One comment on “Hertz Rent a Jeep Postcard”

1. Colin Peabody July 12, 2013 at 3:33 pm

   In 1959, Louis Yocich was a Willys executive and visited Las Brisas Resort in Acapulco, where they had painted their series of DJ3A Jeeps in pink and white with stripes. Yocich liked that and thought Willys could sell a bunch of DJ3As equipped with striped tops and interiors, with spare tire covers and dressed up a bit, for use in resort areas. Thus the Jeep Gala was born, with them being shipped to Acapulco, St. Thomas and to Hawaii. Henry Kaiser, whose company owned Willys Motors, had a major holding in the Hilton Hotels in Hawaii and in St. Thomas. Those Galas were handled by Willys Export Corporation and they were advertised as Galas. By September 1959, Willys introduced the Surrey, which was identical to the Gala, except that it was for sale in the continental limits of the USA, and the others were sold outside the country by Willys Export Corp. , even though Hawaii was a state by then.

   At some point the Gala name was dropped and they were all called Surreys after that, whether they were sold outside the limits of the US or within the country. There was no real distinction between the two vehicles as reported by Willys Motors in two September 1959 press releases. Probably the only way to tell a Gala from a Surrey would be the serial number showing an early 1959 build date and possibly the early top bows which were different than the later models.