<-- Day 8 - Sun May 6: Somber to Soda | Day 10 – Tues May 8: Laurel, Hardy & Wood Cars -->
Day 9: On Monday we had the chance to see the "Jeep Collection", then we returned to our hotel for a long nap. We feel recharged and ready for our exploration of South Carolina today. Here's a map of our upcoming travels for May 8 - May 10:
Monday was intended to be a day of rest. Our goals for the day were to A) see some jeeps, B) take a nap, C) wash some clothes, and D) catch up on eWillys. I dare say the day was a success, especially the four-hour midday nap!
At 9am we arrived at the doors of Omix-Ada to Al Azadi's Jeep Collection. Rather than lock the doors and hide (we can be scary in the mornings), they allowed us inside. One of the cool things we noticed right away about the building's lobby are the full-wall photos of vintage jeeps that begin with WWII and march forward in history. Moreover, the exterior windows also had overlays, though the morning sun limited our ability to see what was there. There was no mistaking that we'd entered a world of vintage jeeps!
The lobby also had a few of the Jeep Collection's jeeps, but in our exuberance to see the larger collection in another part of the building, we forgot to take pictures of both the lobby and the lobby's collection. We failed!
Because Dave Logan, my contact at Omix-Ada, had a pre-arranged trip to Canada, Tyler and Blake walked us over to the area that housed the bulk of the jeeps. There, Blake let us wander around and take pictures. In my semi-sleep deprived stupor (I'd been up until 2am the night before), I spent more time talking to Blake about my books than I did taking pictures of the jeeps.
Fortunately for you all, Ann was there and she made sure to take more than 150 photos. And, as I look at the photos for this post just now, I see there were some cool photos on the walls above the jeeps in this area, too, many from press photos we've seen over the years. I truly did not see these while I was in there looking at the jeeps. I definitely must have needed more sleep!!
Most of you have probably seen photos of the collection, but for those that haven't, the collection lines the walls and windows of the entire space.
One of the more unique items in the collection was a half-sized jeep. I was surprised to see it was motorized and couldn't recall seeing one before. Dave Logan later explained to me via email that it was a "Sidewalk Jeep", something I'd posted a few years ago.
http://www.ewillys.com/2015/06/13/sidewalk-jeep-design-from-popular-mechanics-on-ebay/
There were also some toy jeeps, knick-knacks, and brochures. I was surprised to see a rare copy of Wolff Blint's great book "By Jeep to Freedom", one of my favorite jeep adventure books. It's filled with amazing details from Wolff's experiences in WWII.
In terms of the jeeps, one big crowd pleaser is the CJ-2A. Finally being able to see this in person, I was surprised to see it had two different types of dually adapters, one type on the front (which had a larger gap between the tires) and one type on the back.
Thanks to Ann, we also have video of some of the PTO and generator parts (because clearly I was pretty useless today!).
Here's some random pics of vehicles taken by Ann:
If you want to learn more or see all the vehicles, go here: http://www.jeepcollection.com . Thanks to Blake, Tyler, and Dave Logan for organizing, opening up, and sharing this great collection with us!
Tomorrow we'll start with Laurel and Hardy, so stay tuned!
<-- Day 8 - Sun May 6: Somber to Soda | Day 10 – Tues May 8: Laurel, Hardy & Wood Cars -->
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