History of Jeeps in Australia

Australia is one of those many places which, due to an abundance of surplus Willys MB's and Ford GPW's immediately after WWII, didn't see many new civilian Jeeps until the advent of the CJ-3B in the 1950's. The CJ-2A, produced in large numbers in the U.S. in the late 1940's and still the most commonly-seen flatfender in North America, is very rare in Australia.

The Australian market has never been large enough to support local manufacture of Jeeps under licence, particularly given the strong competition from Land Rover in the 1950's and from Japanese automakers since then. Still, the local assembly and modification of Willys Jeeps to meet the demands and preferences of the market, has resulted in some interesting variations.

The CJ-3B in the photo, used for many years by Ivan Collins on his farm near Brisbane, can be identified as a 1958 factory right-hand-drive version, by the blue ID plate reading "WILLYS MOTORS AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED, VEHICLE No. CJ3B 1100" below the Willys Toledo serial number plate. The rear-mounted spare, and tool brackets on the right side, suggest it is one of many CJ-3B's used by the Royal Australian Air Force, and as of 2007 it is being restored as an RAAF Jeep by Ross Holdway.

Two importers of Jeeps prior to the establishment of Willys' Australian subsidiary in 1958, were Dominion Motors in Brisbane and Stokoe Motors of Melbourne, and there may have been others. Dominion assembled CKD (complete knocked down) vehicles in Brisbane. Vaughn Becker says "Dominion's main role was to assemble English Austin products and they took on the assembly of Jeeps to take up some slack in the assembly line. For various reasons they were restricted as to the numbers of Jeeps they could assemble and this was only about 36 per year."
 

Serial Numbers

There is a good deal of confusing information regarding serial numbers on Australian Jeeps.

From 1954 through 1958, many (though not all) of the CJ-3B Jeeps exported from the U.S. had a hand-stamped letter added to the end of their VIN tag (see the list of CJ-3B Serial and Engine Numbers on The CJ3B Page.) The significance of the choice of letters B, D, H, R, T or U is not known, but they appear on Jeeps in a number of countries, so they were probably added in Toledo.

A look at the Willys and Dominion tags (right) on the firewall of a 1958 CJ-3B (70K JPEG) reveals the usual 57348 prefix before the Willys serial number 46201L, but the prefix on the Dominion tag is 57648. Possibly just an error?

Meanwhile, a 1958 memo to Australian Willys dealers (30K GIF) from Dominion Motors, gives an apparently confused account of the meaning of Willys U.S. serial numbers, suggesting that the first two digits 55, 56, 57 etc. indicate the model year.

David McCallum reports that on his 1958 CJ-3B, VIN 57348 44476L, "There are two brass tags under the bonnet. One is from Stokoe Motors and has serial number 7017 on it. The other has 'Produced by U.K. Motors PTY. LTD. Brisbane' stamped on it."

Mark Guest has left-hand-drive 1954 CJ-3B, 454GB2 39855U, and says, "I did speak to a Mr. Don White at Stokoe Motors who said that, from the I.D. plate info I provided him, this was imported via Holland. When I spoke to the original owner he said he purchased it from Maugham Thiem Motors, Adelaide."

See also Willys Australia serial number tag 1095 on a Retired Australian Air Force Jeep .
 

The first modification made to most Jeeps sold downunder has been conversion to right-hand-drive (RHD), to meet Australian regulations for on-road licencing. Some early imports were sold as LHD, and were either never licenced or were given aftermarket RHD conversions.

There's a lot of outback for going offroad Jeeping in Australia, so it's not surprising that some Jeeps may never have been licenced for driving on the left side of the pavement. The bush scene photo here was shot in the mid-1970's by John Keane, with a CJ-6 standing guard for a CJ-3B.
 

Willys Australia

After 1958 the import and assembly of Jeeps was taken over by Willys Motors Australia Pty. Ltd. in Brisbane. This nice action photo comes from a Willys Australia CJ-3B brochure (100K JPEG) which also includes photos showing the Brisbane assembly line and a locally-produced hardtop. The back of the sheet (130K JPEG) has detailed CJ-3B specs. Thanks to Gary Keating for the scans.

Author Bill Munro in Jeep: Bantam to Wrangler says Willys Australia was also intended to supply the Philippines and Indonesia. The CJ-3B and CJ-6 were assembled in Brisbane starting in 1958 (see Promoting the Australian-Made CJ-3B), and Willys trucks, station wagons and CJ-5's arrived in 1960.

See also a photocopy of a brochure for a RHD hardtop CJ-6 (50K GIF), which reads: "From Willys' Australian factory... designed and engineered for Australian conditions: Jeep Model CJ-6."
 

In contrast to the brochure photo above, this factory photo of a CJ-3B equipped with a tow boom shows the spare tire mounted on the left as part of the conversion to RHD.

To comply with other Australian regulations, a certain percentage of components were made locally, and electrical systems were 12V. Thus apparently electrical parts were logical items to be sourced locally. Ian Hall's 1958 CJ-3B "was fitted with Australian-made Lucas 12V electrical parts, including the starter and generator (dated 1958), regulator, headlights and wipers."

An interesting feature of the RHD 1958 CJ-3B's assembled by both Dominion and then Willys Australia, is the presence of the T-handle parking brake which wasn't used on CJ-3B's in the U.S. until 1961. See the dashboard (40K JPEG) of a 1958 Dominion import.

The Foreword from a Willys Motors Australia Parts Book for Universals and Trucks 1941 through 1959 gives information on the numbering used for Parts Made in Australia which are identical to, or different from, U.S. parts.
 

Willys Australia Production Figures, March 1958 to May 1968

The production figures above were compiled by hand by a former employee at the Willys factory in Brisbane. A close look at the sign on the factory (above) shows that the company was also importing vehicles by Fiat, Isuzu and Mitsubishi (who interestingly was manufacturing a large number of Jeeps in Japan under licence by this time).

Perhaps the single FC-150 Forward Control truck on the list is in fact an open-bodied prototype seen in a factory photo (90K JPEG) which appears to be labelled on the back "Prototype FC - Stripped Chassis."

Interestingly, the list of CJ-3B Serial and Engine Numbers on The CJ3B Page includes a block of over 3000 serial numbers in 1958 which have so far shown up mainly in Australia.

This photo courtesy of the State Library of Western Australia shows assembly of Jeep trucks and a CJ-3B, at M.S. Brooking Pty. Ltd., a vehicle importer and dealership in Perth, Western Australia. The photo was taken on on 29 March 1957, and preserved by the Historical Records Rescue Consortium (HRRC) Project.

Some 475 and 6-230 light trucks (160K JPEG) were apparently included in the 475 Station Wagon and 6-230 Cab/Chassis production figures above. Vaughn Becker notes that although an advertisement for the trucks (160K JPEG) mentions the "mighty Hurricane power" in the 475 truck, the illustration shows the L6-226, not the 4-cylinder F-head.

Long Wheelbase Jeeps

The long-wheelbase CJ-3BL is not commonly seen in Australia today, and it is unclear how many of the 1000 3B's listed in the records from the factory had the longer frame. Chris Waters saw this nice example in September 2008 at a Jeep Jamboree. It is unlikely that the longer frame was part of any of the CKD CJ-3B kits shipped from Willys in Toledo, who never built an LWB version for the domestic U.S. market.

Vaughn Becker comments, "My son has a CJ-3BL (120K JPEG) which is the same as the short wheelbase with 20" added into the chassis and body. I have only seen one other." See also a photo of the frame (80K JPEG).
 

Paul Rundel photographed this CJ-6 located in Queensland. It has a Willys CJ-5 serial number (57548 69723/71) but is actually a CJ-6 according to both the tub and chassis dimensions, and the Willys Australia tag in the engine compartment which states "CJ6 1171". See also a front view photo (70K JPEG).

Apparently Jeeps shipped as CJ-5's were also lengthened in Australia, like the CJ-3B's. It has been suggested this was to save shipping costs, although that isn't completely convincing.
 

The Combat 6

The "Combat 6" was the marketing department's idea of a name for a Ford 6-cylinder engine. Vaughn Becker: "The Combat 6 was a CJ5/6 fitted with the Australian Ford Falcon motor. They first used the 144 cu. in. unit then later the 170 cu. in. one and finally an industrial Ford motor of 188 cu. in."

The brochure at right shows the version of the Combat 6 powered by the 170 cu.in. engine. The reverse side of the brochure (100K GIF) has specs for the CJ5 and CJ6 versions, and drawings of the cab options. See also a Combat 6 advertisement (90K JPEG) with a variation of the water photo.

A later Kaiser Jeep of Australia brochure (90K GIF) has specs for the CJ5 and CJ6. The "Combat 6" name has been dropped in favour of the good old "Universal Series." (Note also that all the factory literature of this period omits the hyphens in the model numbers CJ5 and CJ6.)

The Overlander

Australians have always been fond of their "utes" or utility (pickup) trucks. This is probably much of the reason why the CJ-6 appeared downunder before the CJ-5, and why the 3B appeared in an LWB version. The Overlander was a version of the CJ-6 designed for this specific market, and the name survived to be used also for the CJ-8 (below).

Vaughn says, "The Overlander was a modified CJ6. The cab was metal forward of the windscreen, and fibreglass was used to form the rear and roof of the cab. They were usually fitted with a dropside tray body."

See also a photo (40K JPEG) of the dropside version, an Overlander specs sheet (60K JPEG), and an ad for a version with a steel pickup body (130K JPEG).

The Overlanders were apparently included in the production figures for the 6-cylinder CJ-6 in the list above.
 

Jeep Australia Established by AMC

Distribution of Jeeps in Australia had been shrinking after 1968, and apparently collapsed at about the time of the purchase of Jeep in the U.S. by American Motors Corporation (AMC). Jeeps were imported only privately during most of the 1970's.

A new corporate entity known as Jeep Australia was set up by AMC in 1980, just in time to begin assembling the new CJ8, which was known as the Overlander in the Australian market. (A right-hand-drive steel hardtop CJ-8 was also sold by AMC to the U.S. Postal Service, for use in Alaska.)

See also the Overlander features and specs from the brochure. (140K JPEG).
 

The new company also assembled the CJ-7, SJ Cherokee, J-10 truck, and short and long versions of the rare CJ-10 (photo at left). The CJ-10 was a truck with CJ-style front bodywork, sold in the U.S. only in a short-wheelbase version as an aircraft tug (90K JPEG). See also an Australian military CJ-10 (80K JPEG). Thanks to Bob Christy for the photo.
 

Jeep imports were again halted by 1984, as the dropping exchange rate of the Australian dollar made them too expensive.

Thanks to Vaughn Becker for tracking down a lot of information and literature. Thanks also to Mike Kelly, Raymond Kennedy, Michael Gilders, Ian Hall and Ted Robinette. -- Derek Redmond

See more Jeeps in Australia on The CJ3B Page.

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