Website Finds, Tahiti-Pacifique

On this cold January day I needed to delve into more website finds from Tahiti, yep, Tahiti, South Pacific paradise where not only the HMS Bounty landed, but the painter, Gauguin retired to. Tahiti is just one island in a larger chain, collectively part of French Polynesia, in an archipelago of islands sweeping out into the southern Pacific Ocean about 5 hours south of Hawaii. It was long a French colony and is still a protectorate of France where its inhabitants can apply for French citizenship. During the Second World War, it was part of the Pacific Allied defense when the island of Bora-Bora was used as a military supply post. Apparently many of the jeeps stationed there were not surprisingly left there after the war, being too expensive to bother with shipping them back to the states afterwards. And so they were used as many a jeep was to its best advantage, as a workhorse and jack of all trades, for the local gendarmerie, merchants, doctors and just as a fashionable means of transit. An open topped jeep was perfect for island life. But not only MBs made their way to French Polynesia as seen in the photos there were CJ2-As and even a Jeepster!

These photos came from the local magazine, Tahiti-Pacifique that has covered Polynesian life, culture and society since 1991. All of the images are to be considered copyrighted and belong to the magazine and are presented here as research tools for entertainment only. You can view the photos online here as well as a nice modern rebuild of a 1944 Navy MB here. Come back next when I’ll have more and maybe even an extra update tomorrow if I can get over this cold that I’m feeling lousy with.

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