David EilersApril 28, 2013

Jeep Station Wagon Ambulances

UPDATE: Note this toy jeep I found at the Snook Museum.

I just ran across this neat little story from indianamilitary.org. According to the story, in 1950 the Army bought 1000 Jeep Station Wagons and outfitted them for testing at Army Hospitals all over the country. The were painted Olive Drab and given government data plates. You can read the entire history and see all the pics here.

The 1951 Wagon below ended up at Camp Atterbury. It was sold in 1954 and then used and parked until it was restored. It sell has the original government data plate.

10 Comments

STEVEApril 28, 2013 at 12:24 PM
I like the od on the wagon. May be the color I choose.
FLYINGFISHApril 28, 2013 at 2:12 PM
Great article Dave, once again the odd stuff and the wagon looks good in OD as well.
Robert AndersonApril 28, 2013 at 2:27 PM
Cool Willys... Thanks for posting...
BuzApril 28, 2013 at 7:25 PM
Interesting restoration, but I would need more documentation to believe that it's authentic.
TomApril 28, 2013 at 11:56 PM
I don't know about authentic either. Early 50's had a 5 bar grille. Mid 50's had 3 bar grille and no fresh air inlet. The grille pictured with this one is 3 bar with fresh air intake from a late 50's/ early 60's model. The 226 kaiser/continental hurricane wasn't introduced until 54 when kaiser took over from Willys.
TomApril 29, 2013 at 12:04 AM
The instrument cluster also shows it's a late 50's early 60's model in these pics.
BuzApril 29, 2013 at 12:36 AM
What I was looking at was the data plates. It clearly says station wagon, not ambulance. The Willys data plate on the left has a different serial number than the government plate on the right, so I would think that one of them is not original to the wagon. I would believe that in the USA they would have used standard civilian ambulances, they would be much more comfortable for a patient versus being beat and banged around in a 4x4 wagon. This wagon looks like something the Forest Service might have used.
TomApril 29, 2013 at 1:59 AM
The tag on the left has a 1951 serial number. The tag on the right has a 1958 serial number.
charles artisJune 2, 2013 at 12:50 PM
I bought this jeep from Jim west who was over the the Atterbury museum and has done the research and say this is the jeep that was there. I think it is the jeep but that plates and parts were missing and he used replacements to make it look better.
deilersJune 2, 2013 at 2:00 PM
Thanks for the input Charles. I've run across a second military hospital toy wagon as well, which I think is interesting.