Lake County >> “It’s growing old with us,” Barbara Harrison said of her 1949 Jeepster. “My kids said they’re going to bury me in the car.”
Harrison and her husband, Jim Harrison have been married for 62 years, and they’ve had their car for almost as long. They bought the vehicle — then sporting a two-toned green paint job — 58 years ago for $100. They paid for it in four $25 monthly installments.
Before the Harrisons, the car belonged to an Army nurse. It’s fitting, considering the model was a product of WWII, in a way. According to Jim Harrison, during the war the traditional Jeep was highly popular, and manufacturers thought a two-seater would be a hit with Army families. But the model, more expensive than a Ford or Chevy, never took off. They began manufacturing the Jeepster in 1947 and by 1950 production had been halted.
With a production stint of just three years, the Harrison’s car is not surprisingly a rare sight at car shows. They hardly ever run into anyone with the same model and when they do, it’s never in as pristine condition.
Although the car is nearly sixty years old, it looks as though it could have rolled off a lot yesterday. But it takes a good deal of effort to keep it looking that way. The Harrisons replaced the original V6 engine with a V8, they’ve repainted it five times and reupholstered the seats on multiple occasions. They had to add things like back-up lights to make the car street-legal and they’ve also put in updated brakes, power steering and an automatic transmission.
Add up their labor, and Jim Harrison said he and his wife have put more than hours into the car — they’ve put years.
Although the burgundy and creamy-pink paint gleams in the sunlight and the chrome details shine like they’ve just been polished, the car doesn’t often win first place. Not because it’s not a respectable car, but because Barbara Harrison drives it so much.
In fact, Harrison never intended to participate in car shows when she first bought her Jeepster 58 years ago. It was her everyday car, her transportation to work, the grocery store, wherever she needed to go. It wasn’t until she and her husband began attending car shows, where they saw people fixing up their vehicles with fresh coats of paint and replacing engines, that they realized they could do the same to the Jeepster.
For both Barbara and Jim Harrison, the camaraderie of car shows is the highlight of owning an old vehicle. “Everyone who shows up at the car show, where there’s 25 cars … or where there’s 500, they all have the same mentality about their cars,” Jim Harrison said. “They love driving them, they like showing them and they have pride in them .”
There’s also a nice sense of accomplishment that comes with restoring an old car. It’s always a good feeling to drive down the road and receive thumbs up and waves from impressed passersby. The Harrisons recalled an incident during a trip up to Oregon. They pulled their Jeepster into a rest stop, up alongside a bus of about 25 tourists. The tourists had never seen anything like a 1949 Jeepster, so Barbara Harrison gave each of them a ride around the parking lot. Jim Harrison said there must have been 500 photographs snapped that day.
While they don’t win first place much, the 1949 Jeepster does take home second place quite a lot. And Barbara Harrison is more than happy with her trophies. “I don’t want to put that kind of money in my car because I drive it all the time,” she said. “You put that kind of money in your car you’re not going to drive it.”
And they’re definitely not afraid to put miles on their car. They drive the Jeepster all over the west coast, from Washington to Nevada to Arizona, for car shows. They also own and maintain an old CalTrans truck — though you wouldn’t know its history by looking at it — which the couple also drives almost everywhere.
“They’re practical and we treat them like an everyday car,” Barbara Harrison said. “They’re part of our family.”
Though Jim Harrison wouldn’t go as far as to use the truck to haul gravel, he said with a laugh.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
