Friday,
November
15th,
2024
~ Sent to us by Jack Kerkhove Peltier
My grandfather was a veteran of World War II and a timber man from northern California. While timber was his primary occupation, he also worked as a rancher. That being said, none of the vehicles my grandparents owned could be considered short and easily accessible for anyone with a physical disability.
In the 1950s, my grandmother who suffered from osteoarthritis was beginning to have difficulty getting into our family’s taller vehicles. For this reason, my grandfather started looking at shorter vehicles and happened upon a lightly used 1950 CJ-3A. He purchased it in the latter half of the ’50s and it has been in our family ever since.
The vehicle was, on the whole, a good match for my grandmother and her ailing legs. The Jeep was easier to get in and out of, had great viewing angles, and was still capable of going off-road allowing my grandmother to help with the lighter ranch duties. Both my grandparents used the Jeep faithfully throughout their lives. Using primarily backroads and such, they even explored much of rural California, Oregon, Washington, and even as far out as Idaho. My father eventually took over ownership of the Jeep in the 1980s.
Once the Jeep entered my immediate family, it tended to suffer long lapses of disrepair. On occasion when it was working properly, I remember we’d drive it out to our ranch where my father would allow me to drive it. I especially have a vivid memory of nearly driving it into a lake when I was an 8-year-old (it was left in gear while parked facing the lake. But it was always the favorite vehicle of us kids for the sheer ease of jumping in and out of it while feeling like we were featured in some nameless battle from World War II (or, more time appropriate, the Korean War).
Towards the end of my father’s life, the Jeep saw little use beyond a few trips to the family ranch in the early 2010s. It likely remained parked in my parents’ garage from 2015 until his death in 2018. Since then, it has found a new home in my garage where I have been working to restore it. I’ve worked on the brakes, replacing the carburetor, replacing the gas tank, and fixing up the old wiring. There’s still a lot to work on, but the Jeep is now a road-worthy vehicle once again. With these repairs accomplished, my wife and I have started taking it off-road again, exploring the forests near our home, using it to gather wood, and reveling in the experience of driving the old family Jeep.
- Jack Kerkhove Peltier Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog Story – If you would like to share your Willys Jeep Story please send us a line. We’d love to meet your Jeep.
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