This is Rich Kinney’s 1946 Willys CJ-2A, the winner of the 2012 Kaiser Willys Catalog Cover Photo Contest. He took some beautiful pictures last year and it will be exciting to see this years entries. To enter your Willys Jeep in the 2013 Kaiser Willys Photo Contest Click Here.
Here is the history of his Jeep…
This CJ-2A has been in our family since 1950 when our Grandfather purchased it from the US Forest Service. He used it as a shop vehicle at his steel fabrication shop in Sacramento, CA for many years.
On the weekends our Grandfather, employees from the shop, or his friends would take the Jeep on deer hunting trips to the high desert of Nevada or duck hunting excursions on the rice fields of the Sacramento Valley. On one of those duck hunting trips, the Jeep got stuck in a low area during a rainstorm and ended up under water until it could be recovered several days later.
In 1955 the Willys made a successful run of the Jeepers Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail near Lake Tahoe with our Mom sitting on the small back seat the entire way!
The Jeep sat idle for almost 35 years until we started a complete frame-up restoration in 2007. It has been a long, loving process with the crowning moment coming when we were able to take our mom for her first ride in the Jeep in nearly 60 years.
Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog Story – Rich Kinney
If you would like to share your Willys Jeep Story please send us a line. We ‘d love to meet your Jeep.
Like Us. Facebook
Looking for, Willys Jeep Parts, Willys Jeep replacement parts, Willys Jeep body parts and much more for your 1941-1971 Willys vehicle, you have come to the right place!
Nice-nice Willys, This restoration give’s me the inspriation in restoring our
1947 CJ-2A Willy’s that Iam still working on! Well done…..
THESE ARE SOME REALLY NICE PICS—YOUR JEEP IS SO “CRISP” AGAINST THE BACKGROUNDS IT ALMOST LOOKS SUPERIMPOSED ON THEM!……I RECKON IT’S A “WILLYS THING”! MY ’46 LOOKS LIKE A TOY IN MANY OF MY PICS. I THOUGHT MINE HAD THAT EFFECT………YOURS JUST HAS THAT GLOW! PICS OF MY ’77 CJ 5 AND OTHER JEEPS ARE WONDERFUL TOO…….THEY JUST DON’T HAVE THAT “GLAMOUR SHOT” APPEARANCE. I’VE HAD MINE IN ABOUT 95% “OF WHAT I WANT” SINCE THE EARLY ’90s. I DRIVE HIM A GOOD BIT, AS WITH ALL WILLYS, HE’S A “HEAD TURNER”. I HAVE DELAYED POSTING “WILLY’S” (HIS NAME IS “WILLY”) STORY, UNTIL HE’S 100% OF MY DREAM. THE 20 YEAR OLD PAINT JOB AND A FEW OTHER QUIRKS IS MY HOLD UP. NOW THAT I HAVE SEEN YOURS, I WILL HAVE TO WORK REALLY HARD TO OVERWHELM YOUR “PORTRAIT”.
NICE JOB, I COULD GO ON AND ON……….BUT THEN I WOULD HAVE NOTHING LEFT IN RESERVE TO SAY TO GLORIFY MINE, WHEN I CATCH UP!
NELSON
That is a beauty! Anybody know where a fellow Jeep lover might buy one that has been brought back like that?
Just makes me sick when I think of the story about how the US army destroyed all of the “real” Jeeps, driving tanks over them, dumping them into the ocean, etc. Anybody know for sure whether that is true?
Great photos and great peep. Too bad you have not done the pin stripes on your wheels!
I’ve got a 1948 CJ-2A that needs a total restoration. You’ve given me the inspiration to go for it. Good job and happy trails!!!