UPDATE: Was $21,500. **SOLD**
(09/05/2014) Listed as a ’45, this is really a ’46 based on the year. I wonder if seller has any actual pics of this while owned by the Air Corps. That would help verify the seller’s restoration is correct.
“1945 Willys CJ2A (serial #73581). Full frame off, ground up restoration to military condition and specs. Original owner US Army Air Corps Alaska Command at Mile 26 airfield (Eielson) in Fairbanks. Surplused in late 1950’s. Had several owners around the state and came to rest in Wasilla in a state of decay. I acquired it in 2010 and performed the restoration over a 2 yr. period.
I was able to save and restore the rims, tires, axles, transmission, transfer case, drive shafts, frame, engine, carburetor, air cleaner, steering shaft and gear box, bumper, trailer hitch, generator, starter and jerry can.
Frame was sand blasted, repaired, aligned and powder coated. Cases for transmission and transfer case also blasted and powder coated. Drive shafts blasted and powder coated as was bumper and trailer hitch. Engine (Go-devil flat head 4), transmission (T90), transfer case, axles, carburetor, drive shafts, starter and generator professionally rebuilt. Everything else is new and correct for 1945/46 cj2a, including exhaust, radiator, fuel, brakes, springs and shocks, electrical, gauges, clutch and brake pedals and horn. Body and fenders are powder coated in army green with invasion stenciling. Seats are army green canvas. Jerry can and spare are correctly mounted on reinforced tailgate per mil-spec. 6 volt system has been retained. I have added one tail light and brake lights to make it street legal. Not stock in 1945 was an oil filter which I added and 6V halogen headlights. There are no turn signals or windshield wipers. There is no heater. I have a canvas top and frame, but it is in poor shape and I have not installed it. I have a black-out light, axe and shovel but have not installed them. Manila tow rope included. Air filter has been modified from oil bath to paper cartridge without changing the outside look. There is no back seat, which was sold as an option from 1945 on. I also have the Bantam trailer (correct pintel hitch) that works fine but needs a full restoration to match the jeep. Jeep has 360 miles since restoration. Registered and licensed. $23,500.”
Seems far fetched – in 1945 with all the WWIIs available and a lot of them new that hadn’t even been issued before the war ended that the Army Air Corp would buy a CJ2A. I’d have to see the data plates (the original ones)
Factoid – It would have been the Army Air Force if it was between 1942 and 1947 (when it became the USAF).
Scott: Yes, you are correct about this. Please don’t tell my USAF wife that I wasn’t more careful 🙂
Bill: I agree (which is why I posted this one). Apparently there seems to be no evidence of a large CJ-2A purchase by the Army or Navy, but there may have been some localized purchases of CJ-2As, according to this thread:
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=57565&sid=3729cdf0d58fe554f94d655dae1611c5&start=15
There may have been plenty of WWII jeeps in the lower 48, but if there weren’t many left in Alaska in good shape, perhaps purchasing a new 2A rather than transporting one from the lower 48 might have made sense? The seller really needs some good documentation to back up the claim.
The G503 link is the M38, which I have one, – it is a CJ3A based jeep – 1950-52. I would be difficult to think the Army (AF) would give permission to buy a 1946 civilian jeep that had the cost of sea shipping to Alaska included when they could fly as many WWII unissued ones as they pleased from the lower 48. I know the Army, and you can’t get permission to buy a bolt at a local hardware store. Now the Navy maybe. People try all the time to make CJ2As military – they were in other countries and maybe Canada, but not here. I have read there were OD painted CJ2As produced for utilities, logging companies and other civilian uses but OD doesn’t make it military