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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 .
This ad appeared in the January 1956 issue of Practical Builder, page 282. It’s a pretty niche specific ad.
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This ad appeared in the Oxford Ledger on March 10, 1948, published by A. B. Clothier & Son out of Oxford, Michigan. It later appeared in the Leelanau County times on March 25, 1948, published by Harry’s Service Center, Traverse City, Michigan.
A.B. Clothier Ad:
The following analysis of Willys-Overland advertising was included as part of the 1951 book “Case Histories of Advertising When Oversold“. One example shows how Sunkist growers used advertising in WWII to switch users from canned fruit to fresh fruit and from occasional customers to steady customers. Not much detail in any of these, but kind of interesting (to me anyway).
This ad emphasized that “only 4-Wheel-Drive ‘Jeep’ vehicles do so many jobs so well!”. It appeared in the May 1956 issue of The American City magazine, page 177.
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This August 07, 1947, ad in the Sullivan Daily Times out of Sullivan, Indiana, highlights the services Citizen’s Garage provides. The Hudson and Willys-Overland dealer highlights its full range of services in the ad, which also features a photo with several jeeps.
This ad is for sale on eBay and appeared in the January 31, 1949, issue of Time Magazine, page 56.
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UPDATE: According to the author in the 1964 Jeep News Vol. 10 No. 7, this article was published in the September 1964 issue of Trailer Life (I previously guess it was in 1963).
I bought a wagoner literature combo off ebay that included the “Test the ‘Jeep’ Wagoneer” excerpt from an unknown issue of Trailer Life Magazine that also included the early Wagoneer brochure on the post below this one. There are still two sets of these available for purchased the last time I checked.
The writer, Bruce Grantland, concluded that the Wagoneer was a new type of vehicle for towing, better suited to towing long distances in remote areas better than any other vehicle of the time.
This was purchased on eBay along with the Trailer Life excerpt showcased in the above post. To me, the art and color choices seem particularly good.
This Jeep ad claims everyone is happy with a new Jeep Station Wagon! The ad appeared in Greencastle, Indiana’s, The Daily Banner on April 05, 1949.
Both of these ads from the Sullivan Daily Times, out of Sullivan, Indiana, cover the features of the jeep, but do so in slightly different ways. The March 18, 1947, ad focuses on the job-task utility aspects of the jeep, how consumers can use the jeep. The July 13, 1948, ad is less about what the jeep can do task-wise and more about what it can bring consumers beyond specific tasks, such as great mileage, physical comfort, and convenience. I have not studied other ads to see if this was a general trend in Jeep advertising (in other words, I do not know if this shift directed by Willys-Overland or something Citizen’s Garage did on their own).
This June 3, 1947, ad published in the Sullivan Daily Times, out of Sullivan, Indiana, highlights the ability of the jeep to be an efficient, low-cost option as a road-service vehicle.
This is one I’ve bid on a few times, but never seem to get. At some point I will.
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“Vintage Willys Jeep Firetruck Brochure CJ2 CJ3 as pictured. Condition is Used. Shipped with USPS First Class Package. Thanks for looking. Let us know if you have any questions”
Reproduction sign? With over 1 hour to go the auction is only at $162 (plus $33.80 shipping).
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“Used Previously displayed Jeep Willys lighted sign Sign. Silk screen lens with metal ribbed frame. Measures 37x3x10.5 inches. Recently purchased with other Mopar related items. Has wood backing and the light source is a tubular bulb. Tested in working condition. Has newer cord. Ships priority insured ”
UPDATE: There is a French version of this brochure as well.
I bought this brochure years ago. I’m glad I did, because I think I’ve only seen one other appear on eBay. The is high on my list of favorites. It’s a high quality print job on textured paper. The downside of the textured paper is that I had to manipulate the images to turn them into decent scans, but doing so made the yellows brighter than they ought to be.
Curiously, the brochure also includes the new ‘Hockey Stick’ style 2-Wheel Drive Wagon, along with solid windshields, but doesn’t mention that the design is new or anything about ‘Maverick’. But, it does indicate the FCs are “new”. Given the photo of the Paris factory on the back, and the nod to the Willys Export Company, this may have been a European focused brochure (the English version … there is a French version, too).
I believe these two CJ-3B brochures were put out in 1954. The red one was published initially, followed by the yellow one, which was printed without the KW logo and other minor changes.
This revised version of the CJ-3B brochure was also printed in 1954.
UPDATE: There are more of these five-brochure sets on eBay. View all the info on eBay. These are five out of the 20 issued (Form 600-01 through 600-20) during 1960. Slightly different, but similar brochures were published in 1959 (Form 59-01 through 59-20). The form number can be found at the bottom of the brochures. I’m working on assembling an entire list for each year.
(02/09/2017) I bought and received a set of these. By the time you factor in the exchange rate, this is a good price.
“These are five small format (22 x 9 cms) six page two colour sales brochure folders for the 1960 Jeep range for the US market.
Produced by Willys Motors Inc in Toledo Ohio, in English and undated, but they are around 1960
All open out to about A4 size with good pics and specifications.
Covers the following models:
1960 Jeep Universal CJ-6
1960 Jeep Utility Wagon
1960 Jeep Pick-up Truck
1960 Jeep FC-150 Forward Control Truck
1960 Jeep FC-170 Forward Control Truck”
Anyone have this brochure?
I don’t have it; but do have these old pics from a 2013 post. The problem is I can’t quite tell what the date (aka form number) is from 1959 or 1960. If you have this brochure, the date would be great. Scans would even be better, but I know that’s not simple for everyone.
I’m also interested in other 1958-1962 brochures. These all have date related-form numbers. I have a bunch, but not all of them. At some point this month I will create a list of what I have and what I need to more fully document the brochures from this era.
This is listed at $14.00. It’s a two-sided comparison chart.
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“1960s? Jeep station wagon salesmans features slid card, size 4 by 9 inches, condition is good with light handling, any questions please send an e-mail, USA shipping will be $5.00”
Seller has it priced at $10, but is accepting offers.
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“Description – This auction is for a vintage sales mailer covering the Jeep FC-150, FC-170, Universal, Pickup truck & 4WD Utility Wagon. Not sure what year it was published.
Condition – The covers have dirt and wear as shown but the book is otherwise OK.”
(pics from my collection):
These two nearly identical jeep brochures were published in different colors a year apart. The red version was published in late 1959. The blue (or green-blue?) brochure was published in late 1960.
Differences:
Page 1: The truck at the mid-far-left of the page on the 1960 version has the ‘hockey stick’ styling, where the 1959 version has the older styling. Curiously, the wagons are identical.
Page 2: The ‘hockey’ stick 4WD utility wagon moves from the right to the left hand side on the 1960 brochure, while the older-design 2WD wagon is dropped in favor of the Harlequin-design wagon. The plain version of the truck is swapped for the ‘hockey’ stick truck. There are a variety of small text edits as well.
Page 3: Some very minor edits. The red version of the brochure is marked Form NO. 59-19, while the blue version is marked Form No. 600-19. Both brochures were part of a 20 series set of brochures both years. Once I get both sets of brochures complete, I will do a post for each year of brochures.
1959: 
1960:
This very unusual item is priced at $39. Here’s more information about the Hong Kong TV series / ‘Jeep’ partnership.
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There was a mention of both Maverick and Hong Kong TV series at the very end of this Jeep Commercial. This is one of at least three commercials Buster Keaton did for jeep.
UPDATE: Thanks to Dave, we have some additional Koenig history:
“The son of the founder built the company up into a successful business making winches, “truck bodies”, and other stuff. His name was Herbert Koenig and he died in 2011 at age 95. An obit mentions that Koenig Iron Works (of Houston) was sold in 1978, and is now known as “RKI” and makes truck equipment (in Houston). They are RKI-US.com. Nothing indicates they care about Jeeps anymore!
Also, a Danish guy seems to have a website named Koenigwinches.com and it seems he makes parts for Koenig winches.”
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Original Post November 2019:
This is a good example of simple post that spun out of control. Initially, I wanted to look at some changes in Koenig’s CJ-5 hardtop model numbers over the years; But, that then expanded to a look at twenty years (or so) of brochures.
THE EARLY YEARS:
The timeline of the early Koenig brochures are pretty easy to identify based on the jeeps used. In later years, Koenig began using numbered ‘bulletins’ to identify brochures. At first, I thought the numbered bulletins should be ordered by ascending number, but after closer examination, I the later two digits of each bulletin number reflect the year of the brochure. As you will see, other brochure elements back this theory.
Before we start, you can find installation instructions for some Koenig hardtops here.
The earliest Koenig brochure I can find was published in an early Willys-Overland Equipment brochure (1949?). The models consisted of “Full Cab” and “Half Cab”. This brochure was included among a surprisingly large number of hardtop competitors’ brochures, including Worman tops, CarsonCraft tops, Boston Top tops, Sturdee tops, Porter & Reed tops, Body V7 Works tops, Blue Star tops, Lambert tops, Hills Custom Built tops and Meyers tops (which became sears tops and a company that was different from the one that produced later Meyer tops).
This brochure circa 1949 showed half and full cabs on a CJ-3A:
UPDATE: This post started out as a post about Koenig hardtops, but that lead to updates on the Car Craft and Blue Star hardtops. I should have the Koenig post done for Saturday morning.
This updated post provides more info on the CARCRAFT hardtop. An early Special Equipment catalog contained two different versions of the Carson Machine & Supply Company’s Car Craft brochure. I’ve added a third brochure at the bottom which I’d found off of eBay years ago. Here are two real-world examples: one jeep and another jeep.
This brochure was published back in 2017. It features a CJ-2A and does not have the stylized CARCRAFT branding. Instead, it shows a plain “Car Craft” brand with a space added.
This is the first time I’ve published this brochure. It includes the new CARCRAFT branding and used a CJ-3A jeep:
This brochure was available on eBay in 2013. It appears to be the company’s signature brochure for the hardtop. I haven’t tracked down another copy:
Rooney77’s Blue Star Top for sale
UPDATE: This post from 2014 has been updated with additional brochure examples. See all the Blue Star hardtops documented thus far:
(From 2014) This Blue Star aluminum top was built by the Blue Manufacturing Company, founded in Kansas by Max Blue circa 1946. ‘Blue Star’ was the brand name used on several products he produced. There’s some conflicting information, but it appears In 1946 Blue Manufacturing was building aluminum airline parts. About that time, as a hobby, Max began building aluminum boats. He also tried manufacturing and selling jeep hard tops.
Demand was so great for the boats that in 1948 he leased space and built boats full-time. Meanwhile, he either sold or abandoned the jeep top business altogether. Given only a few Blue Star tops have surfaced over the last few years, I imagine he didn’t sell too many of them.
However, Max was able to sell boats. By 1953 the company was building 1,000 boats a year. In July of 1953 he moved the company from Goddard, Kansas, to Miami, Oklahoma. There are various articles into 1960 that talk about the Blue Manufacturing Company. However, the company appears to have ceased boat production in 1964.
A picture of Max Blue in the center of the photo. http://newspaperarchive.com/us/missouri/joplin/joplin-globe/1960/04-17/page-6
This brochure featuring a CJ-2A is the earliest example I have of this top. It was part of an early industrial equipment book.
Here’s another example, this time with a CJ-3A:
Here’s an ad that was featured on eBay.
Here’s an example of the logo badge:
Here is an example of the half tops:
Actual top:
Here are some photos of actual full hardtops:
During the summer of 2013 a seller on eBay had two jeeps with Blue Star tops for sale:
Jeep 1)
Jeep 2)
