The Willys-Overland Paintings, Part Four, James Sessions

Part four in our next to the last entry in the Willys-Overland paintings brings us the last of the James M. Sessions works. Towards the end of the war with plans already well underway to market the civilianized jeep to the world, Willys unleashed another series of paintings by Sessions. These featured not scenes of wartime and fighting that the MB plowed through, but pastoral scenes of the CJ now literally getting ready to plow through its next chores. These were a relief from the constant reminders that we were at war and enabled us as Americans and a part of the greater world that one day soon, peace would come back after our enemies were vanquished. Like one title states, “From Fighter To Farmhand,” many GIs were getting ready for the same transition. Come back next week for one more look at the many ways that Willys-Overland devised to get their message out to the American public and click here\ to view the entire albums of the Willys-Overland paintings. And yeah, its springtime! But its also tax time... But you can still enjoy a bit of your refund and save when you enter the code: TAXDAYSAVING at checkout to save 10.40% off ALL orders! Its the 1040EZ Discount! Hurry, it ends Tuesday! Find our This-Old-Jeep.com store here.

The Willys-Overland Paintings, Part Three, James Sessions

Part Three of the Willys-Overland Paintings brings us to the best known of the artists who was commissioned by Willys to illustrate a series of ads that were run starting early in the war about 1942. Willys already knew that it was to be able to bank on the jeep for its continued success after its military contract expired and it needed to get the word out to the civilian world as well. What better way to do that than to illustrate the countless stories being heard and newspapers read all over the barber shops, waiting rooms, bars, dinner tables, schools and homes across the country? James M. Sessions was the most prolific of the four artists and consequently seems to be the best known nowadays. His work in the ads appeared everywhere, The Saturday Evening Post, Newsweek, Colliers, LIFE, Look and so on. It served to bring to life what people had been reading and hearing about overseas, that the fighting men of the Allies were winning with the help of the mighty jeep. I was planning on giving you all of the Sessions ads today, but decided to break it up a bit more. Today we’ll have the war themed work, next week we’ll have the peace-time home front work and lastly, a special little seen treat of Sessions’ work. I’m not sure if I have the entirety of his work yet. I haven’t Fred Coldwell’s excellent book, “Selling The All-American Wonder” to reference and here are two small thumbnails of work that exists but that I do not yet have.

Ad on top shows an alternate version of the caption that I have and commonly see, “The Sun Never Sets On The Willys Jeep.” Ad on the bottom is a humorous jab by Sessions that I’ve enjoyed but have rarely seen. The caption reads “To Adolph With Best Wishes From Willys-Overland Men.” Click here to view the entire album of his work. Enjoy and have a happy Easter today!

The Willys-Overland Paintings, Part Two, John Howard

Continuing with part two this week of the all new Willys-Overland Paintings section, we have the illustrator, John Howard. Commissioned to produce a series of now famous ads for what Willys-Overland envisioned as a public introduction of the new civilian jeep these ads became probably the best known examples of jeep advertising. They are classic forms of the golden age of advertising before Photoshop and the computer, when many freelance artists were making a great living producing drawings and paintings for the advertising market. Howard, whom I can’t find anything about online (anyone have any info on the man?) produced works of art that deviated from what Sessions, Horndorf and Clark made. Howard instead of concentrating on realistic scenes, created allegorical and fanciful depictions of the ‘heart’ of the MB, jeeps encircling the world and what must irk Bantam enthusiasts nowadays, the insistence that Willys and the jeep were linked together as one in people’s minds on the world stage. Click on the thumbnails to view the individual ads or here to view the full albums of all the artists’ work. Come back next week when we’ll concentrate on the best known of the illustrators, James Sessions. The next week will bring part four and a treat of a direct to consumer advertising special!

The Willys-Overland Paintings, Part One

During the war years and the early post-war, Willys-Overland was as busy campaigning the future and influence of the jeep as the jeep was busy on the battlefield. Four talented illustrators were contracted to create paintings for a series of ads that Willys was to use. They were Benton Clark, Charles Horndorff, John Howard and most famously, James M. Sessions. They began with showing battle scenes and the heroics of the jeep and the GI and ended by 1945 with pushing the role of the jeep on the farm and in hometown industry. I’ve always been fond of these ads and the illustrations. For myself and many other fans of the early jeep these are the quintessential example of not only the golden age of ad design, but of the jeep in the world of art. I’ve been meaning to get these ads up for a long time as the site really isn’t complete without them and over the next couple of weeks I’ll add my collection artist by artist starting this week with Benton Clark and Charles Horndorf. Next week will bring us John Howard with the James Sessions ads next. Finally the week after that will bring us a special piece of history that I’ve found. For now, enjoy the warmer weather and check out the entirely new section of the site! Click here to see the new page and the ads. Hope that you enjoy them!

Three More Early Civilian Ads

Today we have three early ads for the civilian CJ2-A that probably date from about 1946 judging from the graphic design work involved. I love these ads and ones like them as they show the overwhelming possibilities and the eager optimism that pervaded not only Willys-Overland’s post-war dreams but the American public’s as well. With the war over, the world economy blossomed and the dreams of many an American turned to not only the work before them but their newfound leisure time. And the jeep could help out with both of these pursuits. Click here to view them and many other ads for the timeless CJ. Come back next week when I plan on beginning the series of paintings created by James Sessions, Charles Horndorf, John Howard and Benton Clark for Willys that were published in the famous late war and early post-war ads to spread the legend of the jeep’s wartime exploits. Its been a long time in the making but its coming to This-Old-Jeep.com next week! Today is also the final day to pick up t-shirts in the This-Old-Jeep.com Zazzle marketplace at 40% off when you enter the code YOURPOTOGOLD at checkout. Check them out and get ready for spring today!

October 1967 For Men Only Magazine

It’s nearly spring and with spring and warmer temperatures a man’s fancy turns to romance... and adventures! This cover and the illustration that covers a two page spread for the story features a CJ3-B, the beloved ugly swan of the jeep world. It’s pretty typical of the men’s magazines that ranged in their heyday from the 1950’s to the 60’s. They usually featured the things that would attract a guy’s interest- cars, women, adventures and true-life stories. This cover has a 3B and the two swarthy adventurers narrowly escaping from gun smuggling arms dealers chasing them in what appears to be something with a German halftrack front and oh, I don’t know, but that’s not what matters. Its the jeep and the adventures of a lifetime that counts! Hope that your day is exciting with your jeep and come back next week for more of the timeless and adventurous jeep!

It’s March and finally we can start to think about the promise of spring, regrowth, warmth, the promise of being able to drive topless again and yep, parades! This photo that is dated as coming from March of 1953 also hails from St. Petersburg, Florida where the weather is probably just about right to think about a parade of beauty pageant contestants! I hadn’t noticed until just now as I tried to zoom in on the windshield frame to determine whether the CJ was a 2A or 3A that it appears to be a split windshield 2A. I believe those are the shadows of tool indents making this a very early civilian (VEC) as well?

The year is still early and you can still order and enjoy the This-Old-Jeep.com 2012 calendar that features 17 new and never before seen photos of the jeep from throughout the years! New this week, This-Old-Jeep.com is also available on Pinterest which is sort of a visual Twitter where I’ll be posting update photos as well as other neat links to jeep history that I’ve found online. And we’ll also be available on Flickr where you can view our Photostream as well as other great photos available from other jeep lovers’ streams. Check back next week for more of the timeless jeep!