Farm Jeep just seems like the proper name for the vehicle that followed the “military jeep” in 1945. It is short and aptly descriptive. Willys-Overland certainly thought it was a great name and had submitted a federal trademark application in 1943. The application was rejected in January 1944 as “being too generic” and Willys was forced to come up with a new name. That name was “AgriJeep” and the trademark was granted in December, 1944.
The “AgriJeep” name was only used on the early experimental models, dropped in favor of the simple “Jeep” name for the introduction of the CJ2a in July 1945. We were reminded of this bit of history by an eWillys post titled August 1945 Farm Journal Article “What About the New Farm Jeep?”. This Farm Journal article is worth its own post and we will write about it later.
Since we couldn’t attend this year’s Willys Reunion, we thought it might be fun to revisit the 2015 spring show, featuring the AgriJeep.
We will take our tour courtesy of CJ3b.info and end with this video. Enjoy!
Over the past several years, we have been perplexed by the statement in early Newgren lift ads and articles that the lift was operated by a “control on the dash”. Yet our own Newgren lift had the control between the seats and this arrangement appears in the 1947 installation instructions.
In a 2016 post, we wrote the following –
The controls are where?
While looking over the ads …, we noticed a strange statement on a January 1947 ad titled “YES you can use Hydraulic-Lift Implements with the UNIVERSAL ‘JEEP’. The statement – “Hydraulic-lift implements raised and lowered by control on the dash.” – got our attention.
The ad, shows the Newgren lift, that normally had the driver control between the seats. The Monarch Hy-Lo Jeep pump did use a through-the-dash control. We know that the Monarch pump was used with some Newgren lifts, but we had assumed that was at a later date.
So the question is was this an ad misprint or had Willys (or Newgren) started using Monarch pumps in place of the original Newgren unit. The answer appeared as we were reviewing the information we have on the Love lift.
As can be seen when comparing the ad above to this newspaper report (thanks to ewillys.com), the photo is the same. Our assumption is that the lift in the ad was a Newgren was our error. The earliest Love lift did use controls on the dash.
Update – Not our error
Just look at this undated announcement of the Newgren lift –
Note “Finger Tip Operation” shows lever between the seats.
Same picture again and yes that is a Newgren lift in every picture. But still strange timing…
Fast forward to 2018
Dave once again added to the mystery –
That old control on the dash issue The eWillys article also included an early ad for the lift plow. In the body is the statement “A touch of the control knob on the dash lowers the plow into operating position.” We have written a number of times about the “control on the dash” that appeared in the earliest Newgren ads.
We have never seen pictures of the “dash knob” but believe this early brochure confirms that the control was always between the seat and the idea of a “dash knob” was an error by the marketing staff. Thanks to Dave for providing some summer fun.
Then this brochure sold on eBay-
Dave at eWillys posted about the sale of this early brochure. At first it appeared to be exactly the same , but take a look at “Finger Tip Operation” photo. There is a photo of the dash control!
Here is proof that at least for a short period of time Newgren used the Love pump and dash control. Thanks to the seller on eBay and to Dave for posting the pictures that have finally solved this Farm Jeep mystery.
We recently lost out on an opportunity to buy a Monroe lift installation manual. Today that same manual showed up in a folder of a project we are just starting to work on. We don’t remember when we picked this up, but it must have been several years ago. Some day we will get organized, but for now we are very happy to have found it and have done a quick scan. Just click on the cover.
Terry E. sent us a note about our plans for 2020 shows. Sadly, it appears that we won’t be attending shows this summer. Instead, we are going to create a couple of virtual shows, based on the many events we have attended these past years. While not close to the fun of interacting with people, it should provide some fun memories for us and maybe kindle an interest in attending Jeep and farm shows in the future for others. Now we just need to sort through hundreds of photos we have taken over the past decades.
While we won’t be adding new shows, we will be adding a new story soon. Dan Montgomery has written an article, “Robert Miller’s Jeeps: A small town story of hayfields in the sun, wheelies at night and growing up with Jeeps” for the Spring 2020 Dispatcher magazine. If you don’t already subscribe to this great magazine, now is a great time to do so.
Here is a sneak peak at what makes Dan’s story of interest to us –
In normal times, we would be gathering our family and friends to celebrate Easter and the coming of spring. This year we will just be joining the rest of the world with virtual visits and remembering the good times of past years.
Paula and her dad ready for Easter
Pictured above are Paula and her dad in their Easter finery. The Jeep, a column shift model is also sporting fender skirts. You can read more about Jeeps in our family at https://www.farmjeep.com/family/jeeps-in-the-family/.
Two more friends added to the list
We are adding two names to our friends list today. These two individuals have shared their knowledge of the Monroe Auto Equipment Company (MAECO) and the Newgren Company. Jerry Wittkop was working for MAECO when the Monroe hydraulic lift was introduced. He has given us a first-hand look at this important part of Farm Jeep history. You can read a brief interview with Jerry here.
Clint Dixon has an incredible wealth of knowledge covering both MAECO and Newgren implements. How he came to be so interested in these two companies may surprise you. There is a brief introduction to Clint here.
Newspaper and magazine ads provide useful information when researching the Farm Jeep. We take a look at how Willys marketed the Jeep as a light tractor just a couple of years after its introduction.
The April 2020 edition of Farm Collector magazine has an article featuring lots of photos of the annual demonstration hosted by John Ittel, as part of the annual Willys Jeep Rally. It was written by Barry. Enjoy!
We have written extensively about Jabez Love, the designer of the first hydraulic lift for the Jeep. Love had been building his own line of tractors when he saw the new 1939 Ford/Ferguson 9N tractor in action. He was sure the new 3-point hydraulic lift system was the future of farming and acquired a Ford Tractor dealership. A compact 3-point disc, a requirement of the farmers in Michigan’s orchards, didn’t exist for the Ford tractor. So Love designed a disc and added implement manufacturing to his list of businesses.
Newgren was the first supplier of implements for Jeep dealers to sell with the Farm Jeep. However, Jeep owners could also use any farm implement designed for the Ford/Ferguson hydraulic lift system. The only implements we have acquired are the Newgren and re-branded American Bantam plows. We were surprised when our friend Craig Weinstock told us he had spotted a Love Tractor Sales disc for sale at a local on-line farm machinery auction house.
The importance of the disc to Love is demonstrated by its presence on the front of the brochure for his Jeep lift. Thanks to Craig, we had a chance to own a genuine piece of Jeep agricultural history. When we first saw the pictures supplied by the sellers, we knew we had to buy it.
The bad news is that the disc is in bad shape. The good news is that we didn’t expect much competition, except from scrap dealers. The starting bid was $60. The winning bid – ours – was $70! We could afford that and at least save it from the scrap heap. It was only a short 60 minute round trip to bring the disc home.
Front gang badly damaged
The tag says it all.
Unlike Newgren, that supplied only a model and serial number, Love’s tag includes a build month and year. We had not been able to verify Love’s activities from the beginning of WWII until his time at Willys developing the Jeep lift. We now know that Love’s factory in Eau Claire was producing discs in 1944. We will be writing more about the Love disc and farm implement production during the war.
We are unsure of our ability to completely restore the gang with its many missing parts. There are other issues. Love used wooden instead of metal bearings. However, we believe that some disc is better than no disc. So the disc will join Rusty awaiting – shall we say it – a little love.
