My Willys 3A and 3B Community
Rambling, Malarky, Rants, Etc. => Rambling, Malarky, Rants, Etc... => Topic started by: athawk11 on February 24, 2012, 11:11:08 AM
-
I don�t know that it would ever be possible to compile a list, or even offer a statistical estimate, but it sure would be interesting to know.
60+ years later, how many flat fender Willys MB, GPW, CJ2, MC, CJ3A, CJ3B, are still with us? The full gamut. Parts Jeeps, restored Jeeps, modified crawlers, rust bucket junk yard finds, Jeeps at the bottom of a canyon?
There are cars that seem more collectable. I�ll go to a local car show and see 40- 1960�s Camaros, but only one flat fender.
Tim
-
That's a good question and I have wondered the same thing. I don't really know a good way to locate all of them.
-
Even if a guy was really good at scouring state DMV records, it would be a huge task. My title only says "1949 jeep" - no mention of the model. And, a lot of them aren't licensed. Seems like Bob W. might have a handle on how many survive based upon how many were produced. It would be interesting to talk to a scrap yard to see if any ever come in for the crusher. We have a big 4wd scrap yard here which is about 70% jeeps, I'd guess. There isn't one flat fender out of thousands of jeeps.
-
It would be interesting to start a page where any Flatfender owner could list jeeps they have or know the wherabouts of. You could put posts/links on the 2A,3A,3B,and military sites to spread the word. I can account for 3-3As and 1-3B. Two of the 3As are not likely to see the road again.
Matt
-
How many flattys have survived? That's a difficult question! Let's look at a smaller sampling of flat fender Jeeps by limiting it to just one model. Take the CJ-V35/U for example. Only 1000 of this model were manufactured in 1950. I have listed almost as many as I can find on this webpage...
http://www.cj3a.info/sibling/cjv35u/photos/picsv35.html
There are 61 vehicles here. Add about 9 others that I don't yet have photos for an even 70 documented survivors. Every year more of these unique Jeeps appear as people realize what they have and search the internet for more information. So here we have a 7% documented survivor ratio. How many more are out there undocumented? Two or three times as many? I just don't know the answer to that question. Perhaps there is a 25% overall survivor ratio???
Now for a small rant. 10% of the survivors do not have a serial number plate. Someone probably removed the plate "to keep it safe". Now the plate is in a desk drawer somewhere and the Jeep is elsewhere. Please keep your serial number plates where they belong, screwed to the firewall.
-
Boy I don't know about that one. I can think of one 2A in Freda, and a 3B and 3A in New Allouez. Plus the junkyard owner is supposed to have one that I haven't seen. And one more 2A in Mason. So thats five plus mine that still exist in about two counties. Two very very low population counties.
I would bet that there are quite a few left over. Especially in the southwest where stuff doesn't vanish as fast. I saw a bantam jeep outside of cimarron NM two years ago, those are rare I think. Someone should go grab that...
As for car shows jeeps are starting to show up. Back to the 50s sees about 12,000 cars in one weekend, and there was never any jeeps up until the last couple of years. Maybe Gunslinger can confirm but I saw 4 last year.
-Jesse
-
are we talking just stateside?? I was in Morocco, North Africa for about three years....a long...long time ago....and they were everywhere, some still with the original flat fours...but a lot of them had been changed over to mercedes diesel....there is a engine swap that would be interesting....It was unreal the loads they would pile on top of that little rascal and just go merrily down the road...I would guess a lot left over from Pattons push thru ,chasing that Rommel fella....we used too cruise the beaches and check out all the stuff left over...still stuck in the sand...most of anything that could be unbolted ...was....but there were tanks...half tracks...piles of metal.....amazing stuff....I would almost bet a guy with a good metal detector and a strong back could still find treasure over there.....
-
And lets not forget all the flat fenders left in the south pacific after WWII....many ended up in the Philippines, were converted to Jeepnees and or tossed new in canyons following the war as left over war waste......really a shame