?Another 1951 USN CJ3A?

[51USNCJ3A]

Hello,

I am new here, and new to Willys Jeeps.  I have owned CJ5's on up, but that is all AMC and newer stuff.  However, I have just purchased, but have yet to take delivery of, a 1951(this may be disputable) CJ3A with a Navy data tag that matches the Willys body tag.  I have searched on here a bit and found a couple discussions of Navy 3A's.  The information in those discussions echos that on my Jeep.  I have included a picture of the Navy tag below.  Thoughts?

mikE 

[Bob W]

Welcome!! The Navy did make several group purchases of CJ-3As. While the military used the "Date of Delivery" to describe their Jeeps, Willys Overland used the "Model Year". I'd say that the complete serial number for your Jeep is 452-GB1 10608 making it a 1952 model year CJ-3A.

[51USNCJ3A]

It is.  Practically speaking will that make any difference for parts used? Like I said, It's am very new to this vintage. Also, since it is a CJ made for the Navy, would it have shiney or flat paint? 

mikE

[Bob W]

There are a lot of subtle differences in CJ-3As as they progressed from 1949 to 1953. For the most part if you are not trying for an exact restoration it won't matter.

Navy CJ-3As were probably gloss Gray.

[51USNCJ3A]

I am sure that I will be asking a bunch of questions as I go forward. I plan on finding the right parts where parts are missing, but no replacing parts that are wrong, but there. The air filter comes to mind. It has a paper element on top of the wrong carburetor right now. Gloss paint makes me happy. I was hoping that would be the answer.

mikE

[51USNCJ3A]

Here are a few before pictures.  This is how I brought it home. 




More pictures can be found where I am learning what all I have in this Jeep.

https://cj3apage.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4367.0

Mike G.

[51USNCJ3A]

Okay, so it is pretty obvious that I didn't keep up with progress pictures. However,  if you all are willing to overlook that, I would like advice on placement of the hood numbers. I have seen some different configurations. 

USN 94-xxxxx

Or

 U.S. Navy
94-xxxxx

I am not sure how to proceed.

Thank you in advance
Mike

[Squishymonster]

Mine is a 53. On each side of the hood It has US NAVY over the numbers. The text ends up being on the top surface of the hood and the numbers wrap the contour and end higher than the willys lettering.

If you go to my "crunchy roll" thread and zoom in on any hood shots you can somewhat make out the faded lettering.

I believe my paint is original in places too. The firewall is a grey blue. It looks flat or semigloss. I think someone spray bombed a lot of the accessible surfaces with a close but not quite matching color.

[BillT]

Very nice turn-around on your jeep.

[64CJ5]

Looks like you had a really good Jeep to start with.  You have taken this Jeep to a new level.  I think you will have a lot of fun with it.   

[Chris P]

Wow Mike, congrats on that Navy 3A. It is really beautiful and I can see a very good job done. It even make me think about a future restoration project (2A and CJ5 prior on the list)

Regards,

[51USNCJ3A]

Mine is a 53. On each side of the hood It has US NAVY over the numbers. The text ends up being on the top surface of the hood and the numbers wrap the contour and end higher than the willys lettering.

If you go to my "crunchy roll" thread and zoom in on any hood shots you can somewhat make out the faded lettering.

I believe my paint is original in places too. The firewall is a grey blue. It looks flat or semigloss. I think someone spray bombed a lot of the accessible surfaces with a close but not quite matching color.

Thank you. It looks like our Jeeps are about 1 year apart in age.

[mstokes]

Well done! Ready for another 68 years of rollen down the road. Thanks for sharing.