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Calling all Leftys!

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sean View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sean Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Aug. 2010 at 2:00pm
Yeah, I had remembered the west-coast production, but we know so little about it, I couldn't figure out how it would factor in to an overall production picture.

Sean
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote misterberry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 July 2011 at 7:31am
I must have missed this thread but I seem to have a Jeep that is outside of usual serial numbers for the "Lefty"build numbers.

My serial is 187593. I will update if the small tag has more info, but there was no frame tag or tailgate stamping.
James Berry

'48 2A ser.187593 "Jeep Jeep"

It's a "Lefty"....
Moved north from California-
Now waving the Canadian flag -
A Canuck back home in Edmonton
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fred Ashbrook Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 July 2011 at 2:34pm
James,  any chance your Jeep is Emerald Green?

Fred
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 3-48s Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 July 2011 at 4:46pm
I am wondering if there is any info on the production numbers of non-lefty production during the serial # range of 176,061 through 185,769?
My '48 CJ2A is serial # 176528 and it is not a lefty? Must have been produced side by side I would guess.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sean Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2011 at 2:50pm
Originally posted by 3-48s 3-48s wrote:

I am wondering if there is any info on the production numbers of non-lefty production during the serial # range of 176,061 through 185,769? ...
Nothing specific, insufficient documentation to determine with any certainty.

Quote ... My '48 CJ2A is serial # 176528 and it is not a lefty? Must have been produced side by side I would guess.
If you read the service bulletins, the lefty serial number range is annotated "with some exceptions" without specifying what the "exceptions" were.  My guess is that the "exceptions" were due to the semi-random nature by which tubs were installed on chassis.  Yours may be one of these.

Or ... you may have a "left coast" built vehicle.  The same SB that addresses spare tire mount change is footnoted that the serial numbers w/in the SB apply ONLY to Toledo built vehicles, and that "Pacific Coast vehicles should be checked individually for changes".  Yours may be one of these, but the SB covers much more than just the spare mount.

Sean
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 3-48s Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 July 2011 at 12:00am
Hi Sean,
Thanks for your thoughts on this subject. I wonder how to determine if my 2A was indeed a left coast built unit?

Greg R.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sean Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 July 2011 at 2:24pm
Originally posted by 3-48s 3-48s wrote:

... I wonder how to determine if my 2A was indeed a left coast built unit? ...
As far as I know, there are no identifiable characteristics to distinguish between them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sibaropsis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 July 2011 at 6:53pm
I had not realized that WO had produced CJs here in California.  This blurb about the California WO plant is copied from Wikipedia:

Willys-Overland built its California factory in Maywood, California, in 1929. Over 900 people were employed at the new $1.5 million assembly plant. Willys-Overland became the second automobile manufacturer to build a major plant in the city. After the United States entered World War II, automobile production for civilians was phased out and in November 1941, automobile assembly at Maywood was stopped. A great many automobile plants were retooled to manufacture war machinery and for three years during the war, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation rented the plant building from Willys-Overland for that purpose. Equipment was installed for the manufacture of sub-assemblies for Hudson Bombers until the war ended. Willys-Overland began to manufacture the first Jeeps (CJ-2As) for civilians in 1945. As the demand for Jeeps increased, the reconditioning of the plant back to automobile assembly began early in 1947 and by November, Willys was building "West Coast" CJ-2As. By the end of November, 108 Jeeps had been assembled. Jeep Trucks and Station Wagons were incorporated into the West Coast Division's "final assemblies" production lines in 1948. The Maywood plant produced the entire CJ-3A model production duration and about 5% of all CJ-3As were assembled in California. In 1952, Willys-Overland introduced a new post-war model car, the Aero, and they were assembled in both Maywood and Toledo. The entire plant was shut down in 1954.

Link: http:////en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maywood,_California


Steve
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sean Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 July 2011 at 1:30pm
Nice find Steve!  Now if we could just find some numbers & dates we'd be all set. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glennstin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 July 2011 at 3:30pm
On the eWillys site today there looks to be a possible "Lefty" labeled as a CJ3A.
'50 Jeepster, Two '55 Customs (Aero), '58 CJ3B, Willys Special Equipment, Literature, AL-TOY JEEPS
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote damar2yxr Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 July 2011 at 3:16pm
Looks like a 3a radiator.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glennstin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 July 2011 at 7:33pm
For a picture of a brand new "Lefty" go to the topic 'MAHL Jeep Loader' and find the Factory B/W pictures provided to me from the retired president of Standard Iron and Wire, the company that made the loader.  The second picture with the loader in the up position clearly shows a new CJ2A Lefty.  The date is on the first picture showing a different Jeep is 12/1947.  We do not know the date of the second pix, but careful exam shows improvements from the original design, and can assume it was taken in early 1948 after snow went in MN. The date shown on the Special Equipment Book page is 10-1-1948 when the loader was released for production. Sure wish we had the serial number, but from discussions with this retired president, what you see is all there is. Enjoy!

Edited by Glennstin - 14 July 2011 at 7:51pm
'50 Jeepster, Two '55 Customs (Aero), '58 CJ3B, Willys Special Equipment, Literature, AL-TOY JEEPS
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote schoolbuilder Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 July 2011 at 3:35am
I assumed the right side spare tire mount was simply in keeping with DOT reg.s which require, among othe things, that trailer strap buckles be on the passenger side.  This is so when you are servicing them on the road, you won't get wacked by traffic.  Same reason all UPS trucks, mail trucks and minivans (until recently) always have their access doors on the right, or curb side.  I guess that whole safetly oriented theory goes out the window when you have to change a left side tire on the side of the highway...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bkreutz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 July 2011 at 6:26am
From what I understand of the "Lefty" era, the whole thing came about from the worry about the spare tire snagging a pedestrian walking along the side of the road. Seems kinda silly now, but then again, thinking of some of the current laws, maybe not.LOL
Gale

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47 Bantam T3-C 16271


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bob3b Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug. 2011 at 2:04pm
I did not know they produced Jeeps in California, that's an interesting tidbit of info. This thread also explains why a lot of factory photos seem to have only a spare rim, rather than an entire spare. The rubber rationing makes perfect sense.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve48 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug. 2011 at 7:39pm
I have always wondered why my spare was on the left.  When I came across this thread I finally realized that it is factory correct.  My serial number is 173392 and has engine R188317.  The CJ is a 1948.  I have no idea of its history, but it is currently in Newberg, Oregon.
1948 CJ2a
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Holy Toledo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Aug. 2011 at 12:17am
Hi Steve48,

 With each new addition to this thread I grow more interested in the Lefty production, especially those that might have been produced at the W-O Maywood, California production facility.  Seeing that you have a possible "exception" serial number that falls before the Service Bulletin's designated  Lefty Jeeps, would you please supply all the information you can to this thread?

  Here is a helpful thread Sean developed to help people find all the numbers quickly  inorder to identify their CJ-2a.  Even though you do not know the history of your Jeep,  we might be able narrow down the date of manufacture.



  While you are gathering this information, maybe you would like to enter it into the another nifty spreadsheet Sean created to capture a data base of information on CJ-2a production?  Take a look at this thread.


  I am just daydreaming now, but it would be really nice to know more about the production run of CJ-2a on the West Coast.  The person who wrote the Wikipedia article, quoted earlier, about the Maywood facility, must have had some documentation to gather information from!  I'll make some inquires. 

  
Joel
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve48 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Aug. 2011 at 1:38am

Joel,


I went thought the numbers on the Willys.  The only numbers are the body and engine.  I missed two numbers on the engine; the correct number is 4LR188317.  The CJ was a wreck when I got it and it has taken two years to get it back together.  It is of no surprise that any detachable number plate would be missing from this one!  I was surprised to  find no numbers on the frame.  I had the frame sand blasted before powder coating and would have noticed the numbers then, I think.  I could find nothing today.  Having completed the restoration this week I would love to travel back in time to advise Willys on rust control measures!


Steve

1948 CJ2a
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