In June, 2018, Barry posted a note at earlycj5,com, a “discussion board for ECJ5 enthusiasts”, asking for farming stories. One of the members, Dan Montgomery, responded that he had home movies of a large custom baling operation using CJ5s in Northeastern California from the late 1960s. Dan’s CJ5 story has since been published in The Dispatcher Spring 2020 magazine. We asked Dan to post a version of the story, along with video and stills from the home movies here.
The story and accompanying movie are important because they happened two decades after the introduction of the CJ2a and the beginning of the Farm Jeep era. Following the introduction of the CJ5 in 1954, Willys reduced the amount of farm related advertising, A few examples appeared in the late 1950s and little if any farming ads have been found from the 1960s. As a result, we have done little to showcase the CJ5 and the second decade of the Farm Jeep.
In July, 2020 our friend Dave @ eWillys posted Four CJ-5 Oriented Questions that made us realize that we have neglected this important member of the Farm Jeep family. So in the coming months, and beginning with Dan’s story, we plan to bring together more CJ5 stories, and links to CJ5 information. We will need your help and look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.
For now, set back and enjoy a great CJ5 Farm Jeep story.