My 1955 M38A1 was purchased by my grandfather in the early 60’s at a municipal surplus auction outside of Detroit. It was taken to the family farm in Northern Michigan where it was used for many years as a recreational vehicle. I remember going up to the farm during the summer or during hunting season and being able to drive the Jeep through the wooded trails. As a boy at the age of 10, the Jeep introduced me to the concept of a manual transmission. I never made it through the gears very cleanly because my legs didn’t have the length to completely depress the clutch pedal. Nevertheless, I was driving; and that was something pretty special for a young boy. The Jeep never ran much if we were not up there to use it and every year we tried, it became harder and harder to get it started. One year, we parked it in the corner of the barn and returned home. In 1994, my grandfather lost his fight with Cancer. In his Will, he left me his old hunting rifle, the hand tools in the garage and the 1955 Willys Jeep. As the years passed, the desire to restore the Jeep grew. On Labor Day weekend in 2011 my father and I drove up to the farm, pushed the Jeep out of the barn where it had sat for close to 20 years, loaded it onto a trailer and brought it home to begin its restoration. After two years and with the assistance of my father, uncles, and other grandfather; and with the loving support of my wife; I was once again able to drive the Jeep through the wooded trails near our house. I am much older now, my legs are a little longer, but I still feel as excited as I did as a 10 year old boy when I get behind the wheel. *Note* Submission #4 is a picture of me taken in 1989 at our farm.
Nice work, Nathan! And, a great year! 🙂
I noticed in the older photo that it was a Navy jeep. I’m restoring a Navy M38A1 that had similar markings and colors (forest green and yellow markings). I was wondering if you discovered any other markings on the jeep or had any other pictures of it prior to restoration that you could share?
Joe