UPDATE: These hoods were sold on eBay.
Thanks to Scott for spotting this unusual auction. The seller is selling an original, flattened jeep hood from WWII that was used in part of a homeowner’s wall rebuild (most likely) just after the war ended. You’ll need to read the text below to get the full story. I imagine the seller will be selling the other hoods later.
Wall of hoods before being removed.
The hood up for auction.
“QUESTIONS:
Where did the Willys MB come from, whose hoods ended up in a junkyard in Bonn?
And how did the hoods from the junkyard get to the ceiling of a Bonner Bürgerhaus?
And why can you buy one of these historic hoods on Ebay now?
ANSWERS:
The history of the jeeps could have started 18 kilometers from Bonn…
Once there was a Feldflugplatz Odendorf – a temporarly airfield made in 1938 / 1939. Adolf Hitler used it and Göring and Goebbels did too. They used it to reach the „Felsennest“ in Rodert, a secret and not so well known Führerhauptquartier deep in the Eifel woods. Hitler was there in autumn 1939, because of a possible invasion of France and the Low Countries. And the end of WWII Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the airfield. General George Patton was there to pick him up – with a lot of Willys of course…
But Odendorf was of course not the only historical place in the vicinity of Bonn for the American army. This was above all the world-famous bridge of Remagen after its capture on 7 March 1945.
The Battle of Remagen during the Allied invasion of Germany resulted in the unexpected capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine and shortened World War II in Europe. After capturing the Siegfried Line, the 9th Armored Division of the U.S. First Army had advanced unexpectedly quickly towards the Rhine.
They were very surprised to see one of the last bridges across the Rhine still standing. The Germans had wired the bridge with demolition charges. When they tried to blow it up, only a portion of the explosives detonated. U.S. forces captured the bridge and rapidly expanded their first bridgehead across the Rhine, two weeks before Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s meticulously planned Operation Plunder. The GIs’ actions prevented the Germans from regrouping east of the Rhine and consolidating their positions.
Everywhere Willys MB jeeps were used.
1945, after the war and the collapse of the Third Reich, the Willys, who had suffered severe damage during the war, remained in Germany. Some came to a junkyard in Bonn-Endenich. Opposite the cemetery in the Hainstraße they were stored and dismantled. You’ll find this place still on Google Earth…
And when the citizens of Bonn repaired their homes from the damage caused by the American bombers, these hoods were of course welcome. They took the bonnets, knocked them flat and nailed them to the walls and ceilings. Then they covered them with boards and so they were gone and forgotten for over 70 years.
A few weeks ago, a citizen of Bonn restored his old house, removed the boards from the ceiling of an old stable and discovered the boards. The house is only 500 meters away from this old junkyard. Therefore it is no mystery where the sheets came from in 1946/1947…
So they came from the junkyard 1946 and they should return to the junkyard in 2018. But we saved them, now they’re on Ebay – that’s the whole story.
You, dear Ebayer, have now the opportunity to bid for these unique witnesses of the past.
Please note: Only the hood on picture 1 is now offered on Ebay. We will decide later, what should be done with the other 13 hoods.”
Other photos of hoods the seller has:
Continue reading →
