Another unusual top: a red CJ-3B with a hardtop that kind of looks like they borrowed the roof from the outhouse. This is Wheeler, Oregon, in a hand tinted postcard photo which appears to be from the early 1960s.
Telluride, Colorado, in the late 60s, judging from the Mustang. But the rest of the scene could be much older, including a red 3B in the background of the full postcard from Bob Petley's Petley Studios in Phoenix, who sold hundreds of millions of postcards of the Southwest during the 50s and 60s. (1)
The green 3B in the foreground, with somebody catching a nap in the driver's seat, is obviously set up to carry a lot of gear up to a mining operation in the mountains. As well as a huge roof rack, it has a double-decker tub extension hanging off the back.
Cincinatti, Ohio, in a photo from a 1955 issue of Willys News. A Sohio service station Jeep provides Triple A-authorized roadside assistance.
Sometime in the 1950s at a Sinclair station which had unfortunately lost a crucial part of its sign, another 3B was standing by. Anybody recognize this location?
No guessing necessary on the date for this one: 22 March 1955 was recorded by photographer Charles Cushman on the Kodachrome slide taken at Zabriskie Point, California. The Jeep has a plywood hardtop, and a mystery: the spare tire on the left side. Maybe there are two spares, for trips into nearby Death Valley?
This is one of nearly 15,000 slides in the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection at Indiana University.
At the bullfight: here's an interesting postcard photo. A Willys CJ-3B with unique red and gold upholstery and paint job, parked outside the Plaza de Toros in Almeria, on the Mediterranean coast in southern Spain.
The canvas and vinyl striping was probably inspired by the Jeep Surrey Gala, but the yellow and red stripes are also found on the flags of several regions of northeast Spain, so this may be a visitor coming from out of town to watch a favorite matador.
Behind the Jeep, dwarfing most of the European cars, is a 1952 Chevy Styline station wagon, but the photo is probably from the late 50s or early 60s, judging from the Citroën DS beside the Chevy, and a Mercedes Fintail in the background.
Harrison Forman has two spare tires on his Jeep in this picture taken on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia in 1956. Forman was a photographer and journalist who wrote for The New York Times and National Geographic. Before and after World War II he reported from China and other parts of Asia. His diaries and 50,000 photographs are now at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Forman took this beautiful photo of his Jeep as he toured Sumbawa with the ventilating windshield open. The large island is mainly agricultural, although more recently an American corporation started one of the world's largest gold and copper mining operations, which has been accused of polluting the island.
Also on CJ3B.info, see Krushchev Visits Indonesia, 1960.
Photographer Alisson Paese in Brasil says, "I do not remember what the city is, but it seems that it was somewhere in Minas Gerais. What I remember well is that the CJ-3B models seen were used as taxis. Notice how many are parked there in the square."
Photo courtesy of Jeepguerreiro.
See more Jeeps in Brasil on CJ3B.info.
This is an unidentified airfield in Germany, reportedly in 1963, although that looks like one of the 1964 U.S. Army CJ-3Bs beside the tower, and I haven't seen evidence that any of those were delivered before February 1964. (See CJ-3B and M606 Military Jeeps on CJ3B.info.)
It also looks like the Jeep is pulling a trailer. The photo is courtesy of USArmyGermany.com.
Nice camping outfit -- I wish I had more information on this snapshot stamped October 1960, of a Ford pickup towing a CJ-3B full of gear under a tarp.
This is not an old photo, but I had to include it here while we're talking about Ford and Willys. It's Johannes Tanner's 1961 CJ-3B at a 2017 car show in Switzerland.
Here's a great Jeep story. This shy elderly lady is Mary Breckinridge, founder of the Frontier Nursing Service, which has provided health care in rural eastern Kentucky since 1925. Initially nurses travelled on horseback (see Mary Breckinridge and her nurses in 1931, 270K JPEG) and later by Jeep. (2)
This slide appears to be from the late 1950s, and the CJ-3B has "FNS" tacked on the front, presumably in case someone suspects it might be a "revenuer" prowling the backwoods.
All these FNS photos from the Leslie County Photo Gallery are courtesy of Frontier Nursing University.
The woman on the left in the photo above is Nurse Betty Lester, who is also seen driving a Jeep in this wonderfully staged but undated slide of an envelope being passed to Nurse-Midwife Anne Cundle on horseback. A close look at the large copy of the photo (420K JPEG) reveals the "FNS" sign stuck to the tailgate.
Jeeps were provided to FNS by the War Department in the 1940s, and the organization has embraced them ever since, as the way to reach isolated homes and communities. This is FNS Nurse Mar Quarles in a CJ-3A nicknamed "Apple Pie," with Nurses Anna May January and Cindy James Howard.
Since 1939, Frontier Nursing Service has operated a school to train nurses, which in 2004 was accredited as Frontier Nursing University, offering graduate degrees in nursing. Here, the school's graduating class of 1957 poses on the beloved CJ-3B. Photo courtesy of FNU/Luree Wotton Collection.
The FNS has also always had a group of volunteer Couriers, who assist nurses, deliver supplies, and look after the horses and Jeeps. In another great photo, a group of Couriers washes a CJ-6. The flower stickers on the rear windows suggest that this is the 1960s.
Thanks to Federico Cavedo for photo research, and to all the photographers. More photos are always welcome.-- Derek Redmond
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