Hello Pascal and CJ-3A members,
I don't recall being a member of a community forum before now and feel grateful for the opportunity.
My grandfather, Henry Schwartz, ranched cattle and buffalo in South Dakota during the Great Depression and afterwards. When my Dad was 17, Henry bought a 1947 Willys CJ-2A new in Rapid City and used it extensively on the ranch, with my Dad helping him in his late teens. My Dad joined the Air Force, was stationed at Luke AFB in Glendale, AZ, and married my Mom in November 1951. After the Air Force, he went to work for AiResearch (which later became Garrett, Allied Signal then Honeywell). AiResearch bought a Willys CJ-3A new in June 1951 and used it for almost 25 years. Dad had always wanted to own a flatfender Willys like the 1947 his Dad and him used on the ranch, so, when AiResearch no longer wanted its Jeep, Dad bought it from his company for about $50, in what my brother and I believe was about 1975. It had a bad engine from heavy use by AiResearch. Not able to find an L-head at the time, he put a good, solid, low mileage F-head in it. This required that my Dad and his mechanic bore a hole in the hood, from which the air cleaner protruded. They then fabricated a foam piece to cover the air cleaner apparatus and protect the engine from rain and dirt, painting it the same color as the Jeep. As kids, my brother and I kidded my Dad about being Wile E. Coyote of Roadrunner cartoons, so my Mom wrote “WYLEE” on the center of the foam piece and the Jeep took on the moniker, and was known by it from that time on.
My Mom died October 20, 2014 and Dad died exactly three months later on January 20, 2015, still owning his Willys. My brother had no place for Dad’s Jeep so we sold it in late May, 2015, to a man Dad used to work with at Allied Signal. I regretted selling it, but neither of us had room for it and it was the wrong time for us to try and do anything with it because of our parents’ illness then death happening all at once. I asked the man to whom we sold the Willys to please call me if he ever sold it, to give me first shot at it because of the sentimentality involved. At the end of February, 2022 he phoned and told me he wasn’t driving it much anymore and was willing to sell it back to me! I didn’t think I would ever see it again. I bought it on March 23, 2022 and intend to honor my Dad's memory by restoring it. I am only the fourth owner; it has always been an Arizona Jeep. I will replace the F-head, which has had minimal use since 1975 and as far as I know is a strong engine, with an L-head engine. I have been looking for either a similar L-head, a low-mileage, strong-running engine in great shape or I will need to find an engine and have it completely rebuilt. I want to paint it yellow and have it look just about like Mike Hardesty's (of PA) excellent 1951.
Serial numbers for the 1951 model year ran from 10001 to 54158, so 44,158 CJ-3As were made in 1951. AiResearch purchased their Willys for about $1,350 in June, 1951. With a serial number of 451-GB1 43997, it was the 33,997th CJ-3A made in 1951, meaning it rolled off the assembly line over three-fourths of the way through the 1951 production cycle.
Look forward to getting to know the other forum members.
Kevin Schwartz
Phoenix
