Farm Journal in the 1950's (like the similar publication Successful Farming) was a family magazine, with features about the household as well as the farm. It carried a wide range of advertisements, including some that would seem unusual in a general-interest magazine today (such as a full-page ad for Saginaw power steering.) Kaiser-Willys saw it as the perfect place to promote the practical advantages of Jeep four-wheel drive.
Note: some of the illustrations are taken from microfilm, so they unfortunately don't reflect the quality of the originals.
Although the first ad on this page, from February 1953, features a striking illustration of the new CJ-3B Universal model, most of the ads tended to feature the concept of Jeep rather than any particular model. Most of them were aimed specifically at the farm audience, including this one from April 1953 suggesting that "F-head" had something to do with "Farm Power." And they promoted station wagons and trucks as well as Universals.
This ad featuring a CJ-3A Universal appeared in Successful Farming in August 1954, well after the CJ-3A had been replaced by the CJ-3B. Willys didn't worry about whether the photos showed their latest model, and this picture at the Kauffman Turkey Farm suggests they weren't worried about what the city-slicker audience might think of their ads either.
We'll leave the last word to Harold Bordner, who said of his Jeep in a February 1954 ad, "I don't see how I could ever get along without it." See the full-page ad (85K GIF.)
Thanks to Danny Hartling for alerting me to this gold mine of vintage Jeep advertising, and to Ron Ingram for scanning original copies of some of the ads. -- Derek Redmond
See more CJ-3B Advertising and Literature.
Also on The CJ3B Page, see CJ-3B Farm Jeeps.
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Last updated 2 September 1998 by Derek Redmond redmond@queensu.ca
http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/FarmJournal.html
All content not credited and previously copyright, is copyright Derek Redmond