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Eddy Turner's USDA Jeep

Let me share a story about my jeep and how I came find out about EarlyCJ5.com. First here's a shot of my 1966 stock CJ5.

Three years ago I bought it in a sealed bid from the city of Sandersville, Georgia and this is what it looked like. When I came home with it my wife thought I had lost my mind.

I won the bid but I knew I'd bought a "pig in a sack" - it hadn't been run for years but it looked like all the parts were there. I hauled it home on a trailer and rolled it in my shop. I took down the SR# and related details and headed to town to pick up points, plugs, filters, etc. The battery didn't look too corroded but it was completely dead. I put my charger on it while I headed to the parts store. When I returned I hit the key and it fired up. I didn't even have to change the points and plugs but I changed the oil and filter and started riding.

On Monday of the next week I went down to the city shop to see if I could get the maintenance records. The guy sitting around the heater sipping coffee said "ain't no maintenance records" and I said thanks and started to leave. Then he said "cause ain't never been nothing done to it except put on a rebuilt carburetor". I asked how many miles did it have and he said " that's the actual miles" - 15,604". It still had the original but well worn military tires on the front and its original "battle ship" grey paint .

Since then I Rhino Lined the inside shell and had it painted inside and out. Today all the drive train is all original and everything works except the fuel gauge (My current project). Below are a few extra shots.

Now for the rest of the story and a little explanation on how came to find out about EarlyCJ5.com. Take a look at this warranty decal. One just like it was on the dash and it covered the terms and conditions between Kaiser and the US Government.

I thought this was rather special and I learned before we started the restoration replacement warranty decals were not readily available so we took real good care to mask it off during the repainting. However at the last step the sticker was ruined in an effort to wipe off the masking tape glue with a rag and paint thinner. I undertook a goal to find a replacement sticker and I went out on every web site I could find searching for leads. Seems like no one had ever seen one of these decals and you couldn't read mine well enough to recreate the text so my search took on a new challenge.

I searched the history on my CJ and found it was one of two originally issued to the USDA Entomology Department in Macon Ga. back in 1966. Both jeeps eventually wound up in Sandersville Ga at the local ASCS office (Agriculture and Soil Conservation Service - a branch of USDA). They eventually sold one to the Sandersville Railroad and donated the other to the City of Sandersville. The city put a stainless tank on the back with a pump on the PTO and used it to spray for mosquitos up and down the city streets for few years and finally put it to rest. Eventually this is the one I bought it in the sealed bid. The other one is still in service with the local rail road fitted with a sprayer to control weeds on the right of ways. There were 10 digits differences in the SR of these two jeeps and fortunately it had the same warranty sticker on it's dash and that's where I got the photo.

Of all the many contacts, adds and websites I went onto searching for this decal, I only had one reply. "Bubba" found me wandering around out there somewhere and referred me to EarlyCJ5.com and said I would get help there. I posted my story on this thread and within days "Tigershark" created a replica and had it ready to order on Cafepress. Anyone who needs such a sticker can get one there in 3x5" size.

Now the only place I go to look for or keep up with jeep issues is EarlyCJ5.com. If you can't find it here, it probably don't exist or you don't need it.

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