Jeep turns 80

[37 chief]

The famous WW2 jeep turns 80.I am sure a lot of people here have owned an older jeep, or a new one. I have owned in the past, two M38A1 military Jeeps Same as the CJ5 civilian Jeep. and a Jeep Wagoneer. My car today is a Jeep Cherokee. What's your Jeep experience? Stan

 

[warbaby]

I had two CJ2As -horribly noisy, drafty, rough riding, underpowered high maintenance machines. They were great!

 

[Gabby Hayes]

Dad bought one when they were offered to the public in 1946. He owned it for many years. We bought a new Jeep Liberty in 2001 and it has become my daily driver. Turned over to 102,000 miles the other day. We consider it our Classic vehicle.

 

[CaseChev]

I have an original 1953 Willys CJ3B that was originally an Oregon Forestry vehicle and later on a ranch in Wyoming. It is a simple, solid old survivor that I hope to share with our new grandson in the years ahead. I also have an original Empire tractor which used the 1940's Willys Jeep drivetrain after WWII. Also have some misc parts and pieces on the shelf just in case !!

 

[Richard G.]

Stan, I have had 2 CJ2 and one 1945 MB.
Had a CJ5 and wife has had 2 Grand Cherokees.
The one she has now is a 2004 that is 4WD.
She loves it.
Richard in NW SC

 

[Janicholson]

This is a current driver. 57 CJ3B with 49 IHC K cab grafted on when the jeep was new. Jim

 

[DoubleO7]

(quoted from post at 12:34:41 04/14/21) The famous WW2 jeep turns 80.I am sure a lot of people here have owned an older jeep, or a new one. I have owned in the past, two M38A1 military Jeeps Same as the CJ5 civilian Jeep. and a Jeep Wagoneer. My car today is a Jeep Cherokee. What's your Jeep experience? Stan

Turns 80 this year but not until July.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Me and a couple of buddies went together and bought a WW2 Ford built Jeep many years ago.

We quickly discovered it was more bondo than body. Really, really beat and abused. It did run though. Spent a lot of time and money, eventually it defeated us. None of us had any clue about body work.

It was sold for a loss.

Very early child hood memory, my dad would go fishing at a fish camp on the river below our house. Sometimes he would take me. I would get bored with the fishing and go play in the remains of an old army Jeep stashed in the weeds.

I drove that Jeep many miles, fought many battles, always won too!

 

[pete 23]

I worked on a whole lot of Military Jeeps. They were early 50 models I believe. All had hard cabs and flat head Willys engine. The F head engines were out at the time but we didn't have any of them in our outfit.

Pulled a lot of them out of a snowbank also with a 3/4 ton. They are the ones that could go through the mud and snow. The Dueuce and halves were helpless in snow also.

Reminds me . Went fishing off the base and it was about a mile walk up rugged trail ( unless you walked on the wooden pipe coming down to a power plant) , hard to even walk up the in spots. About half way up, here stood a 3/4. Went through more than I would have tried to do.

 

[old]

Back some 36 or so years ago I had a right hand drive post office Jeep. If I remember right it was a 1971 year model.

 

[sms]

Dad had a 43 willys. We used to go miles up in the mountains on old abandoned wagon roads hunting and fishing. Lunch was often fresh trout. That's all state land now and all those old roads closed off. We sure had some good times. We boys used it when we got older but sold it when there wasn't many places left to go.

 

[old-9]

I always and still want a WW II jeep. Want to restore and paint to match the 15th Army Air Corp unit my father served in. Yes they only go 45 MPH and wear tires down quickly but might be worth it to honor the men of the Corp that did not make it home. God Bless America!! joe

 

[Geo-TH,In]

When I was 5 I learned to drive a military surplus Jeep.
I think the jeeps were sold in lots of 10. Dad bought 10 and sold all but one. He kept the best one. Made enough profit, his was free.
My memories of the old jeep was freezing my butt off in the winter and listening to country music on AM radio. Also remember getting jeep stuck. So much for 4 wheel. Only two wheels spun in the mud. At 5 I asked why 4 wheel drive was really only 2 wheels drive?
Never bought a jeep.
George

 

[Roy Suomi]

I had 2 Jeeps.. First one was a '51 Willys CJ3A Underpowered but what a cool jeep it was. Sat in a sheep barn for over 30 years before I got it out and cleaned it up. Got it running , built the brakes, Painted it a sharp metallic blue body added a white Meyers cab, bucket seats from an early mustang. Kick myself for ever selling it.. Second one was a '67 CJ5 my dad sold to me. Dauntless V-6 , 3 speed , full Meyers cab. That was the runningest Jeep I have ever seen. I could power shift to second and squack the tires.. Wind 70 in second gear.. I beat a Plymouth Barracuda with a 273 v-8 at every light from Perry Ohio to Painesville Manners. Going to work early in the morning, I took it out of 4 wheel drive because the roads were plowed. Crested a hill and saw the nastiest snowdrift across the road . It got ahold of the Jeep with the plow and spun me around into a ditch and layed in a field on it's side. Clamshelled the Meyers snowplow shut and bent about everything on it.. I was 20 years old at hat time.. That was the demise of my Jeeps. After that switched to High Boy Fords , then Chevy trucks with the last one a 1986 Chevy CUCV diesel pick-up.. Now at nearly 70 years old , I've got an old mans Tacoma 4x4 with a Snow Dogg plow. Memories from a Geezer !!

 

[Rollie NE PA]

i had a 1987 AMC Jeep cherokee, 1992, 2000, 2002,all Cherokees, 2010 Wrangler and a 2015 Limited. Always had good luck with all of them.

 

[Paul from MI]

I restored a 1956 M38a1 almost 20 years ago, been my summer driver ever since. Lots of fun, not very speedy.

 

[fixerupper]

I did a frame off every nut and bolt resto on a 1941 GPW Script Ford Jeep. Everything is correct including certain bolts that have a Ford script f on them. The script bolts are only in certain places on the vehicle. Henry snuck a few of those script bolts in to show the Jeep was NOT made by Willys even though the parts interchange. It has a script tailgate with ford stamped in it. The script tailgate was discontinued the next year. People called the Jeep rugged but in reality it was flimsy and light weight. The only thing rugged about it was the ride.

 

[8NHENRY]

(quoted from post at 03:57:50 04/15/21) I did a frame off every nut and bolt resto on a 1941 GPW Script Ford Jeep. Everything is correct including certain bolts that have a Ford script f on them. The script bolts are only in certain places on the vehicle. Henry snuck a few of those script bolts in to show the Jeep was NOT made by Willys even though the parts interchange. It has a script tailgate with ford stamped in it. The script tailgate was discontinued the next year. People called the Jeep rugged but in reality it was flimsy and light weight. The only thing rugged about it was the ride.

I have a 2001 Cherokee, the Mrs. Has a 2015 Renegade.

 

[Hockeygoon]

I've owned one Jeep - That was enough for me. I'd only consider another one if it is a pre 2000 model.

 

[Sprint 6]

The F script was on the bolts and parts
because the military required a warranty
on the MB and the GPW. Ford didn't want
to warranty Willys parts, and Willys
didn't want to warranty Ford parts. The
government put the burden on Ford to mark
parts because Willys was the designer and
patent holder. I owned a GPW at one time,
almost everything had an F on it
somewhere, even down to the wheel bearing
washers.

 

[TomA in CA]

My dad bought a '53 Jeep pickup in '59. It had the F head 4 cyl. Couldn't keep it running, had head off 7 times. I put a 272 Ford V8 in it when I was 16. Noisy and rough riding, but I ran it for years.

 

[fixerupper]

(quoted from post at 03:32:53 04/15/21) The F script was on the bolts and parts
because the military required a warranty
on the MB and the GPW. Ford didn't want
to warranty Willys parts, and Willys
didn't want to warranty Ford parts. The
government put the burden on Ford to mark
parts because Willys was the designer and
patent holder. I owned a GPW at one time,
almost everything had an F on it
somewhere, even down to the wheel bearing
washers.

That's interesting. That explains why I saw the script f on the shackle bushings where no one would ever see it unless the bushing is punched out. A lot of the original bolts were replaced on this jeep so the owner I restored it for found these little tiny f's that I could glue onto the heads of bolts. They looked like jewelry and had to be handled with a tweezers. A little paint over the top made them look original.

 

[John in Mich]

My son owns a 1942 Ford GPW with matching numbers. It has most of the correct parts except someone converted it to 12 volts. I found an original 6 volt generator for it but he has not installed it yet.
We have driven it in numerous parades and it can be seen in several promotional videos for the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run.
It was pictured with my '51 Ford 8N on a calender produced by another website several years ago.