I was recently lucky enough to purchase the original artwork for the illustration of the CJ-3B front grille, as found in the 1962 Willys Motors Parts List (150K JPEG). The actual size of the ink drawing (it's not a photo) is approximately 12 inches square, and it's dated 5 May 1953. It's a very detailed rendering of the only Jeep grille to have the Willys name stamped on it.
This illustration must be one of the ultimate pieces of CJ-3B literature (suitable for framing!) but it also reveals an interesting detail which I hadn't noticed in my 1956 edition of the Parts List.
The screw holes for mounting the parking lights were originally drawn on the left and right of the lamp opening, and that is how they appear here in Figure 22 of the 1956 Parts List (150K JPEG). The drawing was modified on 29 December 1958 to put the holes above and below the opening. The old and new sets of holes can be clearly seen in the drawing above. The new screw holes are slightly off center (50K JPEG) from the larger hole.
The number labels pointing toward the attachment hardware were also changed slightly; the artist noted "This illus. revised on parking light holes, also on arrows and numbers to be used for CJ-3B, CJ-5 & 6 Parts List 1958-59."
At first I thought that the original placement of the holes was also perhaps a drawing error, because all the CJ-3Bs I've seen have screws above and below the parking lights. Then I realized that the parking light sockets were changed. According to the 1962 Parts List, page 70 (140K JPEG) the change occurred at serial number 57348-44200, which was in the middle of the 1958 model year.
Later grilles like mine from 1959 and this one from 1964 (when Kaiser had finally used up all the grilles with the Willys name) were set up for lamp sockets whose mounting screws were directly under the exterior mounting screws for the chrome bezels. See the rear of the grille (50K JPEG) on my '59, showing the vertical arrangement of the mounting screws. See photos of the early and late glass lenses and bezels in DJ-3A Front Grille on CJ3B.info.
The earlier lights had the bezel screws in the vertical arrangement, but the sockets were attached to the grille at the sides. A photo of the rear of the grille (70K JPEG) on Lawrence Wade's '55 shows the hidden horizontal mounting screws, while a front view (55K JPEG) shows the vertical bezel screws.
This rear view photo by Ben Hildred shows the air deflector, to which the radiator is attached. See also a top view (120K JPEG) which clearly shows the offset of the deflector.
Dan Fedorko's '63 was one of the last CJ-3Bs with the Willys-stamped grille. It's seen in the photo below with a 1998 Wrangler. The TJ and the 3B are the only U.S.-made civilian Jeeps other than the CJ-4 prototype, to have headlights that clear the grille opening. But the TJ has taken another big step away from the front clip design of the 3B, by moving the parking lights over to the fenders. A few less holes that need to be cut in the radiator guard.
Thanks to Jim Marski, Gary Keating, Rus Curtis, Ben Hildred and Dan Fedorko. See also Keith Buckley's photo of a Parts List page blowing across the former site of the old Jeep plant in Toledo (120K JPEG). -- Derek Redmond
See more illustrations from the CJ-3B Parts List.
Also on CJ3B.info, see a poster of Jeep Grilles 1940-2001.
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