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1945 Willy MB

D.O.D. 3/12/45   # MB425051

Hood # 20691584(APPX)

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This MB has been a learning experience for me. I bought this thinking that I had a good knowledge of military jeeps only to realize I got myself in deep. My passion started young. I remember seeing a jeep frame painted OD in my grandfather's garage with engine, transmission and complete running gear. It spent many years with us grand kids playing on it, wondering what exactly this 'thing' was. As the years went on it got covered over and slowly became a magnet for boxes and junk till one day you could barely see the steering wheel sticking out of the mess.

This was a 1943 Ford GPW which was purchased by my father in 1995 and has since been completed, but that is another story. Since those early days I have always had in interest in 'jeeps', but as I grew and studied and watch my father restore his 43, I got the military jeep itch. Only three months out of army training, I finally found 'my little MB'.

It was a rainy day in Port Angeles, WA. I had made a trip over there to visit family. As I was packing to leave, my grandfather called me to see if I wanted to go look at a jeep with him really quick. As soon as he told me it was an 'old military jeep' I was out the door. We first pulled in to see a nicely older restoration of a 1945 MB (Mar 45). Wasn't bad for being done may years ago. Around back was my soon to be MB. As you can see in the above pictures, it wasn't the best but I could already see a finished MB. It was pouring down rain I made a quick run around and it didn't look too bad. I was told that it had ran when he bought it but it had no brakes. I was already hooked. He named his price and I was sold.

It was already too late to take it back with me that weekend, so I was back the next. I finally had my own MB.

 

Overall, the MB didn't look bad. Most major components were there. It had a larger front bumper and rear bumper welded on to it, but that wasn't much of a problem. The engine was complete except for the air filter. It had the original gas tank and it looked in good shape. It had both front seats and at the time of looking at it, I could tell if the back seat was in the back due to the side doors and other junk was piled back there. (After removing all the parts out of there, the back seat was indeed there.) No MB windshield, but it did have this interesting hard top. I was told it was a M38 Winter hard top. It does have some OD color under all that red.

As you can see I didn't pass it up. Since I wasn't able to take it home that day, my grandfather stored it for me and I was back the next weekend to pick it up. I finally had a World War II jeep.

All the gauges were there and two of the three ID plates were there. It was missing the two dash lights also. It had been converted to a key switch (almost all have been). It was neat to see the turn style light switch instead of the pull knob. All late war jeeps were fitted with this turn style because it had ID spots at each point so that the driver knew what his lights were set at. It had the holes in the dash for the First Aid kit and for the plate on 'shipping weights'. This plate was mounted on the right side of the emergency brake handle. It also had a heater installed under the dash.

Unlike most old jeeps, the horn button still works! Most of the old jeeps that I have seen, the horn doesn't work anymore and it is more of a hassle to install a new wire down through the steering column. Also notice around the shifting column, the original leather boot is there and amazingly it is still in good shape.

This MB also was not converted to a 12-V system. While the MB was at my Grandfather's house, he took the time to check out all the vital fluids, and change the spark plugs. Amazingly after all this, it fired right up. It ran great, no knocking or any other terrible noise from the engine. It drove well, except that the brakes didn't work. No problem though, I wanted to redo the brake system anyway.

Loaded and ready to roll with my 1978 Chevy 3/4-ton truck. The MB had a nickname of "One Eye Willy" on its ride to its new home. The reason for the name was the only thing I could see out my rear view mirror was the grill of the MB and it had only one headlight in place.

The one thing I will never forget was when I was in Ellensburg, WA, I had stopped at a restaurant for a bite to eat. I had just parked and was looking over my MB. I happened to look up and there was two guys looking over at the MB. One was a very old man. The younger of the two walked over to me and said that his father used to drive those in the war. At this time, the older Gentleman walked over and asked me what I was going to do with it. I told him I was restoring it back to its original condition. He smiled at me and said thank you. It was great to make an old veteran happy.

I don't have any military history on this MB except that it was probably a state side jeep and like all state side jeeps it was fitted with hook ups for radio equipment. Civilian history, I don't have much either. The gentleman I got the jeep from bought it from some old farmer over on the coast. The farmer had owned it for many, many years, probably some time after the war. It was used as a hunting rig and used around the farm. If I remember correctly, the gentleman I purchased this from, picked it up in the mid 1980, maybe later.

The farmer told him that the jeep had been under a pile of hay for about 10 years! It was parked there and left. (Evidence of hay was still in the Jeep when I purchased it.) Why this was done, I'll never know. But I'm glad he finally decided to uncover it and sell it, otherwise it could have been left and sold away after the farmer passed away many years ago.

 

HISTORY:

    Like most World War II jeeps there is no military history for it.  The military did not keep very good record of the vehicles.  Heck in combat the life expectance of a jeep was 90 days!  Most jeeps you see here in the USA never made it over sea, they served their country here, stateside.  Just because it may not have been a 'combat' jeep, doesn't mean it did not serve in an important role here stateside.  Some of these jeeps served will into the 50-60's with national guard and reserve units.  The history on my MB starts with a farmer that owned it here in western Washington.  I don't know when he got it or how long he had it, but it served out most of its time on a farm.  In the mid 1980s this jeep was purchased by the gentleman I bought it from.  He bought it off the farmer himself.  The jeep was buried back in a barn, covered in hay.  He had bought it as a parts jeep for his 1945 MB.  Luckily though, there wasn't much of anything he needed off of it.  Since he had no use for it, it came into my possession.  It's not much history, but that is all I had to work with.

 

THE RESTORATION:

        The tear down started as soon as I found a place to store it.  Luckily I  just found a place to rent with a double car garage.  So in came the jeep.  Sadly though, all the photos of the initial tear down have been lost.  The photos I do have are before the tear down started. 

 

     The MB was very complete.  Most major components were in place.  The dash was complete with no major holes or work done to it.  All gauges worked and the rotary light switch still worked.  At first glance the engine compartment looked good.  The jeep was still 6V and had an electric fuel pump instead of the manual pump.  It wasn't after I did a little research on the motor did I find out that it was a late CJ2A motor.

All three seats were in place and in good shape.  Yes that is right, the rear seat frame was indeed in the back of the jeep when I cleaned it out.  Once I started to tear into the vehicle, it had looked as if someone had done some body work (poor body work) on it.  Large amount of bondo here and chunks of sheet metal there. Ol' bubba had got a hold of this jeep sometime ago.  The first real hurdle I ran into when disassembling the jeep was that every part was welded together.  The grill to the fenders and fenders to the body!  So without destroying all the parts I had to delicately cut each weld apart to remove the pieces.  What a job that was!

 

Picture Archive PageRestoration Information

 

Looking for some jeep parts check out: www.northwestmilitaryvehicles.com for all your jeep part needs!!

 

 

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Last updated: 27 September, 2007

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