Willys Overland shipping Dept.

[Akula69]

Too bad they stopped this after the war. I might be interested in buying a $50.00 crate jeep....

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the text, these pictures were taken at the Ford (yeah, I said Ford) assembly plant in California, where the Willys were crated for shipment to England and Russia by boat. To the best of the author's knowledge, none of the "Crate Jeeps for $50.00" still exist in the original crate. They were fully assembled except for the wheels, steering wheel and windshield.

 

In the late 40's, Popular Mechanics magazine ran advertisements from companies who stated "You can get a Willys Jeep for $20.00 and a postage paid return envelope", but most folks soon learned they were buying a catalogue on how to purchase government surplus......

 

Still, a tribute to the ingenuity of the Americans and businesses at the time.

[Megadan]

Heck, I'd love to do that even if it cost $1000 in todays money.

[jimoshel]

My Grand dad bought bought three of those in 1946. They were being sold in lots of three to keep the little folks out or some inane reason. It cost him $75 for all three. He had to drive from Joplin, Mo to Ft Leonard Wood to get them. That's what I learned how to drive with, as well as every kid in the family. He used one as a tractor to plow with and one as basic transportation. The third was up on blocks behind the barn. When he died I made a special trip from Co to Mo to see about getting one. When I got there all three were gone and nobody knew what happened to them. I drove by the place in 1987. It was abandoned and the forest had reclaimed the property. A shed he had built out of the shipping crates was still standing, although starting to sag a little bit.

[fiatslug87]

The Ford assembly plant in Richmond CA is about 30 miles from my house. Now it's a series of businesses and a large event hall called the Craneway Pavilion, my company held its holiday party there for the last several years.