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WWII Jeep 'found in crate' set to cross Greenwich auction block

From AB

Fans of old military vehicles might want to pay extra close attention to the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance coming up this weekend. Crossing the Bonhams auction block on Sunday are a pair of seemingly flawless World War II Jeeps, which are both expected to fetch serious dollars.

Lot Number 305 at the auction is a 1945 Ford GPW Jeep that has been fully restored, which is expected to command between $35,000 and $45,000. Shortly after the Ford GPW, a potentially more interesting

1944 Willys MB (shown above) will be auctioned off, but Hemmings raises some red flags about this Jeep. First, it is claiming to have been "discovered in its original crate about 30 years ago," but there is no proof or documentation of any sort. Also, it is claiming to be all original, but it was given a paint job "shortly after it was discovered." Even with these questionable descriptions, this Willys could reach between $20,000 and $30,000. View the attachments for this post at:
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Reply to
MummyChunk
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It is unlikely that either vehicle will fetch those values. The market is still depressed, and the providence of the second vehicle is questionable, while the first being a show restoration and not an original or working restoration is actually less valuable.

However, people are known to do things that are not sensible financially--such as bid up vehicles above their true worth.

Want to know the worth? Well, there are lots of resources including MV magazine and MVPA.

Reply to
PeterD

Yea, either one would be cool to own but it's important to remember the original WWII jeeps were very twitch and had a pension to flip.

Price wise, I'd stay away from a "freshly repainted" anything. That destroys the original value of the period paint job.

Reply to
DougW

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