<– Day 8 – Sun May 6: Somber to Soda | Day 10 – Tues May 8: Laurel, Hardy & Wood Cars –>
Blake showing me around Omix-Ada’s Jeep Collection.
Day 9: On Monday we had the chance to see the “Jeep Collection”, then we returned to our hotel for a long nap. We feel recharged and ready for our exploration of South Carolina today. Here’s a map of our upcoming travels for May 8 – May 10:
We’ll be spending the night of May 8th in Charleston, May 9th in Greenville (or somewhere there-abouts), and May 10th in Asheville.
Monday was intended to be a day of rest. Our goals for the day were to A) see some jeeps, B) take a nap, C) wash some clothes, and D) catch up on eWillys. I dare say the day was a success, especially the four-hour midday nap!
At 9am we arrived at the doors of Omix-Ada to Al Azadi’s Jeep Collection. Rather than lock the doors and hide (we can be scary in the mornings), they allowed us inside. One of the cool things we noticed right away about the building’s lobby are the full-wall photos of vintage jeeps that begin with WWII and march forward in history. Moreover, the exterior windows also had overlays, though the morning sun limited our ability to see what was there. There was no mistaking that we’d entered a world of vintage jeeps!
The lobby also had a few of the Jeep Collection’s jeeps, but in our exuberance to see the larger collection in another part of the building, we forgot to take pictures of both the lobby and the lobby’s collection. We failed!
Because Dave Logan, my contact at Omix-Ada, had a pre-arranged trip to Canada, Tyler and Blake walked us over to the area that housed the bulk of the jeeps. There, Blake let us wander around and take pictures. In my semi-sleep deprived stupor (I’d been up until 2am the night before), I spent more time talking to Blake about my books than I did taking pictures of the jeeps.
Blake patiently listening to my stories.
Fortunately for you all, Ann was there and she made sure to take more than 150 photos. And, as I look at the photos for this post just now, I see there were some cool photos on the walls above the jeeps in this area, too, many from press photos we’ve seen over the years. I truly did not see these while I was in there looking at the jeeps. I definitely must have needed more sleep!!
Most of you have probably seen photos of the collection, but for those that haven’t, the collection lines the walls and windows of the entire space.
One of the more unique items in the collection was a half-sized jeep. I was surprised to see it was motorized and couldn’t recall seeing one before. Dave Logan later explained to me via email that it was a “Sidewalk Jeep”, something I’d posted a few years ago.
http://www.ewillys.com/2015/06/13/sidewalk-jeep-design-from-popular-mechanics-on-ebay/
There were also some toy jeeps, knick-knacks, and brochures. I was surprised to see a rare copy of Wolff Blint’s great book “By Jeep to Freedom“, one of my favorite jeep adventure books. It’s filled with amazing details from Wolff’s experiences in WWII.
In terms of the jeeps, one big crowd pleaser is the CJ-2A. Finally being able to see this in person, I was surprised to see it had two different types of dually adapters, one type on the front (which had a larger gap between the tires) and one type on the back.
Thanks to Ann, we also have video of some of the PTO and generator parts (because clearly I was pretty useless today!).
Here’s some random pics of vehicles taken by Ann:
If you want to learn more or see all the vehicles, go here: http://www.jeepcollection.com . Thanks to Blake, Tyler, and Dave Logan for organizing, opening up, and sharing this great collection with us!
Tomorrow we’ll start with Laurel and Hardy, so stay tuned!
<– Day 8 – Sun May 6: Somber to Soda | Day 10 – Tues May 8: Laurel, Hardy & Wood Cars –>
Mark Smith was the guy whom the collection was purchased for the OMIX-ADA collection. We spoke of it Saturday, but I could not recall Mr. Smith’s name. He was the founding member for the Jeep Jamboree, and set up the Rubicon trail. He also authored a book, (Driven by a Dream) about his 1978-79 trip from South America to North America.
Good point. The website provides some information about this: http://www.jeepcollection.com/about/ Also, there is a signed copy of Mark’s book in a case in the side room with the toys and books.
If BBQ is desired tonight in Charleston, highly recommend Swig N Swine in West Ashley or Home Team out on Sullivan’s Island. If Tex Mex, the Mex 1 on Sullivan’s. Enjoy your stay in the low country, you’ll be catching some great weather!
Chris
that was some nice video of the mowing machine i will find one some day, as it turns out i have the same buzz saw thats on the jeep thanks for sharing
We treasure the 8 Jeeps we received from Mark Smith, but there are 30 other Jeeps in the Collection as well. Plenty of cool vehicles and stories. Lots of history in there. Thanks, Dave Logan
Hey Dave , so glad you finally got to see the early CJ2A Column Shift in the Omix collection. Hard to believe it started out as a really rough $800 East Coast plow Jeep. Ive got some original pics of it somewhere I will try to find and send to you for some before and after comparisons. After I drug it home my good buddy Jim Sas saw that it had all its tags in tact a really nice frame and surprisingly the Column Shift was still intact and working nicely so he decided it was a good start for a complete restoration and he did just that. Between the two of us over a bunch of years we found all the specialty items its equipped with. Probably should have held onto the Canfield fold out wrecker, Westinghouse Welder and Bantam Plow as those just don’t come along too often!!!!
If you look at the Omix Ada Jeep collection site and click on the Jeep you will see a great write up Jim Allen did on the Jeep, he did a great job as its very thorough and lots of great info there. Everything is operational on the Jeep with the exception of the welder. To run that item the tool box section which was completely redone would have to be cut up to run the four belts down to the PTO pulley drive and Jim just couldn’t bring himself to chop it all up after all that hard work.Jim did test the welder by strapping it to a forklift and running a belt to it and down to the rear drum pulley which worked great and it welded nicely but in order for it to work at its best potential it really would have needed all four belts driven off PTO pulley drive for all the power. Since the Jeep was driven around on the road to shows and what not the crank shaft pump rubber doughnut was removed so pump wouldn’t burn up with the road miles and the Monarch Hi LO pump was used to operate the Newgren Three Point Hitch which raised and lowered the Buzz Saw from inside Jeep to working position. The Dual Wheel adapters were fabricated by Jim and the front set were of a slightly larger diameter to clear the locking hubs. The only other brand of adapters that work on the front end are the Wellivers which also clear a set of locking hubs.
After driving the Jeep around for a few years and driving it to various local Jeep shows and numerous trophy’s Jim tossed around the idea of selling it to let someone else enjoy it as it wasn’t getting used as much.
That’s when Dave Logan from Omix contacted me through an Ewilly’s post I had listed looking for any Willy’s Jeep Farm implements. At the time I didn’t have any implements for sale but I did mention to Dave I had a good friend that was maybe going to sell quite possibly one of the best equipped examples of a early 2A. The rest is history , after being in touch with the guys over at Omix and sending them a link to detailed pics they decided it was a great candidate for their collection and off it went. Since then its been one of the prized collection and has been at Sema and numerous other shows for many people to enjoy.
Hard to believe it all started with a rusty old plow Jeep!!!
Thanks for the pics, Ann!
Thanks Ann!!