Serval folks pointed me to a Hemmings article by Daniel Strohl that lightly addresses the early claim of a CJ-2A capable of pulling a large trailer at a speed of 60mph, specifically the trailer shown in the iconic photo seen below (a PR photo that appeared in multiple places early in Universal Jeep advertising).
Hemmings article: https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/05/01/lost-and-found-overflow-the-little-jeep-that-could
Advertising, has always been fake, turn on the TV tonight and you will see cars driving through the city with no traffic, other cars or people . You than see a car speeding through snow or the desert and not get dirty, pickup trucks pulling huge loads in fields and not bog down . Fake in 1945 fake in 2020 .
When I was 18 years old driving my 59 cj3b around I hit 55 several times but not for long and no trailer behind on interstate highway.
Missing the modern legalese: ‘Professional driver. Closed course. Do not attempt.’
Roy Rogers film ‘Nighttime in Nevada’ includes a CJ2a towing a trailer close to this size a bit too fast but not nearly 50 mph.
See our prior, recent discussion on this idiocy. Great comments above. Same fenom in the 70s spelled the death of the CJ (Ralph Nader) when people thought they could pull a 26′ motor boat on the freeway because they had a V8.
Terry, good point! … I ran across the early ads for the Tucker the other day, reminding me just how off the ad claims were from the final vehicle.
Kevin, I’ll see if I can track down the film or at least a snapshot of the combo. Thanks!
– Dave
Kevin: Found a copy … I’ll feature it in a few days!
I was trying to find a picture of it after watching the movie Friday night. I won’t worry about it anymore.