Texas’ San Angelo Die Casting and Manufacturing company was founded by Raymond V. Hart, according to a May 23, 1998, obituary in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The company manufactured a wide range of inventions, from nut shellers used as far south as Brazil to jeep products as evident below.
One of the more unusual products was this jeep trailer. Somewhere in the eWillys archives is an actual example of one of these trailers. I thought it was a custom concoction, but clearly it wasn’t.
The company’s main jeep-oriented product was gun racks (the firm produced both jeep and non-jeep gun racks). This hard-to-find brochure from the San Angelo Die Casting and Machine Company explains why there are a number of jeeps with similar gun racks in them. That “No. 20” model is particularly prevalent in jeeps.
Here is a box from an entry level No. 10 gun rack:
One of the odder products produced was this springy rear seat, presumably for hunting:
That dash rack is way cool! I think there are several racks that I could put to good use. Thanks for sharing, this is a really cool piece of Willys history!
All the best,
LT
The brochure has a distributor’s name on it of ‘Northwest Truckstell’ which is still in business under different ownership and location(s). They sold flatbeds, mudflaps and many other truck accessories.
Sold a #20 in the original, San Angelo box at the Aurora OH show last Spring. Love to find this type of stuff in our inventories.
Does anyone know about the rope cans they made? I have one an can’t find much info.
Like Shelby, I also have a rope can that belonged to my father manufactured there. He bought it in his 20’s and that was quite a while ago. still functional, and still in great shape.
HI, I’m looking for San Angelo’s two rifle rack #20 as in the picture above.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken Snyder
Virginia City, NV. 89440
Kenteton@aol.com
Hi Kenneth,
I’d suggest eBay, but didn’t have much luck. All I could find was this 85P model: https://www.ebay.com/itm/235641882418
There’s this model 10 for the jeep that was for sale a couple years ago: https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/vintage-san-angelo-die-casting-no-10-jeep-gun-rack.421314/
Best of luck on your hunt!
– Dave