In May 2012, I took our 1949 CJ-3a Farm Jeep to a local antique tractor show. My son, Evan, and I had been restoring it for several years. I wanted a way to show it to the public, and we had attended the local show many times as antique tractor fans. I asked the first official I saw where I should park. He said, “Over there with the rest of the trucks.” I quickly realized I needed a way to explain — or perhaps justify — why a Jeep needed to be among the rows of John Deeres and Farmalls. That single event and what took place there became my guide for the next fourteen years.

My goal was always to have the Jeep tell its own story when I wasn’t around. At first, that meant collecting technical data — gear ratios, hydraulic PSI, and original ads — and keeping them in waterproof binders in the back of the Jeep. To this day, if you ask me a specific engineering detail, I likely can’t tell you off the top of my head, but I can open those binders and show you exactly where to find it.

This e-book is the evolution of those binders. Over the last fourteen years, I have written hundreds of pages and a dozen articles covering the Jeep’s agricultural history. There is no way to shove all that information into the back of a Jeep anymore. By moving this story to a digital format, I can reach a wider audience and use new technology to enhance the experience — all the while staying true to my role as a citizen-historian more interested in people than parts.

We (Evan and I) launch this project now to coincide with a major milestone: 2026 marks the 80th anniversary of the true launch of the Farm Jeep, beginning with the birth of the Newgren Equipment Company and the announcement of the Love lift.

We hope you enjoy reading about a piece of farming history.