early or late?

Hey Fella's. I have been appreciating the forum for several years and have always wondered, " what is the line in the sand for early and late models?" I see advertisements and instructional advice that often refers to early models and late models (CJ2A). It seems to me that 1947 is the cusp.(?) I have a '47 2A, 96661, that I believe was manufactured in late February/Early March of '47 (?). Is my jeep considered early or late when I am seeking "how to" advice or purchasing parts ?(such as listed in Want To Buy section; original bow top framing.)

  A lot of things changed from 1945 to 1949, and very few of them happened at the same time. Whether something is "early" or "late" depends on what part or feature of the jeep is in question. An "early" body might have three dash-mounted data tags, whereas a "late" one has only one operation instruction tag on the dash and the data tags on the firewall, under the hood. This change took place in 1946, I believe. The frame under the CJ2-A was changed during the 1948 production year, so if you're talking about the frame and some of its parts and features, early '48 would be "early", while late '48 would be "late". Tool indents, chain-drive camshafts, parking lights, sleeve-and-pin versus ball-and-socket parking brake cables, 3/4" versus 13/16" lug nuts, MB-style versus lollypop windshield frames, the list goes on and on, and all of these things happened, for the most part, on their own, very few at the same time as any other. So, whether you have an "early" or "late" CJ2-A depends on what you are talking about, the parking lights, the windshield, the parking brake cable, etc. A 1947 CJ2-A, for example, would have the "late" parking lights, but an "early" parking brake cable.

Bruce W wrote:   A lot of things changed from 1945 to 1949, and very few of them happened at the same time. Whether something is "early" or "late" depends on what part or feature of the jeep is in question.