Road Test
Here is a great photo of four V-35s running through the water. This
picture was probably taken near the Willys-Overland
plant in Toledo Ohio, possibly on the Ottowa River. There
are no leaves on the trees yet and the bystanders are dressed in
jackets and sweaters so it's likely to be a cool spring day, late in
April 1950. The lead driver appears to be Orbin Stock wearing his
rubber dive suit. Orbin performed underwater testing of completed
CJ-V35/U and M-38 Jeeps in the Willys factory test pool. On the first
Jeep a tire has not been mounted on the spare combat wheel and the
radio antenna wire is looped toward the front of the vehicle on the
wheelwell. The power supply and speaker remote
control assembly wiring doesn't appear to be properly attached to the
right fenderwell yet. Radio
antenna mount brackets have not been installed on the rear corners
of these Jeeps. It is unlikely that
any
radio sets have been installed in the waterproof cabinets at this time.
The hood number on the second Jeep is USMC 162430 and the
third Jeep has hood number USMC 162289. There is
a tow rope looped over the front fender on the
third vehicle in the line.
Thanks to Fred Coldwell for use of the photo.
