Jeep assistance needed !

[Steindaddie]

I know nothing about the famed Jeep so someone help me here. The following original photo is in my hands and I notice the Jeep's steering wheel is on the "wrong side". Is this just the photo reversed, or did such a critter exist? The photo is marked "Camp Devens 1942, 2nd Bn HQ 180 Inf Anti-tank Platoon. Our new type helmets and Blitz type car" I guess the term "Jeep" had not yet become ubiquitous.

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Will

[101combatvet]

Reverse negative.... a common mistake.

[Steindaddie]

Thanks for that information; I figured it was a reversed negative as well. Even though I know nothing about Jeeps, I thought it rather odd that a bunch of GI's at a camp in Massachusetts would be sitting in a British type Jeep had there even been such a thing !

[General Apathy]

Hi Steindaddie, the photo is as stated reversed, and in being so it is harder to look for the points to consider on the period of the Jeep. A great photo though, not one I have seen before.

 

You state that it says on the rear ' New style helmets and Blitz buggy' , so maybe the helmets were a little slower getting to this unit, as the Jeep appears to be a later model, and not one from around the introduction of the M-1 helmet period. The Jeep I believe to be a mid production Willy's MB, it has lost some of it's early style points and has picked up some of the later modifications that were made.

 

As far as I can see from the photo the earlier square petrol tank guard has lost it's straight sides and become curved, it does not appear though to have received the angled slope from front to rear of the later tank guard. The

windscreen appears to be the taller version with the deeper panel below the windscreen glass. It also has the later secondary spring helper as can be seen just behind the front wheel, as the photo is reversed however this should obviously be on the other side of the vehicle. On the rear panel a jerry can holder has been added which were not on the earlier MB models, also a towing hook has now been added. Also the Jeep is running on split rim 'combat rims ' and not the earlier non split one piece rims.

 

However what does not appear to have been updated and modified at the time of this photo is that there is no addition of an electrical socket connector on the rear panel for a trailer light plug.

 

Hopefully it would be easier to see all these points and others with the photo at hand and correct way round.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[Steindaddie]

Lewis,

 

Thanks for that information because here's all I know about Jeeps:

 

1) My great-grandfather had a WW2 surplus one on his farm and drove it like a maniac with me hanging on for dear life.

 

2) I would love to have the one seen in the photo in question, just as it appears !

 

Many thanks,

 

Will

[Austringer]

2) I would love to have the one seen in the photo in question, just as it appears !

 

 

That would be cool to have a 100% reversed jeep!!!!!

[gecko NZ]

ive got a very strange feeling there was a willys jeep for sale in new zealand about a year ago that was brought into the country during the war and used to run around an airforce base in christchurch, it was all original but i think it was period converted to right hand drive for our roads, i cant confirm it at this point though

[Johan Willaert]

The now-out-of-print Wheels&Tracks magazine once featured an article or at least a documented photo of a RH Drive converted Jeep of the immediate post-WW2 period...

[mpguy80/08]

I hope no one minds but I took the opportunity to flip the image so it can be seen as it should be...

 

Wayne