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


El Bibliotecario
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In 1963 my barber,who was an aviation buff, told me you could buy a P51 for $1000 and make it airworthy for another $1000. He added that it would cost $400/hour to fly. I have no idea how accurate his numbers were, but it always drives me crazy to think of it.

 

kat_price.jpg

 

Ummm.... I think your barber was a little off. He may have been talking about prices 10 years earlier, say around 1952. You know barbers... once they get a good story they tell it over, and over and over again.

 

As I kid I used to read aviation magazines in the later 1960's. I'd say by about 1968 a P-51 would bring in $15K to $35K.

 

Interestingly a number of them got bought up for retooling as "counter insurgency" aircraft. The frames and I believe the wings were extended and I believe they were re-engined. They looked quite different from their original form. See:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalier_Mustang

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-48_Enforcer

 

A number of other Mustangs were also quietly purchased to beef up South American air forces. Honduras used seven such aircraft during the "Football War". Apparently even Communist Cuba managed to acquire a few through private purchases through Canada.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang

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I just remembered another WW2 Jeep I had personal experience with. One of my first jobs was at the VA Dept of Highways, this was in 1964 / 5 era. They had a WW2 surplus Jeep that they had probably received free from the US GOVT. The Jeep had a drill rig mounted on the back and the only thing it was used for was to take core samples for new highway projects. I don't remember how many miles it had on it but it wasn't many. When not in use it was stored in a garage. This Jeep was in excellent condition and complete. Several of us that liked this sort of thing would mess around with it on out lunch hour.

Well they decided to have a surplus sell and the Jeep was included. Since we worked for the VDOH we could not bid. The Jeep bought the hefty sum of $50.

Craig, Believe it or not, the WA DOT had a 1944 Willys MB Jeep as a flight line support vehicle at the Olympia airport as late as I think 2001 or 2002. I have photos of it around here somewhere. I was a former Navy Jeep with a hard top added an APU in the back. It was painted red. Plenty of people saw it as it was next door to the Olympic Flight Museum. I know they sold it at auction around that time, but nobody around here knows where it went. I doubt it's local anymore. That's got to be the last WW2 Jeep sold in a government auction in the US.
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Surplus was sold at ridiculously low prices at the end of the war, often in large auction lots.

 

Somewhere those records exist and they would be interesting to look at.

 

I don't have any verified prices on jeeps, but I remember reading about how Paul Mantz, the legendary Hollywood stunt pilot, ended up with the world's 7th largest airforce by the time he was done bidding at post war auctions.

 

 

I have a copy of a 1946 sales catalog from Camp Blanding Fla. Very nice early fords and willys were selling for 400-600 depending on condition. DUKW was around 600 or so. I think there were several scout cars in there too. I remember seeing half-tracks listed.

 

I'm pretty sure I have this at my parent's house and next time I'm down there, I'll pick it up and scan it, and post it on here.

 

It was a hundred or so pages.

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Klorvin Borno

In a slightly updated version when the Army was switching from Hueys to Blackhawks they were allegedly selling Hueys straight off the flightline for $100,000. The story was that the Army would not provide you with any of the maintenance records so in order to get it FAA certified you needed to apply for experimental ratings (I guess the same as if you built an aircraft yourself).

 

I was in an aviation unit at the time so I assumed it was true, however I never did speak with anyone that actually purchased one.

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El Bibliotecario

I had no idea of the response I'd get from this whimisical question. Thanks for some good stories. I think my next project will be to buy a stencil kit and some recycled lumber and start showing up at military vehicle collector shows to exhibit my 'original' jeep crate.

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My dad, a WW II vet, still alive and cranky, told me that one of the guys in his motor pool was carefully cutting apart a jeep w/a blowtorch and mailing the parts home in the Fall of 1945. He got caught and had to pay back the Army for the cost of the jeep, requiring staying in the service longer. Like the few souvenir collectors in the battalion, the rest of the men thought he was nuts.

 

Not a jeep in a crate, but a jeep in the US mail.

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I've heard that story. And I'm sure it's happened. But I think that's another piece of WW2 folklore, told and retold.

 

If Ikea made a car, it would look like the jeep...

 

 

My dad, a WW II vet, still alive and cranky, told me that one of the guys in his motor pool was carefully cutting apart a jeep w/a blowtorch and mailing the parts home in the Fall of 1945. He got caught and had to pay back the Army for the cost of the jeep, requiring staying in the service longer. Like the few souvenir collectors in the battalion, the rest of the men thought he was nuts.

 

Not a jeep in a crate, but a jeep in the US mail.

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There is at least one jeep-in-a-crate out there.

 

You do realize that is a recreation done for the annual MVPA International Convention a few years ago, right? Extinguishing this misinformation is like trying to stamp out a California wild fire. Just when you think it is gone, another knucklehead tosses out a lit cigarette! :rolleyes:

 

John A-G

Editor, Military Vehicles Magazine

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I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss these stories. I have a friend who got a crate in a Jeep for less than $200.

 

Prove it! Let's see a picture of the jeep in the crate and the bill of sale. :rolleyes: It will be the first in recorded history. You know, there is STILL a standing reward for proof of the existence of a "jeep in the crate" sold as surplus. No one has ever claimed it. Yet, like you, many "have a friend who got a jeep in the crate". And when pressed for info, can never prove it. So, the ball is back in your court with the very tame and respectful request, "prove it, please".

 

John A-G

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here you go guys these pictures are the property of a very kind guy from my country showing what i was talking about earlier, heres 2 pictures follow the linke for quite a few more.


Very cool photos, but not unusual. It is a very normal way to transport jeeps in that time period. The expression, "Jeep in a Crate" seems to imply that the jeeps were crated, and forgotten about, i.e., brand new jeeps.

Of course Jeeps were sold as surplus. Thousands were. How else would they exist today. What the argument seems to stem on are the supposed "Jeeps in a Crate". Never happened...at least it has yet to have been documented. Jeeps were indeed sold as surplus....Even some brand new ones. However, there is no documentation that Jeeps were ever sold to the public in crates.

Truly, it is just a matter of a choice of words, and people love treasure stories. "Jeep in the Crate" is one of those mythical beasts, though. For those who persist, read closely:

Jeeps were sold as surplus. No one disputes that. Once in a while, one still sneaks up for sale through government surplus channels. To reiterate, Jeeps were and are sold as surplus.

BUT, and this is the big one, there is NO documentation that a jeep in a crate was sold as surplus. Lots of hearsay, but no one can prove that a jeep they claim was sold "in a crate" ever was. That is the big question. Can anyone prove that a jeep was sold by the government, as surplus, and was delivered "in a crate"?

John
(now crawling off my high-horse, which happens to actually be a unicorn. A Bigfoot takes care of her--really).
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You do realize that is a recreation done for the annual MVPA International Convention a few years ago, right? Extinguishing this misinformation is like trying to stamp out a California wild fire. Just when you think it is gone, another knucklehead tosses out a lit cigarette! :rolleyes:

 

John A-G

Editor, Military Vehicles Magazine

 

Yes I realize that, I read the sign in the background and, from what mudb8- wrote, I understood that this was not an original issue jeep in a crate. Urban legend alone was enough to prevent a misunderstanding. In the future I will endeavor to include a none misinformation blurb when I post on topics of this nature.

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who wants a jeep in a crate anyway, the only good thing would be the mythical $200 price tag, i would pass over a jeep in a crate without even thinking twice if i was prestened with one along side a jeep that has not been restored that has actually been in some fighting. :)

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General Apathy

post-344-1236291386.jpg

 

Hi Everyone, here's a U.S. Government poster dated 1943, it states that a Jeep costs $ 1,165, what they refer to as ' Flying Jeep' or Grasshopper costs $3,000, and the amphibious Jeep or ' Quack' as they call it $2,090

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

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mistertawny

My experience with legends are simple.

 

In 1982 I was working for a couple in Oakland CA. In their garage sat 3 vehicles. One a 1936/7 Mercedes 340, another a Kubelwagen and the third a pre war Auto Union (Audi). All three were painted ungodly flat red and they wanted to sell all three. It took me a couple of months to raise the money, but during that time they sold the Kubel and the Audi, so I had to settle for the Mercedes. I later found out the reason they were painted red too. Sears/Allstate bought any surplus vehicle they could and sold them across the US. When the couple bought this beauty it was $425 in 1949. I paid about $550 for it and drove it for about 4 years. I finally traded it for a Citroen Traction Avant and $5K. Shoulda kept the Benz.

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Tom @ Snake River

I seem to recall ads in the back of comic books or something similar. Military Harleys packed in 50 gallon drums for $50, stuff like that. As badly as I wanted a motorcycle in those days, I knew that a Harley in a drum would, under my magic hand, become a Harley all over the basement floor. I never bit.

 

I remember being a sophomore in high school in 1970 and our industrial arts teacher was telling us about the motorcycles. EASY RIDER, the movie had just came out, and if we had ever got our hands on one, you know they would have been made into choppers.

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Regardless of any urban myth, fantasy, fairy tale, or otherwise, if anyone happens to find an original WW2 Jeep in a crate (or in anything) for $200, put me down for 10! ;)

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For what its worth a former airforce vet I know claims he saw tons of military jeeps,equipment and arms underground in storage in Nevada.This was after Vietnam and he was in 20 years.Myth-legend or story...he saw it.To bad the government wouldnt sell off some of this stuff or give it away.Thats my kind of stimulus paln!!!

 

RD

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My dad had a buddy in High School, who found a 'Jeep in the crate' ad in a surplus store flier. Him and the friend pursued this, and ordered one, and it showed up a few weeks later. His friend payed 250 dollars for it. Dad even helped him take the crate apart, the friend drove it to High School through the next two years. Dad's biggest complaint was the lack of heat. So I guess they did exist?

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El Bibliotecario

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.

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