In search of the new-in-the-crate $200 jeep

[Austringer]

With respect to all who replied, what I mostly see here is what I believe attorneys call hearsay evidence.

 

I am embarrassed that so much bandwidth has been devoted to what I originally intended as a whimsical question.

 

 

Here is a link to a PDF file I made of a copy of the War Assets Administration Surplus Vehicle sale in Jacksonville Fla on 9-11-1946. There are tons of jeeps with serial numbers listed and the fixed prices. Also, lots of Cushmans and a few Harleys. Let me know if you find your jeep listed here, would be interesting to know if it was sold at this sale.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?zj4te3cyzxb

 

Enjoy

 

Jason Green

[email protected]

[korea drab]

Jeeps in korea in 1960!

http://www.life.com/image/50777891

[Dave]

Okay, here are a few stories as I know them:

 

1. My dad had a friend who bought a 192x Rolls Royce from a lady in Bakersfield who had purchased it and never drove it. I think he paid less than $500 for it in the early 1950s (a HUGE sum for a teenager back then!) It came with a full set of spare tires. My dad has told countless stories about it through the years as they beat the tar out of it on desert backroads in the rural upper desert of California. True? Probably some 50+ year embellishment (starting at about 30+ year embellishment though from when the stories started in the early 80s) but still probably mostly true.

 

2. My dad also has stories of spending hours after school crawling through "thousands" of WW2 aircraft as a kid. He said that most of the fighter aircraft were stacked three high. His favorite was the P-38... True? These are also probably true as my grandfather was an engineer for the War Department and worked out in that area (also in the desert). My dad did tell me that the aircraft had a price tag of "a months pay" for my grandfather... probably somewhere around $1000 a month.

 

3. Thousands of military vehicles were given to state and local governments after the War. After all, they were good dependable vehicles and the civilian auto industry hadn't produced anything like them for the past five years. Many of these switched hands numerous times. In 1979, we bought a 1942 GPW from the local school district at auction for $400. In restoring it, we found 13 layers of paint! It had started out green, then Navy grey, then yellow (flight line) then blue (not sure who had the blue color) then three different shades of US Forest Service green followed by the remaining layers of paint from the school district (finally school bus yellow). It now resides in England where it had a complete ground-up restoration about 10 years ago and looks BEAUTIFUL. But many of these vehicles were surplused out from their owners. I once found two DUKWs that were owned by the US Forest Service in Lone Pine, California. (I still have photos of them, in fact.) I actually worked a deal for them to be transferred to me -free of charge- until the supervisor found that they had to be auctioned to make them legal. Unfortunately, being a 14 year old kid at the time, I couldn't get out of school to make the auction...but boy did I come close!

 

4. As far as the DRMO is concerned, it's often a gold mine. Amazingly, stuff that goes through there and out to the public is mind boggling. We pay $370 for a five gallon bucket of paint (it's actually two-part enamel) for our machinery. On our latest trip to DRMO (last month) we found several pallets of five gallon buckets of paint that we needed....but it had already been sold to the public and was awaiting pickup. The price? We were told "somewhere around" $5 a pallet... (oh, and there were 18...yes...18 five gallon buckets on each pallet!) One of the fellows at DRMO told us that there was a certain type of computer that had gone through DRMO that a surplus buyer purchased for $5 a computer. He turned them around and RESOLD them to the government at a price of $300 each. Not a bad profit...especially when you consider he bought THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND of them! (Yes, he made over $10 MILLION in profit reselling something to the government...) So yes, vehicles from there for a deal? I'm sure they happen. I do know that most of them are demilled though - back in the 80s when I was wanting to by an M151, I found that they were all cut in half...though there was even a market for those...

 

So just a few thoughts...did the $200 a crate for a Jeep ever happen? Maybe. Urban legend? Probably...but with my experience it's a pretty believeable urban legend...

 

Dave

[ColBob506]

Ok,time to throw this one out to ya.Never saw a jeep in a crate,but I damn near bought a Harley in one.The story in a nutshell is this,about a month before I ETS'd me and another short timer went out to the Log-Center at Ft. Lewis,that would make it 25 yrs ago.He had this brilliant idea,they were getting rid of alot of crap and emptying some of the warehouses to demolish them.You could buy a 151 for $75 and a trailer for $25,we were gonna buy them and drive them home as we could pack all our stuff in the trailer and it would be an adventure.They also had 4 WLA's in crates for $50,some guy had just bought 15 of them and was loading them in a deuce and a half leaving the 4 we were looking at.I was very tempted,but I had just spent $500 and a year putting together an old shovel-head,I started thinking about also the trip through 2 mountain ranges and the long trip in a vehicle that ain't all that comfy and who needs 2 bikes anyway.Well,he bought a mutt and trailer and one of the Harley's and I didn't.About a week later I was over to his apartment in Lakewood and he had traded the WLA still in the crate for a 57 convertable Chevy and sold the mutt and trailer for 300 bucks.Me? 3 months later I crashed the shovel into telephone pole,no Mutt,no Harley off any kind and 25 yrs. later kicking myself for not ponying up the cash.

[willysmb44]

Ok,time to throw this one out to ya.Never saw a jeep in a crate,but I damn near bought a Harley in one.The story in a nutshell is this,about a month before I ETS'd me and another short timer went out to the Log-Center at Ft. Lewis,that would make it 25 yrs ago.He had this brilliant idea,they were getting rid of alot of crap and emptying some of the warehouses to demolish them.You could buy a 151 for $75 and a trailer for $25,we were gonna buy them and drive them home as we could pack all our stuff in the trailer and it would be an adventure.They also had 4 WLA's in crates for $50,some guy had just bought 15 of them and was loading them in a deuce and a half leaving the 4 we were looking at.I was very tempted,but I had just spent $500 and a year putting together an old shovel-head,I started thinking about also the trip through 2 mountain ranges and the long trip in a vehicle that ain't all that comfy and who needs 2 bikes anyway.Well,he bought a mutt and trailer and one of the Harley's and I didn't.About a week later I was over to his apartment in Lakewood and he had traded the WLA still in the crate for a 57 convertable Chevy and sold the mutt and trailer for 300 bucks.Me? 3 months later I crashed the shovel into telephone pole,no Mutt,no Harley off any kind and 25 yrs. later kicking myself for not ponying up the cash.

I work very close to the Logistics Center at Ft Lewis (formerly the “Mt Rainier Ordnance Depot” back in the day) and was stationed at Ft Lewis for a few years. There is a well-documented history of large numbers of vehicles stockpiled there. I have seen photos of WW2 and later vehicles stacked up alongside what is now I-5. But after checking with DOL and the Ft Lewis museum, all have confirmed no Jeeps were in crates, as they all came in on trains originally. As for motorcycles, they’re much smaller and weren’t used nearly as much as Jeeps were, so I’d be willing to accept a new bike in a crate LONG before I’d accept a Jeep in the same condition.

My own 1944 Willys MB was used by the Navy at Bremerton in WW2, so it’s possible it went through the Mt Rainier Ordnance Depot on its way to Navy hands as it has the acceptance plates from Army Ordnance.

[ColBob506]

They were still using a couple of the willys' and other antique vehicles while I was there.They had a Packard convertible they used for special parades.Whoops sorry to side-track on ya.As far as I know the only jeeps that even went into crates were early lend-lease one's and airlifted one's,I rather doubt many were crated,there was no need to.

[Ken_Carroll]

My uncle was in the Air Force between 1949 and 1969 and was stationed among other places, in Japan. He has told me that there were row upon of jeeps for sale for $400.00 and row upon row of weapons carriers for $600.00, all sitting on the base. He said that the weapons carriers were actually stacked up with their front wheels sitting in the rear of the vehicle in front of it. The problem was not the price, it was the cost of transporting and he didn't have the money to buy either one much less pay shipping across the Pacific Ocean. He did say that now he wished he had but at the time the guys considered them little more than junk. They all wanted shiny new cars to impress women, not uncomfortable open jeeps with seats that were hard as rocks!

 

Regards, Ken

[mjerickson]

My Dad and my uncle when to Great Lakes NTC in 1955 shortly after he got out of the navy, they were having an auction and my dad bought an in the crate Harley Davidson 45 as he called it. He said the name came from the 45 CI engine in it. he paid $30.00. He did start to put it togeather and then started traveling quite a bit for his job. Sold it to a buddy that had a gas station who got it running and about 3 weeks after that totalled it and it went to the scrap yard.

 

My uncle bought at the auction a steerman bi-plane in a crate for $500.00. His brother and he built it from the ground up and used to fly it from their farm Near Grand Rapids MI to my Grandmothers farm about 90 miles north and land it in the pasture behind the farm house. Ive seen several pictures of them. There is even a very cool pic of 2 deer strapped to the wings along the fusleage during deer season in 1958. I always want to barrow the pics from my aunt to get copies or scans made but have not done it yet.

[Chris_B]

Personally I'd say 'never say never'

 

Two years back, my old neighbor, who was a Lockheed engineer during WWII, sold his house. My parents still live next door.

 

While the old gentleman was clearing out his house, he found an old revolver. He made arrangements for a dealer to come look at it, and he sold it for 200 dollars. When he was talking to my Dad later, the subject came up.

 

"That old thing? Can't keep it [his wife had to go to the nursing home, so that's where he went, too. I'm sure that's what caused the man's death, he had been active and mobile before that], and anyway it was hard to get ammo for. Chambered in Russian"

 

Yes, the Smith and Wesson Model No 3 Russian was, I beleive, chambered for Czarist ammo, and as it turns out, that's what he sold to the dealer for 200 bucks.

[Austin_Militaria]

About 14 years ago in San Antonio I met a an old man that told me he had a WWII Command Car in a barn on his ranch. I did not believe him until he took me out there and showed it to me. He was unwilling to sell it at that time. I also have a friend that recently purchased a 1966 Porsche 911 from the original owner for $6000. It was in prestine condition and 100% original condition. It had not been driven for 30 years and only had a couple thousand miles on it. It did need some work because it had sat for such a long time. It is out there, you just have to talk to a lot of people to find it.

[PaulsAirsoftArmory]

I was talking to my Uncle over the 4th, and he said that the local militaria store (literally called Army Navy Surplus), which closed a few years ago, had crated Willys Jeep parts from the WW2 era. He said that you could buy all the parts together and put one together. He said that he would have bought one, but he just didn't need one. If the previous owner was still alive (the store closed because he died) I would immediately ask him. The world may never know if there really were crated un-assembled jeeps for sale, but I don't take my Uncle for a liar.

[mutt_kahuna]

El Bibliotecario thought that the M151's series of jeeps were torched...common misconception....thru 1971 a person COULD buy a suplus complete M151 from the military...these were in most cases the earlier M151 and M151A1 series.....after 1971 the DOD and DOT decided that the M151's jeeps were not safe for highway use and the "cut" order began...first was the half cut followed by the X cut,but people were still welding the jeeps back together...finally it was a crush order......many of the better handling M151A2's were the ones that suffered that fate...but quite a few escaped by being sold/given to other gov't agencies who were not informed of the destruction order and let them be auctioned or sold outright...infact the USMC held in storage brand new and very low mileage M151A2's at Barstow until the '90's..finally they were sold to foreign armies (Mexico for one) and to a few dealers overseas...here's a pic of my M151A2 (a halfcut/reweld survivor) and a pic of the USMC ones in storage.

[willysmb44]

I was talking to my Uncle over the 4th, and he said that the local militaria store (literally called Army Navy Surplus), which closed a few years ago, had crated Willys Jeep parts from the WW2 era. He said that you could buy all the parts together and put one together. He said that he would have bought one, but he just didn't need one. If the previous owner was still alive (the store closed because he died) I would immediately ask him. The world may never know if there really were crated un-assembled jeeps for sale, but I don't take my Uncle for a liar.

I don’t doubt your uncle for seeing a place that had Jeep PARTS in boxes. The problem is, no place would have had everything needed to assemble a WW2 Jeep and most of the parts surely would have been from various eras. The Johnny Cash song “One piece at a time” comes to mind. I’ve seen places like this with parts in boxes. I’ve bought a few parts from some of them and the parts are still around in some cases, especially the postwar French M201 Jeep parts they made which also work on WW2 Jeeps (as they’re for the most part the same vehicle).

[BillyClanton]

Dixie Cycle Parts in Columbus, Oh. must have bought the Gov. out of Harley Davidsons and parts. In 1972, I owned a Motorcycle shop and they advertised New-crated HD 45CI engines for sale. They also offered complete springer front ends, new frames, wheels and tinwork. It was all in OD green and brand new. You could get a complete WLA in parts for less than a grand. A few years ago, they still had a few parts left.

Billy

[Brandon]

Dixie Cycle Parts in Columbus, Oh. must have bought the Gov. out of Harley Davidsons and parts. In 1972, I owned a Motorcycle shop and they advertised New-crated HD 45CI engines for sale. They also offered complete springer front ends, new frames, wheels and tinwork. It was all in OD green and brand new. You could get a complete WLA in parts for less than a grand. A few years ago, they still had a few parts left.

Billy

 

Wow, thats crazy!! Looks at prices for a WLA today, let alone just parts to fix one!1

 

Brandon

[patlee6]

For decades after WW2 there were stories about the govt selling new-in-the-crate $200 jeeps. I'm not talking about the M151 series, which I believe were torched, but earlier 'genuine' jeeps.

 

I was told of one fellow who supposedly made a bulk purchase of jeeps, resold them to individuals, collected the money, and told the buyers he'd bring their vehicles in on a flat bed truck and to meet him on the edge of town. Came the great day and there was a crowd of folks with trailers and towbars--but no jeeps.

 

Still, the stories persisted. In the '70s a member of my unit at Ft Carson insisted Tooele Army Depot was selling new crated jeeps for $400--I guess the price increase was due to inflation. I laughed at him, and said I'd take two. Weeks later when I asked where my jeeps were, he quickly changed the subject.

 

I know from a period photo that at least some new jeeps were crated for shipment overseas, and reassembled in England. And I've read a firsthand account of a fellow who in 1946 bought a new P38 aircraft for $1400, so apparently some new stuff was in fact sold very cheap.

 

My question is, does anyone have any credible information (as opposed the the stories I've recounted above) that the govt ever actually sold new jeeps at giveaway prices?

My dad attended many of the auctions of military vehicles and equipment held in england after ww2,he said they started sometime in 1947 and went on for years,him and a car dealer friend purchased several jeeps,staff cars,and chevy trucks at the greatest auction ever held here in Britain it was in a place called Missenden in Kent and lasted for 10 WEEKS!!.He described how every field in the area was full of every type of military vehicles mostly American but also many British vehicles as well.He told of one field that must have up to 1000 jeeps in it,he bought one for himself and paid 250 british pounds for it ,not cheap in 1947,equivelent to 1000sss today.Anyway he went to another auction held on a ww2 airfield i think he said near Bedford there was a lot of American heavy construction equipment for sale,Caterpillar bulldozers,scrapers,graders and large concrete mixers he bought one,he said he towed it home some 110 miles behind his chevy army truck, it had truck wheels and had coil sprung suspension!! go too fast and it bounced all over the place!.However , at the same sale in one of the hangers were stacks of large wooden crates,one had the top removed so buyers could look in and inside was a brand new Jeep,he then went on to describe how it waspacked for shipping how the wheels were off and laid inside whith a covering of cardboard etc i then went immediatley and fetched one of my jeep books with the famouse picture of the crated Jeep taken in the factory.Upon showing him this photo he exclaimed " yes thats it just like that"., now he had never seen this book and had never seen the photo before so he wasnt lying his vivid description of how it was packed was exactly as in the photo.I then asked how many there was he said thre must have been a hundred or more all in crates.Now i know this tale of these mythical "new Jeeps in crates" has been doing the rounds for decades but at one point in England in the late 1940s it really was true, my dear old dad saw them.I used to love hearing of his escapades and stories of those early auctions held back then,god how i wished he had kept the vehicles he bought.He still attended the government vehicle auctions for years my brother and i would go with him and play at driving the many different vehicles lined up for sale,i have vivid memories of seeing 100s of WILLYS and FORD jeeps for sale,all ex British army, that would be around 1957-60,also there were many DIAMOND T tank transporters and WHITE half tracks i remember seeing and recall thinking then at that tender age what a fine looking truck the DIAMOND T was.Those early memories and my fathers stories has left me with an abiding love of American military and civilian vehicles.to me they are the best.The auctions we used to go with dad to were held at a massive wartime ammunition depot near Nottingham just outside the village of Ruddington it covered 100s of acres,like my old dad its long gone.Hope you found this of interest.

[Old Marine]

I bought a jeep in a cardboard box. Does this count? :think:

 

[Hinrik WD]

I thought the old papers said "Jeep in a crate for $50" ??

 

But seriously, if you look at these old ads, did you not have to send $2 to get the address

of where to buy this, which most likely was some govm. surplus place that was out of these,

or never had them? Seams to me this is / was a scam. Like the old ads that say "Atlas body in

X number of days?" Picture of a muscular smiling man....then please send $3 to bla bla, and

because the statement ends with a "?" the scam artists got away with it?

 

I read a story of a guy on G503 that bought an MB jeep from a Dr that had been in the service.

The old Dr. still had the sale slip for $600 which seams to of been the going price after the war.

 

A true story: In summer 1945 Iceland a US goverment military surplus sales dept was opened.

The first aircraft mechanic of Iceland (Think educated in Tulsa) Mr. Gunnar Jonsson, went to

them and asked if they had any scrap aluminium. He had a small steel furniture biz, making chairs

etc. They took his details and later he was contacted by the Officers of the 33rd Fighter Squadron and

taken for a ride to Meeks Airfield (Now Keflavik Interantional) Standing there where 32 each P-47

Thunderbolts aircraft, ready for flight, lined up on the flight line, remove before flight tags installed,

some with minor combat exp.

 

Gunnar was told he could have these. He said to the officers, no no, this is a misunderstanding, I just

want "scrap" aluminum. They told him he could have these for scrap, how much do you offer? He made

a low offer of 10.000 Icelandic crowns which they at first did not accept, but after some time got back to

him and accepted his offer. This realates to about $4 per aircraft!!

 

This is a true story. I have lots of photos and documents from the 33rd FS. I have photos of the aircraft in

use, in flight formation and scrapped in a big pile at the airfield. They where moved to the capital close to his

furniture biz. which was close to the Mercedes Bens dealership. Some of my older friends remember playing

in the wreacks when younger. In an old photo album at the MB dealership you can see P-47 wings piled up in

rows behind the guys shop close by...........If he would just of kept one of them!!

 

 

Reg

 

Hinrik

[hosemonkey]

After I got back from the Army in the mid 90's, I showed my 68 Mustang about every weekend. At one of the local shows, I met a guy who had a jeep from a crate. Don't know what he paid for it.. $500 IIRC. He was a retired AF MSgt. The jeep had turned up in a warehouse in Italyin the early 80's. He'd bought it while there and shipped it home when he came back to the states. It was a 44 Willys. Now, his story may have been a load of bull, but I have a 42, and where mine had rust, putty, or fibreglass, his was all solid metal.. I got mine off a farmer in high school. He got it new surplus in 47. I got it for $700, but it was neither in the crate nor new. As for barn finds, one of my friends in high school, Steve McFarlane, had an uncle die in Vietnam.. His grandparents had his uncle's 63 split window Vette in a shed out back.. It had around 10,000 miles on it.. They sold it for $1500..2 barn finds I know of and have seen were a Wright military flyer (remains used to be displayed at USAFM), a Curtis Jenny down where my dad grew up in WVa, and 8 B-29 motors still in the crate bought as surplus after the war.. The farmer thought he was buying 8 motors as in generators.. He opened 1, saw what it was, and piled them behind his barn.. I saw 'em at a truck stop and talked to the driver.. They were headed out west somewhere. Dad talked about surplus vehicles a lot.. He and all my uncles had jeeps.. Dad's was a Ford. He had a couple Willys too. As a kid, my uncle still had a 47 Willys.. We also had a 1919 model T in a shed.. Actually, we had a lot of interesting treasures in the farm buildings.

 

Fins.

When I was a small child, (I'm talking 1945,late '46) Two guys landed an AT-6 Texan that they had bought surplus in Kansas for $600.00. They were headed for L.A. and something busted, causing them to land in a field behind my house. One of then stayed with us, while his partner hitchhiked to L.A. to try to find the part that they needed. Well, it was the first airplane that I had ever seen and the first one that I had ever sat in. The other guy came back after about three days with the part that they needed and after giving my sister and I a ride, they departed. My family exchanged Christmas cards with them for many years after the war. So guess that bargains in surplus did exist after the war. There was a surplus store not far from my house where you could buy a Garand bayonet for .50 cents and steel pots for a dollar. Nobody wanted that stuff. I bought a Navy target kite for 1.00 but couldn't fly it 'cause I was too little and couldn't ever get enough wind. If I could have gotten it into the air, I probably would have gotten pulled off the ground. That damned thing was BIG!