Some 17km North of Tours we found what appeared to be a nice looking
eaterie , I swung the Landrover, trailer and raffle Jeep in to the car
park alongside the N10 and headed inside. We were the only customers,
wine and food soon arrived and as we headed in to our main course my
wife suddenly remembered she needed something from the car. As she
approached the Discovery, a small white car was pulling out of the car
park. At her sudden appearance it quickly reversed back up to the
occupant, jumped out and proceeded to speak to my wife. With the
language barrier Debs thought the new arrival was asking if he could
buy the Jeep. Debs tried to explain that it was not for sale.
Fortunately our friend persisted so Debs brought him in to the
restaurant so I could put him in touch with Marc and another ex pat
called peter Birch who have a knack at getting their hands on Jeeps.
After a minute or two of pigeon French and no English, I discovered
that he did not want to buy our Jeep, instead, he was asking did we
want to buy a Jeep from the war. He explained it was 3km away in the
direction we were travelling and would we like to view it. We finished
lunch, very quickly paid our bill, then left, much to the surprise of
the restaurateur and his wife who did not quite understand the rush.
We followed our friend up to the next roundabout, turned right for 300
yards, then turned left in to a tidy farm yard with a big concrete barn
at the rear. This was our new found friend's parents home who were in
there 80s. Unlocking a small door in the barn we entered its dark and
gloomy interior. We followed our guide past a large caravan, an equally
large white van, various dissembled motor mowers and pieces of
agricultural heritage to find, tucked up in the furthest corner, a
genuine barn find, an original WWII Willys Jeep. It was virtually
complete minus the passenger seat and rear seat. Laying in the body
were 2 spare engines and a host of other ancillary bits. My friends who
are into motor racing and not military vehicles could see I was
containing my excitement.
Our new found friend, Alan, had summoned his brother in law, whose
English was better than our French. He explained that the father had
purchased the Jeep when he was a young man in 1953 and had used it on
the farm. Alan had learnt to drive in it and some 20+ years ago it had
been parked up in the barn where it now stood unused and uncared for.
Clearing away all the debris that had accumulated on top of it over the
years, it started to reveal our true find. After a bit of effort we
were able to stand back and see the Jeep in its entirety.
As with all finds comes the hard part, how much? Bearing in mind the
Jeep was originally purchased in 1953 the expectation was not high.
After a bit of hassling we settled for a price more reminiscent of the
mid 80s. A 50% deposit left, hand shakes all round and a receipt from
the father, we headed for home having agreed to return on the 12th
April to collect. During the return journey we heard the sad news about
Eric Bell. Over the Malvern weekend 8 of us agreed to go back out to
France for Eric's funeral on the Tuesday. A quick phone call to my
niece, who has a great command of the French language, a call was made
to Alan asking to change the collection date from the 12th to the 3rd
April.
We left Dover at 4am, arriving at Dunkirk at 7am French time. The
funeral was to be at 3pm in Angers and the Jeep was 20km North of
Tours. We arrived back at the father's farm at 12.30. As promised, the
Jeep stood in the middle of the yard with everything there as I had
last seen it 3 days earlier. As I paid the balance Nick, Dave
Wellington, Keith Palmar, Dave Lee and Malcolm Dunlop loaded the Jeep
and strapped it down. By now the whole family had turned out to see the
old Jeep leave. A quick request from Madam and we were all shown in to
the front parlour to change into our suits for the funeral. By 1pm we
were on the road again with Nick map reading. Time was becoming
tight as we approached Angers, the French had closed that part of the
motorway and had diverted us South away from our goal. With some pretty
nifty map reading we all arrived at the crematorium just as the service
was about to start. The eight of us had made it complete with a
military vehicle to see Eric off. 800 miles later we were home from joy
to sadness all in one day.
At the 2007 and 2008 show the War and Peace Collection displayed the Jeep in
'as found condition'.
At the 2009 show the Collection plan to show the Jeep in a restored condition.
The 28th War and Peace
Show is from 21st - 25th July 2010.
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