This June 1956 photo from Willys News shows Harry Oliver delivering the Desert Rat Scrapbook newspaper. It turns out the Desert Rat has quite a history!
Old News Articles Research Archives
Mosquito Control Purchases Willys
At the time of this photo the American Mosquito Control Association owned more than 3000 jeeps, making it one of the biggest jeep customers.
Clyde Beatty’s Safari Wagon
This article from the May 1955 issue of Willys News shares the story of Clyde Beatty and his ‘Safari Car’. You can learn all about the famous Clyde Beatty on Wikipedia.

Need Scaffolding for your Jeep?
You’ll never find this unique piece of Willys equipment in a Special Equipment Catalog. It was featured in the May 1955 issue of Willys News. It has some type of geared pulley system for raising and lowering the scaffolding. OSHA approved? I wonder how many scaffolds they produced and sold . . .
1944 Photo of First Jeep to enter Slovenia
This Acme Newspicture photo shows the first jeep and trailer to enter Slovenia. A soldier demonstrates the field technique for lifting a trailer with a railroad tie so his buddy can change a flat tire. I do not have an exact date this was published, but it can be seen at the fulton history site.
1943 Photos of Ford GPA Tests
These photos were published in the Philadelphia Inquirer in July 27, 1943. In the top pic it looks like the driver jumped this off the end of a dock.
10,000 Vets Seek to Buy 1,588 Jeeps
In June of 1946, around 10,000 Veterans appeared at the Benicia armory in the hope of buying one of the 1,588 WWII jeeps for sale. The article was published in the June 25, 1946, issue of the Utica Daily Press (pg3).
DJ-3A Dispatcher Newspaper Ad
Here’s a DJ-3A Dispatcher Ad from January 6,1956, published in the Herald Statesmen in Yonkers, NY. If you lived in Elmira, New York, you’d have seen the same ad, but with a price that was over $200 more ($1583)! Carmel, New York, had the best price at $1249.
This ad was published six years later in a 1962 issue of the Herald Statesman.
Louisiana Pharmacies Use DJs for Deliveries
Another Pharmacy Uses a DJ Dispatcher
1942 Photo of WAACS on a Jeep Ride
This photo was published in the August 19, 1942, issue of the Courier-Express. The caption is interesting, in that the woman driver of the jeep had driven ambulances for the Chinese back in 1932!
Kreisher Drug Store DJ-3A Dispatchers
The DJ’s ‘fleetness of get-away’ was one reason Kreisher purchased these dispatchers. There had to be faster vehicles than the DJ!
















