Need help identifying the CJ5 in this ad

Over at Farm Jeep (www.farmjeep.com) we are researching agricultural implements, especially plows designed for use with Jeeps. I picked up an ad and the seller says it is from 1955. I'm really interested in the date since these implements are being sold as "Jeep" products. You can see it here.

That CJ5 seems to have a split windshield. I know that Jeep didn't always pay much attention to models used in ads. But if you had to guess, would say it is probably from 1955?

Also, does anyone know when Jeep stopped offering the Monroe lift as an option with the CJ5?

Thanks!
Barry

 

Unfortunately, I don't know what to look for. I have a 2a a 3a and a '79 CJ7 - but zero early 5 knowledge.

Barry

 

I think Glenn's point is that we would need to zoom in on the speedometer to confirm that it's a '55.

This is the best I can do - https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/zoomedJeep.png

This is zoomed so much that it's heavily pixelated. I can't recognize the year from this, but maybe someone can. The tail lights are early. The windshield is the ventilating type, which does not narrow down the year.

 

I zoomed that ad to 200% on my computer...pretty fuzzy, but it looks like the speedo has the silver center that they used in '55.

 

I sent the picture to my plow expert friend Clint Dixon and he sent me this ad. (Sorry, for some reason I can't post pictures on this site.) This CJ5 looks very much like the Jeep Tractor I'm assuming that it might be a prototype too.

Thanks,
Barry

 

The first picture also has dark wheels, which impresses me as not factory production. The second looks more like a production Jeep, with light-color wheels.

 

Marketing: the ad is about the product they're trying to sell, not about any other cool stuff they may also be selling in another department.

Regards,
Tim

 

Well, a good way to date the photos is to date the publication. The first ad comes from the 'Jeep' Specialized Vehicles and Equipment book from 1955, its first page announces the debut of the CJ5 with a photo of the CJ3B, announcing "NOW! Your choice of two great four wheel drive universal 'Jeep's. The second publication photo with the "Greenline Moldboard"comes from the Willys dealer optional equipment catalog, which I have a price list page for page H6 "Roper Posthole Digger" Dated April 15, 1955. This catalog does have photos of the prototype CJ5 with "WILLYS" on the cowl instead of "JEEP" in the A1section featuring the canvas top, the bench seat, and wheelhouse seat pads. Interestingly the prototype has no door on the glove box and the grab bar is in the center of the dash.

 

The great thing about the early photos of the cj5 in some Willys publications is they are doctored photos of the cj3b, with hand drawn grills and fenders to make them look like a cj5 (they do this too with grill changes to the jeep truck). It must have been either cheaper or faster to have an engineer or artist redraw on old photos than send out the camera man to take new photos. Could you imagine a carmaker today using hand drawn corrections over old photos to debut a new model? Especially the revolutionary cj5 with its change from flatfender to round fender and advertised as "NEW Streamlining Modern design brings better appearance to the NEW 'Jeep' ".

 

I don't have a definitive date on when the stopped using the Monroe 3 point, but by 1960 the advertising only seems to show the Stratton under body 3 point lift being utilized.

 

Early color photos show body color wheels on dark green and dark red jeeps which the black and white photo could be.
I have a color post card with a red jeep and red wheels from 6/56.

 

On a side note, the best period factory photos of a jeep (a cj6) is the IH Sales-Engineering Bulletin 182 from April 1961 "The NEW International Scout versus the Willys Jeep". They do side by side comparisons of every little detail in which the scout is better than the jeep. My favorite is the observation that the dished steering wheel of the Scout protects your chest in an accident versus the "flat, three spoked steering wheel that allows the steering column to contact the driver's chest at one concentrated point in case of impact" (who needs seat belts?).

 

Great info! I'm working with a retired engineer from Monroe, but he doesn't have access to any lift production data.

Also, do you have access to any ads showing the Stratton?

Thanks,
Barry

 

Barry

I have 2 brochures, I have a couple brochures of with the box "Approved 'Jeep' Equipment". One is a Stratton Hydro-implement Lift brochure, Stratton Equipment Co. 2030 E. 105th St. Cleveland Ohio. The other is a Roper Diggers to fit 'Jeep' vehicles,demo-ing the Stratton lift, Interurban Industries 2165 N. Sherman Dr. Indianapolis, Indiana. Both are dated 1960. The 1963 Owner's Manual lists the Stratton as the hydraulic lift Accessory, no mention of the Monroe. The last picture I can find and date is a Jeep ad with a tiny picture of a CJ5 with what looks to be a Monroe in the bed, dated March 1956.
Currently my scanner is not working though, so I can't send you a picture.

Barry, I'm the guy who gave you the Love lift brochure scans.