442ndRCT Soldier's Forum

Jeeps are pretty interesting. If you do not know what you are doing, you can really get stuck with a rusty piece of junk.

Yes, alot of jeeps here for sale are either 1942 or 1945. Jeeps made in 1942 were used by the Army for training and usually when the units were sent overseas they were sent with new equipment so most of the 43-44 jeeps went overseas. The 45 jeeps mostly were still sitting in the states when the war ended.

The prototype jeeps made prior to the war, the GP's, MA and such were mostly sent overseas as lend lease. These early jeeps were phased out as obsolete by our own military.

Q: Where is the gas cap and gas tank for a WW2 Jeep
A: The tank and gas cap is under the driver's seat

Q: What do "blackout lights" look like.
A: See pictures below

A little off topic but the CO of VMFAT-101 has a M151 that they are busy doing a paint job on to make it the squadron colors. I'll snap a picture. Lots of aftermarket work. The engine is just... wow. I mean they put a cold air intake on a Jeep engine. Kinda nuts. But I think its a cool project regardless. If walk by and I have my cell I'll snap a picture and post it. But did 151's have the gas under the driver still? It appears to be so.

Those pictures Dave posted are of a jeep that was at the PTO battle this month. That's an early 42 Willy's slat grill jeep. Those are not as common as the production jeeps like I have and most of the jeeps out in the field. I was surprised to see a reenactor using one of these out there and have noticed it at a few events. These are more valuable and rare.

Very cool jeep I might add. The guy didn't just add a slat grill to a production jeep, it really IS a slat grill jeep.

Here are some other features which Tim has pointed out

Headlights which pivot back so that the light can be shined into the engine area


Canvas cover over the windshield to eliminate the reflection from the sun on the glass winshield


And finally if you plan on mounting a machine gun your jeep, you need to have a military chassis or your going to have to weld in a gun mount. On every Military Jeep, a circular plate was standard

Here is a 'buyer beware' jeep. In the militaria world you would consider this a 'reproduction' not an original. You have read the seller's description carefully to realize this isn't what he claims it to be. Still it isnt' a bad jeep and probably a pretty good choice for a reenactment jeep. Might not even get outrageously expensive like many jeeps do. He calls this a "1944 fully restored MB Jeep".

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Militar ... 262407446&

Vehicle Description

This is a body off full restoration, Fisrtly I could not find a perfect 1944 frame so I used and converted a 1945 cj2a frame so all the componants would fit exactly to the 1944 mb.The frame was totally sandblasted with two coats of primer and two coats of marine corp green. The tub, fenders hood and grill are perfect repos, from the phillipines.It has the correct tranny and transfer case. every part that had wear was replaced with the correct part. . The front end is a 1945 cj2a. This jeep placed second in show in the only show I entered. It drives and rides perfect. The frame tag is " MB 441828 " and it is titled accordingly in Texas. All the seats are new as well as the covers and the top. It has a small cutout in the behind the tranny, I installed a T 90 to start with , then decided to go with the correct T 84 . I have spent countless hours building the jeep and now i am ready to move on with other projects, This jeep must be picked up locally. The trailer pictured can be purchased seperatly for $2,000 and is optional and it comes with ramps and a winch. The trailer was painted to match the jeep.

This was his description. I bolded the parts that clue you in that this is nothing more than a parts jeep and none of that original military but all postwar manufacture. Still a perfect reenactors jeep except for one thing.



Because he used a postwar CJ civilian frame there is no machine gun pedestal mount plate welded to the frame. Not a big deal but could lead to the pedestal mount to tear itself out of the floor of the jeep without the proper support. If you intend to mount a machine gun in the jeep the most likely thing that will happen without that plate is the MG will wobble back and forth pretty badly till it tears itself out of the floor while you are driving off road.

If I had purchased this jeep for reenacting I would first repaint it. Notice he has a gloss coat on it. Many people do that because it will help protect the body from rust and rot. Military paint oxidizes quickly and needs to be repainted often. Of course you can always repaint right over the old gloss coat.

I would consider this a good buy for our purpose unless you really want a real WWII jeep. As far as being a reenactors jeeps it's a good find. To mount a machine gun in it would take some thought but other than that it's a decent jeep. I would expect a jeep like this to go for no more than a militarized post war CJ jeep would. Of course eBay is a world within itself so who knows?

It's at $4,000 right now and still hasn't hit the reserve. I bet he wants $10,000 or more. The reproduction body alone might have cost him close to the $4,000 price or more.

Here is another truly nice jeep:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-jeep-Ford-GPW- ... dZViewItem

But... another one with problems. It's probably a an even better restoration job than you will find in the states as the owner apparently did a meticulous job restoring it but there are some ancient restrictions about bringing ex-military vehicles back to the United States from overseas. Not that it can't be done, but if somebody wanted to make an issue of it you could be in for a hard time.

kanowarrior wrote:Here is a 'buyer beware' jeep. In the militaria world you would consider this a 'reproduction' not an original. You have read the seller's description carefully to realize this isn't what he claims it to be. Still it isnt' a bad jeep and probably a pretty good choice for a reenactment jeep. Might not even get outrageously expensive like many jeeps do. He calls this a "1944 fully restored MB Jeep".

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Militar ... 262407446&

Holy Crap! This jeep went for as much as I paid for mine! Goes to show, 'there's one born every minute'. Sad. That much money for something that isn't. eBay is a wierd world...