Titles of this vintage are not run the same way they do today. In some states,
the year of the sale is the year that is put on the title. It could very well be a 1954
CJ-5, but sold in December 1953. If the dealer had a slow selling model, they
sometimes would send back the Manufacturer's Statement of Origin for a "fresh"
title with a new year. The best way to tell is by the data plate, but since you
don't have one, it is going to be tough. One way to tell is to look at the axle
assembly dates. (if the axles were not swapped out..)
>I DO KNOW that there are a couple of weird things about this CJ5 that the
>list may find interesting. One is that it has a dummy cover for the battery
>box that is on the M-38-A1. Cover will not move, and a battery tray on right
>fender. It is my theory that maybe this was a very early civilian model and
>they used a military body. Front right fender does not have recess for the
>slave receptacle as per the military, but again that is a replaceable part.
>Second oddity is that the windshield is a two piece, fold out glass, version
>similar to CJ-2A, but obviously made for CJ5/M38A1 body. Third item of
>interest it also has a small glove box on right side like my M38. It also
>has a MD serial number on the motor, but since this could have been changed
>out several times, I don't think that is too odd.
The first of the CJ-5s did have this dummy cover. You should also see underneath
the driver's seat that where the gas tank well would have been has been replaced
with a piece of sheet metal. Willys pretty much used the tooling they had available
to cut costs. I have not seen a fold out version of the windshield before. (Now this
is a windshield that has a inner windshield frame that can be tilted seperately from
the main windshield frame? This is not just a windshield with a center divider with
2 panes of glass?) If you have access to a scanner, I would love to see a picture of
this.
Todd Paisley
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