Jeep in a crate

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Kevin Johnson
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Jeep in a crate

Post by Kevin Johnson »

When I was growing up, I heard stories/rumors about WWII (perhaps later?) disassembled Jeeps in a crate covered in cosmoline. Anyone here get one or know of one actually being obtained?
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Ken_Parkman
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by Ken_Parkman »

According to Jim Allen in his book the jeep in a crate was real. However he also says the only legitimate ones today are at the bottom of the ocean in the sunken cargo ship. One of the enthusiasts has had a standing major reward for one since probably the 80's, and it has not been claimed as of the books writing.
Kevin Johnson
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by Kevin Johnson »

:(

And the Glomar Explorer sitting all those years in the mothball fleet.
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BCjohnny
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by BCjohnny »

Ken_Parkman wrote:One of the enthusiasts has had a standing major reward for one since probably the 80's, and it has not been claimed as of the books writing.

Not unlike the 'buried Burmese crated Sptfire myth' doing the rounds a while back ...... lol
Kevin Johnson
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by Kevin Johnson »

I believe the story about the Spits.

Looks like the Jeep story is true too, to a point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by MichaelThompson »

Well the secret cache of brand new Flathead Ford’s crated up and waiting to be rediscovered turned out to be a boon to the traditional hot rod crowd. I think several thousand of those turned up in France.
hoodeng
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by hoodeng »

There have been tall tales and true written in the legendary past so to speak about all WW2 military vehicles.

In the seventies there were story's of 42WLA Harley's in crates secreted away by the Australian Army, as well as buried pits of any sort of military vehicle you care to think of.

My response to the people who told me these story's [in confidence of course] was i would pay for five and they could keep two for themselves,, sadly no takers emerged.

Although,,, there were caches of military stuff show up in the unexpected areas. When i was working in the railways in the 70's we had US manufactured machines called 'Electromatic Tampers', their job was to lift, line and pack the track. These things used to tear up axle drives regularly, buying crown wheel and pinion sets was a phone number price from Electromatic..
It was by chance one Saturday whilst talking to a guy in a city pub that he mentioned a place just down the road from where we were that this place had all sorts of transmission and drive parts and that they were worth a try.
I get into work on the Monday and tell my boss about the conversation, he says, nothing to loose go check this place out,, into town and front to an old stone building front counter with a sample set of gears....... old guy looks at them and says " do you want them in right helix or left?" i ask how does he know what we are looking at, he says " That drive is out of a WW2 Ford Marmon truck, how many do you want?" I ask "how many can we get?" he takes me out the back of this building and there is a sea of drab olive box's containing anything military you could think of, engines, transmissions , transfer cases, final drives, you name it and there were stacks.. I think we got a half a dozen sets for nothing compared to what we were paying.

That place was called 'Treleven Gear'. Sadly long gone.. there used to be places years ago that had all sorts of ex military stuff for sale. in the sixties a mate of mine bought a surplus jet engine and got it fired up in his parents back yard, blew the neighbors fence flat.

Cheers.
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by pdq67 »

hoodeng wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:52 am There have been tall tales and true written in the legendary past so to speak about all WW2 military vehicles.

In the seventies there were story's of 42WLA Harley's in crates secreted away by the Australian Army, as well as buried pits of any sort of military vehicle you care to think of.

My response to the people who told me these story's [in confidence of course] was i would pay for five and they could keep two for themselves,, sadly no takers emerged.

Although,,, there were caches of military stuff show up in the unexpected areas. When i was working in the railways in the 70's we had US manufactured machines called 'Electromatic Tampers', their job was to lift, line and pack the track. These things used to tear up axle drives regularly, buying crown wheel and pinion sets was a phone number price from Electromatic..
It was by chance one Saturday whilst talking to a guy in a city pub that he mentioned a place just down the road from where we were that this place had all sorts of transmission and drive parts and that they were worth a try.
I get into work on the Monday and tell my boss about the conversation, he says, nothing to loose go check this place out,, into town and front to an old stone building front counter with a sample set of gears....... old guy looks at them and says " do you want them in right helix or left?" i ask how does he know what we are looking at, he says " That drive is out of a WW2 Ford Marmon truck, how many do you want?" I ask "how many can we get?" he takes me out the back of this building and there is a sea of drab olive box's containing anything military you could think of, engines, transmissions , transfer cases, final drives, you name it and there were stacks.. I think we got a half a dozen sets for nothing compared to what we were paying.

That place was called 'Treleven Gear'. Sadly long gone.. there used to be places years ago that had all sorts of ex military stuff for sale. in the sixties a mate of mine bought a surplus jet engine and got it fired up in his parents back yard, blew the neighbors fence flat.

Cheers.
" Electromatic Tampers'," Ever hear of Matisa Tampers from Switzerland?

Know both well back when I was a kid working on the N&W RR out of Moberly, MO

Mid to latter '60's, N&W RR taught me how to raise track using an old, "wire Tamper".. They were training me to operate either one once trained, but I quit and went back to school to get my BSME degree.

I forget where it is at, but back then, we were working on the main line between Moberly and Holiday(?), MO and somebody said there had been a train derailment some time back and they just dug a big hole and buried the cargo that was in the railroad cars.

Not worth reclaiming they said. I want to say car parts?

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Kevin Johnson
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by Kevin Johnson »

I do know that some car enthusiasts in the San Francisco Bay Area got ticked off at the local DMVs and instead of going through the hoopla of getting scrapping slips (read paying $^3) they dug holes with a front end loader and buried the old cars instead. I suppose it is a good thing that basements are uncommon there.

Not all DMVs were the same and, especially, not all employees were the same.

Sigh.

One local contractor (unrelated to the above activity) used a loader to squish an old unibody that I had into a small cube of metal that dropped nicely into a bin.
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hoodeng
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by hoodeng »

There you go pdq! there are still a few of us around. I did 17yrs on tampers with originally South Australian Railways then Australian National Railways. I did my time there as a fitter and machinist.

Started on Matissa B60 and BNR60, then onto Electromatic J2.5 and J5 autoliners and graphliners, Tamper torsion beam and side jacker's, Canron mk3, both wire and infra-red line and delta lift systems. Plasser 06-32, 06-275, 07-16B, 07-275, 79-800W Beaver, Strait, infra-red and versine wire systems, Mannix under-cutter, all great machines to work on but it is a young guys life.

We used to laser line track over kilometer sections, track alignment to .1mm over that length.

Looks like you made the smarter move.

Cheers.
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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by pdq67 »

Hoodeng,

My Nephew is still out there with like, I want to say 30+ years in.

And fwiw, he told me his pay and bennies one time and it was way more than I ever made even up to when I retired from MO's Air Pollution Control Program.

And it is a young mans game.

He lost a wife because she got to screwing his Buddies while he was on the tracks for the week.

He never did get remarried.

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Re: Jeep in a crate

Post by Keith Morganstein »

Kevin Johnson wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:14 am When I was growing up, I heard stories/rumors about WWII (perhaps later?) disassembled Jeeps in a crate covered in cosmoline. Anyone here get one or know of one actually being obtained?
A co-worker bought several the infamous US military jeeps oscrap/surplus in the mid 80's . The only catch was that they were cut diagonally through the middle in a giant band saw. He mig welded them together, only replacing what he absolutely had to.
Automotive Machining, cylinder head rebuilding, engine building. Can't seem to quit #-o
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