Josue dropped by the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) and snapped these photos. The museum is located in Hood River, Or (I’ve been through Hood River several times and didn’t know this was there — guess I should have slowed down a little going through there ..).  Thanks Josue!

The WAAAM has only existed a few years, having first opened its doors in September of 2007, and already house one of the largest collections of flying antique aircraft and drivable antique automobiles in the country.  The museum appears to house 5 Jeeps:  1 Slat Grille MB, 1 Red Cross(?) MB, 1 M-38, and a couple M-38A1s (one with a sizeable weapon for removing trees, rocks or buildings that happen to block your path).

According to their website, ” Our collections are housed in two giant hangars — which together total 95,000 square feet. In addition to our antique collections, these facilities house a reference library, classroom, meeting rooms, and a community events area. Three additional hangars, totaling 37,000 square feet, are set aside for restorations.”

I saw this and I had to post it.  There are apparently a couple of these left in the South African War Museum.  Due to their weight and the thin tire profile, these were poor offroad performers.

According to this website, “The British Army in India had a requirement for Armoured Cars for areas such as the North West frontier. A delegation was despatched to Britain to see what was on offer and particularly to look at the offerings from Rolls Royce as wartime models had performed well. As well as being expensive they surprisingly were unable to get over the gradient test on the cross country trial.

There was however also at the trials a 1 1/2 ton Crossley based on the chassis that had been intended for a Russian contract that came to nothing because of the Revolution. This was the chassis that was under consideration as a medium truck for India and eventually became the IGL1. It sailed through the trials and one was immediately purchased for an extended trial which consisted of loading it with 4 tons of ballast and driving 4000 miles round Britain. An order for 32 followed with bodies by Vickers. These were delivered in 1923 and a further order followed. Total deliveries were about 100.

All of these vehicles were fitted with solid tyres presumably to remove the risk of punctures but these were never very successful when used off road as their narrow profile inevitably led to the vehicle sinking up to its axles. Two of the armoured cars were also shipped to South Africa where the tyres also caused trouble and were eventually changed to pneumatic types. Both of these survive and are in the South African War Museum.”

In our continuing, virtually unending series on museums, comes the National War Museum in Malta.  This museum houses only one willys, but it is a rather famous Willys named “Husky”. Also, I’m usually pretty good with geography, but I had Malta (the isle of Malta that is) quite a bit west and didn’t remember it being an island!

According to this site, “This Willys Jeep was brought to Malta by General Dwight D. Eisenhower in July 1943. It was used by the Commander-In-Chief, Allied Forces, Mediterranean during his stay in Malta, preparatory to the invasion of Sicily. He named the jeep “Husky” after the code-name of that operation. Before crossing over to Sicily, General Eisenhower presented the jeep to Air Vice Marshall Sir Keith Park, Air Officer Commanding Malta. This jeep was subsequently used by Franklin D. Roosevelt when the American President visited Malta on December 8, 1943.”

Of course, the Walter P. Chrysler Museum has its share of jeeps to display.  Unfortuantely, the museum website doesn’t show any images of Jeeps and, in fact, barely mentions them.  Can anyone provide some feedback on a visit experience to this museum?

TIDBITS: The CJ-3B Page chronicles a 2007 parade of old Willys that dropped by the museum.  Also, a museum-owned 1945 CJ-2A was for sale as of 2008.  I don’t know if it sold or not.

I made a few searches and found a variety of images from the Chrysler Museum.  Here’s a great pic that shows a range of jeeps with a Willys MA in the foreground:

I ran across a variety of images of this MB on the internet:

This is a 1945 VEC CJ-2A:

This is a shot of a Jeepster: