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Jeeps in South Africa

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JeepSaffer View Drop Down
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    Posted: 17 Jan. 2017 at 8:42am
I came across two old photos of early Jeeps in South Africa over the recent holidays, and thought I would post them on the forum for interest...

The below photo is undated, and I know nothing about it. It was in a friends house and I took a photo of it with my phone, so the quality is not the best:





The jeep must be a '45 or '46, as it has the older bullet style parking lights. The radiator brush screen must be original, the headlight bezels look painted and not chromed. The licence plate appears to be on the original mounting. It also appears to have a half cab soft top? The colour is a matt finish, so probably olive drab? The front bumper seems to have the same shade - were they originally painted in the same colour as the bodies? I love how the hood is being used as a luggage rack... stuff is tied on all over the place! I also noted that the only one who is really happy about this animal on wheels is the guy standing immediately adjacent! Looks like he caught the jeep bug just by being closest!

The second photo is of a family member paying wages to cane cutters on the South Coast of South Africa.



The gent on the far right paying wages is my Great Uncle, Noel. The rest are all unidentified. 
Notable features of the jeep: tool indent in the tub, old style inner windshield frame adjusting arms, column shift gears. It looks to have a solid cab, with an interesting lip over the windshield that I have never seen before.. does anyone recognize this or know anything about it? Paint looks very new, even shiny. Lightish colour, so possibly picket or potomac grey, or harvest tan? Could also be universal beige. I suppose it could be pasture green too, but it almost looks too light to be green. So would this be a '45 model? This would certainly have been one of the very first jeeps ever imported into South Africa.

I know the farm on which this picture was taken, and I know the company that bought the farm. I am actually doing work for them right now as part of my job! It would be a long shot, but imagine if they had the jeep sitting in a barn somewhere and I could get hold of it? Or even the other pickup in the background....? Very slim chance indeed, but hey, every now and again dreams do come true... I will make some inquiries with them and see if I come up with anything.

Seems as if I was always destined to be a flatfender jeep fan with this kind of history lurking in the family...


Edited by JeepSaffer - 17 Jan. 2017 at 7:09pm
1948 CJ2A #204853 in South Africa
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Joe DeYoung View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Joe DeYoung Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jan. 2017 at 4:27pm
Thanks for sharing the pics. Assuming the jeep is not modified, my guess is the jeeps color is Harvest tan as this is definitely a very early CJ2A, 45 or very early 46, and only two colors were available... Harvest Tan and Pasture Green. I've never seen a top like that so would be interesting to find out more about it. The mounting of the side mirror is interesting too.
Joe DeYoung
to many jeeps, parts, and accessories to list here, but apparently enough to keep me in trouble with my wife.





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