspired by the playday post, I had several emails about racing on the eastern shore of the US in the EC4WDA.
HOG explained how he used to race outlaw races to make money and those would give him money to attend the EC4WDA races for fun.
He writes, “I ran the East Coast 4 Wheel Drive Association from New York to Jacksonville Fla & from Ohio to the eastern shore. I would hit the outlaw races on one weekend & race EC4WDA with the winnings from the outlaw races. I miss doing that & the good friends I had back then.
I drove a 1978 CJ-5 with a 70 AMC AMX 360 motor with T-18 tranny & dana 20 transfer case. Its name was Wind Walker. It was Bright Red & I ran NOS on her to get me out of a class that was too crowded. My ex wife ran it in Powder puffs & won more than me.”
I asked HOG what an Outlaw race was. “Outlaw races were races for anything 4×4 put on by a local group. Mostly, they were hosted by Firemen. Best of all, they paid cash prizes (The EC4WDA didn’t pay cash, instead they gave you a $10 trophy).
I did well as my Jeep looked like a stocker jeep. In fact, I drove it as a daily driver & to the races. Also, when you’d get inspected by someone that had a Chevy or Ford hat you knew he didn’t know nothing about a AMC motor as they look so much the same. My 360 was mistaken for a 304 many times, with its the stock air breather (everything was covered in mud) sitting on top of a Holley spreadbore. I even had a cassette player to play my ZZtop, & a baby seat on the rear seat. Then all I had to do was just (key word) beat the guys I ran against.”
Gerald grew up in the EC4WDA with his brother and family. He forwarded me these pics from his days racing in the EC4WDA.
Here’s a scene familiar to all race days — the morning driver’s meeting:
Gerald tells me this is the line up for the Drags. I remember flatties just like these on the west coast:
You can see the family’s racer at rest and in action in the next two shots. If I remember correctly, the front loop from this race jeep is now in Gerald’s brother’s new build.
As I was researching yesterday’s article on the LRDG, I wanted to learn more about the Bagnold sun compass. After reading the explanation, I’m am quite sure that I’m not yet ready to be thrown in the middle of the desert with a Bagnold.
However, as I did my research this unique ‘time’ piece on a French Sundial website, I happened to see the amazing image below.
EVENT: The LRDG Preservation Society will be participating its 2nd biggest event of the year October 2-3 2010 at Prado Dam Park in Chino Hills California. They are one of 85 different re-enactment groups from nearly every time period and culture in history. It is a Military Time Line Event which will feature everything from Roman Legionnaire’s to Viet Nam Re-enactors and many other periods in between.
Kim wrote me last week after seeing drafts of the “Africa SAS” T-shirt I’d like to produce (I am working on refining the shirt design btw). As the membership chairman of the Long Range Desert Group Preservation Society (LRDG), he’s particularly interested in the SAS jeeps and Long Range Desert vehicles. So, he introduced himself and the organization.
The LRDG Preservation Society is a non-profit organization established “to learn as much as possible about the unit, the men in it and the equipment and tactics they used. Then to share that information with all whom wish to learn. To that end this group has built a replica of a classic WWII LRDG truck (1942 Canadian Chevy, right hand drive, India format) and outfitted it with “historically correct” military equipment, gear, provisions, and uniforms. The vehicle was built by Rick Butler in Yreka California from several vintage trucks and parts from around the world. Converting a left hand drive vehicle to right hand drive was one of many challenges.”
The Society has supporters and members throughout the world, including the US, England, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, South Africa and more.
About the Long Range Desert Group:
During the 1930s, the British developed the idea of creating a motorized guerrilla/recon group in northern Africa to provide intelligence to British Forces. After studying the terrain and needs for such a group, the Brits formed the LRDG, which according to the LRDG website “was very much like a “private army”, formed to meet the particular conditions of desert warfare.” The LRDG was made up of volunteers and, because of this, they could wear beards and were given latitude that regular military soldiers did not have.
Learn more about the LRDG by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
I’ve seen them in old pictures, but Kim is the first owner of a Long Range Desert Group S.A.S. Willys to contact me and share pics. Of course, you can’t but help but think of the old Rat Patrol shows when you see these vehicles. After reading through the LRDG.org website, one of the things I’ve learned is that there was plenty of thought, research and recon work that went into the supplies these jeeps and truck would need to carry with them as they sailed long, desolate seas of sand.
Kim writes, “The jeep I bought is mechanically perfect. The previous owner put all his money into the motor, brakes and trans. The body on my jeep needs some help and eventually I will replace the rear and floor sections of the tub as there is some rust. Fortunately, It came to me painted in the proper color and had many extras including a Bagnold sun compass.
As a special addition to this jeep, I re-built a WW2 Italian de-milled M37 machine gun and converted it into a gas gun M.G. simulator. It sounds like a M.G. but no blanks are needed and it can not shoot a projectile. That is mounted on the front cowling. As I have been a machinist and tool maker for 30 years I machined a set of Twin Vickers machine guns out of aluminum for the rear mount. These are strictly dummies with no moving parts.
I did not buy this jeep to be a Trailer Queen. This is a re-enactment jeep and as far as I am concerned it looks like it just got back from Kufra Oasis and that is exactly what I want. My ultimate dream is to have 2 WW2 jeeps. The S.A.S (which is not street legal) and an American OD jeep that is licensed and ready to drive to work.”
And a couple pics of the Twin Vickers Kim made. In this pic, some basic outlines and contours have been created in the aluminum stock.
Here you can see many more details are apparent.
UPDATE 3: Cblynch posted an update to this information on g503.com site. He notes that Randy Withrow in Alabama owns the below GP and also owns all the original photos. Apparently, the woman driving the GP died a few years ago. (Thanks Simon). Also, you can see an additional photo from Bergs yard in this thread. Finally, to GP1942 from G503, I’m glad you are enjoying the content, but please add a link saying you found the info at ewillys when copying and pasting it into other sites.
UPDATE 2: After further review, and based on Lindsay’s comments, I would say that the first BRC is a BRC-40. The TWO jeeps in front of that are BRC-60s (made after the original BRC prototypes and before the BRC-40).
UPDATE: A reader named Lindsay was kind enough to provide an update to this story:
Lindsay writes, “An interesting note about the article with the mayor that purchased the GP in 1944. That vehicle was tracked down by Ken Hake years ago and restored several years later. The 3 smaller photo’s at the bottom bottom right is a photo of Bergs Jeep parts in Chicago note the first one is a Bantam BRC 40 the one in the front of that is a very early “round nose” BRC of which only one still exists and belongs to the Smithsonian. This proves that round nose BRC’s were released and sold to the public. I sure would like to find one of those in a barn.”
The military started selling jeeps to civilians in 1944. By all accounts, Mayor Heine, of Lucas Kansas, and his family were the very first purchasers of a Military jeep for civilian use. Here is a Life Magazine Article about the Heines and the related images from the January 4, 1944, issue of Life Magazine (page 24 & 27). I bet they wished the jeep came with a top and a heater!
NOTE: The jeep below is a Ford GP
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Fred Heine would late purchase an early CJ-2A, as captured in these press photos that landed for sale on eBay in 2014:
This is a second press photo of a photo sold two months ago. The caption is the same, though it has slightly different marks.
“1945 Press Photo Hutchinson Kansas Fred Heine buys Jeep for farm, H Woodring”
For comparison, here is what the photo and caption from October 2014 looked like:
This is a post I have wanted to publish for a while and finally got to drafting it last night. I have a lot of good memories of Playdays. One of my most powerful memories was a trip to Pendleton, Oregon, for Summer Convention 1975 (I think that was the year). It was located in the middle of a clearing in a forest: no buildings, just dirt, grass and trees. I was 10 and pal’d around with Tim and Steve Carter for most of the weekend. We were kids in a candy store, wandering around and through the various camp ‘cities’, made up of campers and tents and people and jeeps, meeting other kids and having a blast. There were an endless stream of club names and club stickers (on the side of the jeeps) that I’d never seen before. It truly was a different world …
Most of the images below came from the WWJC Scrapbook I borrowed a couple weeks ago. Because the book was too big to fit on my parent’s scanner, I had to snap photos of them, which explains some of the low quality.
It’s fair to call this a sampling of events, as I hardly went to all playdays. Feel free to comment on any I’m forgetting and I’ll add them to the post.
We’ll start out with this article in a newspaper about Jeep Racing from the mid 70s. I have to say I was a little surprised at the ‘retarded’ comment, which just highlights how fast language can change.
Jeep Stuffing: For the first event, let’s highlight this this oddball contest. Here’s Al “Ham” Hamilton in his old jeep Gypsy B. He and his Wife Barb were founders and deeply involved in the WWJC and the PNW4WA for many years. The remainder of the people piled on to this jeep appear to be WWJC members as well.
I couldn’t say how this was judged, but it reminds me of the Yipao events in Columbia where they stuff CJ-3Bs with just about everything.
Barrels: Here’s Al again. This is a classic event that still endures. Inspired by the barrel racing event you’d find at horse races, barrels were positioned in a triangle. The racer starts at a gate, circles around each as fast as they can, then heads back to the gate.
The Gypsy B was Ham’s road/race/trail jeep. As you can see, Ham didn’t even bother to take off the winch. He even scored some trophies in his jeep (well, at least one big trophy according to the scrapbook).
Potato Stab: In the Potato Stab, a racer races around a track and stops at each box of potatoes to allow the passenger to stab a potato, put it in a sack, and race onward. The fastest time won. There were variations of this event. One variation involved popping balloons instead of picking up potatoes.
Balloon Throws: This was just for fun. Two jeeps would pass each other and water balloons were thrown. I *think* this picture was taken at the Beverly Sand Dunes in Washington (near Vantage). In the CJ-5 is my mother driving and my sister riding shotgun, probably in the late 70s. This is Dad’s post rollover Jeep, note the cage has 4 loops with two in the middle. It’s the kind of cage you install in your jeep after you’ve rolled down a hill 5 times.
Balance Beam: The balance beam is pretty self explanatory. Again, this is my mom and sister (which is kind of weird, because I do not remember my sister or mother ever doing any of this). The object was to balance as quickly as you could. This had to be around 1973 — in other words, this is the pre-rollover jeep. I’m not sure why the side of the body on this jeep is so beaten up. I’ll have to ask Dad if he remembers why that is, though I suspect he might say something like “cuz your mom drove it” 🙂
Balloon Pop: In this event, a child drives a course and stops at a special spot. Once stopped, the child jumps out, runs to the balloon, pops it, runs back to the jeep, and completes the course. This jeep appears to sport a Bobcat fiberglass body, though it appears to be just a body shell.
Banana Course (no image): In the banana course, a driver drives the course with a passenger. At a particular spot, the driver stops and the passenger hops out and runs through a little obstacle, consumes a part of a banana, hops back in the jeep and then the driver finishes the course. There were probably variations of this as well.
Tire Pit: I suspect this is a precursor to the mud bog, but I couldn’t say. I don’t remember ever seeing this event in person. I suspect the object is to get out of the pit the fastest?
Obstacle Course: Still included in racing today, this course is a tight course, usually muddy, that racers try to get through as fast as possible. Below is an image of me after an obstacle course at the ORV Park Near Olympia during the 1985 Summer Convention.
Team Relay: This has been and continues to be a traditional end of the playday/summer convention race. It involves four teams of four jeeps and four drivers on one course. The object is to get all four drivers around the course one time. Each team is assigned a colored flag to make it easy to identify the teams while they are racing. The top two teams to finish a round advance to the next round. The team that wins the final round wins a trophy.
When I last raced, this event would take the entire day. There were many, many teams and people. It’s a fun event to participate in and watch.
The first time I ever ran this event (March 1985 on a cold weekend north of Everett), I broke the front driveline in my jeep in the first round, I broke the front driveline in Tim Carter’s race jeep Priority (version 1) in the second round, and I thought I had broke the front driveline of Jim Carter’s jeep Otis in the 3rd round (we lost, so we didn’t advance after that — and I was relieved!), but fortunately I didn’t break it. I have never broken a driveline since. Weird ….
Other events not shown:
Water Course: The object is to get around the course the quickest without spilling water held in a cup by a passenger. It’s a slow, but comical race. A derivation of this involves an egg; if I remember correctly, the passenger carries a spoon, on which they balance an egg through the course. If the egg falls off, they have to stop and can’t start forward again until the egg is back on the spoon.
Tonka Course: Kids put strings on their Tonka vehicles and pull them as they run through a course. There were other kid-specific courses that I don’t remember.
Backwards: The racer drives a course forward to a stopping point, then has to drive the course in reverse as fast as possible.
The Divorce Course: The driver is blindfolded. The passenger must tell the driver how to drive the course.
Cross Country Course: This is still in racing today and is a faster, longer course designed for faster speeds.
Hill Climbs: Self Explanatory. I haven’t seen one of these in a long time, but they got held occasionally. A derivation, based on the newspaper article above, is the chain hill. In this event, climbers put chains on their jeeps and try to climb hills. However, these hill climbs do not compare to those crazy Finnish Hill Climbers.
Drags: Self Explanatory.
King and Queen: This race is still run today. I’m not exactly sure when this was first run. If I understand correctly, this is an elimination race where 2 racers compete against one another. One racer starts on one half of the track and one on the other. Each racer completes the entire track. The first one to complete the race advances to the next round. The man that wins the final round is King and the woman that wins her final round it Queen.
Sprints: You can still find this racing occasionally (Here are some pics from earlier this year). This is head-to-head competition where a group of racers have to race a certain number of laps on a course. I never saw this at a playday, but did watch the Yakima Mud Races with were sprints in mud.
Top Eliminator: Only the fastest winners in certain events (such as the fastest cumulative times in the obstacle, cross country and barrel races for example) race in this race. There are no separate classes. The winner is the top racer (male and female brackets) for the weekend. The race track is usually a tighter version of a cross country course.
The 2nd Annual Northwest FC Get Together was this past weekend in Olympia. Josue was kind enough to forward some images from the event and give his take on it.
Josue writes, “Last weekend was the first opportunity I have had to visit a Jeep get-together. It wasn’t a huge turnout but it was definitely worth visiting. The meet-up was in Olympia, WA and it was specifically for Forward Control Jeeps. This was the second year and only about 8 showed up, although I’m sure it will get bigger with time. It was fun talking to a few people and seeing a couple of them run.” Thanks Josue!
Colin’s friend Al has got a nice collection of Willys. Colin forwarded a few pics of Al’s jeeps with some notes. Nice looking vehicles Al!
Colin writes, “I attached a photo of a CJ2A [al toy] that I did for a buddy of mine sitting on the hood of his August-built 1945 CJ2A with column shift, rebuilt with a lot of the leftover MB stuff that Willys used to get the first CJs on the road.
Al also has a 47 2WD wagon, a 49 Willys truck and a 49 Jeepster that is undergoing a repowering with a 55 Chrysler 331 Hemi, 727 trans, Mustang II front suspension and 56 Corvette rear end. Aside from body work and paint, Al does all the work himself and does an excellent job. The shot of the wagon with whitewall tires is the same wagon. Amazing what a set of wide whites will do for a car.”
Just a few Updates Tonight ….
As a kid in elementary school, I remember climbing under my desk as part of our emergency drills (earthquake, nuclear blast, bully avoidance). But, I always wondered what I would do if there wasn’t a desk to dive under!
Now I know the government had already been planning for a lack of desks. Thanks to this image Alex spotted on Wikipedia, I now see that I just have to locate a Willys Wagon and dive into it for safety. Sure, it might get blown over, but it would sure be more comfortable than getting trapped underneath my desk (unless I was trapped under my desk with my sweetheart from 6th grade Michelle, but that’s a whole ‘nother story)! See the expanded image here.
