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GPW 27505

my dad was a californian, who stayed in the service after the war. they used the jeep, since cars were just beginning to be made again after the war. he was sent back to europe (trieste), and he drove it across the country to new york with my mom (a north carolinian he met at an ice rink in baltimore during the war---she was a welder at a b26 plant at that time), was shipped to bremerhaven where they drove it down to trieste, and all over europe, till they purchased a car in 1951. they brought it back to the states with them (he also had a bantam trailer he left in europe, since he could only bring 1 vehicle back. my dad paid another GI to claim the jeep so he could get it on the navy ship, and he brought the car back), it was driven by my mom's younger brother in the 50's in north carolina when we were stationed overseas again, then was driven down to georgia for another posting, back to my uncle again when we returned to germany, then driven by myself in the 60's when in high school in georgia where my dad retired. i learned to drive at 10 around my folks country farm in north carolina in the jeep. when i moved to oregon in the early 80s after college and med school in different parts of the country, i went back home to georgia, put the jeep inside of a uhaul and drove west to bring it out. have driven it very little since that time (from my highschool years, because of work and family----and the jeep was a difficult starter---used to jump it running down the hill from our house in georgia---but our house in portland was flat). i have just got it running after sitting in the garage for 10 years (i have some time now to learn about engines, etc). a new carter carb, really made the difference, and fires up so easy now. since i've just recently been working on the jeep, i have discovered the new engine installed in 1945 was an mb! the head is still a gpw, probably the original. i am not sure of the exact date that my dad purchased the jeep (might have been early 1946, not 1945). i can't read the actual day it was made on the data plate---just 6 - 42. i might try some image magnifications of the data plate to see if i can read the day number. it's amazing the little things that would have been so easy to find out. my dad passed away this month at 97, and any jeep questions would have been easy questions to ask, since he was sharp to the end. i'm sure he didn't know of the mb engine!

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