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Way back when I was a senior in high school, The son of a friend of my Dad's from when he worked at General Motors drove an old Willys Jeep to school. I had known him since he was in 6th grade middle school and knew his dad most of my life. One day he came into school and came looking for me to tell me his dad had decided to sell the Jeep and wanted to offer it to me first. He told me it wasn't a military jeep but looked the same. He was asking $1000 for it but since he knew me and his son and I were friends, and he had known Dad for years, he said if I wanted it, he'd take $700. I used half of my trust fund and most of my pay check to buy it. What I had was a 1948 CJ2A Willys Jeep. As a 17 year old kid, I didn't have a welder, but 2 years later when I finally got around to getting my driver's license, I had half of my Associate's Degree in Aviation Maintenance. I did what body work I could that hadn't been done, and finished what had been started. A friend helped me make a trade with a friend of his in the Air Force, and for a case of beer, I got 2 gallons of US issue gloss green vehicle paint. Of course, I did the proper thing and painted it with a brush. Better than the mops the military used for repainting!. It came with a USN issue arctic hardtop and a heater and had been converted to 12v. I changed the old pneumatic wiper motor for an electric one, but otherwise left it the same. AS I did research, I started to find oddities. The VIN number did not match up with 48 production numbers, but the body was wrong for a 49 which the VIN did fall in. It did however, fall into the military number range for 44-45, but once again, the body was wrong. During restoration, I had found many military parts or parts that were OD under the other colors of paint which included a green similar to the old US Forestry Service, flat OD, and gloss dark blue. I knew I was owner #3. I later found out the original owner, a farmer, had bought it surplus. Recently I found out that when the USAF became it's own branch, the Army did not supply them with equipment. They had to appropriate their own. Aside from aquisitions from the Army and Navy, the USAF often bought privately from Willys or from local dealerships to cut through red tape and expedite delivery of vehicles. This Jeep was one of them. I quit driving it after college, and it then sat in the garage for 30 years. Last summer, a friend discussed restoring it again but other projects came up. This spring he contacted me to let me know he was finished with the last 2 Jeeps and was ready for mine. I had 7 days to get it out. I did it in 3 and a half. decades of things moved, tossed, and the jeep cleaned out. This will be an on going post as I get updates and find the original pics I have from when I first bought it in 1986. We will be removing the tow bar and bar stop, leaving the winch, adding spare tire and gas can and putting a radio mount in the back. I will be turning it into a USAF radio jeep from the late 40's - Early Korean War era. Will probably mark it to either Lockbourne Air Base (SAC) which was a local base, Wright-Patt R&D, or Muroc Air Base where the Mach 1 tests were done. Here she is as he looked after a quick resto in the late 80's and a little body work repair while it was sitting. He was trailered up with his older brother, a 45 MB that belongs to another friend of mine which was restored by the same guy doing mine.
ripcord
