40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

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Nick_
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:43 pm

Bob W wrote:Very cool APU Jeep you have there! In my limited research on these APUs it seems like there are a bunch of different versions. I included a Willys press release about Szekely APUs, dated 10-4-50, below. It looks like they were perfecting them for quite some time. I think that the F-head APUs were probably equipped with that engine at the Willys factory. Remember that the upfitters did not receive "regular" production CJ-3As to modify as APUs. Those CJ-3A would have been specially equipped (and/or not equipped) for the task. F-head engines were not available in production before the 1950 model year so this could be one explanation for the L-head APUs. Or perhaps some APU versions didn't require as much power. Also check out these interesting O. E. Szekely US patents, numbers 2,500,216 filed June 4, 1948 and 2,559,379 filed February 5, 1949.
Bob, thank you for finding and posting that record. It's one of the most informative documents that I've read compared to the limited sources that are currently on the internet.

They stated 4-wheeled APU's were used for land-based jet starting, and the 3-wheelers were specifically designed to maneuver around a tight flight deck. 3-wheeled were shorter and able to corner on a dime, and the 4-wheelers were standard Jeeps aside from the generator. Considering all that info, it adds a twist on why my Jeep in particular has the small wheels/windshield delete. I posted the picture above that shows a ground Valentine APU starting a jet. It has the standard tires and windshield. I wonder why my Jeep would have a mixture of aircraft and ground features if we have proof of each Jeep in it's specified areas?

Here are direct links of the O. E. Szekely patents for those who want to view.

#2,500,216 filed June 4, 1948. PTO generator:
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis ... 500216.pdf

#2,559,379 filed February 5, 1949. 3-wheeled steering assembly:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... 4388,d.amc


Nick_
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Thu Jan 28, 2016 6:46 pm

I've attempted to do some research on the Naval history of the Jeep. First I called the base and went through a train of phone calls, with the last person asking me if I checked Carfax yet. MVPA said there's no documents left to trace hood numbers. But I continued my search about the history of Norfolk, Virginia's base and found something interesting. The Jeep is claimed to be a 1953 even though it has a 51 serial number, so my guess is that the military received it in 53. A typical 4-wheeled APU was used for ground aircraft control, but mine was modified for aircraft carrier duty (the small wheels and windshield delete, to lower the Jeep). Here's some info about a ship that was confirmed in Norfolk when my Jeep entered service, as well as it's last days:

"The USS Wasp (CV-18) departed Norfolk on 16 September 1953 to participate in the North Atlantic NATO Exercise "Mariner" before entering the Mediterranean."

In 1958 the Labanon Crisis - "U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean) at the operational level; the Sixth Fleet, with aircraft carriers Saratoga, Essex, and Wasp, cruisers Des Moines and USS Boston, and two squadrons of destroyers."

"After loading food, clothing, and equipment, Wasp spent the period 11–18 January 1962 conducting antisubmarine warfare exercises and submarine surveillance off the east coast. After a brief stop at Norfolk, the ship steamed on to further training exercises and anchored off Bermuda 24–31 January. Wasp then returned to her home port."
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All of this is really neat to think about. The Wasp timeline matches up perfectly to my APU. It was stationed in Norfolk when the Jeep was delivered, as well as stopped back in Norfolk a few months before it was sold as surplus. Also it was an aircraft carrier, and the Jeep was setup to be on-board the ship. This is what makes me love old Jeeps.

And a neat picture showing how vastly different the hood bumps were.
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Nick_
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Wed Feb 03, 2016 12:38 pm

Tom Strendale with the O.E. Szekely restoration project found this at the National Archives. It's a government order for NA-4 Jeeps which would have the same electrical power output as my Jeep.

An APU cost $3,977.15 in 1951 which equals $37,627.81 in 2016. Wow!! It looks like the government ordered 75 during this telegram.
A standard CJ3A cost $1,290 from Willys. A stripped chassis was $1,055. APU's were pretty costly.
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Original PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6edWO ... sp=sharing
Standard CJ3A: costs: http://www.cj3a.info/cj3a/cost.html

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Sat Feb 06, 2016 7:53 pm

February 5th, 2016
The Valentine APU has been released from its hideway since 1962 - a total 54 years resting in an Indianapolis, Indiana barn.

A few of us from thecj2apage decided to get together and go to Dirty Turtle Off-Road park in Bedford, KY. My house is up in northern Indiana so we had to come through Indy with the truck and trailer. Friday at about 8:30pm we started loading up Jeep rims from one rental property. Then we moved to the next property that had held the holy grail of Navy Jeeps. We used my restored Jeep to pull the APU out of the barn and out to the trailer. You can check out the documentation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyZqwBDS3KU

Since we had the Jeep all stuffed in the trailer late at night I didn't have a chance to get any good pictures. I'll be back from school in a month and will get all possible angles. We had 2 Jeeps, a bunch of tires, and spare tools in the way. Here's what I managed to get:
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Here's some close ups of the aircraft starting system. Check out that unique plug that's connected to the rear electrical box. I wonder what its function was? Also a little bonus ammo box mounted to the wheel well!
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Then to top off the weekend, jpet and I had a great trail ride.
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Tom Wolboldt
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Tom Wolboldt » Sun Feb 07, 2016 2:32 am

Great recovery!

The special plug is a polarized plug. It and the other half will only go together one way. The positives and negatives are always matched this way and it help to cuts down on a lot of fireworks.

The fender box looks to be a operator, maintenance, parts manual container rather than an ammo box.

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by hugh hedrick » Sun Feb 07, 2016 4:58 pm

You and tom need to buy an aircraft carrier to drive your jeeps on.

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Wed Feb 10, 2016 2:00 pm

Here's something you don't see with military Jeeps. I have the original government discharge paper for this Naval Jeep, and to ensure the documentation doesn't get lost forever I used a high quality scanner. Notice the military ID at the top is the same as my hood number.
APU Jeep Military Release Paper Front.jpg
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APU Jeep Military Release Paper Back.jpg
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Full size file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6edWO ... sp=sharing
Tom wrote:The special plug is a polarized plug. It and the other half will only go together one way. The positives and negatives are always matched this way and it help to cuts down on a lot of fireworks.

The fender box looks to be a operator, maintenance, parts manual container rather than an ammo box.
Thanks for the info! When I make it back home I'll try and see if my manual fits inside that box. Wouldn't that be neat?

Also if anyone comes across one of the Valentine generators (or at least control box) I'm looking for one.

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Mon Feb 22, 2016 7:11 pm

Here are the long awaited pictures!
I finally had a chance to get home and clean the whole Jeep up. I even used...soap. The body looks to be in great shape for never been restored, especially after getting beat on by the military. My only complaint is the hat channels rusted through the front foor area and in general that front half is pretty rusty. Other than that I'm very pleased with the condition.

Here is a full HD gallery of 53 detailed pictures: https://imgur.com/a/agcdd

You can see the backing plates are off the Jeep and sitting in the little pile of parts. And the wheels have about 1-2 lugnuts each. My best guess is the owner was changing wheel bearings, and never got around to finishing it. I do have the front hubs.
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Valentine data tag on the dash.
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Body tag inside the engine bay. Notice the "X" at the end of the serial number, I think that would be an indication of the conversion addition.
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Tailgate goes down!
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What is this? Notice the box behind it was built out of metal rather than aluminum, which is probably why it rusted out. There was a little Valentine model tag on it that is barely legible.
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And not to forget the books that came with the Jeep. That box does fit perfect behind the seat! Left is a history book, middle is a manual for aircraft engines, and right is the original surplus Jeep manual.
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Nick_
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Mon Feb 22, 2016 7:12 pm

I got excited and took that mystery box out of the passenger seat area. This is what she looks like inside. My dad thinks it's a resistor, what do you think?
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Check this out, the hood modification matches perfect for resting the hood. That couldn't be a coincidence.
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Now this is another confusing aspect of this APU. We know for sure it is a CJ3A, but it has a frame-mounted radiator just like a 2A.
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I do have at least 1 original tire. They're Goodyear 4.50-12 Studded Tread style, and I have found some on a lawnmower forum. Unfortunately they don't make these style anymore so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
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Another mystery box I'm missing. I bet it would have been a control panel for the generator.
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I'm excited to find a powerplant and get the time capsule running. My new plan is to find a CJ2A that someone put the F-head engine in. Then I can steal the engine, tranny, radiator, exhaust, battery, etc. I said earlier that the tranny cover sat off most its life and it looks pretty filthy. If I do change the tranny I will for sure keep the original and rebuilt it at a later time. With all these pictures it'll help further research on APU's, and hopefully we can figure out what in the world some of this stuff is. This thing is too cool! If you're looking for a rare piece of history nobody else owns, and have all the documentation, this is one of those few Jeeps.

Here is a full HD gallery of 53 detailed pictures: https://imgur.com/a/agcdd

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:48 pm

I also have the Jeep resurrection posted on thecj2apage, it seems to be getting attention over there. How ironic.
http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/time- ... 1078703704

Say hello to my little friend of 75 hp glory, and my partner in crime Jim. We've done some group rides together and he lives close to campus, so I brought the Jeep over there to tinker with.
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I found this 1946 CJ2A donor on Craigslist. The two previous owners didn't do much with it besides a new fuel pump because the oil gauge line broke. When I went to look at it we used vice-grips to seal it off. He didn't even have gas so I had to run across town to get some. Started it up... then the oil filter seal blew out. Oil flung all over him, the Jeep, the garage...ha! I took a chance buying this. I knew it ran and didn't smoke, but didn't know if it had good power or the tranny condition. The guy thought I was pranking him and couldn't believe I came back with cash. He even hauled it for me.

My partner in crime had the Jeep safely running in about 5 minutes. Jim plugged off the oil filter and soon enough I was blasting across his yard. That extra +15 hp really makes a difference. Everything checks out beautifully with this Jeep.

Here's the plan: In a couple weeks when I'm on spring break I'll bring the Jeep home. I also have a parts 3A with a potentially running L-head and rotted body. So swap the 2A drivetrain into the APU, then the 3A drivetrain into the 2A. Sell off the other Jeeps and be scott-free with my engine. The APU will rise!

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Second Air Force » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:41 am

Great find!

The little box with four wiring grommets is a junction box. The "CV" and "CC" refers to Constant Voltage and Constant Current and there would have been two sets of electrical leads coming out of this.

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:41 pm

It's been a while since I posted on this forum about the Jeep progress, but continued it with great detail over on thecj2apage: http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/time- ... 37074.html

I can't believe it, but this only known Valentine APU is for sale on eBay. This may be your only chance to own a military Jeep with full documented history. Another opportunity has come my way. I've outlined in my eBay full details of absolutely everything about the Jeep which you can view here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Willys-Jet-Star ... 2329057153
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:10 am

The APU was close to my asking number. I finally relisted her on eBay with a buy-it-now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Willys-Jet-Star ... 2380205458

For the price of a standard MB or GPW, you could wow the crowds with a 1 of 1 jet starter Jeep.

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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Nick_ » Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:39 pm

What do you guys think about restoring the Jeep?

The Jeep didn't hit the buy-it-now on eBay, but I believe it's such a niche market collector item. I must be the "chosen one" I'm alright with that. So I'm going to keep it, and admit I'm a Willys hoarder. One of my worries is the floor rust and the holes on the sides that have formed over time. I'd like to strip the paint and look for any previous stenciling. It would still retain it's history and markings, but be shiny and rust-free. Compared to my other Jeep restoration this one is miles ahead and its solid. Any thoughts are welcome.
APU Warehouse.jpg
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Re: 40yr Barn Find Original Navy Jeep

Post by Maverick1701 » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:44 pm

I LOVE this jeep!

Also I follow you on youtube. I LOVE your jeep vids (assuming you are muddoxracing on youtube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63aHdv7GTPQ
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