This looks to have a replacement body.
“1948 Jeep Willy’s CJ2A. This jeep has been fully restored around 10 yrs ago. It had 10,000 dollars put into it. It is in extremely good shape and virtually rust free. The paint is still in excellent shape. It has been converted over to 12VDC so as to make it easier to start, especially in cold weather. It has a flathead 4cyl, and runs excellent. The 4 wheel drive works great and shifts smooth. The gear ratio is 5:38. It has been stored indoors. The only trades I am interested in would be a 3/4 to 1 ton 4X4 truck either chevy, gmc, or dodge. Of equal value.
If interested please call Mike at 859-797-3830 or Bill at 859-797-1411 NO CALLS AFTER 9:30PM.”
http://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/2123230044.html
This might be one of the few “Leftys” that Willys built between March 3, 1948 and April 14, 1948, that had the spare tire located on the left side of the body and the top bow holders on the right side. If the serial number is between176061 and 185769, it could very well be one of those Jeeps. Willys did this to accommodate some state laws (Willys Tech bulletin 48-27, dated May 25, 1948), and then introduced a tailgate mounting kit as there was too much weight on the driver’s side of the Jeep.
Colin, yes that very well could simply be a “lefty”. It was the tool indent on the passenger-side that was fooling me. Maybe that’s just an optical illusion?
i see what appears to be tool indents but i dont see any bow holders.
My guess is that this is a replacement body, based on the tool indents, and that the old body was in fact a lefty, so the spare tire carrier was attached to the driver’s side. The rebuilder probably decided they didn’t want to attach the bow holders, leaving the passenger side bare … that’s my dubious forensic analysis 🙂