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General Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: Jeffy on August 29, 2011, 03:14:45 PM
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http://www.youtube.com/v/hoCxunMgVfw
Jeep celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2011, and as we welcome the best Wrangler yet, we pay tribute to the original trail-rated truck. Though Jeep considers its birth year to be 1941, when the first military-spec Jeeps rolled off the line in Toledo, Ohio, the first Civilian Jeeps, or CJs, weren't available until 1945. This Model CJ2A is number 26, and cost $1200 new.
One of only a handful built with a column-shift "three-on-the-tree" three-speed manual transmission, this truck spends most of its time in the Chrysler collection, but it's led a full life. Jeep acquired it from an Indiana collector who had bought it from a school district that was using it to pull parade floats. Before undergoing a full restoration, it was said to have been covered in layers of house paint "an inch thick." Today, it looks just as it did when it rolled off the Willys-Overland production line 67 years ago.
It drives like it, too. Puttering around Motor Trend headquarters, the CJ was only slightly trickier to handle than a modern Wrangler. As in any old truck, there's a fair amount of play in the steering, and it never really tracks straight unless you keep sawing at the wheel. The column-mounted shifter takes a little getting used to, but it's the same H-pattern you'll find on any modern stickshift. Sure, the new Wrangler isn't temperamental on a cold-start, and you don't have to rev-match every downshift to keep from grinding the gears, but you adapt quickly to the CJ's quirks. The seats are actually quite plush, and the 60-horsepower L-head four-cylinder is enough to get the 2200-pound truck down the road. Even the transfer case operates nearly the same as in a new truck.
Easy to drive, easy to fix, nearly impossible to break -- one can see why not much has changed in the last 70 years
Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/classic/features/1108_1945_jeep_cj2a_classic/#ixzz1WTb034pF
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/37961115+w786+ar1/1945-Willys-Overland-Model-CJ2A-front-three-quarters.jpg)
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/37961097+w786+ar1/1945-Willys-Overland-Model-CJ2A-dash-view.jpg)
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/32876015+w786+ar1/1945-Willys-Overland-Model-CJ2A-seats.jpg)
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/37961124+w786+ar1/1945-Willys-Overland-Model-CJ2A-engine-three-quarters.jpg)
(http://www.motortrend.com/classic/features/1108_1945_jeep_cj2a_classic/photo_11.html#photo)
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/32876012+w786+ar1/1945-Willys-Overland-Model-CJ2A-shifter.jpg)
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/32876018+w786+ar1/1945-Willys-Overland-Model-CJ2A-exterior-details.jpg)
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not bad. would have been nice to see them drive the jeeps. must have been early enough to be a column shifter cj..
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not bad. would have been nice to see them drive the jeeps. must have been early enough to be a column shifter cj..
There was a floor shifter.
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I'd rather have the '45. Column shifters are cool and confuses though who aren't old enough or haven't ever driven one.
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There was a floor shifter.
Nope, he's right. The two shifters together are for the trasfer case. The one further back is for the PTO. The stick on the column is the shifter for the transmission.
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never driven a column shifter manual before. our 4.3l v6 CJ2a project originally had the column shifter trans but Po left the trans without the top plate on so the internals are all shot. and all the linkages are gone.
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never driven a column shifter manual before. our 4.3l v6 CJ2a project originally had the column shifter trans but Po left the trans without the top plate on so the internals are all shot. and all the linkages are gone.
They're fun to drive because of the novelty factor. Not many people know how to drive them so it's not like you'll have others driving your vehicle.
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Column shift is easy to get used too now the Citroen 2cv and some of the old renaults where something else they had this Banana looking shifter coming straight out of the dash you shifted does by turning and pushing in or pulling out
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Us old guys used to call the column shifter "three on the tree". It allows your girlfriend to slide closer, so it's a good thing!
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Column shift is easy to get used too now the Citroen 2cv and some of the old renaults where something else they had this Banana looking shifter coming straight out of the dash you shifted does by turning and pushing in or pulling out
I remember driving a Fiat with this setup...
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Had an old 4 door dodge dart with a three on the tree, man it was fun to drive