Jim provided a report on his family’s 2014 Moab adventure.

He writes, “Here are some pics of our adventures at the Easter Jeep Safari. We all faired pretty good. The 1953 CJ-3B ended up breaking a rear axle on Kane creek, but with Russ’s many years of Willys driving experience he was able to finish the trail with it. The 1947 CJ-2A blew the balls out of the front axle but due to Jakes finely tuned Willys repair knowledge he was able to make a quick repair. And my 1962 CJ-5 suffered and broken headlight and a scratch down the side from a scrub oak.(that’s what I get for wheelin and texting). All in all it was a great trip and we can’t wait for next year.”

Robert sent this wonderful note to me. He asked me to share it in case it motivates others with their projects.

My name is Robert and I am writing to thank you for hosting ewillys because it has had a great impact on my life. My father and I decided to get away from the rock crawling scene and build an old willys jeep with a small block Chevy motor because my father was a GM mechanic in the 80’s. However, being from Pennsylvania almost all old jeeps have fallen victim to the rust of the northeast, and as a result, finding a willys worth having was no easy task. After several failed trips to purchase potential projects I stumbled onto ewillys and my father and we decided to purchase a jeep from the west coast.

My father called on over 50 ads from your site and eventually got a call back from the owner of a 1942 GPW with a SBC 305 in Portland, Oregon. The seller was willing to deal with shipping the jeep! Therefore, in early December of 2010, we blindly purchased the jeep sight unseen and prayed it would eventually arrive at the house. The jeep arrived at our house in Pennsylvania a few days before Christmas! The truck driver spoke very little English, but did advise that the jeep ran very poorly and had almost no brakes at all. However, a few negatives could not overcome to excitement my father and I shared upon confirmation that we had not wired some stranger thousands of dollars for a mythical willys, and the jeep was wonderful.

After the long awaited arrival of the GPW we decided to that even though the gas tank said “remove from boat when fueling,” and the seats were mounted on handy angle we would test the brakes and drive the jeep if at all possible. We determined that we could take a short drive down the cul-de-sac since I could not physically push the jeep when the brakes were applied. As we drove in front of the house the transmission was screaming louder than the motor and steering column was far from safe. That being said, we had to see what a barely running 305 would do in the light willys jeep. Therefore, taking the condition of the jeep into consideration it felt like we were flying when we came back past the house. We began to slow the jeep far before the stop sign and made the turn into our drive way to end our first drive. To our surprise, when my father depressed the clutch pedal to the floor the clutch did not disengage, and as you can imagine this quickly became problematic because the one brake that was sort of working could not even begin to slow the v8. This put us on a crash course with the garage door! Fortunately, my dad is quick on his feet and killed the ignition in the nick of time which allowed us to stop before hitting the house.

Continue reading →

Derek just posted a great story Sebastian wrote titled “Three Willys Jeeps and 2,500 Miles in Between. It covers his life with jeeps, both in Colombia and in the U.S., and includes lots of great photos.

http://cj3b.info/Owners/Sebastian.html

You may remember Ed Wilson’s father’s Egypt photos from yesterday. Well, Ed’s got a couple jeeps himself (a 1962 CJ-5 and a 1947 CJ-2A). Both have an unusual story.

Ed reports from Canada, “This is my first jeep that I got almost 20 years ago and have still not completed a restoration. Long story… but when I was buying it I was in the owners home looking at original photos in an album. I was very focused on the purchase and pictures, but then realized that I was in a room surrounded by gold records on the wall! It turns out, I was sitting on Bryan Adams bed in his bedroom of his family’s house. I ended up having a long talk with his mom and step dad.”

Here is the picture of my jeep with Bryan Adams step dad and his wife…not Bryan Adams mom the day of purchase. Note the winch.

This is after some use.

Now it’s ready for some work.

Ed’s second jeep is a 1947 CJ-2A. He writes, “My 47 cj2a has an interesting story as well. I purchased it from a guy that worked all his life in his dad’s jeep dealership. He has had a jeepster all his driving life and you can find a picture of it and his story in the link below. It is also a Kelowna jeep. His dad was named “Mr. Jeep” by Willys. You can learn more about “Mr. Jeep” by reading this story about “Mr. Jeep’s” first Jeepster (that he still owns):

http://web.uvic.ca/~lwoolard/a3/kamloops-vccc-site03/featured-articles-national-1950WillysJeepster.html

The author is leaning on his white CJ-3A. I do not know the author’s name (but would like to know).

I stumbled across this neat forum article about a group of friends who decided to check out Hole-in-the-Rock, Utah, in 1955 after reading a National Geographic article (probably this one). So, in a fleet of three vehicles (looks like a 1949 CJ-3A, a CJ-3B, and a MB/GPW), they set off from Los Alamos, NM and drove to Escalante, Utah, before venturing into the Hole-in-the-rock area. Most of the photos that were taken are in areas now under the water of Lake Powell.

According to the article’s author, “My jeep was a 1949 CJ3 and it was a wreck when I got it. I think it had never been lubricated. I had to replace all the universal joints and overhaul the engine. The cab was aluminum and I bought it at Sears. The red jeep was an old military model. My friend had bought it and built a wooden cab for it himself.”

I wanted to contact the author of this story, but I can’t figure out how to register (says registration is closed) to the popphoto.com forum. Furthermore, I can’t figure out to contact an administrator. I’d like to contact the guy (he was 94 as of 2007 — likely passed away by now), because he doesn’t know what to do with the photos he’s taken.

The author’s notes in a separate post, “I wish I knew some historical society or such that would be interested in the slides I have. None of my relatives and friends are interested in these things. I suppose eventually they will be put in a big cardboard box and auctioned off for a high bid of $1.”

Since that was his wish, I’m going to preserve his story in total here, so I’ve post it below. You can see the original post here: http://forums.popphoto.com/showthread.php?151510-Kaiparowits-Plateau-A-journey-from-the-archives-to-Hole-in-the-Rock-Crossing-1955 along with the follow up comments.

========================

Kaiparowits Plateau: A journey from the archives to Hole -in-the-Rock Crossing 1955

This trip was inspired from a National Geographic article in the 1950s. This magazine had several articles on little known areas of the southwest. Most were in very isolated areas with few, if any roads and trails.

A party of three Jeeps set out from Los Alamos NM to Escalante Utah. We arrived in Escalante about noon time, and then proceeded to find our way to the Hole in the Rock crossing. So named because early Mormon Pioneers lowered wagons and horses to the Colorado River, and then rafted across the river at this point.

Leaving Escalante we headed off in a South-easterly direction. The maps we had showed the distance to be approximately 50 miles.

We passed some remarkable formations, This was known as Dance Hall Rock. Locals had dances here periodically.

The Dance Hall Rock in Utah, 1955

After awhile we came to the dreaded fork in the road. As we debated which fork to take, a man appeared on horseback. He asked if we knew where we were going, we said we knew where we wanted to go, but not how to get there. He gave us directions, and on we went. He neglected to tell us what obstacles we would find. After several miles, we came to an enormous outcrop of slick rock, and the tracks we were following ended there. It was obvious that we had to cross the rock, We did that rather easily.

Continue reading →

Juan showing his grandson a CJ-3B. Juan is passing on the joy of jeeps.

Juan shared this neat story about restoring a pedal jeep for his grandson Francisco. The email was written in Spanish, so I translated it as best as I could.

Juan writes, I am pleased to talk to you about something incredible that happened to me.  A few days ago a jeep friend, Alejandro Galvan, messaged me, telling me that there was a pedal jeep for sale in acoatepec  bazaar. They were selling a pedal jeep like the one my parents gave me when I was almost two years old.

The next day my brother and I went to see it. We bought it, cleaned it and compared it with a photo of my toy jeep from 60 years ago. We were surprised to discover that it is identical, except for a few modifications such as different tires tires and a windshield. I plan to ask the person who sold me if they know the source. Maybe there’ s a chance it was originally my very own toy. How amazing that would be!

Since my grandson just turned on year old and it was his Catholic baptism, we gave it to him. To my great astonishment, when my grandson saw it I could see in his eyes the joy. After the celebration, my brother and myself began restoring it to look like my pedal jeep. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. Warmest regards from Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico.

BEFORE RESTORATION: You can see the photos of Juan’s original pedal jeep in the photos in the first picture.

AFTER RESTORATION: (I wish I’d had one of those as a kid!)

Ted’s CJ-5 was narrowly spared by Hurricane Sandy. Great pics!

Ted writes, “Hey Dave, here’s a few shots of a huge tree that came down during Sandy and almost got my new plow truck. I almost moved the CJ and my dump truck in back round before storm but never got to it. I got real lucky, the little CJ pushed her way through three and two feet deep snow storms later in the year!!!”

Jim forwarded this wonderful story to Derek who forwarded it to me. It’s a heart warming tale of a man and his jeep told by the man’s daughter. A mechanic by trade, J.B. Martin, from Richmond, Missouri, drove a ‘beefed up’ 1945 MB. According the article he is credited with taking “children home in a snowstorm, a doctor to a snow-bound rural home, his family for bobsled rides, and in two days got around 60 cars started.”

http://www.richmond-dailynews.com/2013/03/rays-winter-of-62-one-where-a-st-bernard-and-his-jeep-were-indispensible/

J.B. Martin and his jeep. Photo from the Richmond Daily News — Richmond, MO