1945 Jeep CJ-2A

Willys Motors produced the first civilian Jeep, the CJ-2A, on July 17, 1945. After a slow start (1824 units), sales of the farm-friendly vehicle took off. Willys manufactured the Jeep CJ-2A until 1949, racking up 214,202 sales.

CJ-2A was primarily intended for farming, ranching, and industrial applications, a wide variety of extra equipment could be purchased with the Jeep. Examples of extra equipment are: rear seat, center rear view mirror(Stock CJ-2As came with only a driver side mirror), front passenger seat (Stock CJ-2As only came with a driver seat), canvas top, front PTO, rear PTO, belt pulley drive, capstan winch, governor, rear hydraulic lift, snow plow, welder, generator, mower, disc, front bumper weight, heavy duty springs, dual vacuum windshield wipers (stock CJ-2As were equipped with a manual wiper on the passenger side and a vacuum wiper on the driver side), dual taillights (Stock CJ-2As had a taillight on the driver side and a reflector on the passenger side), and hot-climate radiator, driveshaft guards, heater, side steps, and radiator brush guard.

CJ-2As were produced with very unique, lively, and sometimes downright ugly color combinations. From 1945 to mid-1946, CJ-2As were only available in two color combinations: Pasture Green with Autumn Yellow wheels and Harvest Tan with Sunset Red wheels. Additional color combinations added in mid-1946 were: Princeton Black with Harvard Red or Sunset Red wheels, Michigan Yellow with Pasture Green, Sunset Red or Americar Black wheels, Normandy Blue with Autumn Yellow or Sunset Red wheels, and Harvard Red with Autumn Yellow or Americar Black wheels. The Pasture Green and Harvest Tan combinations were dropped later in 1946. The Harvard Red combinations were dropped in 1947 and replaced with: Picket Gray with Harvard Red wheels, and Luzon Red with Universal Beige wheels. In 1948, the following color combinations were also added: Emerald Green with Universal Beige wheels, Potomac Gary with Harvard Red or Americar Black wheels. For 1949, the Picket Gray, Michigan Yellow, and Normandy Blue combinations were dropped. Olive drab was also available for export models.

On early CJ-2As, the front seats were covered in Slate Gray vinyl and the rear seat (if ordered) was covered in olive drab vinyl. Later in production, seats could be Barcelona Red, Slate Gray, or olive drab.