We always do our best to help fellow Jeep owners out if they want to research their vehicle and find some history on it. Here are the stories of our own vehicles and some of those that we have helped find the history of their own.
Roger Lambshead
This is our star vehicles, as it is the first BAJR member's vehicle that we have identified in original army service photos!
Here is the caption to go with the photo - 'Southport, Lancashire, summer of 1953. Units of the 46 Parachute Brigade, 16 Airborne Division, TA, practice loading and parachuting men and equipment onto the beach. This jeep is being loaded onto a platform so that it can be dropped from C119 (Flying Boxcar) aircraft using four parachutes' It is still running and in regular use today! |
Michael Lycett
I bought my Jeep some 25 years ago. At the time I didn't know much about it other than it was a Jeep. There were two plates on the vehicle, the chassis plate and a small plate on the dashboard. Both of these plates give the Jeeps post war registration (93 YH 19). This was useful as it meant finding the Key Card was easy as they are, or were stored in the numerical order of the post war registration. Furthermore the dashboard plate gave the date of the rebuild and name of the workshop company that did the rebuild. In 1952, 23rd Heavy WKSP COY R.E.M.E. was, I believe, stationed at the town of Wetter in Germany either in the Demag factory or the Harkort-Eicken Steel Works (this maybe one and the same place).
I was lucky that the Key Card had survived; this gave the wartime registration (M 5845301). As soon as I knew this I started to search every photo for that bonnet number. I have three photos of jeeps with close but not matching numbers.
I was lucky that the Key Card had survived; this gave the wartime registration (M 5845301). As soon as I knew this I started to search every photo for that bonnet number. I have three photos of jeeps with close but not matching numbers.
Prince Bernhart’s Jeep CNF-1 M 5845586 (285 away).
Jeep belonging to the Czech Armoured brigade M 5844685 (616 away). Unknown Jeep in Berlin in 1945 M 5845398. (97 away). Photograph courtesy of John Farley. Another bit of information from the Key Card is a clue as to what happened to it after the rebuild. The Key Card shows “S/O allies”. I believe this means “struck off Allies”. I bought the jeep from a chap who had just imported it along with a few others from Norway. Both the engine and gear box had Norwegian Army data plates on them. In addition the jeep was running on Norwegian tyres. From this it is reasonable to assume that the jeep was sold off to the Norwegian army in the 50’s. Information kindly provided by Svein Olav Alstad shows it to have been one of 178 jeeps that went from Germany (BAOR) to Norway in 1953. This jeep was handed/given over from British army to the Norwegian army part of BAOR, in 1947 when a part of the British Army was moved to another place. This Norwegian army was called (in Norwegian) "Tysklandsbrigaden". The British Unit that gave the cars to the Norwegian military was 5th Yorkshire division and the Norwegian military was wearing "Y" on uniforms and cars etc. in the beginning. The Jeep was de-mobbed at some point and was privately registered in Norway. I am fairly confident that the Norwegian Reg. was: BC 54700 The last bit of information from the Key Card is the supply contract number SM2275. |
Nick Thomas (Site Admin)
I have loved jeeps my whole life, and when I started making enough money in my job as a writer, it was the first major purchase I bought. It cost four times what my car was worth, and I bought it four years before I even thought about buying my own house!
To own and be able to use a jeep regularly was the dream which came true. But as much as I loved this American icon, it was British military history which had always been by fascination. When I found and bought my first jeep it was a stretch, and I didn't have the luxury of seeking out exactly the British service jeep I would have liked. But I always hoped my jeep had served with the British army. I had just two things to suggest that she might be. A first civilian registration of 1957 (a popular year which they were released from service), and a hand written scribble on the 1970's logbook that said 'Ex-crown vehicle'. That was it. There were no British features, nor rebuild plates of MOS plates. I started to dig around as much as I could and it wasn't long before I came across Gerard Page, who was researching British re-rebuilt jeeps and had recently started a group on Facebook, of which I am now an Admin. So I approached the RLC archive and tried a chassis search, something which has only become possible in the last few years since they digitised their records. Bam, a hit! I got my postwar registration back and had my keycard in a few days. My jeep, 'Josie' (as was stamped on the steering wheel' was M1502620. One of the army M15 rebuilds, and postwar registration 48YJ27, meaning when her 1949 onwards registration was issued, she was part of MELF, Middle East Land Forces. I have owned Josie since 2011, and have brought her up to a mechanically sound condition to the level that I have now driven over 7000 miles with her, She's been to France twice, and Jersey, an across the breath of the UK. She is 1944 Willys, with original body tub too, and now wears her original wartime census numbers, and postwar registration too. Josie is driven most weekends, and shares a garage with a British airborne themed collection - Dodge WC52, 10 Cwt Trailer, Royal Enfield WD/RE, BSA parabike, and an immense jerry can collection! |
Ron Pier
Roy Davies
Roy had owned his jeep for over thirty years without knowing anything about its history. He had it marked up as a British jeep because that was his interest. A chance encounter with one of the BAJR team changed everything.
Despite tell tale signs that this jeep had seen British service, there were no plates left on the vehicle to confirm it. A chassis search was run, and within a few weeks, the information was in. We provided Roy with his wartime census number, postwar registration and some information as to where the jeep like served and when. Roy was so excited by the news that the same weekend he received this news he repainted the jeep with its original identity! |