Jim Fowler and His 1947 CJ-2A

Jim Fowler and His 1947 CJ-2A


Jim Fowler will be traveling to Alaska with his friend Kevin in Jim’s 1947 CJ-2A towing a specially built trailer.

Before Jim went off to college in 1980, his father bought him a CJ-2A for $200. He couldnt believe it at first, especially when his father brought it home. It was in poor shape and was a learning experience. Two years later, after bouts of sporadic building, he had it on the road. Soon, it became his primary transportation for years.

Over the years, he has updated his jeep. One major update was the installation of a 1980 231 V6 and upgrading the electrical system to 12 volts. Hes also added a winch, roll bar, overdrive, and other miscellaneous changes.

As with most vintage jeep owners, Jim owns more than one jeep. He has a 1950 panel delivery wagon that was his great aunts jeep that needs some restoration. He also has a 1972 Ford Bronco.

Jims 1947 before his rebuild:

After the rebuild:

TIMELINE OF WILLYS-OVERLAND/JEEP NAMES AND OWNERS:

From its inception as the Overland Automotive Company in 1903 to its purchase by Fiat in 1914, the company we once knew as Willys-Overland and now know as the Jeep Corporation has gone through several ownership changes, each with unique complexities. For example, Willys-Overland’s ownership during the late 1930s and through WWII involved several inter-related companies, as a 1946 Fortune article explains in detail.  Because of the nuances involved with each transaction, the timeline below gives just a taste of the Jeep’s corporate history as it changed names and owners:

1903: Overland Automotive Company formed by Claude Cox.
1908: John North Willys buys the Overland Automotive Company.
1912: Willys renames the company Willys-Overland. By then it was the second largest automaker (behind Ford).
1917: John Willys forms the Willys Company, a holding company that owned several automotive companies, including Willys-Overland, Electric Auto-Lite, F.B. Stearns, Russell Motor Car, and New Process Gear.
1940: American Bantam & Willys Overland submit prototypes for military contract.
1941: Willys-Overland wins military contract, introduces the Willys MB.
1945: Willys-Overland introduces the first civilian jeep, the CJ-2A.
1946: Willys-Overland introduces, arguably, the first SUV with the ‘Jeep’ Station Wagon.
1953: Willys-Overland is bought by Kaiser-Frazer. The two companies form a new entity called Kaiser-Willys. Willys Motors is formed to handle domestic jeep manufacturing and sales. The Willys Export Company is formed to handle international sales.
1963: Willys Motors is renamed Kaiser Jeep.
1969: Kasier Jeep is sold by Kaiser-Willys to the American Motors Corporation (AMC). Kaiser-Jeep is renamed the Jeep Corporation.
1987: The Jeep Corporation’s parent company, AMC, is acquired by Chrysler.
1998: Chrysler and Daimler-Benz merge to form DaimlerChrysler AG.
2007: Chrysler is sold to a private group.
2009: Chrysler enters and exits bankruptcy.
2011: Fiat buys initial stake in Chrysler.
2014: Fiat acquires full control of Chrysler.

More on the history of Willys/Jeep:

Joe Beadenkopf & His 1953 CJ-3B

Joe Beadenkopf & His 1953 CJ-3B

Joe Beadenkopf is a thirty-two year old master Auto Mechanic. He’ll be traveling to Alaska with his girlfriend, Emily Means.

Growing up in a small town in Maryland, Joe lived in a neighborhood of muscle car builders. When he was fourteen, Joe helped a neighbor restore a 1970’s nova. That hooked him on old cars.

Joe was only eighteen when he bought his first jeep, a 1985 CJ-7. Once he caught the jeep bug, he couldn’t live without one. He’s not been without a jeep since.

On the Alaska Or Rust trip, Joe is taking his 1953 Willy CJ3B, a jeep he’s owned for 4 years. When he first bought it, the CJ-3B was nothing but a non-running rust bucket. It took years, but eventually Joe rebuilt it with a custom frame and upgraded suspension. He also swapped out the axles for a set of Dana 44s with front disc brakes. The jeep is powered by a fuel injected V6 with a five-speed manual transmission.

Joe is no amatuer when it comes to long road trips. In 2015, he drove his CJ-3B across the county. His friend from high school, Greg, joined him riding a Harley. Together they traveled almost 8,000 miles in two weeks. Joe’s goal is to drive his CJ-3B on as many adventures that he can. He can’t wait to hit the road with the East Coast Group and make memories that will last a lifetime.

CJ-3B HISTORY: The CJ-3B was first produced in 1953 as a transitional model between the low-powered WWII and earl civilian jeeps and the later CJ-5. The biggest visual difference between the early civilian jeeps and the CJ-3B was the taller hood and cowl, something Willys Overland engineers raised so they could install the taller f-134 four cylinder engine. This gave the CJ-3B a different look than its predecessors. Here is a comparison between a CJ-2A and a CJ-3B:

The CJ-3B was produced in the United States between 1953 and 1968, with production numbers totaling approximately 150,000 jeeps. The design was licensed aboard as well, where even more jeeps were manufactured.

There is no better source for the extensive history of the CJ-3B than the CJ-3B page: https://cj3b.info.

 

Andreas Gruson And His Jeeps

Andreas Gruson is a busy executive who operates Industrial Advisory Services. He’s got several jeeps, including a Kubota powered 1963 Truck, a green CJ-2A and a red CJ-3A. Andreas will be driving his recently rebuilt Kubota powered 1963 truck. Accompanying him will be his teenage son Luis and two friends, Dario and Marcello Riera, who will be traveling in a truck and trailer (just in case).

LONG TRIPS IN JEEPS:

People have used jeeps to travel far and wide. The Alaska Or Rust crew follows a long, proud tradition of exploring via the jeep. Here are fourteen early great adventures:

  1. Bantam BRC in 1940: The earliest documented trip occurred September 29th, 1940. That was the day the very first jeep—the original Bantam BRC constructed in only 49 days—was driven 270 miles from Butler, Pennsylvania, to the testing ground in Holabird, Maryland. It was an amazing accomplishment given the newly designed vehicle had been barely assembled, let alone tested.
  2. Wolf Blint in 1945: Near the end of World War II, Wolff Blint escaped fighting on the eastern front by driving across Europe to Paris. He documented his story in his memoir, By Jeep To Freedom. The book is out of print and difficult to find.
  3. Soldier and Bride Return from Europe circa 1945: An unconfirmed event, the story unfolds with a U.S. soldier marrying a woman in Europe following WWII. Somehow, he is able to secure a jeep. Together, the pair drive to a port in France or Germany, have the jeep shipped to America, and then drive the remainder of the route to the man’s hometown in Illinois.
  4. Ben Carlin in 1948-1958: In 1948, Australian Ben Carlin began a trek around the world by heading east over the Atlantic Ocean in a modified 1943 Ford GPA (a jeep made to float over water) named ‘Half-Safe’. Over the succeeding ten years, Ben and Half-Safe traveled 50,000 miles over a period of ten years. His exploits filled three books, each book covering his voyage in different ways. Half-Safe can be seen in action in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Gqi-RlbO0
  5. Helen & Frank Schreider in 1954-1955. Helen & Frank Schreider first jeep ended in a failed attempt to cross Panama in a Willys wagon when their jeep was beat to death as they drove across a long train trestle. For their 1954-55 attempt they purchased and customized a Ford GPA, naming it La Tortuga. Starting in Alaska, the pair traveled all the way to South America. Subsequently, they wrote a book called 20,000 Miles South: A Pan American Adventure in a Seagoing Jeep From the Arctic (A nearly identical version is published under the name La Tortuga). They also filmed some of their trip and toured the United States giving lectures about their experiences.
  6. Three Boy Scouts Travel 44,000 Miles in 1955: Dubbed Operation Pineapple, three Sao Paulo Boy Scouts—Hugo Vidal, Charles Downey, and Jan Stekly—drove from South America to Alaska and back as part of their effort to attend the 8th World Scout Jamboree in Canada. The CJ-3B Page has an excellent overview of their trip.
  7. Dorothy Rogers & Louise Ostberg in 1955-1956: Dorothy and Louise were two college professors from New York who met while traveling in Europe. They successfully circumvented Africa in a jeep wagon. Dorothy later wrote a book about their adventure called Jeopardy and a Jeep.
  8. Joe Ceurvorst in 1956: Joe wrote a book called Africa in a Jeep about driving around the northern part of the African continent.
  9. Roy Follows and Noel Dudgeon in 1958: Joe and Roy were two Colonial Police officers fighting Chinese Communists near the end of the Malayan Emergency. Ready to head home, the pair bought a Willys MB in February of 1958, then begin a long journey home full of obstacles, broken parts, encounters with unfriendlies and more. Their tale from Singapore to the United Kingdom unfolds in their book about the trip: The First Overland: Four Wheels and Frontier.
  10. Jack & Doreen Shakespeare in 1958: Jack and Doreen drove their early wagon from Australia to England. Lucky for us, they filmed their trip. You can relive their adventures on youtube.
  11. Helen and Frank Schreider in 1960: Ready to his the road again, Helen and Frank rebuild a second Ford GPA that they use to float the Ganges River in India. Their five month 1960 India adventure from the mouth of the Ganges to its source filled forty-two pages of the October, 1960, issue of National Geographic.
  12. Helen and Frank Schreider in 1960-1961: On the heels of their India trip, the Schrieders, again with National Geographic support, tackled the breadth of Indonesia, a 17,000 island archipelago, going to places and completing a trip that few, if anyone, has replicated. Their 4,000 mile trip lasted a year. Their ability to shuttle between islands and over land took them to places no vehicles had gone. Helen and Frank wrote two subsequent articles for National Geographic (May 1961 & August 1962) and a second book, the Drums of Tonkin: An Adventure In Indonesia. They went on to work regularly for National Geographic, though their jeeping days ended.
  13. Harold Stephens in the mid-1960s: Harold drove around the world in a CJ-5 and Toyota Landcruiser. He wrote about his experience in Who Needs a Road? Harold went on to become a travel author.
  14. Dorothy Rogers & Louise Ostberg in the mid-1960s: In the late 1950s, Willys Motors introduced two Forward Control jeep trucks called the FC-150 & FC-170s. Dorthy and Louise thought the latter would make a great vehicle to tour the world. So, they bought one and set off on their second major jeep trip. Dorothy later wrote about their experiences in Highways Across the Horizon.