Old cars in Arkansas

The Doge

Well Oiled
Jun 15, 2011
1,075
Allen, TX
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1958
Over the last 5 days I have driven over 2,000 miles (with another 600 to go) through Arkansas taking my son on a geocaching trip so he can get a cache in every county in Arkansas. Most of this has been on back roads. I am amazed at the number of old cars sitting in fields and the front yards of the many, many double wides. It seems like every home has 5 or 6 beat up cars in the yard and often times one of them is a classic vehicle. This is just what I can see from driving by at 50 or 60 miles an hour, no telling what is hidden behind other stuff. Not to demean Arkansas but from the living conditions at most of these locations there is no way these vehicles are ever going to get restored. I may have a new project for retirement, grab a trailer and see how many of these I can save and pass on to others for restoration. So far I have not seen any Willys wagons or pickups. I have seen a couple of older jeeps but there are a bunch of cool old trucks.
 
I have had similar feelings about the vehicles I have seen over the years. I would love to take a trailer out, pick up two or three and then do what I can to save the history. I live in south western Illinois, and once a year I work a Rally America event in Missouri (outside of Salem area). The rally stages all take place on the rural county roads. I am amazed at the number of old vehicles that are more or less just yard art (others call them junk). I've never stopped to talk with anyone about their collection....mainly for fear of getting shot at because in these areas most people just want to be left alone and don't like strangers.
 
Made me look up "geocaching" on Google. I didn't know about that, very interesting. The type of abandoned yard art vehicles is pretty much what my '48 truck was for over 50 years. I have also had those thoughts about getting a semi and a 6-car hauler trailer and dragging home treasure, hopefully avoiding being shot at while trying to negotiate....
 
If you're still in central Arkansas you should stop by the Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain. There is a nice Jeepster there. If I ever get mine operational again, it'll be in the museum eventually.
 
If you're still in central Arkansas you should stop by the Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain. There is a nice Jeepster there

We did drive by this but were on a tight schedule. We just got back home a few hours ago. We did 2,700 miles in 6 days with my son getting a cache in 52 different counties. He has now completed getting a cache in every county in Arkansas.
 
We did drive by this but were on a tight schedule. We just got back home a few hours ago. We did 2,700 miles in 6 days with my son getting a cache in 52 different counties. He has now completed getting a cache in every county in Arkansas.

Here's a picture of the Jeepster that's in the museum:

jeepster.jpg
 
We did drive by this but were on a tight schedule. We just got back home a few hours ago. We did 2,700 miles in 6 days with my son getting a cache in 52 different counties. He has now completed getting a cache in every county in Arkansas.
Hi Doge, nice of you to help your son out like that, congrats! I am confused on the Geocaching thing. I know what it is, but does your son get a badge like the Boy Scouts do? Thanks for any advice, And happy new year. :cheers:
 
I am confused on the Geocaching thing. I know what it is, but does your son get a badge like the Boy Scouts do?

There is a merit badge available for geocaching but he does it for fun. It is kinda like a cross between a treasure and scavenger hunt. You find the cache and sign a paper log and then you log it on the website to keep track of your caches. People will place caches and then submit the cache to www.geocaching.com Somebody reviews the info on the cache as there are rules about placing them such as they cannot be on school grounds, within .1 miles of another cache, etc. Once they approve the cache it is posted on the website and all the caches can be viewed on a map with the gps coordinates. Some are basic such as an ammo can hidden in the woods or a weatherproof tube tied in a tree or some are quite elaborately hidden. We have found where they have been hidden inside of a fake post in a wrought iron fence on a bridge, fake sprinkler heads, fake rocks, etc. There are also puzzle and gadget caches where you need to figure out the puzzle or perform some skill to open up the cache. There are a bunch of easy ones hidden in the base of light poles in parking lots. There is a skirt on the base of the light poles that can be lifted and the cache is under there. We had found an old wasp nest that I drilled a hole in to hold the log container and then laquered it heavily. We glued this under the bridge of a highway service road. Last fall we did a 3 day backpacking trip through an Arkansas State Park where someone had put caches along the trail. There are hundreds of thousands of caches out there and local groups that meet. There is going to be a huge geocaching event this May in Cincinnati that they expect 5,000 people. We have found all kinds of places in our town that we would never have known about without geocaching.
 
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Thanks for all the info. Interesting stuff. I stumbled across one in the Village last summer and there is an ammo can up the river from me in a cave that has been there for 5 years or more. Always something different in it when I look. Pretty cool. I hope it is not related or some kind of a new fad, but someone has been leaving small toy soldiers and the likes on tree branches and logs in the river. Strange.
 
As a frequent visitor and part-time resident of Arkansas, (Norfork area), good luck. I have made the attempt along with brother in law, who lives there to purchase equipment, cars, tractors etc. It is a tough market, everything is either a family heirloom, or a daily driver,( I guess the tree growing through the radiator is just decoration) or is just in need of a minor repair that will get done any day now. If you are serious, DONT go around with a trailer, make your deal then show up later with transport. Even though the single wide doesn't look like much, the area has been visited enough that most sellers are looking for top $$$$. Still, there are bargains galore. I found my '62 1 owner wagon there for $3200 back in 2004, but it was through or from a guy with a car lot he supplies from estates. We went looking to pick up a '67 Rolls Royce van den plas sedan for $3500. As we rolled it out of the back of his shop I noticed it looked like the ground was moving. Sure enough, when we got it out in the light, the floor pan was rotted away from the firewall to the back of the trunk. The rust was so bad we could not open the doors. We helped him push it back in the corner. Later that week on the way home, saw the wagon sitting outside the shop, it had just arrived the night before. But you ae correct, there are not a lot of Willys in the area. Great place to drive around though.
 
O/T But there is a Car Museum in Gatlinburg TN with a Jeepster in it with the hood chrome on backwards. I guess I'm getting a little mental, but that drove me crazy and I filled out a comments card and told them the tall thick end points forward, just look at any photo online.
 
Thanks for all the info. Interesting stuff. I stumbled across one in the Village last summer and there is an ammo can up the river from me in a cave that has been there for 5 years or more. Always something different in it when I look. Pretty cool. I hope it is not related or some kind of a new fad, but someone has been leaving small toy soldiers and the likes on tree branches and logs in the river. Strange.

I found one by accident in a stone wall on our property in SE Mass. The stone wall is around the old "Ware Pasture" that has 2' dia. trees on it now. I had no idea what it was, a friend clued me in.
diggerG
 
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