UPDATE: I was surprised to see that Hoosier advertised in Four Wheeler Magazine for several months during 1973 (possibly longer).
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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 6, 2019: In the early 1960s, Hoosier Machine Products out of Pendleton, Oregon, (just an hour south of me) began selling conversion kits for jeeps. The company’s kits allowed the repowering of jeeps using Ford, Chef, GMC, Mercury, Dodge, Studebaker and Pontiac engines. That’s a pretty impressive, wide range of options, especially for a company out of Pendleton, which was pretty remote at the time. But, given the long distances Pendleton owner’s jeeps had to travel to reach other towns and the existence of the nearby, steep Blue Mountains, which provided endless jeeping possibilities, perhaps there was a reason Pendleton jeeps need more power?
Also, a big thanks go to Maury for spotted this brochure for me!
In the early 70’s I bought a Ford toploader 4 speed with adapter from them that worked very well in my CJ2A. I lived in Yakima at the time. I talked with them and asked why they only did the Ford Toploader 4 speed. They said they had a test vehicle which was an FC 170 with a v-8 engine and 4 wheel terra tires on it. They tried a T-10 and a Muncie and a toploader all in low range. They went as fast as they could down a hil and slammed it into low and it broke all the cases except the toploader.
Mike
Thanks Mike. Very interesting. I also thought it was interesting that the company felt the need to warn owners of Ford GPs (described as Ford jeeps that have the left hand drop) not to try to do the modifications.
– Dave