remember when these were advertised for sale for $49

[Paul Pless]

in the back of popular mechanics and other similar magazines
man i wish i had bought be one or two of them

dfbd78f7d018770cb40201164d0e0803.jpg

[Paul Pless]

[LOKI]

Princess Auto in Canada started out by selling such. You could buy Bren gun carrier tracked vehicles . I was born a little to late to take advantage..

[Ian McColgin]

When I was in junior high, a friend's father got one, and set Steve and I to work cleaning that nasty grease off all the parts.

[Jim Bow]

Pop Mech also advertised these:
A53CC134-0952-4F40-9FD2-8E5467BC0910.jpg

[Jim Bow]

And these:


856C038C-53CB-4184-99C5-C20AE93C4079.jpg

[L.W. Baxter]

i wanted the sea monkeys but could never scrape together the coin.

4F952F68-DFAA-42D3-B58A-C37574DFD752.jpg

[LOKI]

All the war surplus stuff came covered in Cosmolene , nasty to clean off but imagine how bad for the GI in the cold to try to clean, Sea Monkeys was one I fell for, Brine shrimp was what they were, Dads tropical fish loved them! Tons and tons of vehicles were dumped in the oceans of the world rather than bring them home to America and dilute the value of the items. Knew a Maltese friend whose dad brought up Harleys and Indians from their drop points offshore

[ron ll]

Know how long it would have taken me to save $49 then working at the Dairy Queen? That was more money than I could imagine.

[Jimmy W]

My father had one of the Willys jeeps. The first vehicle that I ever drove except for maybe his old Case tractor. He just kept a pocket knife stuck in the ignition switch for a key. I have a Willys jeep here that belongs to my sister. I bought a fuel pump for it a few years back, but it didn't fit so don't know if it still has original engine or isn't the year that she thinks it is. I need to get my sister to pay to get it running again.

[ron ll]

I seem to recall some had Studebaker engines. Or did I misremember?

[ron ll]

Fun to watch old MASH or Blacksheep Squadron reruns and watch anyone jump into the nearest one at hand and speed off.

[JayInOz]

My Dad knocked back a job driving with convoys bringing army surplus back down from the top end after the war. One of his cousins went instead. You could buy brand new Jeeps for fifty pounds. WLA Harleys were five or ten pounds each but you had to buy a minimum of five. The big station I lived on for many years had numerous sheds built from dismantled army buildings and most of the machinery on the place was ex military. Everything from big trucks, a scout car, two Matilda tanks, a bulldozer and road grader, a mountain of new bike parts- mostly Indian Scout- to collapsible canvas and timber landing boats and fighter plane cockpit covers. Also many tons of nuts, bolts, nails, lights, gauges, tools and equipment. The blackout lights, horn and leg shields for my old WLA were in amongst piles of stuff in one of our storage sheds. JayInOz

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

i wanted the sea monkeys but could never scrape together the coin.

4F952F68-DFAA-42D3-B58A-C37574DFD752.jpg

Count yourself lucky! I got sea-monkeys...and I can't seem to get rid of them!

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

no jeep ...but we had one of these.

[Breakaway]

When I was in junior high, a friend's father got one, and set Steve and I to work cleaning that nasty grease off all the parts.

Cosmoline!


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[Canoeyawl]

These are what I fell for. and commended by Parents magazine

Attachment 130309

I still have one of those!

[Jimmy W]

I own this. I got it from my father, he was very disappointed when i told him that it wasn't ex-military. Was made to be pulled by a jeep and uses same wheels as Willys of late 1940s.

Hercules trailer.jpg

[Jim Bow]

The Sea Monkeys and the White Supremacist
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...473-story.html

[Nicholas Carey]

in the back of popular mechanics and other similar magazines
man i wish i had bought be one or two of them

dfbd78f7d018770cb40201164d0e0803.jpg

Back in the late 1980s, I had the opportunity to buy a British Army surplus Land Rover. With a pintle mount for the Browning .50 BMG, a la Rat Patrol.

I think he wanted $4,000 for it, but as already had Italian disease (Fiat X1/9), and figure I didn't need a dose of English disease.

[Breakaway]

I still have one of those!

They are still in business!

https://www.bigbangcannons.com/

Kevin


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[Jim Bow]

When I was stationed in Monterey CA kin 1967, two guys in our barracks bought an Air Force Harley Sportster for right around $100. I think the sales place was called Oak Knoll Army Depot. Never figured out why the USAF had a Harley Sportster.

[RFNK]

We have a lot of redundant (i.e., useless) US military surplus items here. See if you can get a catalogue from RAAF.

[birlinn]

no jeep ...but we had one of these.

Yep- my dad had one, and made a removable 'covered wagon' canvas roof for it to make a camping trailer for us two kids. It had a small mattress in the back; parents had a tent to themselves.
Towed it behind our old Ford Ten. It was kept in a garage with an earth floor and had the front prop down, when it was struck by lightning.
The lightning burnt a hole in the garage window glass about 30 mm in diameter, and didn't even crack it!

[skuthorp]

Dad and grandpa bought 3 surplus Harley army motor bikes still in crates post war, maybe 1951?
One was fitted with a big box sidecar that could hold 2/3 sheep. One was sold when assembled and the other was there for riding. Sprung tractor seat, tank mounted gear lever with reverse…. The grease was never completely removed.
I was allowed to ride it when I was strong enough to start it…and lift it if it fell over.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Just the other day I was mentally comparing the original Jeep in the OP, along with the many years of CJ's, with the current bloated collection of 4-door Wranglers (I forget all the other names) produced by Stelantis and wondering whether the current models will inspire enthusiasm on the used car market for custom modification. I think not. As a tot in the 1940's I spent many hours drawing and redrawing an exaggerated profile of a Jeep. I guess it's what led me to seek employment as a draftsman after US Army service, employment which rapidly developed into designer. In the end, following 40 years of work in a wide variety of industries, I considered myself a "cheap Industrial Designer". Used to be I couldn't wait to get to the office on Monday to flesh out ideas which had germinated and maybe roughly sketched over the weekend. Thanks Jeep.,

[Garret]

A guy I knew bought one of the $49 Jeeps. What arrived vaguely resembled what had been a Jeep. Chute didn't open? Run over by a Deuce? Dunno, but there was no way it would become a whole Jeep without a lot more parts.

On the XRay glasses - how come they could see under the dress but not under the underwear?

[Paul Pless]

On the XRay glasses - how come they could see under the dress but not under the underwear?

shouldn't something be left to the imagination

[Breakaway]

shouldn't something be left to the imagination

Joni thinks that's not so bad.




Kevin

[bamamick]

I always had a plan to buy one of the retired postal service Jeeps. I guess I have always liked Jeeps. My dad had an army-surplus 'Willys' and that's what I learned how to drive with, pulling stumps after Hurricane Camille. I was all of ten years old.

Mickey Lake

[Dan McCosh]

In the early 1950s, you could pick up a surplus Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engine for about $500; surplus C-47s virtually for free. Bombers and fighter planes were being scrapped at a rate that the bottom dropped out of the aluminum metal market. Some of the V12s ended up in unlimited race boats; the aircraft created a boom in startup air freight companies; the aluminum set off a short burst of portable, mobile housing, etc.

[bamamick]

I have a friend who owns, right now, two Russian and one Polish MiG aircraft, and he flies them in shows all over the country as part of this Warbirds outfit. It's an interesting world.

Mickey Lake

[heimlaga]

My uncle still uses an US army surplus petrol generator unit coupled to a US army surplus 220-110 volt transformer run backwards. He uses it when he repairs sheds that are too far from any power outlet. It came over with the invasion of France and Germany and was sold off when most Americans went home after the end of the war. The americans had brought their own 110 volt equipment together with 110 volt generators and 220-110 volt transformers so they could either use power from the local grid or make their own.
Like all other leftovers the end station was my uncle's farm.

He also had a Zundapp motorcykle which had been made for the German army ahead of the war. The side car wheen was powred and there was a mount for a machine gun which of cause had been removed. He used it for many years until the road to the farm got improved enough to carry car traffic year round. He later sold it to a collector.

[Stiletto]

That reminds me of a friend who had a surplus WWII Army Indian motorcycle that was brand new out of the crate in 1963.

[bamamick]

I used to work with a guy who a gun enthusiast. He used to bring these pretty cool magazines to work featuring British Enfield rifles from the Boer War, still packed in the original grease and wax paper. There were all kinds of old Mauser rifles, that sort of thing. Remington rifles from the Egyptian army. All in 'brand new' condition.

As a sort-of history buff it was neat just to see the stuff they offered. Bayonets and canvas gear. Sam Browne leathers. Surplus solar helmets. Amazing.

Mickey Lake