Carl Flannery’s 1942 Ford Jeep is like that old ammo box you keep your tools in. The paint is wearing off in places and the primer and sometimes bare metal shows through. It’s a bit bashed here and there, there’s rust showing in places and it’s none-too clean. He’s attached a wooden box on the back so he can carry extra stuff, and he prefers to ride with the windscreen folded forward and protected by a canvas cover. To the uninitiated, Carl’s Jeep is totally original, with the brass Ford nameplate on the dash, spade on the side, canvas splash panels and safety strap. And a slatted grille. Whoa, Ford never made a Jeep with a slatted grille – that was Willys (see the “Jeep History” box). But Carl is a teaser, and put the slatted grille in just to get Willys owners wound up. A Willys fetches about twice the price of a Ford, so Willys owners tend to act a bit superior, says Carl. Which is a bit silly in Carl’s case. Like many military Jeep owners Carl, who hails from Tamworth, about 200 km northwest of Sydney, is a collector, and has seven in total, including a pristine early Willys. But this one is his favourite. It was his first Jeep, and he’s owned it since the early ‘80s. He drives it a lot and has fitted modern off-road tyres and a Weber carb to make it more enjoyable and reliable. He’s also fitted locking diffs front and rear, to give it prodigious off-road performance, controlled by two extra levers alongside the standard gear lever and transfer ‘box lever. Carl has offered to lead the small group of military Jeep owners who had banded together to give me a taste of what the military Jeep is all about – and to show off its not-inconsiderable abilities. A specialist group among the 200 plus Jeepsters who had come to the Jamboree, most of them chose to camp together in their own part of the showgrounds, though one of the Queensland Jeep Club guys, Dave Parkinson from Brisbane, had a prime position with his fellow members. You couldn’t fail to spot his ’43 Willys MB “Emu” painted in airfield chequered yellow and black, right next to the main access road. Another with a distinctive colour scheme is John Gorely’s ’42 Willys. It’s painted in RAAF blue, with all the right badges and signs, and looks great. The oldest of the bunch is the very early (’41) Willys owned by Neil Goodridge. This one DOES have a genuine slatted grille, and he’s offered the passenger seat to a friend of mine, “Mr Jeep”, Jerzy Stanley. Jerzy is a legend in his own right at Jeep, and a regular VIP at the Aussie Jamboree. Now retired, he spent most of his working life making and testing Jeeps as an engineer and manufacturing boss in places as far apart as China and Zimbabwe, not to mention Aussie, where he was one of the three men instrumental in getting Jeep back into Australia after the company had pulled out. Not many people know as much about Jeeps as Jerzy, and several times during the Jamboree he’d walk up to an owner polishing his vehicle and tell him “I made that”. Ironically – or perhaps poetically – the other two main participants in getting Jeep back into Australia are also at the Jamboree. Rob Moorcroft is in charge of Jeep parts and accessories, based in Melbourne, and played an active part in this year’s Jamboree as Jeep’s main representative. The other is Kevin Burke, manager for Chrysler’s northern region, and based in Brisbane. Kevin extended fantastic hospitality to NZ4WD, including helping erect my tent and allowing me to set up camp next to them, as well as feeding me, introducing me around and organising trips for me, including this one. His 15 years-old son Ben also came along on our military tour, ecstatic to be sitting alongside “Mr Gadget” Stuart Wearne from Sydney, in a ’43 Willys. This is the only one in the bunch which still uses original narrow tyres, the others having switched over to more modern (and more easily available) rubber. The youngest Jeep in our selection is the ’44 Willys of Cliff and Bev Bambridge from Wollongong, which is south of Sydney. This husband and wife team really enjoy their Jeep, and aren’t scared to “give it a go” with the best of them! We set off in convoy, with a couple of Neil’s family members, Chris in his flatbed V8-powered ’84 J20 and Chris in his ’84 J10, tagging along. It was wonderful to have the wind in your face as we wound our way out of Morisset and out into the countryside to the north. We were headed for the Watagan State Forest and some 4WD trails Carl had used before. But first we drove along the local country roads, travelling at a steady 30 mph (48 km/h), looking for all the world like a WW2 convoy. We turned off into the forest, and suddenly you could smell the new spring blossom on the trees, and hear the birds as they chorused their joy at being alive. I felt much the same, my heart almost bursting as I cherished a dream I’d had since I was a lad – to ride in a WW2 Jeep! Pretty soon the track started to narrow, and we came across a large puddle. Good chance for a photo opportunity, so Carl rallied the troops and they splashed their way through, trying hard to drench me on the way. That’s not funny guys! Then Carl turned off left, and now we were onto a really badly washed-out track descending steeply to another level. Again I hopped out, and marvelled at the way the little Jeeps picked their way through rocks and gullies that taxed the bigger and more modern J10 and J20 at the back. We reached the flat again, and this time it was a really deep and muddy bog that stopped the convoy. Carl had two goes at it (and I suspect used his diff locks) before managing to get through, but everyone else (except John Gorely who found a dry route) needed a tug to get across. On our way again, we turned left into an even narrower track – and discovered the road had been beaten up badly by a couple of tough trucks. However after 10 minutes of lugging rocks around it became passable again and we picked our way delicately down. A couple of steep uphills held no fears for our WW2 Jeeps, though the big ones at the back battled, and all too soon we met up with a group from the Jamboree who had been on a trip and were regrouping. And so back to the camp, pausing on the way for a group photo, and a couple of cold ones to wash away the dust and cool throats parched in the dry 24 degrees heat. All-in-all a wonderful day, fulfilment of a dream – and a new sense of wonder at what these 60 something vehicles can do when it comes to off-road. Now I know what I want for Christmas!