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Ira Fryer Associate Jeep Dealer

August 6, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Reader Stories • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE: David Silberman has filled in some gaps from a story told by Jacques yesterday.

David writes, “Ira Fryer was an associate dealer, did not have a franchise. He was located at 714 Walnut Street in Reading. During the mid to late 50’s into the early 60’s he also sold Simca and Goliath cars. They knew their product, had a good service department and an excellent parts department. Mr. Fryer wore a shop coat while at work, something you don’t see now.

His son, Robert, also worked there. They had a 1940 Willys pickup and a 3-wheel Harley Davidson for the parts/service department. They went out when Hettinger Brothers got the franchise. The building was torn down to make way for a parking garage.

I seem to remember that he also sold Renault Dauphine at the time. It was an old fashioned garage, showroom in front, passage to the rear along side of the showroom. Mack, the parts guy, rode a motorcycle.

Hettinger Brothers got the franchise and Mr. Fryer disappeared from the scene when the building was torn down to make room for a parking garage. I think that was in 1965.

Hettinger Brothers didn’t last long as the Jeep dealer, as they had the Chrysler/Plymouth dealership and didn’t push the Jeep line. J.F. Kohler ended up with the dealership in 1963, and had it until the Renault fiasco of the early 80’s, at which time many of the dealers turned in their franchises due to the actions of the company.

An interesting side note on Hettinger Brothers. They had the Chrysler/Plymouth dealership for many years, and when the building was demolished they didn’t even take the time to remove the old parts inventory from the basement.”

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Color Photo of a 1946 CJ-2A

August 5, 2012 • CATEGORIES: CJ-2A, Features, Old Images, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Jacques emailed me yesterday with a digital copy from a color slide of a 1946 CJ-2A.

He writes, “I was raised in Reading PA but have been living in Australia for the last 37 years. Attached is a colour slide I scanned of my Dads 1946 CJ2A when very new.  He bought it 1n 1947 as a demo model from a dealer in Reading who gave rides in it at the airport, now Spaatz Field to promote sales.

It was Harvest Tan with Harvard Red wheels. He had it until 1962 when he traded it for a new IH Travelall 4 x 4. Believe a mechanic at the IH dealership bought it.

Seem to remember the Jeep dealership in Reading was named Ira J Freyer. Wonder if it still exists?

Forgot to mention Dad so loved the military jeeps he used in New Guinea in the Signal Corps in WW2 that was the reason he bought a “new” CJ2A after the war.”

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6000 Miles: From Maine to Hawaii with Love (For Jeepsters)

March 16, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features, Jeepster, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Glenn wrote this nice story which was published in the June 2010 issue of Jeepster News.


(ABOVE:) At The Pearl Harbor Memorial- ’50 Willys Jeepster, Left- Randy Spangler,  Middle- Glenn  Byron, Right- Maurice Goguen.

EAST MEETS WEST – 6000 MILE JEEPSTER EVENT By Glenn Byron

Sometimes we take for granted the many benefits our membership in WOJC [Willys Overland Jeepster Club] pro- vides. For example, that booklet you received titled “ WOJC 2010 ROSTER” is just something that arrives. Larry & Shirley Wozniak volunteered a bunch of time and effort to get this quality product to club members. Using it as a tool is a bonus for paying our meager dues. Let’s look at where this can take us. Recently, in planning for a cruise to visit our 50th state, Hawaii, I noticed a scheduled one day port call in Honolulu.

Just for kicks, I grabbed that Roster to see if we had members there. Garage tours and visits with other enthusiasts are always great sidelines to get away from usual tourist activities. Sure enough, all of Hawaii has one lonely WOJC member, Randy Spangler, right there in Honolulu. A quick email to Randy to intro- duce myself and inform him of my visit, yielded a friendly response with encourage- ment to see what we could put together. Nothing concrete, just loose parameters to keep both of us available as all the unknowns could allow. Our first port was Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, with Honolulu, on Oahu, the following day. “Call me from Hilo and we’ll see what the cards hold” was Randy’s invitation. Here’s how it came down.


ABOVE: Randy Spangler’s Island Cruiser, a ’50 Willys Jeepster mounted on a Chevy Blazer chassis- A great performing unit for Boulevard or Beach. 

Three couples on a cruise ship make too large a load for a Willys Jeepster, so careful strategy had to happen to be sure no one felt compromised. The girls were anxious to see Waikiki Beach, and with great personal sacrifice, I crossed that off my list. The other two guys, though not car oriented, agreed to back seat status and a full load resulted. Contact with Randy was made from Hilo and plans laid down for Willys Jeepster to meet Golden Princess at the dock in Honolulu. How’s that for a welcoming committee? Heads turn when ever we put our Jeepsters on display, but this may be a first! Randy’s 1950 Jeepster is especially suited to the hustle and bustle of Oahu gridlock traffic.

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Jean Luc & Toot Sweet

February 15, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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As a five year old in 1944 Belgium, you can only imagine that Jean Luc’s experience with soliders, jeeps and planes left a indelible landmark upon his imagination.  During his life as a successful illustrator, you can see him revisit that landmark many times over in his drawings.  You can read a brief biography of Jean Luc here (click on the biography link) and view some of his amazing work.

Below is an image of Jean Luc’s 2010 Christmas Card.  It features an image of him as a boy leaning up against ‘Toot Sweet”, his 1942 GPW which he still drives around the L.A. Area.  Recently, Jean Luc got a taste of how few old jeeps are seen by kids these days.  He was “driving my GPW the other day and some teenagers asked me if I built that “contraption” myself . . .”  As he noted, “Not very encouraging but we can not blame them.”

Now ‘retired’, Jean Luc is working on a graphic novel about G.I.s, Jeeps and Piper Cubs in Paris in 1944-45.  Below is an example of his drawing talent.  Thanks for sharing!

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Builds: Randy, His Boys, and Their Flatties

February 2, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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If you’ve never really looked at a map of Idaho, pull one out (or, I suppose you could use Google Maps).  Between where I live in Boise and Coeur D’ Alene in the North is one significant route — US 95.  Look to the East of US 95 and you’ll see National Forest after National Forest.  Then look about halfway between in central Idaho and, if you look close, you’ll see the town of Kamiah. That’s where a reader named Randy and his boys, Devon and Dusty, call home. And, at their doorstep are endless National Forests they can explore with their friends. It is a regular jeeptopia.

Before you get to Randy’s story, keep in mind, that each of these jeeps started as basket cases, so there is still hope for your project!  Also, a big thanks to Randy for taking the time to put together detailed descriptions of their rigs.  Finally, check out the last pic … I think Biscuit would fit in just fine there :-).

Randy’s Blue 1946 CJ2A: This Jeep was purchased new by my wife’s grandfather in 1946 and was used for decades on the family farm.  After her grandparents passed away we were able to purchase it from the estate for $200 in 1993; it was about $199 to much considering the shape it was in.

We completely rebuilt it from the ground up with a new steel tub and repaired fenders, grill and windshield. The tub is for an M38 but was all that we could locate at the time.  I did most of the body work and my brother in law painted it in our garage.  The motor, transmission and transfer case were all rebuilt and 11” brakes were installed, we also installed a rollbar, stereo, CB and a back seat.

I built a spare tire/gas can carrier/cooler rack on the back and we also have both a bikini and full soft top.  I run 32×11.50 tires in the summer and fall; 33×12.50 tires in the spring when running in the snow for better flotation.  The low range 2 wheel drive pill has been taken out of the transfer case and lock rights have been installed in both axles.  A Warn M8000 winch was installed a few years ago.

Dusty’s Green 1946 CJ2A: I (Randy) purchased this Jeep for spare parts around the year 2000.  It was a total basket case with a rusted up headless motor and most of the back of the tub missing.

We decided to rebuild and modify it for my two sons to share; at the time Dusty was a sophomore in high school and Devon was in junior high.  We started the project in November of 2004 and completed it for its first run on Memorial Day weekend of 2005.  The 4 banger was removed and a Buick 231 V6 was put in its place, the T90, Dana 18 and stock axles were all refurbished and reinstalled as were 11” brakes.

New front and rear floorboards along with new wheel wells were welded in and we decided to take out what was left of the tailgate area and welded a flat back MB style back panel in its place.  The lift is all from a spring over and we installed Saginaw power steering up front.  Racing seats and harnesses along with a full rollcage were installed for safety and a rear seat was put in for passengers.  A console contains a stereo and a CB is mounted to the front of it.

The tires and wheels are 35×14.50×15 TSL Boggers mounted on 15×12 Mickey Thompson wheels.  I did all of the body work myself and my brother in law painted it Olive drab in our garage, a star was put on the hood just for fun.  A Warn M8000 winch along with a winch mount and bumpers that we built ourselves were installed as well.  The Jeep stayed pretty much this way for 5 years until after we found another Jeep for Devon that had bigger and better components than were in this one.

Once it became Dusty’s Jeep alone, he decide to box the frame and install a warmed up 350 Chevy with an sm465 transmission, Dana 20 transfer case that has been twin sticked and axles from 1975 CJ5.  The axles are Dana 44 in the rear and Dana 30 in the front 3.73 gear ratios.  New gears and ARB air lockers have also been installed in both ends in the past year.  He currently has a set of wider Dana 44 axles to be installed some time in the future.  Dusty did the entire drive train swap himself with only minor advice from me.  He has since built a spare tire/gas can carrier/cooler rack for the back and plans on putting on a set of 40 inch tires after some fender trimming behind the back tires is done.

Devon’s Green 1942 MB: I purchased this Jeep off of E-bay for too much money but it already had the running gear that I was looking for which included a small block Chevy (283 not a 327 as advertised), sm420 transmission (no ceramic clutch as advertised), a twin sticked Dana 20 transfer case and Scout II axles; Dana 44 rear, Dana 30 front with 4.27 ratios.

The body was pretty rough and it had a thin skin of sheet metal installed all of the way around the tub that hid lots of holes and rust.  A home built gas tank was in the back where a seat normally goes and a heavy spare tire carrier/cooler rack was mounted on the back.  We started rebuilding this one on November of 2007 and had it mostly finished by Memorial Day weekend of 2008.

A warmed up 350 Chevy built to the same exact specs as Dusty’s was installed along with the refurbished running gear that came in the Jeep.  All new spring hangers and reversed shackle mounts were built and welded on the outside of the frame in the front because of the wider Scout II axles, a new mount for the Saginaw power steering unit was installed and the frame rails were boxed.

The rollbar was cut apart and welded back together then installed in the correct place.  The floor boards front and back were all replaced and the area between the rear fenders was increased by using narrower rear inner fender wells, as a result we were able to put in some comfortable small bucket seats.  The rear fenders were opened up 2 inches and the rear axle was moved back an inch to make room for bigger tires.

Racing seats and harnesses were also installed in the front along with a stereo and CB radio.  I had injured my shoulder during the winter and was dreading the thought of all of the sanding that would need to be done getting the body ready for paint when a friend of ours that owns a body shop (Orofino Body Shop) volunteered to do all of the body work and paint the Jeep as a graduation present for Devon; what a fantastic gift.  We also had a star put on the hood and Devon built a rear bumper with a spare tire/gas can/cooler rack mounted on it.

A Warn M8000 winch was mounted on a winch plate and front bumper that Devon built as well.  This winter he upgraded the axles to newer Scout II Dana 44’s in both ends with disc brakes in the front.  We turned the front knuckles 15 degrees which gave it 6 degrees of caster and turned the back of the pumpkin up 9 degrees for a better drive line angle, new perches were welded on to get the angles correct.  The axles now have 4.10 ratios with OX cable actuated lockers.  He built a center console that houses the locker shifters and cutting brake handles for each rear brake.  New shock mounts were welded on the axles and he built new shock hoops for the front, he added Bilstein 5150 shocks on both ends and a heavy duty tie rod and drag link set that is designed for Dana 60 axles was also installed, the tubing is 1.5 inch OD with .250 wall thickness and huge tie rod ends.

The tires and wheels are 13.50x37x15 TSL Boggers on Mickey Thompson wheels; 40 inch tires will be coming in the next year or two.  All most all of the work done recently has been done by Devon, I helped him with turning the knuckles and installing the lockers but he did everything else himself.

Here are the boys Jeeps at the inlaws cabin in OroGrande which is near Elk City and Dixie as well.  Every time the boys take their windshields off it rains, we got caught in a nice shower on this trip.

And, finally, this is a Jeep run with friends of ours that have cabins in the old mining town of Dixie (near Elk City) about 100 miles from Kamiah.

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Buttercup’s ‘New’ Brother

December 19, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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A few months ago William shared the story of Buttercup.  Well, he now reports that he found Buttercup a new brother.  He also reports, definitively, that a CJ-2A will fit into the back of a Toyota Tundra.  I think Toyota ought to add that to their tv commercials.

Here is the proof:

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Winter Has Arrived …

December 5, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Roberto got a change to take Altona out and play in the snow in Spain.  I too got out and drove in the snow in Biscuit, but I don’t have a top … it was really cold!  In fact, at one point a truck drove by me at about 40mph and launched slushy snow/water onto the hood, into the windshield and over the windshield into my lap!  Fortunately, I had my snow bibs on and was dressed warm, so no damaged done …

Here’s some pics from Roberto:

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Paul is back in the Garage — Year 25 …

November 18, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features, Reader Stories • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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passenger_sideWith winter descending on Alaska, the time has come for Paul to direct his focus back on his beloved, shiny, stainless steel M-38.  One exciting difference between this year and the previous 24 years is that he is almost done — But no pressure Paul! Click on the pic to see the original post and followups.

Last spring, Paul reported that after some investigation, he discovered a M-151 radiator would fit perfectly into his engine compartment.  Recently, he took over an auto parts store (ok, maybe just a hose booklet in the store) to figure out a hose solution.  With that problem solved (it took 2 different hoses and a tube to link them), he now must figure out a fan solution.

With that background, take it away Paul …..

The Fan and Shroud

Paul writes, “After talking with the folks at Spal concerning their electric fans I ordered a 13 inch puller fan with straight blades along with a fan relay/installation kit.  The crazy part about this deal is when the Spal people wouldn’t sell me a fan over the phone, I would have to hang up and order on the internet and best of all I would pay over $50 dollars more for the fan and temp sensor/wiring kit than a Spal dealer in California was charging for the exact same items.  For some unknown reason The Fan Man (California dealer) sells lots of these fans at quite a discount and these are brand new fans.  No factory seconds, returns, or rebuilt units.

Anyway, the fan arrived last night undamaged and it looks great.  Thank you Fan Man!  The total fan thickness is slightly under two and a half inches and I have a little over three inches between the aft side of the radiator and the waterpump shaft.  Sweet!

The shroud on the M151 radiator has a 16 inch diameter circle for the fan so I bought a ten dollar piece of thin sheet steel, cut out a 16 inch diameter circle and tack welded this piece to the shroud.  After finishing with the tack welds I rough cut a 12 inch diameter slightly offset circle to allow for the correct placement of the new fan.  I didn’t have a compass large enough to layout a 12 inch diameter circle so I used a stir stick for paint and drilled a pivot hole in one end and another hole 6 inches away and large enough to hold the tip of a sharpie marker.  It worked slick.  Tomorrow I’ll finish welding the insert to the shroud, clean up the welds and trim the inner circle for a more precise fit to the fan assembly before I attach the fan to the shroud.

Things are looking good.  I really didn’t need the relay kit since I’d wired in a fan relay in the electrical box behind the passenger seat but it was cheaper to get the kit with the temp sensor and I could doublecheck the Willys wiring against the Spal wiring so I could identify any potential problems before mean old Mr. Electricity messes something up.

The Fuel Line

Today I received a 25 foot coil of copper/nickel 5/16th fuel line along with the needed fittings to attach the fuel line to the carb.  This is the same tubing I used on the brake and clutch systems (just a different size) and it’s a pleasure to work with.  The 3/16th tubing is flexible enough to be bent back to back 180 degree bends (with a one inch bend diameter so the tube now looks like the letter S) with no kinking, flattening or any defects at all.  Jeeze, I really like working with this stuff.  Check out the fedhillusa.com website, it’s amazing.    This latest batch of tubing should be more than enough to do all the fuel delivery and return lines with enough left over to cover any mistakes I might make along the way.

Modifying the Skid Plates

The local metal fabrication shop cut and bent an eighth inch thick skidplate for the V6 oil pan.  After drilling a one inch diameter hole for the drain plug (that’s the only size hole saw I have) I hand filed the hole to one and a half inch diameter before welding the skid plate to the pan.

I had to do a little work on the transmission/transfercase skid plate also.  When I welded up the exhaust assembly I included a joint below the tranny so the right exhaust pipe could be removed without touching the left side or the rest of the exhaust system.  What I forgot to figure in was the thickness of the clamp holding the exhaust pipes together at this joint so the skid plate had to be slotted to allow the clamp to protrude slightly.  To prevent rock damage (like I’m going to go bashing this thing thru boulders) I welded up a small deflector from eighth inch steel and welded this to the skid plate over the slot.  Just another little OOPSIE which needed to be worked around.

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Hein’s Updated Electronics re-Power his F-head ….

November 2, 2010 • CATEGORIES: CJ-3B, Features, International, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I received an email from Hein a few days ago regarding his CJ-3B.  His email is a good reminder that if your engine lacks power, you might consider improving the electronics.  Thanks for sharing!

Hein writes, “Since the rebuild last-year,  I have been putting-off the replacement of the hand-brake cable.  So a call to Marathon-Spares (in Australia) was way overdue! While ordering these spares I had a chat with Neil about my rough running engine, thinking I should get a new set of points and condensor as well as bushes, cap etc for the distributor.

He told me he had just replaced the motor in his MB with a Toyota 2.4, because it is used as a daily-driver and advertising for his business, so he offered me the complete Dizzy out of his motor for a mere $75! Needless to say I didn’t hesitate a moment to include that in the package as well.  The interesting bit is that it is a solid-state unit requiring a Electronic-coil and the removal of the wound-wire ballast-resistor (we had to get a Auto-Electrician in to help with the wiring bit), but the result could not have been more Amazing!!!

Suddenly, it felt like I had replaced the whole motor ! The old F-head had so much more punch that it blew out the rusty spots on the muffler, so just yesterday I replaced the whole system with a slightly larger-diametre complete Stainless-Steel system, which not only further enhanced the performance but also gave the old-girl a distincly cocky snarl too.  I don’t think I am exagerating if I say the combination must have increased overall output by between 30 and 5o%! Other than finding a completely new one that was preserved in a time-capsule somewhere, this must be as close to driving one straight off the dealers floor in ’53 as you can come today.  I won’t even trade it for one of those brand-new Icon Replicas now, although I wouldn’t mind having one of them as a daily-driver too?”

Hein’s CJ-3B has been featured at the CJ-3B Page.

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Hein & Family Explore Oz in a Jeep

October 12, 2010 • CATEGORIES: International, Reader Stories, Trips This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Hein, his wife and their daughter took a 16 day trip in September, 2010, into Australia’s Outback.  Hein provides this report and these images of his great adventure. If you missed it, one of their more memorable encounters was with the Camel Man, which I reported a few days ago.  Thanks for taking the time to share this with us Hein!

Hein writes, We had a Fantastic trip through the Outback, not totally without its “interesting” moments! We broke the trailer chassis completely on day 2,  blew a tyre in the middle of the desert and had to replace that, but the Jeep ran like clockwork trough some extremely harsh terrain.

Some of the roads were so corrugated that even with soft tyres we vibrated clean off the road at 20 to 40 kmh; then there were other sections where we plowed differential-deep trough clay and mud for hundreds of kilometres at a time, but all in the name of FUN!

We covered over 7,000 km (4350 miles) in the 2 weeks, 80% off sealed roads, and camped wherever we got to each day. The average fuel-consumption was just a fraction better than my 7.5 km/L expected, with the average price of fuel about $ 1.75 /L due to transport-costs to these remote locations.  It was certainly a trip to remember!

Day 1) We left Brisbane heading due-west trough some farming-country and camped on the bank of an abandoned road-quarry with looming rain-clouds Everywhere!

Day 2) It rained quite heavy during night.  We had to pack-up in the rain and head out further west into ever more sparsely populated areas, encountering the first of many roads closed or severely-damaged due to flooding.  As a result: the next town was already out of Fuel! The last 100 km of Adventure-Way into Innamincka was barely passable even in 4wd. We passed a few abandoned trucks already stuck axle-deep, pummeled by constant rain.

The light was fading and we had no idea where or if we are going to reach somewhere to sleep. Needless to say, the family was extremely Anxious and Scared! Well after dark we continued travelling, the road now an Absolute Quagmire that the Jeep can barely crawl trough in 2nd/3rd gear.

As we approached about the hundredth floodway (normally dry , now a Raging-River), this one more churned up than most by some previously-stuck truck, I had to really nurse and cajole the jeep to get trough. Slip, slide, bounce, repeat was the process until we barely make it up the opposite bank.

However, there was a casualty, the trailer now sat at a Very Disturbing angle. I launched myself out with the camera and ratchet-strap into the pouring rain and ankle-deep mud, with daughter crying and wife not looking too happy either.  Fortunately, my wife is a farm-girl and trusted that I would make a plan.  A few minutes later I had the trailer strapped together and we limped into town after another half-hour, and one last river-crossing, straight into the Hotel!

Day 3) With the trailer needing repair, I had to unload everything and find Kbong, a local Trucky with the only workshop in town.  After moving the family to a camp in the National Park across the river, I would spend the rest of the day cutting out the remains of the rusted and broken frame.  Then in the afternoon, I built a much-sturdier new, vastly-improved little red-trailer, from the only length of 2 1/2″ Square-tubing in town.  Then, I got to immediately test it by crossing the now flooding river to meet up with the family at the National Park!

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