1948 MONROE HYDRAULIC IMPLEMENT LIFT FOR WILLYS UNIVERSAL FARM JEEP PROMO MOVIE XD48144

Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit Visit our website Made in 1948 by the Monroe Auto Equipment Company, “Revolution in Pleasantville”, showcases the Monroe Hydraulic Implement Lift, which could turn a Willys “Universal Jeep” into a farm tractor. Barry Thomas, who also rescued this film and worked with Periscope Film to preserve it, researched the story behind it. The film was an outgrowth of two developments. First, the Willys company that emerged from WWII was threatened by the fact that surplus military jeeps were plentiful. It hoped to persuade farmers to buy a new product, a “Universal Jeep” that was much better suited to farming. (At the time only one in five American farmers owned a tractor or a pickup truck, so the opportunity seemed quite real.) Second, the Monroe company (makers of the famous shock absorbers) had purchased the Newgren farm implement company. Monroe saw an opportunity to sell both hydraulic l