In our small town Labor Day Parade, I saw this. I have never seen one before, have you?

Yep. I know someone that had one. He sold it years ago. It was a '59, '60 or '61. I don't remember which.


ARman

A volunteer fire department somewhere in central Texas used to have one of those for a miniature brush truck. I know I’ve seen it, I just can’t remember where.

I believe there was a FC-150 and a FC-170.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Forward_Control

I've seen a few FC Jeeps around over the years, but never on the road and not recently. They are neat.

Back in the day before the park service formally took over the NC Outer Banks and it became a National Seashore, you wouldn't believe the vehicles you would see.
We had a business on Cape Lookout and used a number of classic Jeeps and variations as well as other Korean/Vietnam era military vehicles.

Here's a 50's FC Jeep we used for many years with the lighthouse in the background...
Wish we still had some of these great vehicles around-

The Forward Control Jeeps are a rare sight for sure, but it seems that everybody was making something like that back then. Econolines, Corvairs, VWs, etc...

My high school had one as a maintenance vehicle.

Yep, very versatile vehicles. The boat harbor used one for years as a launch vehicle. They had an FC150, which was a 4cyl. The FC170 was a 6 and used much heavier axles. I saw one last weekend at Gravelrama. It was owned for years by one of our members. He died and somebody jummped in and bought it out of the estate. At least its still up and going.

Kaiser/Willys had a commercial we'd see all the time back in the day. Probably not the vehicle you'd want to be in if you had a wreck.

The guy who died once said if a stone hit the windshield the vehicle was totaled. You just couldn't find and buy one. That wasn't a problem at the boat harbor. Its windshield was long gone. So were the doors. Make entry and exit easy. The bed was pretty much rusted away, but the frame was still sort of solid and the engine was good. It hadn't been out of 4 wheel lo in a long time.

Rinehart,

That pic is so full of awesome. Thank you for sharing.

Love the fans on the dash!

A FC, I love them.

quote:

Originally posted by P-220:
Rinehart,

That pic is so full of awesome. Thank you for sharing.

Steve, you are too kind. That was a different era.

Here's another Jeep story...

I learned to drive at a young age because of the beaches and moving/launching boat trailers at our motel/marina.

I knew there was no way my family could buy me a new car, so I found a 1952 Willys Overland Jeep wagon that Bender Candy Company in NC had used in the past. It sat for years and the engine had "locked up". I gave Mr. Bender $65.00 for it and pulled the plugs and soaked the cylinders full with a marvel mystery oil and penetrating oil mix for a few weeks.
Every day I would go out with a bar and socket on the crank and turn it gently back and forth. At first it would only rotate about two inches. After a couple weeks of this I could completely rotate the old 4-cylinder flathead Jeep engine.
Late one night my uncle and I towed it out on the highway behind an old yellow WWII aviation tow tractor and pulled it in second gear with the plugs still out. (The biggest concern with a locked up engine is usually ring/cylinder wall damage).
The next morning I put the plugs back in, added fresh gas and it fired up immediately with 40 PSI oil pressure. Ran like a top.
About a week later a motel guest who owned a car lot saw it and wanted it for a beach buggy on the Outer Banks.
Here it is after I hand painted it black and put on split rims and balloon tires for the beach.

He traded me a 1964 Chevrolet Impala 327 for the Jeep.

quote:

Here's another Jeep story...

I love it. Great story.

My first jeep ride was about 1961. We vacationed in NC each summer. I know, Yankees coming down and causing more trouble. Anyway, Dad had been reading about a talc mine but the only way to get there was by jeep and then by foot. So dad asked around the town and found a guy that was unemployed and needed money. He also had a jeep and knew about where the mine was. So a small bribe got the guy to be our guide.

I wasn't allowed to ride with the guy on the road, but once we got to the trail, we all piled into the jeep. Talk about overloaded. It was OK, the old $50 WWII relic worked fine. We rode along the mountain until we had to begin walking. A huge rattlesnake blocked our way, but the guide cut a sapling with his pocket knife and beat it to death. Then he cut the 17 rattles and a button off.

We finally got to the mine and loaded up on samples. I fell into my normal vacation mode as pack mule or donkey. Better known as jackass. I spent my youth that way, hauling my dad's pickings back to the car. This time I was really glad we hired the guide. He carried his share of the rocks, too. I even offered to walk as long as I didn't have to carry more rocks.

The jeep worked really well but I didn't have any luck in convincing my dad we needed one. It was 1974 when I bought a boat that I really saw how good jeeps were. Even the 4cyl ones did a great job of hauling a much bigger boat up the steep river bank and onto the bench that served as a storage area. It took me 3 more years to buy my own.

I never realized the wimpy 4cyl did so well because of gearing. My V8 would run much better on the road, but wouldn't pull much more boat. And what little it did better was mostly tires.

Since 1977 we've owned at least one jeep at all times. Over the years the succession of owners have gotten back to gearing and now locking differentials as options.

That first jeep of mine also got a front trailer ball. You wouldn't believe the difference it makes to steer from the middle of a 30 foot rig than from one end.

I've never seen or heard about a Jeep like that. Thanks for sharing it.

Only seen one in person ever, it was for sale near me 30 or more years ago. Parked on the side of the road for a couple months, sometimes they would tilt the cab over forward, and leave it that way all day.

Way cool I thought, just no way to justify it at the time so I never even called and priced it.

one of my classmates circa 1959 drove one to school a lot. He gave me a ride around a couple of blocks once. Even on pavement (with standard potholes) it was bouncing my teeth out.

They've been plenty rare in my travels about the country. Nearly all of the few I've seen are over rotting away under some blackberry bush.