Early CJ6 from the military?

Any thoughts? In the process of getting the last titled owners to sign off, I have had the chance to talk to them on the phone. One is pretty adamant that the man his family purchased the Willys from, picked it up from a military surplus auction, and claims it was driven around town with OD green paint, before being repainted, and put into service at the towns Chevron station. Possible? Plausible? Personally, I think it is unlikely, seeing as it has a civi tag on the firewall, but, maybe somebody knows better?

 

Yeah, not talking about an M170.

 

All the military vehicles that I've seen have some sort of brass data plate on the dash that give the specifics of the contract, agency, etc. If there's nothing like that, I would guess it's a civilian Jeep that's been repainted. Agencies can buy cars for their own use, and they would then end up at a GSA auction for disposal, I presume.

 

Maybe the original owner was ex-Military and thought all JEEPs should be OD Green.
Friend of mine's Dad was an old Navy man and painted everything Battleship Gray... with a 6" brush.

 

The military did use civilian Jeeps for base duty. CJ5's and CJ7's were reportedly commonly used on domestic bases in the 70's and 80's by MP's on patrol. It is entirely possible that this CJ6 was purchased and used by the military at some point, but that doesn't make it a "military Jeep" any more than the 1970's Dodge pickups so commonly used by the military in the past were "military trucks" or the 1980's Plymouth Reliant driven by an Army recruiter is a "military car." They were civvy vehicles purchased by GSA and used by the military. CJ6's were reportedly commonly used by various government agencies, including the Forest Service and Border Patrol. Learning that the military might have used some surprises me not in the least.

 

Also, Range Control was a big user of these models and they had nice metal cabs.

 

IIRC, back when I first started on here five years ago, there was a really nice '6 body on eBay that had been military. In addition to the larger passenger door, it also had one or two extra toolboxes in the rear fenderwells. Civilian versions purchased by the military not withstanding, I think you'll be able to tell if it's built differently than most CJ-6s.