I HAD ONE OF THESE, A 1949 WILLYS JEEPSTERIt was a great car and almost got me through my last year of high school in 1954, but I crashed it on Bluemound Road coming back from a concert in MIlwaukee with a girl named Kay Kahl. The car was irreparable, it was said, but we emerged un-seriously-scathed except for Kay who complained of rumpal soreness due to the door handle. Somebody pulled out in front of us from Marty's Pizza, the pavement was slick and I could not save the situation. It was my earliest remembered instance of not being able to land on my feet.
It was my first car, purchased for me by my step-father when we moved five miles out of town and I put up a fuss about being isolated from my friends. It was a classic, but I'm not sure I fully appreciated that. I should have hung onto it, hammer and tong. But which of us can't say that about cars we once had?
I do remember painting it up for homecoming that fall with slogans on washable black paint, like 'Nail Hale' (Our homecoming adversary was West Allis Hale.) Then, too many of us were riding through Mukwonago shouting and singing, slogans emblazoned, and the town constable pulled us over and cited me for an overload of passengers and disturbing the peace. I lost my license for 90 days. The time dragged by.
Many years later, in the 70's, I had a 1951 Willys steel wagon. It was a car under restoration. I was driving a Yellow Cab then, and I noticed this car always parked in the telephone company office parking lot on Milwaukee's State Street, between 35th and 40th. Nostalgia overcame me. I made a point when I was not carrying a passenger to stop and put a note under the windshield blade asking if the owner would sell the Willys.The owner, a Bob Toepfer (still remember his name!) called me and said he was thinking of selling it. I met with him and we arranged a sale. He told me there was a dare-devil fellow he would give me the name of, working on the welding of new floor boards,
if I wanted to hire him to complete that repair.
This young man was Tom Vollmer, one of Bill and Jane Vollmer's 10 (ten) sons. We took to each other right away. He had the guts to weld crawling around near the gas tank. He and his several brothers were regularly in and out of trouble, Hells Angels types. Bill was tough and gruff, but kind at times, a fighting steel-handler at AO Smith. For more history, http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/threads-of-steel.html
As a budding real estate broker, I got my first listing of the Vollmer homestead at Hawley and Vliet, and luckily sold it within 10 (ten) days, thus becoming a truly lifetime friend of the Vollmers. They had the house for sale before me with no sale for many months by a couple of other realtor estate companies, for 40 something thousand. The 70's, remember.
The Vollmers thought my initial recommendation would be to lower the price. Instead, I suggested that they raise the price into the 50's. Bill and Jane thought that was very surprising but were glad to sign the listing agreement.
Tom Vollmer finished the floorboard welds and I drove the Willys wagon for a grand spell, finally giving in to the constant need of repairs and sold it. Now, of course, I wish I hadn't.
I write this today because of an article in today's Times about the Willys pick-up truck, above. More nostalgia!For more info go to the web under WILLYS JEEPSTER
