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Welcome to eWillys.com, a website for vintage jeep enthusiasts. I update this website nearly every day with jeep deals, jeep history, interesting reader projects, jeep related info, and more.
These quick searches can help you find things on eBay. People list in the wrong categories all the time, so don't be surprised to see brochures in the parts area for example.
The links to posts below show jeeps grouped by models, condition, and other ways. Some of these jeeps are for sale and others have been sold. If you are unsure whether a vehicle is still for sale or not, email me at d [at] ewillys.com for more info.
There are plenty of interesting, unusual, historic and surprising stories related to Jeeps and their owners. In addition, some of these features have nothing to do with jeeps. This link will display all featured stories starting from the latest.
Looking for parts and not sure where to go? There are a variety of large and small new and used parts sellers both online and offline.
Importantly, the allure of buying a project jeep can be romantic. The reality of restoring a jeep can be quite different, expensive and overwhelming without the right tools and resources. So, tread carefully when purchasing a "project". If you have any concerns about buying a vintage jeep, or run across a scam, feel free to contact me for help, comments or concerns .
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay
“FOR SALE – 1950’s – 1960’s ( 1957 to 1962 ) WILLYS JEEP OF CANADA WINDSOR ONTARIO BOOK BINDER OF DEALER BULLETINS , FOR CONDITION CHECK PIC’S & CONDITION DETAILS , FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ITEM OR SHIPPING PLEASE CONTACT.”
Roger Martin spotted this Jeepney ad on Facebook.
UPDATE: I’ve added the missing page (it’s the one with the 6 Dispatchers in a circle).
Gayland scored this rare brochure that demonstrates that DJ-5s were marketed to the military by AM General.
This brochure was inside the above brochure. Given it shows a DJ-5G, the DJ above may also have been that model.
Given these brochures show a CJ-3A, but only early trucks and wagons, I’d say these brochures are from 1949 or early 1950.
Below is a partial scan of 24 pages from an undated Con-Ferr 100-page catalog, one that I’d guess is from 1970.
The Southern California company of Con-Ferr was founded in 1961 by Pete Condos & Frank Ferro (hence the Con-Ferr), though eventually Pete bought out Frank to become sole owner.
Pete had a background in Scouts, while Frank had a background in Jeeps. Their goal was to provide speciality off-road products for both types of vehicles. To that end, not only did they run their parts shop in Burbank, California, they also built custom jeeps like the Convert Cougar and the Super Jeep. Pete’s driver, Bill Haddad, drove Condo’s race jeeps to 18 victories in the 21 races in which he entered.
Pete would go on to co-found the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) in 1966, which produced races like the Baja 1000 and Mint 500. During that time, Condos also produced racing vehicles for other folks, such as off-road racers for Steve McQueen and James Garner.
At the time the catalog was published, Con-Ferr billed itself as America’s largest Off-Road vehicle accessory provider and had more than 44,000 square feet of storage, work, and retail space. It was an authorized dealer of Kaiser Jeep, Toyota Land Cruiser, and Manx.
This gives a fairly early look at the parts available for jeeps; it’s hard to say how many images it has.
View all the information on eBay (there is a second 1953 catalog also available; it’s cheap, but isn’t in very good shape: View all the information on eBay)
This is my first time seeing a Perfect Jeep and Parts Company catalog. As best as I can uncover, the company was owned by Bernard S. Forman, who, as owner, copyrighted the name and catalog in 1956. It may have been this Bernie who used to live in Chicago and died last year.
This brochure and the company’s location seems to have been pretty close to Berg’s, so they must have been direct competitors. This brochure has 23 pages and is not in good shape.
View all the information on eBay
These are the final scans from Brian Chucha’s catalog (see the earlier scans here). I’ll eventually combine these altogether.
Thanks to Maury, I’ve recently purchased a Con-Ferr catalog from the early 1970s which ought to have a whole lot of interesting content, too. I should have some scans of that in early August.
This seller has five of these early CJ-2A brochures for $10.99. That’s a real good price.
View all the information on eBay
“This lot offers the early Universal Jeep dealer’s brochure/foldout as shown. It measures 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. It measures 34 inches long when opened. This brochure includes 14 pictures of the Jeep doing heavy-duty farm work. The condition is excellent.”
This brochure that Maury spotted highlights both the model “S” and the model “V”. The seller is accepting offers.
View all the information on eBay
This early 1950 Bert “King of Jeeps” catalog only has about 24 pages. The price is high, but the seller will accept offers.
View all the information on eBay
“Offered – Berg’s Truck and Parts Co., Genuine Jeep Parts and Replacement Parts, Catalog 150. Age – Dated 1950, stamped on the back.”
This two-page Ramsey Winch brochure is dated 1959, but given there’s a wagoner on the front, it’s likely front 1963 or later. Still, it’s got some neat illustrations about how to winch.
View all the information on eBay
This looks to be a black and white version of the Stratton brochure.
View all the information on eBay
This ad from the September 1969 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine shows the Boulder TowBarGuid, a winch that wrests atop a towbar. The same issue included a story on the winch, though not much background was provided about the company. The winch was manufactured by the Hilmer Company out of Boulder, Colorado.
Claude Ramsey and his brother, Rayburn, originally founded Ramsey Winch Company as Ramsey Brothers Tool and Die in July 1944 to manufacture aircraft parts, tools and dies for Douglas Aircraft Company. Claude, realizing the need for a front-mounted winch for passenger cars and pickups, designed a crankshaft-operated winch (Model 101) to pull vehicles out of mud and snow. Demand for the Ramsey Winch increased to the point that the name of the company was changed to Ramsey Brothers Winch Manufacturing Company in 1947. In 1950, the company changed its name to Ramsey Winch Company when Claude bought out his brother’s share of the company.
Here’s a two-page brochure for the dual PTO units: DP-1 (for the Jeep Universal), DP-2 (for 4WD trucks and wagons), DP1-150 (for FC-150s), DP2-FY (for FC-170s).
This twelve-page Ramsey winch brochure from 1959 covers a variety of products. I have three of these brochures, so if you’d like to purchase one for $10, let me know.
UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect some more information and images. It was originally posted in March of 2013.
Metamet was a British company that refurbished WWII jeeps and civilian jeeps, creating a slew of different models. According to the G503 Forum, “Metamet was run by an expat Pole, and latterly his son. It was a wonderful Aladdin’s caves of wartime Jeeps and Jeep bits and pieces located in a series of old mews stables in Daleham Mews. These places were commonly garage workshops in post-horse London, but nowdays are worth untold fortunes as residences.”
At one point in the early 1950s there were twelve different models of jeeps offered by Metamet, only one of which was the standard production model jeep. The rest were all customizations of one type or another. Seven models were 80″ wheel base, while the other five had 100″ wheel bases. The models include, the Standard, De-luxe, Farmer, Five-in-one, Saloon, Shooting Brake, 10 CWT Truck, Metaplan, Station Wagon, 15 CWT Van, 20 CWT Lorry, and a 2 Ton Loadmaster.
Metamet’s early 1950s models. There were seven 80″ wheel base jeeps and five 100″ wheel base jeeps.
Here’s an example of Metamet’s advertising.
A 1952 Ad posted to Flicker by Johnathan confirms there were twelve models also:
Finally, here’s a 12 page brochure that provides examples of different models that used to be linked to on the jeep farm website:
I spotted this circa-1950 foldout-wagon ad for a good price on eBay. The wagon folds out horizontally to reveal the interior of a wagon.
It starts like this:
The wagon then flips horizontally to reveal the wagon interior and more text.
The backside of the image shows the exterior of the wagon:
UPDATE: I’ve combined various Don Pratt posts into this single post. One set of postcard photos has been updated from poor quality ebay photos to scans of the actual card. Thanks go to Chris for buying and sending it to me earlier this month!
According to this Pink Jeep Tour site, Pink Jeep Tours is the oldest continuously operating Jeep Tour Company in the United States. It was started in 1958 by a Sedona Realtor named Don Pratt, who would drive clients to see homes at Broken Arrow Estates. The Broken Arrow tour is the original Jeep tour and is still today the most popular tour in Sedona.Why did he make the jeeps pink? Mr. Pratt got the idea while visiting the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach, where everything was pink.
But, that’s only part of the story. In her book Echoes of Sedona Past, Mary Lou Keller explains how her and her husband cleared the first trail and how, when Glenn Keller decided not to open a jeep tour business, their friend Don Pratt asked if he could do it instead. Mrs. Keller covers the story in five pages of her book available to read on Google.The book also includes the image below of Mary Lou Keller with her do Pico in her (probably) 1946 CJ-2A:
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This 1960s(?) postcard pictures Don Pratt’s tour jeeps at Oak Creek Canyon out of Sedona, AZ. This is the one Chris bought me.
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From a 2015 Post: The 1966 Volume 12, No. 5, issue of Jeep News featured these photos from Don Pratt’s Pink Jeep Tours from Sedona, Arizona. The company now offers tours in four Arizona locations.
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From a 2013 Post: There was at least one other double-photo postcard produced by Don Pratt.
This Jeepster invitation mailer(?) was included in some other items I got a few months ago. I would imagine it was part of the introductory campaign in 1948?
As I’ve mentioned, I once made the ‘mistake’ of buying three Austin Champ fixer-uppers to save them from being crushed. Despite that experience, I joined the Austin Champ group, as sometimes I find Champs for sale and post the links on the site.
The other day someone posted a 1955 ad for the Champ Firefly, which was a type of fire engine built on the Champ chassis. I’d never heard of them, so thought folks might find these ads interesting.
Here’s a an actual Austin Champ NSL 418 Firefly Fire Engine:
Found this on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzer999/7609146360
The next three ads were all listed on this site: https://www.aviationancestry.co.uk/?searchQuery=Fire+Armour&startYear=1909&endYear=1980
The first two ads, from 1954, are for Champ Firefly Airfield Crash Trucks:
This 1955 ad is for Fire-fighting. I’ve yet to see pics of one of these restored.
Generally, my interactions with ebay sellers have been excellent. But, of course, it was only a matter of time before I received some damaged goods.
Recently, I got a good price on three Willys-Overland Progressive Farmer Magazine Ads from the late 1940s off of eBay. However, the packaging was less than stellar; in fact, it was so poor that the package arrived like this:
Inside, each of the ads was torn in the same spot, meaning the USPS was a little too rough with the package (though I do think the seller’s poor packaging is really the primary issue).
Worse, the ads were wrapped in cellophane, without any kind of backing, making them difficult to remove without tearing the pages worse:
The good news is that upon being notified the seller refunded my money in its entirety and let me keep the fairly worthless ads. Still, I can eventually scan them and repair them in photoshop, some day.
And now for the Ads: This ad does not have a date on it, but given the “J” logo, I’d say it was December of 1945 or January of 1946, page 11:
This next one is from July of 1946, page 19:
This one is from May of 1947, page 49 (it also appeared in the May 1947 issue of the Country Gentleman Magazine):
UPDATE: Here’s a Thor PTO winch for sale. See the brochure for it at the bottom of the post. (Thor also made hubs).
https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/pts/d/bakersfield-1960s-thor-pto-lb-winch/6912177380.html
“A late 1960’s Thor T-100 Pto 8000lb winch. Popular on old Willys and jeeps,
Very hard to find, in Excellent condition as far as running properly.
Hasn’t been used since the late 70’s always been stored in a dry place no rust, has some paint missing from being moved around over the years.
Asking 650$ Obo
I have no use for this but I’m sure someone restoring a project Jeep or Bronco would love to have an original winch from the era.’
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Original Post from December 2016:
The Thor line of winches. Thor also had a line of hubs.
UPDATE II: See more scans from this catalog here: http://www.ewillys.com/2019/07/27/brian-chuchua-catalog-pages/
UPDATE: More Scans from Brian Chuchua’s Catalog (the ones from the previous post are also included.
The back cover notes that Brian Chuchua’s is a charter member of SEMA.
A rare McCain Hub sighting:
This may be the earliest ad I’ve seen for fiberglass bodies. 
UPDATE: Anyone have an original of this brochure? I’ve got someone who would like a scan of the page showing the woman. The pics below were part of an eBay auction and subsequent post from 2013 (I bid, but didn’t win the brochure).
“original part color catalog , 5.5 x 8 , 16 pages , interesting cartoon type catalog which concerns the word “Jeep” and its use as a registered trademark . Apparently the word “Jeep” was being commonly used generically to describe a Jeep type vehicle and the company thought it important enough to protect their property rights and trademark to produced this interesting catalog . It also lists countries around the world where “Jeep” has been registered .”
