UPDATE: Operation Pineapple -- the 1955 44,000 Mile Trip

UPDATE: The world can be such an amazing place sometimes. Last night we got to spend time with Hugo Vidal and his son Fernando. Hugo's memories of his 1955 trip are very clear, enough so that he's writing a book about the adventure. His book begins with Operation Pineapple and will end with Alaska Or Rust.

2017-07-22-fernando-hugo-david — Hugo was enjoying looking through the Willys News periodicals from the mid 1950s. He recognized some of people in them.

Originally posted June 23, 2015: The CJ-3B page does a good job covering the history of Operation Pineapple, a 1955 trip by three Sao Paulo Boy Scouts: Hugo Vidal, Charles Downey, and Jan Stekly. You can read everything about it here: http://cj3b.info/Finds/FindsPineapple.html. The Allpar site has additional information and a later photo of Hugo: http://www.allpar.com/racing/road-rally/operation-pineapple.html

Adding to those links, I have found a couple additional photos and more information about the trip. The first photo was published in the September 1955 issue of Willys News:

1955-09-willys-news-44000-mile-journey — Note the missing tire on the spare rim. Hugo says they went through eleven tires. During their trip they had no mechanical issues.

California's Lodi News-Sentinel published a story about the last leg of their trip on January 18, 1956.

1956-01-18-lodi-news-operation-pineapple2

1956-01-18-lodi-news-operation-pineapple1

4 Comments

Barry WestJuly 23, 2017 at 2:25 PM
Now that is a well designed and nice looking hard top. Brazilian made? Great ending to a book/story!
David EilersJuly 23, 2017 at 4:16 PM
If I remember correctly, that was the case. I will double check.
Barry WestJuly 23, 2017 at 5:00 PM
Also I like how they mounted the extra leaf springs on top of the front bumper, cool.
Marty TilfordJuly 24, 2017 at 5:34 AM
That's awesome. I can't wait to meet him. Looks like I have another book to read in my future :)