Jeeps of all ages and models invaded Knox Saturday, including a vintage Willys and a World War II survivor.
Bill and Donna Hart of Venus brought a rare 1962 Willys Wagon to the Knox Horsethief Day’s Jeep Invasion Saturday.
The Harts acquired the Willys about 30 years ago.
Like many people who collect vehicles, Hart’s grandparents had a Willys Wagon. “I started to look for one and most of them were in bad shape,” he said. “This one was from Arizona and it was just like brand new. It has 35,000 original miles. It spent most of its life with a fire department. That’s why it is red and yellow.”
“This was the first one of these we had the opportunity to get,” said Donna Hart. “I enjoy riding around in it.”
The Willys is powered by a flathead six, super hurricane engine with overdrive. “It was not running when we got it but we got it running and now it purrs like a kitten,” said Don Hart.
Dean Straffin of Cranberry brought his original WW II “Jeep” to the show. He acquired the veteran Jeep almost by accident. He drove his other veteran Jeep to breakfast in Knox a few years ago and a man approached him and asked if he wanted another one. “It was in a barn and I bought it,” he said.
“Everything was stuck and rusted up on it,” he said. “I rebuilt the engine and transmission and fixed the brakes but I left the surfaces the way I found it. All I did to it was clean it.”
The Jeep bears the scars of its service. The seats are sweat-stained and torn, the paint is faded but the original flathead four cylinder is in tip-top shape.
He decided to keep the “Truck, ton, 4×4, GPW” in its original condition. The nomenclature plate on the dash notes the vehicle entered into service on May 2, 1944, and was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It bears the serial number 194530.
“The tires are new but they are mounted on the split rim combat rims. The rims are also original. Most of them were discarded and more modern rims put on,” he said.
Straffin said that Ford and Willys got the contract to make the Jeeps during the war and each of them made about 300,000 of them. “There are fewer Fords that survived than Willys,” he said.
“A lot of people like to see the Jeep in its original condition,” he said. “That’s why I brought it today.”
