World War II Jeeps

Fate of World War II Jeeps

Although the jeep was loved and respected by the GIs during the war, most ended up like this:

Vehicle boneyard at end of World War II.

After World War II there was a period of time when returning veterans, farmers and a few other favored categories of people could buy jeeps directly from the government for $50 or other very low prices. It is not known if any of these were in crates but if there were any it was very few. Most surplus Army jeeps in the U.S. were used vehicles from stateside bases.

Richard Koch and his Ford GPW, 1946. Photo courtesy of Dr. Richard Koch.

Richard Koch, a WW II Vet (today Dr. Richard Koch, an esteemed medical researcher) told me that in late 1945 or early 1946 he bought a jeep directly from a shipping facility in Martinez, CA, near San Francisco. He arrived there to find many large crates stacked three high. After paying $500, a fork lift brought one down for him and the workers helped uncrate it, brand new from the factory. He says it had its wheels already mounted, all he had to do was connect the battery and drive it home. He also bought a matching Army trailer for an additional $50.

Manuals and factory photos of jeeps crated for shipping all show partial disassembly with wheels off. Therefore, Koch's Ford GPW (photo, left) was probably boxed, fully assembled, after production to protect it until its disposition was determined by the Army. Based on the hood number, this vehicle was most likely manufactured in June 1945 at the Richmond, CA Ford factory, not far from Martinez. Jeep production ended in August 1945 during the last days of World War II and, lucky for Koch, this jeep never went into active service.

Although there are other stories like Koch's, the jeep sales program dried up pretty quickly as civilian production resumed and Willys came out with the CJ series. Jeeps were given away to Allies and also sold outside the U.S. occasionally, but many were also dumped to prevent their return to the U.S. where it was feared they would glut the market and take factory jobs away from vets.

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