WWII era Jeep finds a home in Abilene | News
A World War II era Jeep that started life in the British Colombia Air National Guard has found its way to Abilene.
It made its way into the possession of Ralph Viola and has now come into the hands of Mark Picking.
The vehicle — a four ton 4 x 4n Ford model GPW made in 1945 — is one of a small number of Jeeps made by the Ford Motor Company as part of the war effort.
“Ford built this Jeep,” Picking said. “It was a combined effort in the war.”
As rare as this Jeep is now, Viola said there were once “thousands and thousands” of them — surplus vehicles left over after the war had been won. They weren’t made with intent to last much longer after the end of the war and, as such, they didn’t have a lot of value at the time.
“They just dumped them off the ship or just left them where they were,” Viola said.
According to Viola, he acquired the vehicle after it had ended up in the hands of an Air Force base in Washington.
Viola said he and his wife worked for Boeing and were transferred by the company, eventually landing in Everett, Washington where they worked on 747 aircrafts.
During this process, they found themselves working with the nearby Air Force base “that owned a Jeep and an airplane called an L2-A Grasshopper.” Both the Jeep and the plane were in the process of being restored.
The unit Viola was working with ended up transferring ownership of the Jeep to him. He would later acquire the airplane as well, though at the time the Air Force transferred it to another unit.
“I bought a trailer on which the front wheels rested and the rear wheels were on the highway and off we went to Abilene,” he said. “We drove the Jeep in a parade in Solomon and in the parade during the fair in Abilene.”
Viola is now too old to drive the Jeep — it’s hard to get in and out of and the steering wheel is large and uncomfortable for him to use.
This is why he ultimately chose to sell it to Picking.
Picking had worked on the vehicle before and had expressed interest in purchasing it.
Viola agreed and said he believed it would be in good hands with Picking.
“It’s a unique piece of history,” Picking said.
Aside from being a Jeep made by Ford, the vehicle has several unique features.
According to Viola and demonstrated by Picking, the Jeep doesn’t have a key for safety reasons during battle. If there was an emergency, people could waste precious seconds trying to find the key, so it starts using a device on the driver’s side of the vehicle, Viola said. The gas tank is located under the driver’s seat.
Picking said he hoped that in purchasing the Jeep he can keep this little piece of WWII history — and by extension the memory of President Dwight D. Eisenhower — alive. He intends to maintain the vehicle and put it in car shows and drive it at special events.
“I’m going to keep it alive,” he said. “My dad was a veteran. We’re in the town of Eisenhower … We’re going to keep his name alive — Eisenhower’s name alive, keep Ralph Viola’s name alive.”