According to the CJ-3B Page, the Post Office experimented with several different types of jeeps for mail delivery. However, finding photos or history of these jeeps has proven difficult. Last week I acquired this awesome photo stamped December 18, 1955, showing a DJ-3A with a hardtop, no tailgate, and no sides to make entry easier.
Then, on eBay, this brochure has been available for a couple months. There’s no date on the brochure itself, but the seller claims it is from 1955:
Both documents show what appear to be the same hard top and same side cut body, but the jeeps in the photos aren’t quite the same. Unlike the top jeep, the bottom jeep has the same hubcaps as the early DJ-3As, but has custom parking lights. The top photo has the side mirror on the right side, while the bottom jeep has the rear view mirror on what would normally be the driver’s side. The seats are colored slightly differently. So, are these two jeeps both experimental models?
What surprises the DJ guys the most is that we weren’t aware the low cut body was available as of late 1955. None of the marketing materials show that body as an option in 1956, as this early brochure demonstrates:
So, the search for information about early dispatcher mail jeeps continues. Anyone have more photos or information about these early post office jeeps?
If the body was cut as shown here, was the top then a permanent fixture in order for the body to remain rigid without the sides, or was there additional structure underneath to perform the function that the sides would have? Sure seems it would have been easier to enter/exit without.
I’m sure it could be removed, but even then the top ought to add some rigidity.
Definitely not the same vehicle. Wiper blades/motors on the second one are below the windshield. Also different cabs. Second one has rear side windows that appear to slide open or has braces and the second one’s rear side windows corners are not rounded. They have different doors also one with a vertical straight rear edge and one with an upper track the other not. But the second one has a number above windshield center on front of top so there must have been enough to need numbering. Not only that the first one has the right rear small vertical window out?! Testing must have got rough.
There are a few differences with the mounting of the driver’s seat.
In the first image, the space between the right front seat bracket and the cowl support is pretty tight. Entry and exit must have been an uncomfortable maneuver.
The seat bracket is modified in the second iteration, and the seat is higher and perhaps smaller.
Betcha it was still not real easy getting in and out.
An image search turned up a photo of a 1956 dispatcher, and the sloping lower portion of the cowl bracing is gone.
http://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=8450
Joe,
I’ve seen/shared that one in the past. As I understand it, that top was made my Koenig. It’s different in a number of ways, including the lack of rear side windows and additional small windows on either side of the rear window.
I should go back through and look more closely at the DJ hardtops on eWillys to see if they are all the same or if some look like the one above and others look like the postal type.
– Dave
In response to Lew, you can take the hardtop off but this is not a 30 minute job. You can unbolt the top from the top of the windshield frame, then you have to remove the doors( there is a stop that prevents them from sliding off their track, that you have to remove), then you unbolt the body from the tub of the Jeep. The windshield frame on the hardtop models is several inches wider than the standard DJ3A windshield frame and is attached to sheetmetal that is screwed onto the tub of the Jeep . Most folks when they remove the top, leave the windshield and its framework in tact. Once that is removed, you can attach just about any flat fender windshield to the body in the original mounting holes.