1942 Willys MB "Jeep in a Crate" | JeepsterMan 

In the mid 90s there was a phillipino missionary that came to our church and someone had sent them a crate jeep... a few years before. Not sure what year they actually got it though.

I was stationed in Germany in 84 we still had them on our tac site they were fun to drive

Grad in 82 as well, I used to comb thru the JC Whitney catalog looking at all the parts I could get for the military Jeeps.

They weren't available unless you ordered one through the mail, C.O.D., and actually received said Willys MB or Ford GPW. What it was was an ad for government surplus with a picture of a Jeep on it to lure you in.

Same here I graduated in 77 and I remember the kits in popular mechanics, mechanix illustrated and even backs of some comic books. I also remember seeing ads for old used WWII govt. jeeps advertised for $50-!? No idea what that was about except they were just old beat up worn out Jeeps is my guess

Yep. I remember them being advertised in the backs of outdoor magazines and such. You could get them for next to nothing.

I recall the JC Whitney catalog on the last century offering complete new bodies for the flat-fender Jeeps. along with hoods, windshields, etc. Maybe even the frame?

It is an urban legend. The advertisement in question was found in popular mechanics and other magazines for decades. It was an advertisement for government and military surplus auctions. Sad thing is sending 49.95 got you a listing of government auctions that was available for free by writing to the proper authorities. There weren't many "Jeeps in a crate" but the ones that were packaged that way were primarily sent as lend lease items to the Soviets. Jeeps were normally shipped on ocean vessels in a stacked fashion no more than three high. If your grandfather did actually buy a "Jeep in a crate" he likely had the last remaining one the Soviets didn't use that somehow survived the war still packed in a crate. And if you know anything about the second world war in the Soviet Union- that is more than unlikely. I've done much research on this subject. Everybody knows someone who bought one of these things but unfortunately it just never happened.

@@DJeepThoughts Your information is erroneous in that it's incomplete! As I said before, it's NOT just an urban legend! When I was a kid in Cali. my dad ordered one from an add in one of the comic books he bought my brother's & I. I still remember he & a buddy of his using an engine hoist to lift it.

Then you need to figure out where it came from, see if you can find some old pictures or documents and compile that for posterity. So far no concrete evidence of anyone finding and buying a "Jeep in a crate" exists@@THEFAITHFULPALADIN

they really did sell the real thing in a create and they came with everything the engine entire drive train for 500.00 dollars 50 years ago

Oh no! 😢😂😢

Bummer! These are exceptionally rare in Australia

@@OffGridInvestor I live in Grafton there are three or four around town that I known of

We need to sell jeeps in crates again. We have japanese importing used kei trucks into usa but we should really just bring back the jeep willys how it was instead. I livw where peoole like to offroad and an original willys but brsnd new is exactly what i need.

He was right, though. Those jeeps weren't fit for highway driving or for ladies. They were made for off-road, really dirt road, with hard seats and slow driving.

@@Havanorange Yea even back then he knew the Jeep was a tool, not really for civilian use. I think he was just lamenting about the good ol days.

I think, that surplus Jeeps cost much less than $750 just after the war. A surplus WLA Harley Davidson motorcycle was only $24.

My dad served in wwii also. He said they were selling jeeps for $50.00 when he got home. Like your dad, he wished he'd bought a couple😯

You bought a WWII jeep in 1986?

@@DJeepThoughts yep. They had it sitting in storage at the Army Depot since 1950. It was there to have communication equipment mounted to it but it never made it out of the crate.

And I don't suppose you have any records of that? If you did you could possibly be the first person in history with actual evidence of purchasing a "Jeep in a crate." So far no evidence exists.@@johndoran3274

Bull shit

@@johndoran3274want to sell it ?

Yup still at the cabin

😅😅I saw these advertised in some magazine in the early 90s. I guess it could have been a hoax.

​@@kimcaswell2895 DEFINITELY A HOAX!! JUST LIKE THOSE ADS FOR "X-RAY GLASSES" TARGETED TO YOUNG HORNY TEENAGE BOYS! (FULL DISCLOSURE, I FELL FOR IT!!😂)

My grandfather bought a used civilian-style CJ after the war to use as a farm tractor. Several implements were made for war-surplus and civilian jeeps such as planters, cultivators and even plows. It served acceptably on their small acreage for several years, although it had a golfball-sized hole in the engine block.

What was the store? I lived there in like 66-68. Never saw the store. I can’t imagine that with all the military up there. That they would have lasted 2 minutes. For Sale. I’d like to see a picture or add.

@@CSltz must have been a secret sale..

somewhere in that era you could buy most any Jeep parts through JC Whitney, including a harness and most of the metal

@@rupe53 You're right but, I didn't find Whitney until a couple years later. Good Luck, Rick

The electrical wiring harness would be like 6 wires in total. But, hell, if you need an excuse not to buy, it's as good as any.

@@erik_dk842It was reality. I was 16 and didn't know anything about wiring. My father was against it so, he wouldn't have used his truck to bring it home for me.

Surely you could've got an auto electrician or mechanic to make a new wiring harness. How much wiring could there have been?

thejeepsterman.com/products/jeep-in-crate-mb-1942-willys-jeep?_pos=1&_sid=4a3dd4450&_ss=r

@OutnBacker Had a neighbor whose uncle had purchased Jeeps in crates via government auction circa early 60s. He remembered also, that you had to purchase a lot size of minimum 10 crates, but could increase lot size by 10, up to 100 iirc. The uncle had a used car business, which aided in access to auction mailings/listings.

@@jamesthompson8008 I have been to auctions like that here in Australia. Some of the things I bought were crazy. I saw a really cool multimeter,in a canvas pouch . I bid on it and won,my bid being $15. What i actually bought was a crate full of the damned things for $15.

Yup... it took me a few minutes into the video to figure out that _md1_ is actually *MD Juan* ....silly closed-captioner.

They were not in a crate

This one is so old school it doesn't even have an engine or drive train. Talk about old tech!

Thank you for your service.

It's actually very healthy.

@jimvelde6041 I could see that, the military equipment far less important than the packing materials to get other items back to USA. I'd read in a book about US War efforts that when the war ended, the government had absolutely no way of knowing the true inventory of materials/parts/supplies for close to a year or more, as so many things were in production/transit/supply at the time. At wars end, lots of planes were decommissioned with only the delivery flight time from factory to air base on them.

My Dad bought a surplus British war time Army motorcycle unused in the 1950's Came in a crate. 😄👍🇬🇧

Bull shit

thejeepsterman.com/products/jeep-in-crate-mb-1942-willys-jeep?_pos=1&_sid=4a3dd4450&_ss=r

Jeepneys. Colorfully decorated.

@@suecobandito8954 Also stainless steel bodies.

You are right. I remember my dad talking about his Willys car that he had during the war. He pronounced it Willis.

There's a company near me that specializes in all that stuff - using a lot of Tesla components - they have a RU-vid channel.

Check out MD juan in the philippines,they make replicas.

I was going to say

We had some stories similar to that in Australia. One went that Jeeps and whole aircraft in crates were buried somewhere outside Sydney in New South Wales (possibly near what was called "the Putty Road"). In WWII northern Australia (Darwin) was getting bombed by the Japanese and there was a real fear of invasion. 1940's preppers if it's for real. I'd like to think that someday in the future the urban sprawl will result in major excavations for new housing and infrastructure, and those relics may be surprisingly unearthed and be reassembled as museum pieces. Urban legend? Who knows.

The vid I saw was a P-47...