Military Vehicles, April 1997,: [MV] Mystery Jeep followup

[MV] Mystery Jeep followup

Tom Lentz (tlentz@teknon.com)
Thu, 24 Apr 97 23:22:03

Hello! If you remember I subscribed a few weeks ago and asked for
some help IDing an old Jeep that my girlfriend was interested in (it
was her grandfather's). Well, I finally got a chance to go see it
with her, and thanks to many people's help here I'm a lot closer to
knowing what it is. From the clues I was told, it appears to be a
post-war civilian CJ-2A. Here's what we came up with:

Flat front fenders.
Could not see tailgate, due to storage of stuff piled in rear.
Tailgate has a spare tire (and a jerry can) on it.
No glove box
The plaque where the glove box would be merely says "Jeep" and
explains operation of the gears and transfer case. No other useful
info on it.
It says "Willys" on the sides of the hood and in the center below the
windshield.
There is a tag on the firewall, passenger side, that says "CJ-2A
Willys Overland Motors, Inc. BODY I34949". Does that BODY number
tell me anything?
Could not see toolboxes in the rear corners, but again there was stuff
piled in the rear.
Flathead 4-cyl engine. Says JEEP and Willys on the head.
Did not find a GPW on the head by the thermostat housing.
Did not see a serial number on the boss behind the water pump.
Engine looks clean and well maintained (new plugs, good belts, no
leaks).
6-volt electrical system. Big regulator (about the size of two packs
of cigarettes) on inside of right fender. Generator is about a foot
long and 5-6 inches in diameter.
Three caps on the battery. Battery is on a tray at front of right
inner fender, not in a box. T3 headlights (neat!)
Can't find a back seat, but again, stuff piled in back.
Top is in excellent condition!
Gauges all appear to be there. Not removeable by dzus fasteners.
No toolbox that I could find, where should it be?
Grille is stamped sheet metal.
Wipers are top mounted.
2-spd transfer case. 3-spd tranny.
The winch on the front says "KOENIG IRON WORKS MODEL R100 HOUSTON,
TX". Looks to be in great shape.
(A few people have asked me about the winch already, and no it's not
for sale unless the whole Jeep goes)
Keys are long ago lost, and there are no plates.
Trailer hitch and corresponding small utility trailer, apparently
home-built.

Overall: The Jeep appears to be in good shape. Everything appears to
all be there and I saw nothing obviously broken. No rust, but about a
half-dozen layers of bad paint on the thing. The last layer is red
where it's not chipped off. I have some small hope that whomever
stored it last knew what they were doing, since the battery was
disconnected. The top (and doors) is in amazingly great shape, I'm
impressed! The vehicle overall appears well used, probably as a work
vehicle. Tires are in okay condition, and only one looks half-flat,
the rest are still holding air!

Thanks everyone for your help with this thing (esp. Jim Rice,
wonderful jeep-detective instructions!). Whatever anyone can make of
the above details would be helpful, especially any estimates of it's
resale value. Next project would be finding the seral number on it
and do a title search.

Tom Lentz
tlentz@teknon.com

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