The $50 Jeep In A Crate Urban Legend?
"Cheap Army Surplus Jeeps! You can buy a brand new jeep in a crate for $50!" Ads with headlines like this ran for decades in the back of Boy's Life, Popular Mechanics, and several other magazines I used to read as a kid in the 1960's (and those ads probably ran in the 1940's and 1950's as well). The ads promised to tell you how to buy Willys MB and Ford GPW jeeps and other government surplus for extremely low prices. They charged a fee for sending you this information. You mailed in your payment and waited for the postman to deliver the pamphlet that would divulge the secrets of buying tools, equipment, jeeps, trucks, etc. etc. on the cheap for "your fun and profit".
Word of Mouth Story
Guy #1: "Hey, a guy down at the warehouse that my uncle works at knows where we can get Army jeeps in crates for $50. They're brand new. Still packed in cosmolene and they only need oil, water, brake fluid, and a new battery, and some air in the tires".
Guy # 2: "Wow, we should get one!"
Guy #1: "Ok, I'll call my uncle and tell him to get us one"
A week later....
Guy #1: "I talked to my uncle and he says OK, but the guy he knows says we have to buy 10 at a time to get the price."
Guy #2: "Hmmm, well I'll tell some other friends. Maybe they will go in with us."
Guy #2: "Well we finally have 10 people going in to buy 10 jeeps. What did your uncle's co-worker say?"
Guy #1: "Well my uncle's coworker says that it's his sister's, brother-in-law, who has a dentist, who was cleaning the teeth of a retired supply Sgt., who had some buddies who were still in the service, who knew how to get the crated jeeps for $50. But that was in Colorado, and we are here in Oregon, etc. etc. Oh and the jeeps are actually all in pieces. All brand new, but we have to put them together."
The next wrinkle in the 'Jeep in a Crate' myth is the 1950's scam artists. Here's the scam that was pulled on unsuspecting people. The favorite locations for this scam were port / harbor towns, and at towns with railheads / railroad yards. The scam artist would have 100 wooden army jeep sized crates built. Next he would buy a surplus army jeep, take it apart, and put it in one of the crates with the requisite cosmoline applied. Next run an ad in the local paper and hand out & post flyers advertising "WWII Army Surplus Jeeps For Sale. Direct from US military surplus. Be there early, as they will go fast at the low, low auction prices. Cash only sales. Sale to be held Sunday morning." The other 99 boxes were not filled with military jeeps, but with bricks, rocks, scrap iron etc. and then all were sealed up.
Come auction day, the scam artist had his accomplice in the crowd. The sales pitch included rules to the effect that, 'Winners are responsible for shipment of the crates and must to bring their own means of transportation to move them. However, because of Longshoreman, and Teamster’s Union rules, no crates could be removed from the docks/yard until Monday. After the sales pitch was given, the accomplice would play his part as a skeptical bidder by shouting out from the crowd "how do we know there really are army jeeps in them crates?" at which point the host (scam artist) would offer to open any box of his choosing for all present to inspect. Well of course he choose the crate containing the real crated military jeep to open and inspect. Now that everyone was satisfied that crated jeeps were really stacked before them, the scam artist would hold the auction and collect the cash, giving the winners their receipts for their 'surplus army jeep in a crate' and instructions to show up on Monday.
Well the scam artists were long gone out of town with cash in hand, when the poor folks showed up Monday morning to haul home their box of rocks :-(
The fact is that after World War II, the US did sell many, many surplus army jeeps to the public. On many occasions they did give preference to the actual WWII veterans. On average the military jeeps were sold for $975 (in 1946 dollars keep in mind), which was a lot of money back then. The condition that the army surplus jeeps were in could run anywhere from battle worn to almost new. And at a price of $50 you could only buy a box full of stones and rubbish.