Met some new Jeeps today

[Ryan_M]

I called on a '49 3A (with rear PTO, combat rims, and original rear seat!!)on CL today and arrived at the sellers home just in time to see another buyer loading it up to take it home. I was partly disappointed but mostly relieved that I wouldn't have to spend the rest of the week thinking "What the hell am I going to do with ANOTHER Jeep???"

Here it is, rigged up for flat towing to its new home:



As luck would have it, the seller had quite a collection of other Willys to drool over. None were officially for sale but the old fella was nice enough to let me yap it up with him about what he had. Very cool guy, Korean War USMC vet - the real deal.

'49 2A with GPW/MB motor from a genset. Still 6V and started on two cranks:





'47 2A, also started immediately:







Parade Jeep Salad:





And a real treat, a 1950 Jeepster:







Out in the field I spied this old girl. Of course, I had to march out there for a closer inspection. The owner tells me he hauled 100 cord of pulp wood off the mountain with it before it died...and then someone stole the radiator...and now it sits here:





And what I'm told is a CJ5 carcass:



So all in all a good way to enjoy a sunny afternoon. Drove up a mountain in my 3A to discover a herd of older Willys siblings that I had never met before and I managed to leave with the same amount of cash I arrived with.

[Jeff_M]

That Jeepster is just plain gorgeous. 

[athawk11]

Great stuff.  Looks like a day to remember.  You appear to live in a Willys bubble.  A sort of...Willys Mecca.  Every time you turn a corner, there are free Willys to drag home... or yards full of Jeeps.  I just don't get it. 

Tim

[Ryan_M]

A sort of...Willys Mecca.� Every time you turn a corner, there are free Willys to drag home... or yards full of Jeeps.� I just don't get it.�

There are a surprising number of these things just lurking about. I wonder if there is any correlation to Maine's above average Bondo sales?

Here's a fairly recent article on the guy that has these jeeps. I had read this when it came out but didn't realize that's who I was going to see until I got there yesterday.

Too bad most of this generation will soon be extinct.

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/10/11/living/orrington-marine-seeks-old-comrades-from-the-pine-tree-platoon/

[athawk11]

It's such an honor when I meet the men and women of that generation.  They are always so humble...when they shouldn't be.  Their sacrifices have given us all, everything we have.

Tim