Cars and Characters

We old-timers remember Bill Mauldin’s World War II “Willie and Joe” cartoons. They were about the quintessential foot soldiers, slogging through the mud, dreaming of home, hoping for a ride in a Jeep. But even younger readers know the Jeep as the icon of wartime transport.

In Fallbrook there lives a better-than-new WWII 1942 Ford Jeep of museum quality that was meticulously restored by the grandson of a design engineer of that crucially needed vehicle.

We met that grandson, Don Kramer, and his wife Donna in 1998 when he was the new president of the Fallbrook Vintage Car Club and she was the treasurer and events coordinator. Some active members had moved away, older members had run out of steam, and the club had gone into a slump. Soon there were more interesting meetings, frequent tours, and club dinners. The Kramers and the club were honored for the largest increase in club membership for two consecutive years in the entire country by the Antique Automobile Club of America. The silver award is on display in the Car Club cabinet that Don had built for trophies in the Fallbrook Historical Society Museum. It is near the car show posters display. He started the tradition of adding the latest poster each year. Along with other community volunteer work, they and their son Kasey are Life Members of FHS.

Starting in 1976 and through the ’80s the car club was a chapter of the San Diego AACA Region. FVCC is now an independent region. Talented, hardworking, and personable, the Kramers guided the club through the 2002 annual Memorial Day Sunday Car Show at the high school. Don’s ’37 Ford Tudor was the Club Poster Car that year. The shows have grown to where the May 29, 2005, show will be limited to 330 pre-registered cars.

Don grew up in Vista taking all the shop classes offered in high school and at Palomar, augmenting his talents to work in the trades wherever he chooses. Coming to Fallbrook in 1984, he worked for Paul Stiles at Fallbrook Tractor, where the eight-member car club had met in the 1970s. Don also worked at Dixon Woodworking, restored boats, and worked at Clear Sign and Design, where he fabricated and installed neon signs all over Southern California.

Born in Missouri, Donna arrived in Fallbrook to start kindergarten when her career Marine father transferred to Camp Pendleton. The family stayed in Fallbrook during his unaccompanied tours. In high school, Donna studied under Bev McDougal, who later was a founder of The Grand Tradition. Challenged by the motivation Bev instilled in her students, Donna became the supervisor of janitorial services at the Weapons Station after graduation. Don and Donna married in 1992.

By 2002 car show time, the whole car club was “expecting” with Donna and Don. The wonderful result was Kasey Hunter Kramer, a handsome boy who won an Ahrend Photo Studio children’s photo contest. With all the attention from his parents, friends, and special occasions, like the Beautiful Baby Contest, Kasey could be a Class A brat, but he is as charming as he looks and is loved by everyone. He now owns and plays in the small Jeep Don bought many years ago.

Don’s grandfather, Clarence Kramer, spent his professional life in the design shop at Ford Motor Company. Thus, Don’s interest in cars was ‘inherited,’ Donna’s by osmosis. Her first car was a ’66 Corvair four-door hardtop, her second a ’48 Packard sedan. Her current treasure was a 1994 Christmas present from Don: a silver-blue ‘63 Corvair two-door convertible

Part two of this story will be about Don’s 1,000-hour restoration of a ’42 Jeep like the one Grandpa Kramer helped design. Grandpa would be very proud of Don’s work.