I have owned three Jeeps; two were wartime Jeeps and another was a postwar CJ3B remodelled from the wartime Jeep.
The three Jeeps were found in Papua New Guinea where I taught for almost 10 years in a split service starting in 1961 and finishing in 1975. I shipped home to Western Australia the last Jeep I owned in Popondetta a town in the Northern District of PNG. I rebuilt it over couple of years and eventually sold it to a colleague who still uses it on his farm.
The Jeep story is quite amazing. The U.S. government’s military needed a small, light 4 wheel drive do-all vehicle. In 1941, one vehicle manufacturer submitted a design which didn’t quite fit the bill. The design was given to Willys and a series of modifications created the MB. The vehicle was called a GP (general purpose) vehicle which became Jeep.
Two companies built the Jeep, Ford and Willys and a total of 640,000+ rolled off the production lines; 30 per hour. I believe that most of the Jeeps used overseas never returned to the U.S.. There were many in PNG post war and my hometown, Fremantle in Western Australia, saw plenty of Jeeps during WW2. I can remember them buzzing around the streets regularly.
I am sorry that I sold my jeep. Great basic machine.
It is a Ford Jeep and the Ford company marked almost every part with the Ford logo. The true Jeep enthusiast will notice the right-hand drive. No RH drive Jeeps were made in WW2. I converted it to RH drive to licence it.
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