I guess the Willys Reunion worked

 

Mike

 

Dad had a junker 49 3A when I was born. I have only one memory of it. That of it sitting next to CHUG A LUG at some time prior to Oct 12 1962 (Columbus Day Storm) At the time I was 5 years old I remember a little bit about Dad dragging CHUG home from a farm in Scotts Mills about 10-12 miles away. And then the first big memory of CHUG is sitting in it (before dad got it on the road) trying to shift the gears and Dad telling me I would wear out the transmission. I was still age 5 at the time.

Dad got Chug Running and started driving it to work sometime in early 1963. I remember both times he painted it in the driveway. And then I remember going to the very first meetings of the Salem Jeep Club in 1964-65 (club history has them forming the club in 65 but it seams to me like their were meetings at the local Jeep Dealer either very early in the year or late 64.

Form the forming of the club until maybe as late as 1970 we did all sorts of adventures with the Club from visiting the Oregon Dunes in Central Oregon to trips to Sand Lake at the beach. Dad also joined the Marion County Search and Rescue (part of the Sheriffs Dept.) we did stuff all the time with CHUG Parades and Hunting and Fishing etc.

Our Family car from 1965-76 was a 65 Deluxe Wagoneer Yellow with Black interior Dauntless 6 3spd on the column

Dad continued to drive CHUG to work through the 60's then in 1970 he bought a Green J3000 Gladiator Pickup. And Chug kind of went to pasture.

Then in the summer of 1974 I got a job (at 15) working as a framing carpenter with my uncle and I drove CHUG to meet him about 3 miles from the house I parked CHUG in the ditch for the day after ridding into Salem to the Jobs in Uncle Arnolds falcon station wagon. Which must have had 13" Disc brakes on it cause he drove it at full speed up to every stop only applying the brakes a few feet from the stop sign or traffic light. Scared the hell out of me every morning.

After that summer I started driving CHUG on dates and going to Bicycle races etc. Through High school it was my car. But dad would not let me actually drive it to school. He said he paid taxes for the bus we were going to ride in.

Last time CHUG was driven on the road was Sept 19th 1976 3 days before I left for college and at the end of about a 1000 mile 3 day weekend were a buddy of mine and I took CHUG all the way to the Alvord Desert in Easter Oregon on the back side of the Steens Mountain.

EDIT: And my first vehicle I ever bought was a 57 Willys Wagon stock drive train some idiot had done a SOA which led to the roll over that ended its useful life.

So I don't think there ever was a time that Jeeps weren't part of my being.

I was about 9 when I subscribed to my first 4 wheel drive magazine (PV4).  I remember being interested in Jeeps before then, but there weren't any in my family.

My dad bought a 1929 Model A Tudor sedan as a father-son project when I was 10.  That got me hooked on old iron.  We started that rebuild which I ended up finishing after college.

I bought my first (and so far only) Jeep not long after college (before the Model A was done).  It was a '75 CJ5.  It was just a beater / driver until I finished the Model A, then I rebuilt it into a decent trail rider.  I had hoped to keep the Model A, but life said I couldn't keep both, so when the Jeep was "finished" I sold the A.

My sons outgrew the back seat in the Jeep so I upsized to the '71 Bronco I still have.  Again I had hoped to keep both but wasn't able to, so the Jeep went away.

Now I'm a (new) empty-nester and I'm trying to figure out what life will look like.  I'm hoping to keep doing automotive projects, and I'm looking for what the next one will be.  I love the Bronco, but there was something a little more fun (if less practical) about the more open CJ5, so another Jeep has always been in the mix.  I've always like the looks of the early flat-fenders, and that, along with my Model A induced love of old iron makes a 2a attractive (the fact that it's less practical than a CJ5 is sort of irrelevant since I have the more practical Bronco).  Then I started running into videos with some of the guys from this page so I dropped by.  It seemed like a great group so here I am, Jeepless (for now at least), but still hoping!

Turns out that vehicle was actually a Toyota Land Cruiser with an 8274 on the front. I didn't know at the time what the heck it was. But it was cool. I became obsessed with anything 4WD since that day. I read every magazine I could. I'd ask any person willing to answer questions about their 4x4's. 

The summer I was 13, I worked on a farm picking corn. The old man has an old CJ5 with a plow that i was obsessed with. HE never let me drive it. But he taught me all the features and was quite proud of that Jeep. 25 years later I ended up owning that Jeep. but it was just too far gone to salvage much at that point. Still breaks the heart.

My first 4x4 was a 74 Cherokee Chief. I was 14. Still wish I had that one. Anyway, I've had all sorts of 4x4's. But I always gravitated to the Jeeps. Eventually all other brands and projects we abandoned. Soon after that all Jeep models other than flat fenders were abandoned. 

So it was a Land Cruiser that got me into Jeeps.....in a round about way. 

Never found that 2a, but hauled that buick all over for 35 years...and life slowed just a touch.  Started searching out a 2a for the buick, and found one but in my advanced age I fell for the L-head, hard...  the last several years have been a blast.

I'm back, baby  

When I was 7 or 8 (mid 1960s) we'd visit my uncle and aunt who lived in the country in central Kentucky. My uncle had a good-size wood mill on his property along with an old Jeep. I'm guessing it was a surplus MB but it was so long ago I don't remember any of its details.

My dad, a World War II vet who had a lot of experience driving Jeeps in Germany post-war, would take us for rides around the farm and would never miss an opportunity to climb it up the side of a large scrap pile. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I never knew what happened to that old Jeep but fast forward 40 years when life settled down, I was able to buy my own.

Dad got it when I was 3 or 4.

He drove it to construction sights for years and every so often hunting.

In time, it became my first car.

I tried to climb anything that looked challenging.

Soon I got the thrill of learning how to fix what I broke. 

Fast forward a half century and Dad is gone, but the same Jeep remains.

 

My fever in nutshell:

 

Grandfather had flat fender when I was really young

Father bought '62 CJ5 with 283 Chevy when I was young teen
   A few years later I drove that to high school when nice weather
     (and snuck it out to mud bog or hill climb when I could,  but had to meticulously clean afterwards )

College was a Jeep "black hole" :-(

After college,  married with 2 sons,  my uncle bought a '2A as a hunting vehicle.  I loved that thing.  He could not keep it running, got frustrated with it,  and so I bought it from him for $300.
That was 30 years ago,  and is Wilson today.       (my uncle's last name is Wilson)

 

I was probably 5 when I first found out what a Jeep was.  I pretty much always wanted one after that.  I finally was able to buy one when I was 20.  It was a severely-demilitarized M-38 with a Buick V-6 under the hood.  I kept it for 14 years, then had to sell it.  I was fortunate enough to find Ol' Unreliable 12 years after that, and this coming August I will have had this one for 20 years.  There's just something about a flatfender Jeep... 

Was my grandfathers and now mine 

Kept me out of trouble as a teen spending time fixing it up even putting In some shag carpet. 

Doing the second restoration no shag carpet this time LOL

In college I took it with me to Colorado where I went exploring all over the state.  After college I flat towed it to my first Army assignment near Anchorage Alaska.  I drove it up there for 3 years, getting to compare it to my assigned M151.  When I returned with it from Alaska I gave it to my Dad who lived in Leadville, CO.  He and Mom took it all over in the mountains around there.  He also took all the grandkids for rides in it. I redid the wiring in it while Dad owned it. We went to visit them for Christmas when my Son was 15.  Dad gave my Son the keys and said it was his now.  He drove it through the rest of his high school days, and left it with me when he went off to college.  I didn't use it much until we moved back to Colorado.  I did a rebuild on it and began exploring the mountains around home.  

I'm still using the Blue Mule to this day, with several modifications.  It's been leading the way for dozens of other flat fender Jeeps to come each fall to join us for the annual Fall Color Tours. 

My love for Jeeps started when I walked by a flat fender Jeep every day on my way to fifth grade.  Our Sunday newspaper was delivered from a Jeep. I had an active imagination and could see myself driving a Jeep.  In 1961 I learned to drive in a neighbors GPW.  In 1963 I purchased a 1947 CJ2a and started my Jeep life.

In 1971 I married the love of my life.  She had learned to drive in her granddads CJ2a with a column shift in New Mexico.  We soon had a 1956 CJ5 that we traded for a new 1973 Daisy Yellow Cj5.  Many Jeeps later we have three Jeeps, a 1952 M38 "Popeye the Coast Guard Jeep", a blue 1964 CJ5 "Eeyore" and an orange & black 2001 TJ "Tigger".

We took the CJ5 to five Jeep Jamborees in five states.  Then I found the CJ2a page.  m38mike graciously aloud us to bring "Eeyore" to the FCT.  Oilleaker1 also welcomed us to the Black Hills Run. 

Now I have rescued "Popeye the Coast Guard Jeep" and we fit in with the other flat fender Jeeps at flat fender Jeep runs.

I did some research and found that Popeye in the early comic strips was a Coast Guard Man.  As our youngest son is a Chief Petty Officer in the Coast Guard,  the name seemed appropriate to us.

We hope to be on the trails with like minded people for many years to come.

   

When we have our Rockfest every year, we have a clipboard out there for people to fill out. The only question is, "tell us about the first time you were in a Jeep" (or something close). The answers are varied and awesome. Anywhere from "as a kid" to "my boyfriend had this old Jeep". 

My father was a mechanic/welder so I was raised as a gearhead. Not particularly talented but interested. 

I built my first Jeep when I was around 13 or so. It was half as long, half as wide and half as tall. It was in essence one fourth size as a real Jeep. That point got argued a lot, so I know what you are thinking. It had a one inch square tubing frame, 8 inch wheels and a lawn mower transmission. Managed to buy a new 5 horse Briggs engine for it. It had a lot of other stuff from an old "Opal" car such as steering and brakes. I even made a two speed transmission for it. Imagine the "workmanship". Sold it before Sue and I got married. Have been trying to find it for many years but the trail went cold years ago. 

When I was 16, I built a glass body dune buggy. Imagine how safe that was! Traded it for a '42 GPW. Six cylinder, 170 Comet motor and all, got us up Antero 50 years ago. 

Even though we had some years with Broncos (see Brian's post above) we got back into Jeeps as he said in the early nineties. Haven't looked back and we ALL Love it. 

Rojo is our most recent Jeep and we enjoy it tremendously. Mostly we Love wheelin with our family and friends. 

A little side note to Brian's post. The Chiltons repair manual was the small version, cost us $7.95.

That book got us back on the Jeep track and a fair amount of friends as well. We jokingly say that little book cost us and our friends several hundred thousand dollars. Sounds "far fetched' until you do the math. 

Thanks for the time and the cool thread! Look forward to many other "motivational stories".

 

That is definitely one of the biggest motivations  . .   from the beginning it was always about the fun we had with friends and family.       For me it started with the local wheeling with friends as a high-schooler . .  later in life I took my nearly stock (except for engine) '2A on my first Jeep Jamboree in Murphy NC.   Not only were the trails like nothing I had seen before,  but the comradery and friendship of Jeepers was very infectious.   I attended at least one Jamboree-type event each year for 15 years after that.  First with a good friend,  then later including my sons as they got older. 

 

Jeeping is fun . . especially with others  

 

 

  When I was a young Boy Scout, 11 or 12, (this would be 1961-62) in Buena Vista, Colorado, someone got the idea that the Scout troop could go into the woods and cut Christmas trees to sell as a fund raiser. On the appointed day, we started out with a 1954 (+/-) Ford farm truck, a model A pickup pulling a two-wheeled trailer, and a jeep. I don't know much about the jeep except it was old, had flat fenders and a hard top. We had 3 or 4 adults and a bunch of Boy Scouts. We didn't get far - even before the road became a trail, we found a rock about the size of a VW Beetle in the middle of the road. All of the Scouts and adults were not able to budge it. One of the adults proceeded to destroy an axe by using it as a sledge hammer to try to bust the rock. When the boys became restless and started to wander about, the Scoutmaster decided that we needed to either turn back, which no one really wanted to do, or go on the best we could. The jeep was able to get around the rock, so we hand-pushed the trailer around it and hooked it to the jeep. We left the truck and the model A there and went on. The jeep was full of scouts, the trailer was full of scouts, and we had two scouts riding on the hood of the jeep with their feet resting on the bumper. I was one of the scouts on the hood. I guess that's when I fell in love with the famous Willys Jeep fan whir, and the sound of the transfer case singing its song. As we went on, the snow got so deep that it would often come over the bumper and push our feet off of the bumper, but that little jeep loaded with adults and scouts went on. I was more than a little bit impressed. We got to the tree-cutting site with very little trouble.

   As an aside - there were no Christmas-tree-sized trees in the area of our destination, what do we do now? No problem, I climbed a tall tree with a bow saw and cut the top off. What Fun! Climbing high into the sky to cut the tops off of pine trees! To this day, the Forest Service wonders why trees in the area have flat tops instead of being pointed like pine trees should be.   Right Mike? 

  We wound up with the trailer piled high with Christmas trees, and trees piled high on top of the hard top on the jeep. Now the inside of the jeep was full of adults and the hood was the only place for scouts to ride so we took turns. The rest of the time most of the scouts helped to push the jeep and trailer down the trail , but not much pushing was needed. When we got back to the rock we hand-carried the trees around to the truck, the jeep pulled the trailer around the rock, and we went home. We didn't have as many trees as we would have liked to have, but we had a good time, and we made a few dollars for the troop.

  My love for the jeep was set in stone that day, as surely as that big rock blocked the road. I knew that some day I would have a jeep, and a flat-fender at that.

  Fast-forward a bit, to 1970-71 when I worked for my Uncle Sam, and spent most of my time driving the CO's M151A1 or a Kaiser deuce-anna-half for the supply sargent. I spent a lot of my idle time trying to figure out how I could have a jeep (I never heard them called "mutts" until well after I got out) for my own after my commitment would be over. I would still like to have one. One of them never killed me, although I gave them plenty of chances. 

  My first jeep of my own was an M38A1, a basket-case that was missing about one basketful of parts. I bought a CJ3B for parts at a farm auction, and wound up using the A1 for parts to repair the 3B. As Pop said, "You really wanted a flat-fender jeep anyway." I have little use for a "round-fender" today.

  Now I have the jeep that my Uncle Linden owned when my Dad worked for him on the farm when I was a little kid, years before the Boy-Scout Christmas-tree ordeal. I was very young and don't remember it much, but I'm surely glad to have it. How that came to be is another story.

  I'm not young anymore, and I don't know how much longer I can keep having fun, but one thing is for sure - those old jeeps are sure as heck helping me to enjoy life!     BW

  

Not only TV had helped with the motivation, but at a younger age of 7, I was walking up a alley in Cedar Rapids , Iowa and was stopped cold. There was a Willys Jeep parked next to a garage. The old guy who owned it came out and noticed me drooling over it. It just had that look. He asked if I would like to ride down the hill to get his mail with him. I did. I liked it. 

I suppose I could pretend to take offense at that statement (although I also suppose doing so on a flatfender Jeep site might be frowned upon ).  But honestly I agree with it.  With my Bronco now being 48 years old I would say that it's cool now.  But even though the '75 CJ5 I used to have was newer and (arguably) more common than a '71 Bronco, driving it with the top and doors off was just so much more fun than driving my Bronco (I often take the soft top off, but the hard doors always are on).  As I've said on here before, I can't see giving up my Bronco (it's just too good at what I have it for, family 'wheeling), but I sure hope to get another Jeep some day.  And since I already have the practical family 'wheeler, getting something older and smaller than that CJ5 is more thinkable than it used to be.  And who doesn't think a flatfender is cooler than a CJ5!

I don't feel bad.  I just know I'd feel better if I also owned a flattie!

Had a 47 2A in high school. Drove it all over Southern Illinois. Friend rolled it on a gravel road with 3 of us on board on the way to a campground. No roll bar and no damage to anything other than to my windshield which crunched once and settled a few inches shorter. Sold it to a local cop who told me the engine fell out (I think he exaggerated but apparently the bellhousing was missing a few bolts).

Had a Scout after that. Drove it to Canada and to Baja. It was road capable and good offroad but it wasn't a jeep. 

Had a diversion into sports cars. Got married, had kids, retired, and didn't have another 4WD until I got a 2012 Toyota bare bones Tacoma (wind up windows). Thought that would rekindle my desire to return to 4 wheeling. Liked the Taco but perusing eBay and dreaming ended up with buying a 51 3a in New Mexico. After 4 years now the itch is scratched. Well not totally, I did pick up a 51 Willys Wagon last year in Missouri... always liked the looks of them. 

Don't know if it is the same for women but I think there is a little boy in most men that loves a jeep and the imagined adventures that go along with it.  (Yes I do like the Bronco and the old FJs and maybe even the old Datsun Patrols and even would love the v8 Scout)

American most likely saw the hand writing on the wall and when the war ended they procured massive amounts of Government surplus. The most popular of these was of course Jeep parts. The company was owned by the Glaser (hope I spelled that right) family. They were located down on 18th street in the heart of KC. They soon took on other vendors who produced Jeep aftermarket parts. They were a huge mail order business before it was popular. Ron says he shipped Jeep parts all over the US and abroad.

Ron worked for them for around ten years. National Auto parts out of Barstow CA purchased them and evidently renamed to suit the KC area. Thus became Mid America Auto Parts. 

Since I was raised near KC I have been to the old store. (still American at that time) A small city counter behind a large unseen warehouse was manned by an old boy named Jerry Levy. Cramped and dingy it was almost out of an old movie. You could walk in, ask for a part, Jerry would reach back behind him, bring out the part and give you the price then and there. Took longer to write this than be on your way. They had a "code" on the bins that gave the counter men pricing as they picked it up. (story for another time) 

Ron worked for them a while after the buyout. They moved down the street to newer modern type building. Sometime around the mid nineties they closed up shop. 

The following comes more from Bridog than my old memory. A disbursement company was clearing out the warehouse. Brian caught wind of it and that "leftover parts" were cheap. Brian and me went there one afternoon and perused what was left of Mid America. Two complete flat fender bodies hung over the entryway inside. They were complete from grill to tailgate. He thinks they were priced around $1,200.00 or so. Cheap even then. He found some certain Dana gears that allowed him to build two complete Dana twenty cases using the Bronco gear giving him a 2.46 setup. 

There wasn't much left but I remember a huge amount of leaf springs, gears and other stuff. Most of it still in protective wrapping. 

Sorry for straying off "thread" but Mid America helped motivate a lot of future Jeepers by being a huge source of parts nearby. The mid west location made availability possible. 

Thanks for listening.

As I write this I realize that these Jeeps we now treasure  were only 20 to 25 years old at the time. 

Don't know about the American to later auto parts stores. Ron said the family sold out and he moved on few years later. Regardless it is a small world when it comes to these little Jeeps. I imagine many of the page members ordered stuff from there. 

Still a neat thread!

It was another year later before Dad actually let me drive it. He put it in low range and I just putted around a field because I didn't know how to shift gears yet, actually I couldn't really even reach the pedals.  I could reach the gas pedal because I wore a steel brace on my leg (like Forest Gump) and it was about 4" longer than my actual leg.  Anyhow, from that day on, I have been a Willys guy.  I just loved the look and capability of the Willys.  As soon as I would get out of school each day, I would head out to the Willys Wagon and practice shifting gears as best as I could.  Awwhhh, I can still remember the smell of the inside of that old Willys....

In the summer of 1989, I became the immensely proud owner of Gus.  He was all original, except for having an old thin coat of oxidized green paint, wagon wheel spokers, and a new set of Pathfinder retreads (which stayed on him until 2014).  I keep saying I'll get around to documenting Gus' transformation on here, but I'm too busy working on him or driving him to actually sit down and post all the pics along the way.  Maybe this year...

Here's my Dad, me, and the Willys Wagon in November 1977.

Here's me, my uncle (Dad's brother), and the Willys Wagon on the same day as the previous pic.  

Well, that's the Willys story for me.  I've been blessed to have known and enjoyed the coolest vehicle in America, nay the World, since 1975.  My dad has owned just about every Willys model, except the original Jeepster, he even owned a Mighty Mite for a while.  For me, I can't imagine life without at least one Willys jeep...