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The July 19, 1956, issue of the Auburn Journal reported on the Auburn Chamber of Commerce’s sixth annual jeep trip to Lake Tahoe.
This June 03,1942, photo shows some men taking a ‘peep’ at the Will Rogers theatre to see if it suited their needs for a show. Whether the writer of the cutesy headline was aware that some folks were calling jeeps ‘peeps’ isn’t clear.
June 03, 1942, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Maynard Roberts pictures on the left in San Paulo, Brazil, from the January 23, 1950, issue of the Pomona Progress Bulletin.
In 1948, 34 year-old Maynard Roberts, from La Verne, California, traveled south into Mexico and spent the next 18 months exploring Central and South American. He wrote a series of articles for the Pomona Progress Bulletin detailing his trip. He’d hoped to write a book, but I have been unable to locate one. If he didn’t, it’s too bad, because I think he was a very good writer.
His skill is evident early on when he wrote a phrase that caught my attention, “About seven years ago I was keeping company with my last twenty-dollar bill …” His attention to details and telling a few small stories make his tale worth reading. It’s unfortunate that these articles only share snippets, for it seems he’s got a good story to tell and the skill to tell it.
His idea to travel germinated prior to WWII. He was born in Lima, Ohio, in 1914. As a child, his parents moved to California, Near the start of WWII he got the idea to travel to South America, so he began saving money. During WWII he was a draftsman, perhaps a skill learned during his college days at Chaffee college? Finally, by 1948, he saved up enough money to buy a jeep and afford to travel.
Part one of his adventure appeared in the January 09, 1950, issue of the Ponoma Progress Bulleting, split into two sections.
Part II: This is the second installment of Maynard’s adventure. It appeared in the January 16, 1950, issue of the Pomona Progress Bulletin.
These ladies were helping raise money for European reconstruction by giving nickel jeep rides.
Wakde Island is in Indonesia (At first I thought it was Wake Island misspelled).
View all the information on eBay
“Size is 7.25″ x 8.5” We always combine shipping. Please wait for our invoice before paying. The photographs are Originals taken from file archives used by different news/media agencies. They are not perfect or reprints, if they are printed at a later time we labeled them “2nd Generation Restrike” or “Vtg 2nd Gen Restrike” The photographs are in various conditions, some cut to different sizes. Some may have dates and/or descriptions written/typed/stamped on the back or the front. They could have bent corners, tears or light stains.”
In the autumn of 1962, the Sun Carnival organization in El Paso, Texas, decided to add the Sun Carnival Jeep Derby, one of only four derby’s held in the US, to it’s late December events calendar (the other ‘derbies’ were held in Las Cruces, Truth or Consequences, and Denver). The grand prize was a brand new 1963 CJ-5 donated by the Willys Manufacturing Company (I think they meant Willys Motors).
September 12, 1962, El Paso Times
Before being presented to the race winner, Carnival manage Bruce Brooks planned to use it by carnival staff to carry tickets between the four branch offices.
December 25, 1962, El Paso Herald-Post
Ted C. Brewer of Roswell, New Mexico, went on to win the Inaugural Sun Carnival Jeep Derby.
January 01, 1963, El Paso Times
The next year, the Sun Carnival volunteers put together another course.
Continue reading
This first article about the Phoenix Jeep Club was published on February 04, 1965, in the Arizona Daily Star. It gave some background information on the club, it’s family friendly attitude, and shared some of the good works the club performed.
This second article was published six months later on August 15, 1965, in the Arizona Republic. It discusses the work the club was doing to help fight the screw worm.
Buss Walker, the author of this July 28, 1959, article published in the Chattanooga Daily Times, learned an important lesson on his first attempt to jeep onto Walden’s Ridge: never jeep without tools. The lesson was learned and our intrepid travelers were more successful on their second attempt.
On September 11, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower introduced the People-to-People Program, “to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among peoples of different countries and diverse cultures.”
Two students out of Colorado University, Rolf Kjolseth, of Boulder, Colorado, and Andreas Kohlschutter, of Berne, Switzerland, decided to put Eisenhower’s idea into action by driving a jeep from the United States to Rio De Janeiro, where they planned to sell the jeep and return to the United State by ship. Along the way, they hoped to meet people from all walks of life. They called their jeep “Columbus II”.
June 24, 1957, Albuquerque Journal
The trip was sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency and the Pan American Union. The two young men were supposed to write about their trip and send their stories to several newspapers, but I can’t find any articles with their by-lines. They even had their photo take with then Vice President Richard Nixon on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, but I haven’t located a copy of that yet.
June 13, 1957, Greeley Daily Tribune
According to multiple reports, the intrepid explorers drove their early CJ-5 south from Laredo, Texas, through Mexico, into Central America and, probably via boat, made it to South America. The photos below show the pair in Colombia.
November 11, 1957, The Marion Star, Marion, Ohio,
I could not locate any information following their stop in Colombia.
At the very least, Rolf made it back to Colorado, becoming an associate professor at the University of Colorado from 1971-2011. I don’t know if Rolf is alive or not, but he does have an email address associated with UC. Whether he monitors it or not, I couldn’t say, but I sent him an email. Hopefully someone will respond.
This August 10, 1960, article in the Daily Sentinal out of Grand Junction highlights Ouray and briefly mentions the jeep tours available. You’ll note the tour-jeep in the pic in the upper left photo.
This July 30, 1961, article shared the news that the Las Cruces Jeep Club planned to allow non-racers a chance to drive the ‘Jeepathon’ race track before the racers got a chance to race. The photos show Carol McDonald checking the jeep and the track. I wish the photos were clearer. I’m guessing she was a Las Cruces Jeep Club member?
An October 11, 1960, article in Grand Junction’s ‘The Daily Sentinel’ introduced many readers to Colorado’s newest industry: Jeep Tourism.
From the article, “Now, for the first time in history, the ordinary tourist and visitor can within a day’s time see some of the nation’s real back country.”
This photo and article appeared in the April 16, 1943, issue of the Los Angeles Times. Kids at the State Street School sold enough war bonds ($12,773) to purchase 14 jeeps, so the Army sent 5 jeeps to the school’s field.
Natalie Mastavoi is pictured climbing into the jeep. She was the first pupil that got to sit in it. Help her into it is Sgt. Louis Gade. Principlal Frank Wells and Mrs. T.D. Harrington of the local P.T.A. are standing to the right of the jeep. I tried to find out more about the young girl and the Sargent, but had no luck.
These two article show how quickly the Auburn Jeep Club’s annual trek to Tahoe grew in size. The Auburn Jeep Club was founded in 1951 and it’s first trip to Lake Tahoe via Wentworth Springs included seven jeeps and twenty participants. By 1953, reservations were required. By 1956 it had grown to 33 jeeps and 116 people.
April 30, 1953, article in the Auburn Journal:
July 19, 1956, article in the Auburn Journal:
This July 14, 1955, article from the Auburn Journal (Auburn, California) highlights the upcoming two day trip from Auburn, to Wentworth Springs and on to Lake Tahoe. It also includes a lists of some of the folks participating in the event. You’ll note there is no mention of it being a Jeep or Jeepers Jamboree.
This late 1956 ad introduced the FC-150 its Longview, Washington, audience.
December 06, 1956, in the Longview Daily Times.
The July 14th, 1955, issue of the Auburn Journal, Auburn California, highlighted events from a recent jeep trip in the Sierra Mountains from Wentworth Springs to Lake Tahoe.
William F. Baggerman in 1946 standing in front of his 1946 VEC CJ-2A. Behind the jeep is a trailer (a box on wheels). Standing to the side of the jeep is Charles Mum of the Laredo, Texas, AAA. William is just about to enter Mexico in 1946.
Wiliam F. Baggerman was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area around 1914. He attended Washington University and Edinburgh University. He started Modern Management Co., a real estate management firm, in 1936, and later was employed with Sycamore Investors, Inc., a shopping center development company.
He entered what would become the Air Force right after Pearl Harbor and spent 20 months in the Pacific theatre, stationed for at least part of the time in Guam. While in Guam, for some unknown reason, he decided to travel to Central America after the war.
A year after the war ended, he purchased a jeep and, along with a trailer, headed south to Laredo, Texas, where he began his adventure.
After his trip, he wrote an 60 page book: Driving to Managua, Nicaragua (A Guide to the PanAmerican Highway Through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua).
The book is part guide book and part travelogue, as most of the text describes dryly how to travel through the various countries. Yet, the pics feel far more personal; there are at least 10 photos, almost all of which include the jeep. You can view the entire book online at Hathitrust.org.
The jeep he used appears to have been a VEC with indents and a column shift, but without the rear hubs. So, I’d guess a 15xxx to 30xxx serial number. The trailer is a box on wheels … anyone know what model?
Let’s look at some pics!
This is a map of the Pan American Highway. It’s not clear to me how much he veered off the highway:
This pic shows him just entering Mexico:
Those are some beautiful mountains. But who is looking at the mountains when you can peek inside the cab and see the column shifter:
Apparently, even the jeep couldn’t take William everywhere:
UPDATE: As best as I can tell, it looks like 1963 was when Don Pratt’s Jeep Tours began working with the Kachina Cab company. The article appeared in the August 13, 1963, issue of the Arizona Republic:
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Originally posted June 2019: According to this Pink Jeep Tour site, Pink Jeep Tours is the oldest continuously operating Jeep Tour Company in the United States. It was started in 1958 by a Sedona Realtor named Don Pratt, who would drive clients to see homes at Broken Arrow Estates. The Broken Arrow tour is the original Jeep tour and is still today the most popular tour in Sedona.Why did he make the jeeps pink? Mr. Pratt got the idea while visiting the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach, where everything was pink.
But, that’s only part of the story. In her book Echoes of Sedona Past, Mary Lou Keller explains how her and her husband cleared the first trail and how, when Glenn Keller decided not to open a jeep tour business, their friend Don Pratt asked if he could do it instead. Mrs. Keller covers the story in five pages of her book available to read on Google.The book also includes the image below of Mary Lou Keller with her do Pico in her (probably) 1946 CJ-2A:
Steve discovered this short article on a problem caused by jeeps in the Philippines (though this is a more complicated situation than just the existence of jeeps). The article was published in the October 11, 1945, issue of the Guinea Gold, a newspaper out of Australia. On the same page, there were two additional stories about Australian war brides getting preferential treatment for their trips (one article noted ‘secret’ trips by ship and another by a few women who got to fly to Hawaii) over returning service men.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/250680929?
October 11, 1945, Guinea Gold
“Filipino men are trying to put US jeeps cut of bounds to all their women under 40 years, states Ray Johnston, war correspondent, in Brisbane Sunday Mail.
Almost any hpur of the day and night, American jeeps carrying attractive Filipino girls can be seen in Manila’s grievously war-damaged streets. Timorous mothers and jealous boy friends have been complaining against the attraction the jeep exercises on local girls.
In China, Government officials and citizens became alarmed over the fact that the Chinese took to jeeps, as ducks to water, so they prohibited their girls riding inthem.
“Maybe such a law would be considered rude in Manila, but we should do something about the
situation,” says the Manila Chronicle. “After all, we don’t want it said in future that the jeep won the war and our women, too!”
An October 18, 1949, article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram announced Daniel M. Towns decision to drive a jeep from Magallanes, Chile, to Fairbanks, Alaska, then drive to Washington, D.C. He is hoping to be able to cross the Darien Gap rather than boat around it. He plans to use tracks on a jeep to get through the Gap. As of the date of the article, Willys-Overland (or a dealer) had already agreed to supply a jeep.
A few weeks later, Towns received some advice from Frank Buck, as described in a November 07, 1949, article in the Forth Worth Star-Telegram. Frank Buck died a few months later.
Photo Credit: http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/tribune/photographs/display_photo.php?id=5001 … This is a 1945 photo from VE Day as the paper prepared for the special “extra” paper announcing the end of the war in Europe. Richard “Dick” Sanburn appears to be the follow standing int he back, slightly bent over without a jacket, fourth from the left. He would go on to become editor of the Calgary Herald.
An April 20, 1953, column by Dick Sanburn out of the Calgary Herald, from Calgary, Canada, shared the news that a new type of jeep, the Mighty Mite, had been introduced. This led Dick to reminisce about the capabilities and rough ride of the jeeps he experienced during WWII. I thought his take on the customization of jeeps by their drivers (or jockeys as he refers to them).
Dick Sanburn’s column “Take it From Here” was launched after the joined the Calgary Herald in 1951. It became a local landmark. According to his obituary, “People either loved it or hated it, but they were never neutral. And that was because Sanburn never pulled his punches.”
During his earlier years as a war correspondent, he was frequently under fire. By the end of the war he had been made a member of the Order of the British Empire. Dick passed away on October 1, 1982 (his obit is at the bottom of this post, along with two of his articles).
Just this one post for Tuesday …
A search of Jeep parades at Newspapers.com revealed endless WWII and post-WWII jeep parades for a myriad of causes. Below is a sample:
This August 08, 1943, photo and article published in the Charlotte Observer highlights a jeep parade held for Army Air Force recruitment.
A June 17, 1942, blurb in the Marysville Journal Tribune noted that Marlene Dietrich and 100 jeeps would be parading in Toledo for a War Bond drive.
Sinbad the dog, a decorated 8-year veteran of the Coast Guard, got his own jeep parade according to a January 09, 1946, article in the Marysville Journal-Tribune out of Ohio.
The March 06, 1946, issue of The Leader-Post out of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, reported that the first 100 jeeps to be imported into Colombia formed a parade in Bogota.
This April 21, 1953, article in the News-Pilot out of San Pedro, California, gives some background on the Annual Jeep Cavalcade trip to Borrego, California. The group totaled 175 jeeps and 600 hundred people.
The article’s author makes a pretty blatant plug for the vehicle one of the reporters was driving, noting that the “powerful new Chrysler Sedan provided by Kroll Motors handled with ease and driving comfort that are characteristic of Chrysler engineer.” (insert eye-rolling emoji here) ….
Andy McIntyre built this model jeep with ingenuity and scavenged parts to help teach his two daughters, Ann and Phyllis, how to drive and use hand signals. He also planned to introduce them to local law enforcement. Eventually, he wanted to teach all the kids how to properly drive, as he noted in the article “Children of today are born into an age of speed … Everyone needs to sharpen his wits to keep step with this age of machines.” It sounds like Andy and his wife raised their girls to be tough and independent!
It sounds like the family had a third daughter, Joy, who passed away in 2008, proceeded by the deaths of her parents Andy and Cora McIntyre. The older sisters, Ann and Phyllis, were still alive as of 2008.
August 16, 1953, article in The Independent Record, out of Helena, Montana.