Magazine Research Archives

Jeeps filled magazines in various ways. Some magazines reported on brand new ‘Blitz Buggy’ and other important develops about the jeep during WWII. Others reported on the changing models during its civilian life. Still others showcased how jeeps were used and the modifications done to them.

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February 1955 Article Willys Chops Prices

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This February 1955 article highlights how quickly Willys Motors shifted from a jeep and car company to more of a jeep company, chopping the number of automobiles it was selling from 10 in 1954 to only 3 in 1955. According to the article, Wills Motors also appeared most focused on the new CJ-5.

You can view this issue on Google Books or make an offer on this issue at eBay.

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May 1954 Kaiser Willys Salesman Brochure **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Magazine • TAGS: , This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This May 1954 issue of Kaiser Willys News is one I only have available in these smaller pics snagged off eBay back in 2013. There is a story about the Yakima ridge runners and the Jeep Rodeo, but it’s too small to read. 

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January 1942 Article From Scientific American “Meet the Jeep”

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Magazine, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Don makes some good points in his comment below as to why there might not be any MBs pictured.

The January 1942 issue of Scientific American included an article titled “Meet the Jeep”, one I’ve been waiting about 7 years to snag. For some reason, though MBs were already being produced, no images of the MB were included. Instead, the first image shows a Ford GP. The second photo shows a Bantam BRC-40 T2E1.

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January 1957 Willys News

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This was on eBay.

Some good DJ-3A & FC-150 photos and some rare early swamp racing photos.

“Original salesman’s non color catalog , 11 x 17 , 8 pages , includes salesman’s messages , salesman’s contests , shows some models , etc.”

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Mechanix Illustrated Magazine: Jiving up the Jeep, Articles 1-4

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Old News Articles • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Steve obtained copies of article #2, so now this list is complete!

Nine years ago there was a post about “Jivin up the Jeep”, which referenced a series of articles in Mechanix Illustrated Magazine. At that time, I could only locate articles #3 and #4. Steve Zamell just shared the earliest of the four with me (Thanks!). And, I found a poor image of article #2 So, below you’ll find information about all four articles.

According to the information on this Modern Mechanic Post, the October and November 1946 issues of Modern Mechanic magazine each included an article titled “Jivin up the Jeep” that shares various modifications. Those articles were a big hit across the US, as readers from all over sent in follow up suggestions and ideas. That led to an additional two articles, one in April of 1947 and one in November of 1947. I’ve shown the pictorial portions of the articles below. There’s additional content on the 1947 links.

From October 1946 Part I – A few Jeep ideas:
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From November 1946 Part II – I just bought a cheap issue of this magazine. I’ll update these poor pics found on a current  eBay ad once I receive my copy of the magazine. Looks like this article covers the creation of a custom hardtop:

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From April 1947: Custom Tops

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Four Wheeler Makes Some Seat Covers

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

In case anyone’s interested, Four Wheeler ran an article by Verne Simons about making seat covers.

https://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/body-chassis/cj-2a-seats/

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1955 Saturday Evening Post Rolligon Article

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This June 04, 1955, article about the Rolligon goes into great depth about the history of the invention. You can see more pics here. The pages below are much clearer once you click on them.

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CJ-3B Adventure on Cape Hatteras

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Old Images Jeeping This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This adventure was recorded in the April 30, 1955, issue of the Saturday Evening Post.

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2019-2020 Winter Issue Dispatcher Magazine

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The newest issue of the Dispatcher Magazine landed in my mailbox today. This issue includes a look at Bob Christy’s Empire Tractor “Rena”, along with a pre-jeep look at history thanks to Jim Allen. Dan Fucella continues describing his 10,000 mile journey in a wagon, while Eric Jarvis shares his D-Day-related journey to France.

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1962 Article on a Mobile CP

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Steve forwarded this article about the development of a mobile CP. The photos show how such a modification might have been done.

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1955 July/Aug Globe-Trotter Magazine

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The is the July/August 1955 issue of Globe-Trotter magazine published by the Willys Export Company.  It is fourteen pages.

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1955 Willys History in Air Trails Hobbies For Young Men

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Air Trails Hobbies was a ‘how to’ magazine that provided news, reports, designs, and ‘how to’s’ on a range of hobbies. It’s intellectual bent on science and design just makes it more odd that it’s overview of the Willys History seems so lacking, especially in the 4WD jeep department. Given that, by February 1955 (the date of the issue below) the CJ-5 was already introduced, it seems a bit odd to ignore the latest jeep!

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April 1955 Willys News

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Lots of fun articles in this April 1955 issue.

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1951 Yakima Ridge Runners’ Life Article

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: , This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This May 14, 1951, article “Life Goes Ridgerunning” from Life Magazine used to be posted in full on the Yakima Ridge Runner’s website, but that site appears to be no longer active. So, you’ll find it below.

If you’ve never seen the color footage of the Ridge Runners jeeping in the Cascade Mountains, that’s worth a throwback look: http://www.ewillys.com/2011/03/29/2-more-videos-from-jpzombie-com/

And, there’s the widely circulated set of two videos that may have been filmed at the same time the writers of the magazine article were visiting Yakima (video 1 and video 2)

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1943 Buenos Aires Motor Magazine

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The June 1943 issue of Motor Magazine out of Buenos Aires, Argentina, featured this introduction to the jeep on its front page. I snagged this copy off of eBay in December and it finally arrived. The 24-page magazine printed on newspaper covers a wide range of automotive subjects, most far above my rudimentary Spanish. I’m pretty surprised any of these survived!

Here are the first two pages (the only two that included the jeep as far as I could tell):

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Also included in the magazine was this ad(?) featuring a jeep.

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October 1954 Kaiser Willys News

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

iI’ve shared some of the pics and captions, but now I can take some okay scans (not great, just okay) of the full pages. This has the KW logo, the Kaiser Willys branding, and a mention of the Kaiser-Willys Dealers and Salesmen.

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1953 Photo of an Early Experimental Mail Jeep

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This photo and caption appeared in the October 1953 issue of Popular Science (page 124). There are several interesting things in this photo. First, this jeep is setup with right-hand-drive; second, the body has been cut similar to the way some of the DJ-3As would be trimmed on the sides; third, this vehicle is only two-wheel-drive. This is the earliest photo that I know showing an experimental mail jeep that, arguably, led to the DJ-3A Dispatcher/Delivery/Convertible production models. The picture, without the caption, can also be found on the CJ-3B page about mail jeeps.

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The Pee Wee Jeeplet

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Models, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This 600lb jeep-like vehicle was built by O.L. Munding of Glendale, California. It was included in the October 1953 issue of Popular Science (page 124). On the same page, the magazine also featured a rat rod vehicle built by Munding that was powered by two air-rolled Ranger engines, war surplus items originally used to start big bomber engines.

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August 1954 Ad For Jeeps as Versatile Vehicles

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This ad was published in the August 1954 issue of Fortune Magazine. When Kaiser bought Willys, one of the early advertising decisions was to use the KW logo on various marketing documents. I suspect this was an attempt to brand across the jeep and Willys Aero lines. This strategy was dropped by 1955, followed shortly with the dropping of the Aero vehicles.

View all the information on eBay

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1994 Le Journal de Spirou Christmas Cover

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

TJ shared this wonderful illustration shared by the French company of Jeepstock.

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September 1964 Article on Testing the ‘Jeep’ Wagoneer from Trailer Life

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Magazine This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: According to the author in the 1964 Jeep News Vol. 10 No. 7, this article was published in the September 1964 issue of Trailer Life (I previously guess it was in 1963).

I bought a wagoner literature combo off ebay that included the “Test the ‘Jeep’ Wagoneer” excerpt from an unknown issue of Trailer Life Magazine that also included the early Wagoneer brochure on the post below this one. There are still two sets of these available for purchased the last time I checked.

The writer, Bruce Grantland, concluded that the Wagoneer was a new type of vehicle for towing, better suited to towing long distances in remote areas better than any other vehicle of the time.

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1952 Article Introducing the M-38A1 in Popular Science

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This article appeared in the July 1952 issue of Popular Science (pgs 79-82). This is article is interesting in that is covers some of the complaints GIs had about earlier jeeps and how the M-38A1 attempts to address those issues.

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More on The New Mexico Jeep Derbys

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine, Racing, videos • TAGS: , This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The February 1963 issue of Popular Mechanics included an article about the New Mexico Jeep Derby held annually in Truth or Consquences, New Mexico. It’s a great article about the early days of jeep racing. I’ve also included a video of one Derby race, but the quality is poor. Still, in some clips, you can see just how much the co-pilot shifts his body around the jeep.

View Popular Mechanics February 1963 at Google Books

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1949 Article on the Bountiful Jeep Posse

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I took a chance on eBay and bought a 1949 issue of the Goodyear’s Magazine for Men off of ebay that mentioned, in the ebay ad, about having an article on a Jeep Posse. The magazine turned out to be a sort-of marketing piece by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company focused on men and with several interesting articles. Below you’ll find two articles from the magazine and a quiz.

The first article is a pretty early article on Utah’s Bountiful Jeep Posse. The other article covers a man named John Fordon and his business in New York City called “Beck ‘n Call”. Finally, the Fordon article includes a quiz on streets from around the country, names as relevant to day as they were back in 1949.

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1949-goodyears-magazine-for-men-vol-3-number-3-jeep-posse1 1949-goodyears-magazine-for-men-vol-3-number-3-jeep-posse2And now, the article on Fordon. Also, note the “Where are they” quiz.

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1967 Four Wheel Drive Rocky Mountain Test Article

• CATEGORIES: Features, Magazine • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The May 1967 issue of Popular Mechanics includes the article “Four-Wheel Safari Test In the Rugged Rockies”. The article covers a two-day test in the high mountains of Colorado from Telluride to Ouray. The main goal was to see if the Ford Bronco and/or the International Scout could compete with a V-6 equipped CJ-5. The conclusion was interesting.

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