Metamet employees driving jeeps for a Garden Party
Thanks to Anita Long for these images and for introducing me to Garden Parties. I had no idea such events had taken place. It was at one of these events that her parents met.
She wrote, "As a teenager my Mum was an avid film goer and her main interest was writing to movie stars and studios for autographs. In the summer time she would attend the Sunday Pictorial Garden Parties at Morden Hall Park in Surrey to see more film stars and hopefully 'get' their autographs.
The staff at Metamet would drive to the Movie Stars hotels and take them to the Garden Parties. I don't think they drove them around at the park as my photo shows them at the temporary fencing where they parked them. The jeeps were the best way to chauffeur the stars to all their scheduled meet and greets for the fans on the day. Everyone got to see them as there were definitely no open top limos in those days! The boys at Metamet must have really enjoyed those days and I thank fate for the opportunity given to my Dad. If he hadn't met my Mum there then I wouldn't be here now!"
Anita shared this video from Youtube. At the 40sec mark you'll see a couple jeeps behind Bette Davis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFp6DB2nMGk
Here are some photos:
You can learn more about Garden Parties and see some more jeeps here:
Ann and I decided to go camping for a couple days. Unfortunately, I couldn't escape the internet, even out here. So, I will be checking email, but responding little. I already have some posts ready for the next couple days, so enjoy! (see the crab story under #3)
Bruce Agan's JeepGalaSurrey DJ-3A site may be down permanently. Those who don't know, Bruce was arguably one of the most knowledgeable DJ-3A/Surrey (he owned several) collectors about that vehicle line. Moreover, he not only shared his information with anyone interested in the DJ-3A family, but he also posted his information on the jeepgalasurrey.com site a few years ago. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2016. His site remained online until last week.
If I don't see the site reappear soon (this means his web host received a payment), then I'll launch the information from files I gathered from his site (SiteSucker is a very handy application). I'll let you know when the site goes back up.
As you can see, we are enjoying some crab on our first night of camping (Clyde Holiday State Park in Oregon). Funny store that explains why a brain damaged wife can be a good thing.
Ann had a craving for crab. When we decided to go camping, she went shopping for some camping food and felt 1/2 a crab each ought to be enough. She approved the fish counter and said she wanted 2 crabs (as the crab was already cleaned and separated into halves).
However, the person behind the counter interpreted that as 1 crab (2 halves) each or 4 halves total. The counter-person went to work, while Ann was blissfully unaware what was happening .... she said she was trying to remember how she had setup the sprinkler system in 2005.
When the counter-person handed her the package, she thought it looked big, but didn't think much of it. Only when she got home did she open to find SIX HALVES!
Now, I don't know where the disconnect happened, but I can confirm that I had my fill of crab Wednesday night :-) :-)
"his is one of the rarest jeeps ever made. My understanding is that they only made approximately 460 of the CJ-6A Tuxedo Park Mark IV which has a 20 inch longer wheelbase than the CJ-5’s. This one was originally sold new at Desert Rambler Jeep dealership in Indio California. It has been in a dry California climate all of its life. It has a 134ci in-line four-cylinder motor and a three speed manual transmission on the column. I have just put brand new period correct off-road tires on it.
My mechanic went through the whole vehicle and it has a clean bill of health. I spent a couple thousand dollars on the brakes and some other miscellaneous things so the jeep is ready to enjoy. I have a heavy duty tow bar that easily bolts on the front bumper and it has electrical that plugs in and activates the lights on the jeep while towing.
The Acapulco top is very well-made and in great shape. The interior is fairly new and good quality. The paint looks great and the jeep gets a lot of smiles and attention. I was told that it spent part of its life at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego as a guest shuttle vehicle. It is registered through 2024 and the clean California title is in my name.
I’m not sure of the actual miles but the odometer reads 900 or so. This is one of the funnest cars I have ever owned and I hate to part with it but my garage space is limited. Myself and the previous owner have always kept it inside a garage. I have included a picture of a similar one that sold on bring a trailer for over $38,000. That was a beautiful example of a CJ-5A tuxedo park, which which was not near as rare as the longer CJ-6A. If you are interested or have some questions, please leave your phone number and I will call or text you promptly. I need to do that in order to weed out some of the scammers and bogus inquiries."
I've spent some time over the last couple of days assembling information on what I have/needwant for Rusty. I'm throwing this info up for questions/answers/comments:
3.PARKING BRAKE: I will need parking brake parts: http://www.jeepsurreygala.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/62-hand-brake.jpg. Are the later 3B T-handle parking brake setups the same as the DJ cables and parts? I have a handle that is salvageable, but lack the rest. The image below is from a 1962 book. I've seen nothing to indicate this changed from early DJ-3As.
8. GAS TANK: I currently have no gas tank. An original Dj-3A gas tank would be greatl, however these are hard to come by. The larger CJ-5 tank with its underneath plating is my second choice. But then, will I need to change anything with the six volt system vs. the 12 volt tank float and gauge? The first tank below is Fred Comer's modified tank. The second one is my 1973 CJ-5 tank that's in biscuit.
I can attest that the early DJ-5 tanks were narrower than the 73 CJ-5 tank. They may have been the same as a DJ-3A.
9 HOOD LATCH: I need a 1955 ish hood latch (i have one, need another). These have a stiffer springs and slightly different design than the modern types I've seen.
10. STEERING WHEEL: I think I'll need a steering wheel, mid-late 1950s. Mine has large cracks and seems dehydrated. I've done research on fixing them. Anyone have luck with one has dried as this? I may be looking for a replacement.
11. FUEL PUMP: This early glass bowl fuel pump was what came on Rusty. It is incorrect.
Below is the fuel pump I should have, based on my owner's manual. How standard was this one use on other CJs?
12 BATTERY TIE DOWN: I will need a battery tie down (not sure if/how this differs from other jeep models). Rusty's passenger fender has the bolt down piece (see top pic), but I don't know if the original battery tie down had the support piece that bolted to the fender. It seems those support pieces were no longer used on later CJ-3As (http://www.cj3apage.com/cgi-bin/3Ayabb26/YaBB.pl?num=1376584479).
12. FRONT FLOOR: Front floor & body channels will need replacing at some point. There are multiple rust spots. Ideally, I"ll replace the floor, but it could be patched for the time being.
13. FRONT BUMPER: Not sure what to do about the front bumper. I hate to remove the original rivets to pull off the bumper, but straightening it won't be easy either, based on my experiments so far.
14. REAR FLOOR: I might end up replacing the rear floor. There isn' much rust, so patching might be sufficient. You can see in the pic below that the rust is minor.
The rust as viewed from the rear:
If you have any of the parts I need, feel free to email me (d@ewillys.com) and we can discuss!
From left to right Alan, Me and Joe and Joe's jeeps. Alan also owns a few jeeps, including a Surrey he's been restoring. He too can blame his father for his Willys sickness.
On Thursday morning we woke up to silence. The room at the Murray was amazingly peaceful. There's no constant hum of a nearby highway, no air condition churning noisily, just relaxing quiet. For that reason alone we liked our stay in Silver City. But, as all good things must end, we said goodbye and hit the road for a 'blue highways' journey through New Mexico and Phoenix.
Before we left Silver City, we wanted to take a couple photos of the former Main Street. You can see the enormity of the damage from a storm that happened in the 1880s. There has been some discussion of filling in the area, but the importance of the event in the town's history seems to win over any discussions of change.
Former Main Street of Silver City. Now a giant gully that still fills with water during the rainy season.An example of the tall side walks that help direct the water down the street during heavy rains.
Leaving Silver city, we took Highway 180 north, quickly finding ourselves in remote areas with no cell service. Tall mountains loomed in every direction, Homes were sparse, but we did spot the occasional jeep. However, as we had plenty of driving ahead of us we didn't stop to photograph any. At Highway 70, we turned east. Homesteads became rarer. Highway 70 was beautiful.
A short siding off highway 70. That just looks like a Jeep commercial, doesn't it?
At the New Mexico/Arizona border we stopped to celebrate our return to Arizona. No other cars passed us. We stood in the middle of the road and took some photos and a selfie or two.
One the way down the mountain from the border toward Safford, Arizona, we had another great view.
As we wound down the mountain, we were enjoying the view. We were all alone. No cars, nice weather, beautiful scenery. It was great. I was so relaxed I didn't notice that on our side of the road was a large stick. We were going pretty fast and approached the stick quickly. I just didn't think much of it until I noticed the stick had the coloring of a snake. Apparently, the snake was enjoying it's day, too, sunning itself on the warm road. It seemed to ignore our presence until I mistakenly ran over it.
From my perspective, I wasn't about to make a dangerous swerve to avoid it. And, it was so long there was no way I was going to avoid it with at least one set of tires. As we went over it Ann shouted, "That was a big rattler!" Meanwhile, I glanced into my rear view mirror to see it writhing on the pavement. I would have liked to have had a gun to put it out of its misery, but there was no way I was going to get close to it!
After several hours of driving we made it to the mining town of Globe and hometown to Ann's grandmother and grandfather. We toured the town a bit and then discovered a wonderful antique and gift shop called Pickle Barrel. They had some fun stuff in there, good books, leather (and buckskin of all kinds), interesting copper and beading pieces, jewelry and more.
From Globe we drove west through one more set of rocky mountains.
Now he's got a running MB play jeep that still has a few quirks, but is designed for fun. And, he has his GPW with plenty of F-stamps that came with a unique passenger side door that we both agree adds character to the vehicle.
And one photo of us that is NOT a selfie (thanks Joe!).
I like how Ann knows where the camera is, while I'm oblivious.
Joe's also got a few parts he'd like to sell, but hasn't had time to post anywhere. If you see anything on the trailer of interest, let me know and I'll get you in contact with him. Joe also is selling real estate in the area, so if you are buying and selling I'll forward your contact info to him as well. As you can see based on his jeep progress, he's a hard worker.
After Joe's, we headed for our hotel in Phoenix. We quickly discovered we were no longer on remote highways anymore. Rush hour meant sitting a long time :-(
It was a busy day at the FC-Roundup. There were more trucks, more people and plenty of visitors. The weather was a little warm, but I know I relished the heat after our cold winter in Pasco.
The morning started for some of us with a 6am breakfast FC convoy, which I did alone as Ann decided she'd enjoy sleeping a little while longer. We all met over at Jesse's. Thinking Jason's tour jeep was going to be filled, Craig Brockhaus jumped into the rear. I was thinking the same thing, so I jumped up next to him. It turned out we were the only two in the back two rows. Certain someone would tell our wives that we were seen taking a romantic ride in the back of the tour jeep, Craig made the smart move to shift to the other side.
We made it to breakfast at Fast Eddies without a single jeep breaking down. That could be a record! For the trip back to the event, Jesse offered to give me a ride in his M-667. Well, wouldn't you know but that two-timing Craig wasted no time inviting Dan Devries into the back of the Tour Jeep for the ride home. I feel so cheap now . . .
After a quick trip back to the hotel to pick up Ann, the two of us met up with Colin Peabody for a wide ranging chat. He had some good suggestions for Route 66 stops, so we'll be including some of those on the early part of our trip toward California.
Just before we left, Colin showed us his DJ-3A Surrey. It's a beautiful vehicle that he enjoys immensely.
The door-prize giveaway started just after lunch. Jason and Greg combined forces to provide several really cool customized signs. We were all drooling. I implored my wife to use all her witchy powers (after all, she is the descendent of John Ketcham). But, no matter what she tried, she could not win me a sign! I doubt her heart was truly in it, because she didn't think we'd be able to take it home. But, I had a solution and that solution was to come up with a plan once I won the sign. Alas, that didn't happen. Here are a few of the signs.
After the raffle, a few of use decided to go out for dinner in the tour jeep. We didn't get far. If you own a jeep, you know that his photo needs no explanation.
Dan (underneath the jeep), quickly discovered the throttle cable had come undone (or something like that -- I was laughing too hard at our situation). After all, these situations are what jeeping is all about.
Our chief mechanic quickly determined he needed a small tool to fix the problem. Those of us in the tour jeep pooled our resources, which amounted to a few phones and plenty of excuses as to why we weren't better prepared.
To Jason's credit, he wasn't about to be denied his seafood. I don't think there was a cataclysmic event in recorded history that would have kept that man from Red Lobster. For, after determining that our only hope for repairing the throttle linkage was an iPhone app (turns out there isn't an app for that!), Jason grabbed the bull by the horns, or in this case the carb with his fingers, and manually operated it.
With the cowl open, Jason worked the carb with one hand, the steering with the other, and the transmission shifter with the third arm . . . which he doesn't have. With Ann screaming next to me, "We are going to die!" . . . or maybe that was me screaming . . . Jason steered that FC onto the freeway, juggling between the steering wheel, the carb, and the shifter.
Unfortunately, the faster we went, the hotter the carb got. Jason went from using his hand, to using his finger, to wrapping his finger with a cloth. But, none of it slowed that FC down a bit as we raced toward Red Lobster. I feel safe claiming that no one has tried harder to go faster to reach a Red Lobster than Jason Monday.
Ironically, the closer we got to the restaurant, the more Jason looked the part, as he'd spent too much time in the sun on Saturday. By the time we walked into the restaurant, his face matched the lobster on the sign. He was a Red Lobster!
All-in-all is a fun trip to dinner and we'd do it all over again in a moment.
Though the FC-Roundup 2014 continues through Sunday afternoon, Ann and I won't be there. We will be heading for Tempe to tour Mystery Castle and then spend the evening at the Chihuly Exhibit in Phoenix. On Monday we celebrate Ann's birthday, April 1 we begin heading west. Where you ask? Roughly toward San Diego. We'll know more in a couple days.
Here are some additional photos we took from this year's Roundup. Thanks for all the fun everyone!
Patterson looks ready for the big tow to Eastern Washington.
Claiming that Sunday was "Tow Hell" day might be a slight exaggeration, but I wouldn't call it a winning day either. Let's recap the last couple days as I've been so busy I haven't had time to photograph some of it.
I finally got the jeep running well on Friday after determining there was an air leak in a short piece of hose (let air in, but did not let gas out). I then timed it by ear and feel, rather than diagnostics, and that seemed to do the trick. On Saturday, I built a tow setup that utilized existing holes in the front bumper. I wanted some thing strong, but didn't want to drill into the bumper.
Once the tow setup was ready, I turned to the exhaust. I'd already had Ann go to a muffler shop to replicate the 1.5", 7' section of tailpipe I needed (thankfully I had an original end section leftover from one of the DJs to use as a template). I combined the tail pipe with a Walker muffler I bought off Amazon and some Oreilly's clamps and assembled the exhaust with relative ease.
I thought we were ready to head for Pasco on Sunday morning.
The early DJ-3As has an exhaust that pretty much was straight. The only bends needed were 1) the bend on the front piece from the manifold down to the cross member, 2) the exhaust piece has to bend over the rear axle, and 3) the exhaust bends to the outside past the gas tank (not pictured). (1955 DJ-3A manual). Good luck finding a shop that had this series of bends in their shop manuals or computer!For comparison, this is the more likely setup that you'll find at a muffler shop (if they have anything this old). It's a more typical setup for 2As, 3As, 3Bs, etc. This doesn't work for the DJ, because the muffler is positioned where the rear gas tank is installed.
We spent the first part of Sunday morning cleaning up the garage. It was a bit of a mess! Once that was done, we hooked up Patterson and began slowly towing him. We didn't make it through the first intersection of my parent's quiet neighborhood before I realized that the jeep wasn't tracking around the corner. When I turned slowly right, it began to turn slowly left, forcing me to hit the brakes.
What the hell? I've towed a number of vehicles and never, ever run into this type of trouble.
We carefully tried a couple more corners and each was the same. The jeep began to turn the opposite way. I'd have to hop out and correct Patterson's direction. After a trip around the block, we arrived at my parent's house once more.
Testing the tracking at a very slow pace.
I pulled out my googler, but couldn't find anyone having a similar problem. I concluded the drag link/ross box was somehow interfering with the jeep from tracking properly. I did read were "Dr. Verne" (aka Verne Simmons) would remove his drag link to tow it, but my custom radiator made that strategy near impossible without disassembly of multiple items. I was just about ready to remove the drag link when I decided, on a lark, to unscrew the control screw(could be the wrong name for this) on the Ross box. My assumption was that this would loosen the Ross mechanism, freeing the drag link to spin the steering wheel more easily.
Me trying to work through the steering problem.
Sure enough, that strategy worked!
With that problem solved, at noon we started for Pasco. We drove for about ten minutes. We were on a two lane highway (Highway 18 for you NW folks) when a truck pulling a boat and trailer suddenly honked at us. Not knowing why, we pulled over immediately. He pulled in front of us. He got out and told me that one of our hubcaps had flown off and his truck had driven over it, making a nasty sound. Fortunately, everything checked out on his rig. Our jeep was fine, but we are now short a W hubcap.
Nothing like "sharing" a hubcap with someone to make a new friend.
Satisfied there was nothing wrong, we drove another ten minutes, hopping on Interstate 90 heading east. We got to the far end of North Bend when I thought it would be good to check out Patterson one more time. I wanted to make sure the hubs weren't hot. It turns out all the hubs were fine, but Patterson's right front drum was hot. The front right brake wasn't releasing properly. HMMMM
I got out some tools and loosened adjusted the brakes, loosening them in the hopes that would relieve the pressure.
Loosening the front passenger brake shoes.
Just as I finished, a car pulled up behind us and a man name James Sprague inquired into the jeep, telling me that when he was younger he had a CJ-2A project that he never quite finished. Now, he said, it was time to get another jeep.
I told him that before he bought a jeep, he'd better sign mine. He got a big grin, took the pen, and signed it. This signing-the-jeep thing is gonna be a big hit!
We got back on the highway and drove until the next exit a few miles later. There, I pulled over to hand test the drum again. Damn, still hot!
I loosened one more time, then we went up the pass, pulling over at Snoqualmie Summit. There, I checked the drum again, but it was still too warm. I decided to pull the tire and see if I could pop the drum off (I didn't really think I would be able to do that, but it was worth a shot. No dice.
Ann was hungry, so she found some lunch at the summit, while I kicked back on the grass with Zollie (our dog). That's when a second guy sat down near me and began asking questions about the jeep. Ollie, having no loyalty whatsover, snuggled right up to the stranger.
Couldn't as for a better day to remove a tire on Snoqualmie Pass!Kicking back and enjoying the view. Gotta smell the roses sometimes.
As we chatted, I came to the conclusion that we should head back to Renton and drop off the jeep, then head to Pasco. Then, I'd return Monday night/Tues AM to redo the brakes. I broke the news to Ann and she was game.
We got Patterson back "home" and headed back to Pasco (we have an event on Monday we need to attend). So, that's it for now. I'm sure there will be more updates to come this week.
My wife's been busy, too. Here's our cake-pan-turned-air-cleaner-turned artwork:
Photo Credit: A London Inheritance: https://alondoninheritance.com/eventsandceremonies/the-sunday-pictorial-film-garden-party/
