Farm Jeep
1947 Willys Jeep CJ-2A:
Project "Old Yeller"
Part 1 - The "JRT"


Can you spot our car carrier?


Hood up in the shop...
an omen?


We had room on the
trailer for another Jeep


That Jeep is still following us.


The whole rig at
Laswon Hill Farm.


What is a JRT?

Humorist / tractor guy Roger Welsch refers to "tractor retrieval trips," or "TRTs," in his book "Love, Sex, and Tractors." The "TRT" traditionally evolves, several people piled into a truck, all-night driving, lying about one's tractor related exploits, and beer drinking. For some reason when Barry’s friend Rick was told of our impending adventure to pickup the Jeep, he suggested we were embarking on a "Jeep Retrieval Trip," or "JRT."


The JRT

The trip was uneventful (which Barry pointed out was a good thing). As you can see from the pictures, we found our way to the Jeep, got it loaded on the HUGE trailer (with Dave's help), and do indeed now have the 1947 CJ-2A w/ PTO at its new home on the farm.
Had a great time on our first JRT, hope it’s not our last.


Barry's notes:

“Old Yeller” isn’t the first Jeep to reside at Lawson Hill Farm. Evan’s grandfather, Paul Lawson, owned 3 “flat fender” Jeeps, including one with a 3 point hitch and PTO. Evan spent his early youth in a ’46 CJ2A. So when “Old Yeller” appeared on e-bay, he could see that this was a “real” Jeep. The fact that it had a PTO (power take off) unit was a real plus. Our goal is to make “Old Yeller” a good running, driving and stopping (always a challenge for old Jeeps) farm vehicle. It may not be returned to show room condition, but we will try to do enough bodywork to make us proud to drive it to the dump and the county fair. This is the fourth Jeep in the extended family; along with Tammy’s Grand Cherokee, “Old Yeller” joins a ’79 CJ7 and a 2001 Cherokee.


Evan's notes:

A short preamble…
Tammy donated the use of her 2000 Grand Cherokee Limited as our tow vehicle and it was awesome! I’ve teased Tammy mercilessly about her Jeep having literally every option. I must now repent and apologize for all my teasing; the V8 and tow package made the trip possible, and the 10 Disc CD-Changer and power leather seats made it pretty swank.

As for the trip itself…
Ate Indian food and drank a very nice Indian beer, Flying Horse, to cap off our first day on the road.
I-74 across Indiana and Illinois is, well… boring. We made good time, didn’t get too lost, and arrived at our “new” CJ-2A.
We bought the Jeep from Dave at D K Four Wheel in Moline, IL. Dave was as good as his word, the Jeep was exactly has he had described it; rough, solid frame, and it even started on the first crank! Dave was kind enough to give us a tour of his shop and brave enough to load the brakeless’47 on the trailer. He went above and beyond by helping us diagnose our trailer light problem (in the rain no less). Thanks again Dave!
Tammy’s ‘00 GC Limited pulled the ’47 without compliant; we drove home without incident (I did however hold my breath through the construction zones in an attempt to make our trailer narrower) back along I-74 and it was still just as boring.


















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Last updated: 07/28/2002

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