Who Drives or Drove a Jeep
Posted: Jul 12 2020 5:19 pm
My first car was a 1946 Willys CJ2 Civilian Jeep that I got from my father in 1954. Just like the Military Jeeps of WWII but without the built-in appendages for combat arms and equipment. Like the rifle holders, the extra fuel cans and the axes and the shovels.
The military stopped production late in 1945 and started building for the civilian market by including a power take off in the rear of the Jeep. A column shift for the basic gears with the four-wheel drive and super low levers still on the floor.
There was a place on the dashboard for a key to unlock the ignition and start the engine! After all the Military Jeep did not have that feature because all the Military members were honest and would never ever steal a Jeep! Which meant the Jeep was the most often stolen item during the War.
The Army stole from the Navy and the Navy stole from the Army. The Marines stole from the Cost Guard, the Navy and the Army. To keep a Jeep from being stolen each Department of the Armed Services had to assign a permanent driver to each vehicle just to keep them from being stolen from another unit or branch of the service.
This caused a huge manpower shortage in the Military and so much so that it extended the War another year or two! This did not include Jeeps being stolen by friendly Allies and the enemy.
The Russians didn’t want the Jeep but we shipped them with the Lend/Lease equipment anyway. They loved them so much that they became the family sedan for most families after the War. You can still find pictures of them loaded up with family members going on picnics and what not.
When they Interrogated Prisoners of War after they had surrendered, the first question they asked them was why they gave up. Almost all of them answered because they wanted to drive a Jeep! And now I had one at the young age of 14 years old! My first car!
The military stopped production late in 1945 and started building for the civilian market by including a power take off in the rear of the Jeep. A column shift for the basic gears with the four-wheel drive and super low levers still on the floor.
There was a place on the dashboard for a key to unlock the ignition and start the engine! After all the Military Jeep did not have that feature because all the Military members were honest and would never ever steal a Jeep! Which meant the Jeep was the most often stolen item during the War.
The Army stole from the Navy and the Navy stole from the Army. The Marines stole from the Cost Guard, the Navy and the Army. To keep a Jeep from being stolen each Department of the Armed Services had to assign a permanent driver to each vehicle just to keep them from being stolen from another unit or branch of the service.
This caused a huge manpower shortage in the Military and so much so that it extended the War another year or two! This did not include Jeeps being stolen by friendly Allies and the enemy.
The Russians didn’t want the Jeep but we shipped them with the Lend/Lease equipment anyway. They loved them so much that they became the family sedan for most families after the War. You can still find pictures of them loaded up with family members going on picnics and what not.
When they Interrogated Prisoners of War after they had surrendered, the first question they asked them was why they gave up. Almost all of them answered because they wanted to drive a Jeep! And now I had one at the young age of 14 years old! My first car!
