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WWII Jeeps, Where Did They All Go After The War?


AirMechanic
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Does anyone know what was done with most of the WWII era jeeps after WWII? Were the ones used overseas brought back, or were they left there?

 

Scrap heaps were a popular destination. Here's one in Japan in 1949 and below that one in Korea in 1960:

 

jeeps2.jpg

 

jeeps.jpg

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IDK if they were WWII, but in the late 90's at Ft Dix/McGuire AFB, at one of the DRMO places (Kinda near "Tattletales Too" the popular strip bar) , I remember seeing what seemed to be THOUSANDS (maybe just hundreds, but there were alot of jeeps stacked what seemed to be 30 feet tall,one on top of another. I asked if they were for DRMO sale and was told "no, they were deemed a safty hazzard and cannot be sold to the public unless the whole thing was torch cut down the middle.

 

They are probably still all stacked up there.

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Does anyone know what was done with most of the WWII era jeeps after WWII? Were the ones used overseas brought back, or were they left there?

 

from what i know the americans after the war didnt take anything back it was all left behind or dumped off ships into the sea (in the pacific) heaps of jeeps and also trucks and trucks with new jeeps on the back were either left in New Zealand or collected up from the pacific islands, brought back to New Zealand and fixed up and sold to farmers etc. this is the same with the british bren carrier, made a good farm tractor lol.

have a look here. http://militarianz.freeforums.org/petone-v...-yard-t872.html

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IDK if they were WWII, but in the late 90's at Ft Dix/McGuire AFB, at one of the DRMO places (Kinda near "Tattletales Too" the popular strip bar) , I remember seeing what seemed to be THOUSANDS (maybe just hundreds, but there were alot of jeeps stacked what seemed to be 30 feet tall,one on top of another. I asked if they were for DRMO sale and was told "no, they were deemed a safty hazzard and cannot be sold to the public unless the whole thing was torch cut down the middle.

 

They are probably still all stacked up there.

 

Those would have been Vietnam and Cold War era M-151's. I saw the same thing at the DRMO at Pearl City, Hawaii, near Pearl Harbor. They told the same story, most of the frames were being cut in half with a torch. Anyone who bought one had to sign a waiver that the vehicle would never be licensed or driven on the open road. I imagine a number of them ended up in third world back country.

 

For a description of the handling problems see:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M151

 

After reading this, I cringe a little bit when I recall riding in these things at 60 mph on the Autobahn or at speed over rough country.

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  • 1 month later...

Issues with the M-151 not being owned or driven by civilians on public highways was due the the suspension. Since it was four wheel independent, it had a tendency to allow a rear wheel to fold under during a "sharp" turn. The M-151 A2 had straps that prevented a rear wheel from folding under and a few other improvements. Knowing the "gubermint" they did not account for the difference in the A-2's, torch cut, run over with a dozer or other large wheeled vehicle to demil them......another sad waste of out tax dollars :thumbdown:

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General Apathy

post-344-1256490268.jpg

 

 

Does anyone know what was done with most of the WWII era jeeps after WWII? Were the ones used overseas brought back, or were they left there?

 

Hi Airmechanic, at the end of the war I think it was just decided to cut costs of shipping all the surplus stuff back to the states and it was disposed of locally or where ever it ended up at war's end.

 

I had five of the WWII type Jeeps in my collection at one time, attached is a photograph of one that I bought from a garage, it was a Willys MB ( Slat Grill ) chassis 11,299 out of a total production around 650,000. I paid £15 approx

( 30 USD ) for it. It was on the road running when I bought it, the garage bought it in 1945 and converted it into a pick-up truck with wooden framed, tin covered cab.

 

With all the other restoration work I had going on I never got round to this one, I did however buy as many brand new original spares for it as I could in anticipation of the day I would start restoration.

 

I sold it to a friend who is currently doing a ground up restoration on it.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

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General Apathy

post-344-1256490352.jpg

 

 

Cont............... Willys MB

 

Rear view of the pick-up conversion, it was a beautiful little conversion and if it had been done on a later Willys model I would have probably liked to have restored it as the pick-up for novelty value, as there are so many restored standard Jeeps

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

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Hi Airmechanic, at the end of the war I think it was just decided to cut costs of shipping all the surplus stuff back to the states and it was disposed of locally or where ever it ended up at war's end.

 

That, and a deal Willys-Overland struck with the goverment not to bring any jeeps back, as since early 1944 the company had been working on the first line of civilian jeeps, Agri-Jeeps, that later evolved in the Willys CJ2A.

 

Nice slatgrill you have there! These can be a pig to restore correctly, since just about everything is a tiny bit different from a standard production Willys MB. :crying:

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

(MB 110249, 8-1-42)

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I'm not sure where or when I saw this, but have seen a video of WWII jeeps being pushed off the side of ships into the ocean. Pretty sure it was some place in the pacific...might even be a dive site / artificial reef now? Was just a sad video to watch them all go overboard one by one.

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fraukriegbaum
Does anyone know what was done with most of the WWII era jeeps after WWII? Were the ones used overseas brought back, or were they left there?

 

 

The Filipinos turned this into a PUV.

post-6179-1256571894.jpg

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I've seen this for sale. Original or Replica or whatever i don't know.

 

It's in the Philippines.

That's a Korea-era Willys MC (aka M38), soon replaced with the M38A1. Although not common these seem to be less valued than the standard WWII jeep.

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

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fraukriegbaum
That's a Korea-era Willys MC (aka M38), soon replaced with the M38A1. Although not common these seem to be less valued than the standard WWII jeep.

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

 

I learned something new.

Thanks David

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I know where one went...it's in my garage...1942 MB
Same here, a 1944 MB:

b25Jeep.jpg

Also, Dad’s first “car” was a 42 Ford GPW:

DadsGPW.jpg

Sadly, Granddad sold it when Dad went into the service in the 50s. Growing up, I heard Dad talking about fond memories with that Jeep. When he came out for my wedding in 2000, he drove mine, the first time he’d even sat in one in almost 50 years. He still gives me advice over the phone sometimes when I have something baffle me mechanically (which is pretty common, this Jeep has taught me a lot).

I don’t have the VIN for his, so there’s no way to know if it still exists today. I like to think it’s in the hands of a collector somewhere.

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