1952 Jeep Willys

1952 Jeep Willys CJ3A World War II saw the creation of one of America's most beloved vehicles, the Jeep. Now primarily produced for consumer use, the Jeep was once a military workhorse designed to move troops, help the wounded and more. The story of the Jeep begins in the late 1930s, when the United States military was searching for a vehicle that was light, rugged and could travel over rough terrain. The M38A1, only the second Jeep produced post WWII, was made from 1952 to 1971 with a total of more than 101,000 units produced.    For consignment, a 1952 Jeep Willys CJ3A showing 94,969 miles, but the true miles are unknown. This one dressed as it might have been for the Korean war, or an episode of MASH, right down to the mounted rifle and the trailer.    Exterior Typical military Olive Drab covers the 4x4 and trailer and is adorned with contrasting white stenciled writing and Army stars, and the 16-inch steel wheels share in the olive coverage. Up front, the utilitarian bumper is topped with a pair of tow shackles under the seven slot grille and siren on one fender and night light on another and everything from the hinges to the hardware share one color. A pintle style hitch hooks the to the trailer and safety chains, olive green of course, secure it in place and a Jerry can is mounted to the back of the Jeep. Exterior features include a whip antenna secured to the cowl, a snorkel air intake that rises with the windshield, and of course, the machine gun which is equipped with propane to create harmless, flared popping. The flat trailer has a rugged canvas top secured to the unit with rope. Overall, the truck and trailer are in good shape with no major dents. Imperfections include some bubbling, cracked paint, uneven filler, and paint runs.   Interior The doorless Jeep features olive green padded seats with the driver's riding above the gas tank. In back, a straight bench can seat a couple more infantrymen who can keep tabs on the radio equipment and the six secured ammo boxes that reside nearby. There's a first aid kit, some vintage headphones, and canvas storage attached to the front seat backs. Attached to the post of the belt fed .30 caliber machine gun is a plastic rifle, completing the profile as a rolling, ground fighting tool. The basic steering wheel is joined by toggle switches and a center instrument cluster and three, floor mounted shifters for gears and range type. The floor is painted but not covered with anything and the trailer is equally as bare bones, housing a number of canvas pieces.   Drivetrain Don't look for chrome in here, it's mostly drab under the hood where we find the 134ci inline 4 cylinder, fueled by a 1-barrel carburetor and rated at 60 horsepower. The Borg Warner T90 3-speed manual begins the transfer of power which is split between the Dana 25 up front and the Dana 44 out back, both with short ratio 5.38 gears. Drum brakes are found at all four wheels.  Undercarriage You'll never guess what color most of the undercarriage, frame, and components are painted! It's all business underneath with some serious leaf springs front and rear and heavy duty axles. There's some surface rust present, some old grease, even a bit of oil, but in general the underside is on the clean side. A single exhaust flows through a stock style muffler before terminating just beyond the rear bumper as a tall narrow stack.  Drive-Ability This no frills purpose built 4x4 provides the expected ride on knobby 7-inch tires and even with the trailer attached, we feel like we could traverse mountains. But for now, we're stationed here on the base we call Classic Auto Mall, or in military terms, CAM. The limited functions afforded operators all work as they should and we high tail this little grunt back to the indoors. While Classic Auto Mall represents that these functions were working at the time of our test drive, we cannot guarantee these functions will be working at the time of your purch