Blaine shared these two jeep-related promotional items that came with some GI-Joe action figures. He’s currently selling these on eBay.

View all the information on eBay

I have three original painted hair G.I. Joe action figures that I played with about 5 times with care. These have the original boxes which are excellent condition. One box had been taped shut at the ends. The store price stickers were torn off when new as they were gifts to me. My parents didn’t want me to know how much a present cost. The black haired Joe is 1968 and has a patent number on the rear. The other two should be 1967 and say “Patent Pending”. The black haired Joe has a few cracks in the limbs from age. An older one has a small crack in the small of his back on the lower torso. Two of the Joes have dog tags and one is bent a little. Also included is a foot locker which has had the sticker removed and my name written in. Also included are various accessories. Everything is in like new and very good condition. Continue reading →

It was busy at this year’s Great Willys Picnic. Thanks to Craig for sharing these photos.

There were 84 Willys and around 25 people selling parts etc.! They included a modern Jeep section with 35 Wranglers, a few CJ’s, and even a 54 Chevy pickup. The intimate nature of the Willys Picnic is a nice contrast to the huge Bantam Festival that also occurred this weekend, which most definitely has a more commercial and newer jeep focus.

Continue reading →

I’m still up from last night … in fact I’m sitting in the garage typing this up, so I’ll make this short. I pulled Patterson’s engine to swap with Rusty’s engine. I’ve got most of the parts swapped. Patterson’s tranny, though dirty on the outside, looks great on the inside, so I’ll just use that. I have some details I’ll discuss later, such as the carb linkage.

UPDATE: This was supposed to be published this morning, but I was so tired last night I screwed it up .. so here it is, delayed ….

I’ll have a few updates around 9am PST.

I was busy all day Wednesday on Patterson, then worked until midnight on Alaska Or Rust stuff, so updates will be delayed. Here are some brief updates on Wednesday’s work:

1. I reinstalled the heater blower switch. Success! All three speeds work.
2. I’ve half-installed the R&P dual master cylinder mount. Since I’m going to pull the engine anyway, I will wait to finish the installation until after I’ve pulled the engine. It will make doing the brake lines much much easier.
3. I pulled the rear main on Rusty’s engine and replace the bolts for the flywheel, then reinstalled the rear main and oil pan.
4. I figured out that Patterson was originally painted either President Red or Cherokee Orange, which looks pretty red.
   

   Kaiser Willys has organized paint chips on this page: https://www.kaiserwillys.com/willys_overland_paint_colors

I thought this a good followup to the above post.  A caption from a photo on eBay (a photo with content that wasn’t all that useful) had some interesting historical information. It highlights the fact the Utah (probably the Bountiful Jeep Posse) formed the country’s first Jeep Posse in March of 1946. One of the next earliest was in Lake County, California, started in 1948.

In 1960, spearheaded by the Bountiful Jeep Posse, the National Jeep Search and Rescue Association (NJSRA) was formed.

Two Utah senators (Orrin Hatch and Jake Garn) cosponsored a resolution to make June 11-June 17, 1979, “National Jeep Search and Rescue Association Week”.

As some point, the NJSRA dropped the “J”, becoming the National Search and Rescue Association, which still meets annually. The organization is based in St. Charles, Idaho.

Here’s the text in its entirety a nod to the 1964 gathering of the Association in Lakeview:

Lakeview (Special) — The Lake County Search and Rescue Unit will play host to the 1964 National Jeep Search and Rescue Association convention to be held at Lakeview on June 12, 13, and 14. 

The Unit is one of the first “Jeep posses” organized in the United States.

While Utah claims the honor of the first in that field, Lake County was not far behind. Paul Ortwein started the local posse in 1948. He was the first president and served for 10 years.

The Organization now finds itself well recognized in both search and rescue work and in serving the community in other ways, such as Civil Defense, assistance with parades, and other public events.

As a side note, the 1963 Association gathering was in Arizona.

What happened to the N

Tim Evans shared a few photos of jeeps he saw during a trip through Texas’ Hill Country. One of his stops was to the National Museum of the Pacific War, a place Ann and I visited in 2015. It’s a great place to visit.

He wrote, “Last week we spent a week in Texas and spotted a few jeeps.  In Fredericksburg, TX, is the National Museum of the Pacific War.  A very well done museum with many detailed exhibits. On display there in the museum was a GPW, and details about the jeep and its production, use and this advertisement.   I spotted another GPW that the museum uses in living history demonstrations.”

About this CJ-5 grille, Tim noted, “In New Braunfels TX, I spotted a jeep grill in an antique store for only $199”

Denim Carlson was featured on the Daily Interlake website, a Montana Lake County news source, recently. Denim worked through problems with addiction during high school while completing this CJ-2A as a senior project. Hopefully, some of you helped him along during the process (I imagine he reached out on forums a time or two). The jeep looks like it turned out good. Congrats to Denim!

Read his whole story here: http://www.dailyinterlake.com/article/20170530/ARTICLE/170539989

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaric Bryan of the Daily Inter Lake