I'm guessing that maybe the only place in North America where you ever saw this many CJ-3B's in one place was at the factory in Toledo. This is a July 2004 rally of Mahindra Jeep owners held near Warwick, England.
Keith King writes from the UK, "We now have a thriving UK Jeep community going to help keep the Jeeps from disappearing from public view -- it's The Mahindra Register. Here's a picture of the line-up from the 2004 Rally."
This photo comes from John Carroll, who painted a 1994 Mahindra CJ340 in the style of the Willys Surrey Gala, for young friend Lizzy Thornton, who was hoping to have her UK driver's licence soon. Check out the rear view photo (100K JPEG).
And you know, there was a 3B Surrey Gala in Australia in 1960; see Promoting the Australian-Made CJ-3B.
See also more Mahindra Jeeps in the UK on The CJ3B Page.
Among the Jeeps on display at European Camp Jeep 2000 were several belonging to Jean-Francois Lavie, including his Rover V8-powered CJ-3B. Camp Jeep took place the first weekend in July in southern France, close to the Ardeche Canyon and not far from the location of the famous Trophee Cevenol off-road rally.
Jean-Francois says, "My home village is located nearby and when in France I used to do the Trophee Cevenol with my Hotchkiss and then this CJ-3B that I built for that particular trial. When I first did it in 1990 we were a few flatfenders, but when I did the last one I was alone."
The Willys wagon and the CJ-7 on display also belong to Jean-Francois, who also still owns his first Jeep, a French-built Hotchkiss M201 (60K JPEG). The M201 was a 24-volt version of the Willys MB, built for the French Army from 1955 to 1967 (see Jeeps in France on The CJ3B Page.)
The year 2005 brought the DaimlerChrysler Gladiator concept truck to European Camp Jeep, and in the background of the photo, J-F's recent restoration projects -- a red Kaiser V6 Commando (70K JPEG) restored with an EBRO body from Spain, and a 1971 Wagoneer (50K JPEG).
Another yellow CJ-3B, this time in an informal pose in front of the mountains of northern Italy. Alessandro Pedrotti's Jeep is a VIASA Jeep built in Spain: its serial number plate (20K JPEG) indicates it was built by CAF ("Construcciones
y Auxiliares de Ferrocariles", the parent company of VIASA), under licence from Jeep International Corporation. The model is given as "PECJ3B" (indicating a Perkins diesel,) with serial number 001303.
See a larger copy of this scenic photo (80K JPEG).
What do you do when the snow-making machine gets stuck in the snow? Call on a Jeep to go in and pull it out. Alessandro's CJ-3B seems to have something in common with Joel Kamunen's CJ-3B in the mountains of Colorado. Somebody has to do the hard work to keep the ski bums happy.
See a larger copy of the photo (70K JPEG).
Also in Italy, David Zidaric bought this VIASA CJ-3B, to go with his long-wheelbase VIASA CJ-6. The serial number plate identifies it as "BACJ3B" (indicating it is powered by a Barreiros diesel.)
David writes, "This Jeep has been modified by the previous owner. It has a Bendix power braking system with Pierburg vacuum pump, disk brakes and free wheeling hubs on the front wheels, ZF power steering, Bestop Dualmatic soft top and VW Golf seats (see a photo with the top down and a photo of the interior, 80K JPEG's). The Spanish-made T18 transfer case is modified to use low range without shifting into 4WD. A locker is mounted In the original Dana 44 rear axle. The front end has a Spanish-made Dana 25 axle.
"For normal driving (I use it every day) I use BF Goodrich T/A Radial (235/75) tyres, mounted over 15" BWA (Italian-made) alloy wheels. Offroad I use 7.50/16 mud tyres over original steel wheels. The use of radial tyres, free wheel hubs, power steering, and the minimum weight of the soft top, make driving this Jeep over normal roads easier than my CJ-6. In offroad (hard offroad, not driving over non-surfaced roads) it's better than the CJ-6, thanks to the short wheelbase and high diameter wheels."
See more photos on David's Jeep VIASA CJ3B Homepage.
And thanks to Jean-Francois Lavie and Alessandro Pedrotti for the photos of their Jeeps. -- Derek Redmond
See also Jeep-Heep-Heep in the Swiss Alps.
Return to the Index of Unusual Photos on The CJ3B Page.
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