May is our favorite month of the year here at Farm Jeep. It is the beginning of antique machinery and Jeep shows. But before we get to that fun, we have a news item, and as the title says, an Ask Farm Jeep update.
Walck’s 4 Wheel Drive has been our go-to vendor since we started this adventure twenty years ago. Carl Walck is retiring and has sold his business to Kaiser-Willys. We can’t tell you how many times we have been stuck or just plain lost when working on our Jeeps. Carl himself would most often answer a call to Walck’s. He always took the time to put us on the right path and never made us feel we didn’t know what we were doing. We will miss him and wish him a happy retirement.
Allan Knepper sent us an email asking for help in identifying a lift he had just purchased. Much to our surprise, it looks like a very ingenious modification to a Newgren.
No joke! According to the 1955 brochure the new CJ5 could haul two passengers and the driver in the front. Four passengers, two in the rear seat and two on the wheel wells could ride in cushioned comfort.
A portion of the center fold-out.
You can view the entire brochure by clicking here.
Personal Use
This may be the first brochure where “personal use” of Jeep gets equal billing along with the traditional uses in agriculture, industrial, and other work activities.
The newest edition of The Dispatcher magazine is out and Barry has the cover store. The article titled “How Henry Ford Saved the Jeep” looks at how Ford’s booting of his right-hand man of forty years changed the course of Willys-Overland. Charles E. Sorensen would bring his knowledge of the Ford 9N tractor, which he helped develop, to the design of a hydraulic lift for the Jeep. Sorensen also had to fight the Willys Board of Directors over what to build next; a much desired post-war car or Sorensen’s line of “utility vehicles.”
We, of course, think a subscription to The Dispatcher is worth it, just for this one article. Every issue is filled with articles of interest to anyone who loves old Jeeps. You can subscribe here. You can read the article here.
Dave at eWillys has reposted an article published just after the “Jeep Day” reveal of the CJ2a. We have added it to our early history section.
Thanks to Bill Norris and Keith Buckley, we now know that a “non” Jeep Approved farm lift, one produced by Transport Motor Company (TMC), appeared in national Willys ads in 1947. Up until now we had never seen a national Willys ad that featured any lifts other than the early Love, the Newgren, or Monroe. You can read the complete story by clicking here.
Ask Farm Jeep (but this time we asked the question)
A question was asked on the Early CJ5 forum about removing the governor control “T-handle, and we did some research on the on the CJ2a Forum. There we found Greg Robertson, who asked that he be referred to as a “”Mature WILLYS Enthusiast” rather than an expert.” He did, however, give expert advice and we have posted it here.
We also found Greg had answered another question on what governors had been used on the early Jeeps. We have posted this great summary here.
A few tweaks to the site
Over the past few years, we have moved from a project focused site with a collection of supporting materials, to a history oriented site. We have updated the top menu to reflect that change. We have changed the home page with the hope that first time visitor will be able to quickly locate the information they seek.
We know many visitors come looking for technical information about hydraulic lifts, governors, and PTOs, that make a Jeep a Farm Jeep. The Parts tab has been renamed Tech Info to hopefully make it clear that we have more than just parts data. Others are looking for Resources and we have moved Links, Ads and Brochures, plus Movies here. We do believe movies can be a valuable visual resource.
History is now its own special section, with sub-groups by the areas we research and write about. Stories, Shows and Questions now contains Projects too.
Please drop us a line if you have suggestions for how we can improve the site.
Happy New Year! We here at Farm Jeep enjoy brewing up a fresh batch of fun at the beginning of the year. We are looking forward to spending the next months digging up fun facts, fun shows and maybe a fun project or two.
Some things in the works
We have almost a dozen open research projects. We will be updating many of them with information we have gathered and been given. While we don’t make predictions or promises, there is a very good chance that Barry will have a new article published this year.
No resolutions just working on goals
Our goals have always been to first have fun, and second to share as much information as we can about the Farm Jeep. Our annual plan includes a monthly update, even if brief, to share our fun, no matter the form. With travel possible again, we might even get in a research trip.
It has been an eventful year here at Farm Jeep. Every month brought a new discovery of Farm Jeep history. We even made a little history of our own, Barry had the cover story on the May Farm Collector magazine. It was the first time a Jeep had graced the cover of this farm history publication.
We have visited new shows, made new friends and even added a new tradition to our holiday season. Gary contacted us with a story about how a model airplane kit box contained blank Newgren tags. The tags are a very rare find and we only wish they could tell us their story. Our Christmas trees tell a story through ornaments that commemorate special events that have happened over the years.. So this year we added one of the tags to our tree. It will be hung next year too. Thanks Gary.
And thanks to all of you who have made this another fun year. Merry Christmas!
For a company that only existed for a few years, Newgren sure got around. Sometimes in the strangest of places. For example, five blank Newgren Company equipment tags showed up in a model airplane kit. Here is the story.
It is corn harvest time in Indiana. There are still large farms around us and we have been sharing county roads with combines. We thought it might be a good time to talk about the role of the Farm Jeep in this important annual endvorer.
A 1953 Willys Motors, Inc Parts list showed up on eBay. It was well used, with greasy fingerprints on the front and back cover and the spine had black tape holding the pages together. Perfect. And it listed the Universal and Farm Jeep as separate models. We have scanned a few pages under the Special Equipment and Accessories section for now. Let us know if you are looking for a particular part or parts and we will make a copy for you.
In addition to part numbers, there are good cut-away illustrations too.
