There are a lot of interesting stories floating around on any given topic. Whether they’re true or not sometimes doesn’t even matter. If the story is a good one, then it’s going to be passed along until it becomes an urban legend and no one will ever bother to hunt down the truth of it.
If you are interested in certain antiques, you probably have been told a wonderfully fantastic tale about how a piece, exactly like the one you’re looking for, was found at a garage sale and bought for two dollars. Of course, the buyer had it appraised and it ended up selling for a million. Who knows? It could have happened.
A man, whose dad was in WW 2, was always interested in Jeeps from that era. His dad drove one in Europe and he even refurbished one in the 1950s and 60s. When the dad got rid of the Jeep the son always wanted to replace it. He looked around in his spare time and came close a few times but the WW 2 era Jeeps were getting hard to find and the ones that were in good shape were a bit too expensive for him. One day he read in the newspaper that someone had found a 1943 Willys Jeep in a barn. It had been discovered in its original packing crate and was virtually a brand new Jeep. His first thought was that he had to have it. And if he couldn’t afford it, at least he wanted to see it.
He tracked down the story’s writer and found out where the Jeep owner lived and drove several hours to get there. He had goose bumps just thinking about all the possibilities of this incredible find. He finally found the farm where the Jeep was supposed to be and knocked at the door. A young man answered and told him he was at the right place. The young man walked him over to the barn, opened one of the large doors and they went in. The sun shown through the skylight onto a tarp that covered what looked to be the Jeep. The young man asked him if he was ready and he swallowed and told him that he was.
The tarp was carefully thrown on the ground and a beautiful 1943 Willis Jeep appeared. The man couldn’t hear a word the Jeep owner was saying as his mind was spinning a hundred miles an hour. He looked the vehicle over closely and then he spotted the pieces of the original crate in a corner of the barn. He went over and looked at those and realized that he was looking at just what the young man had told him he was looking at. It was all there and it was all genuine.
When he could speak again, he offered the Jeep owner and enormous amount of money for the Jeep, but was understandably turned down. It turned out that the young man’s father had also been in WW 2 and he was going to keep the Jeep in his dad’s memory. The man who came to see the Jeep understood completely. He was disappointed but not disheartened. He knew that if one Jeep was found that there would be others.
Now not everyone has the time or money to care and refurbish a 1943 Willy, but the Jeep brand itself withstood the test of time, and itself is a keepsake. That is why so many still buy Jeeps from dealerships across North America like Earnhardt CJD near Phoenix. Whether it be a Wrangler or Patriot—the Jeep emblem holds it together nicely.