Karson Eilers (right), college graduate!
It was late Sunday night when I wrote this, so it’s going to be briefer than I’d like. We spent most of the day yesterday driving (after a long drive the day before). I believe I may be a little loopy; time to get some rest, so this is tonight’s only post.
For several weeks we’d been planning to go to Salt Lake City May 13th to celebrate my son’s graduation from Westminster University. It was only last week that this trip turned into a jeep purchase, this in turn led to a more circuitous route home. It is all the result of an ad I saw on Craigslist last week.
We left Thursday. last night we stayed in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
It was just another evening of reading through ads when I happened upon a Craigslist ad with no pics and a short description of a 1956 2WD jeep. Curious, as I thought it could be a DJ-3A, I sent an email, asking if it was wagon or truck. I quickly received a friendly email describing the jeep as a 1956 CJ-3A. What followed was me explaining what DJ-3A was, with my intent only being to educate and help the sellers find a good buyer. Pretty soon, I had a series of photos which depicted a very original 1956 DJ-3A with what appeared to be original seats, zero rust, and a variety of other parts.
At some point I showed Ann pictures of the jeep. Then, Ann’s mother piped up and said that she’d loan me the money if I wanted to purchase it. That led me to investigate the DJ-3A further.
The sellers, Nick and Erika, were wonderfully patient in their responses to my questions. When I asked for photos of some aspect, they were always quickly accommodating. After discovering there was a brake problem, some peeling paint, and a broken column shifter, I made an offer, which factored in my concern that there were other problems and one that also considered the distance we would have to travel to pick it up. The sellers accepted my offer, satisfied that it would go to someone who understood its value and would keep it stock. It was very generous of them.
Fast forward to Sunday (I won’t go into installing a hitch and activating the tow package in the jeep, which required a dealer), we arrived at 10am to meet Nick and Erika. They turned out to be as wonderful in person as they had been over email: gracious and kind.
Thanks Nick and Erika! We’ll take good care of Patterson.
Nick explained the history of the jeep. The city of Patterson (and reason behind the jeep’s name) is known as the apricot capital of the world. An apricot farmer there bought this DJ-3A new. The farmer used it on his farm and also drove it around town. I am even wondering if the color of this jeep is meant to be “apricot”, maybe special ordered? I looked extensively under the cowl and couldn’t find another color. And, it has an Apricot-themed license plate. I will keep investigating this.
There’s more to tell, but for now, here are some photos:
Has a rear seat. The seats look original.
The wood hood blocks had been replaced; the replacements work well.
Note the early CJ-5 0-10 speedo. This appears to confirm that the earliest DJs came with that speedometer.
New radiator built by Nick’s friend. It looks great!
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