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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 .
These two items from the San Juan Scenic Jeep Trip business were on eBay, so I snagged them.
This postcards shows a FC Tour Jeep climbing a steep trail.
This tri-fold brochure is undated. It has some good photos and artwork. These first three images show the front side of the brochure.
This is the inside of the tri-fold:
Roger Martin shared this interesting, kind of quirky, unusual bit of jeep wood art.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/458482879538874/
“Jeep made of wood for wall hanging for man cave or garage”
UPDATE: Here’s an additional photo. It was posted to the Toledo Region History and Memorabilia Facebook Page by Nelson Shaffer, who found the photo at the UAW Local 12 Office in Toledo.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1026729948030025/
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Originally posted April 10, 2019: During WWII Brook Stevens developed a couple different Command Car concepts. All the pics of these can be seen at the Milwaukee Art Museum’s site.
1. The first one is a 6×6 vehicle. It was made into an actual vehicle. I don’t know what happened to it. I’m pretty sure I have a press photo fo this vehicle somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it. This very well could be on the same platform as other 6x6s of the era.
UPDATE: Other than checking emails and comments, I will likely be away from the site until Sunday. Everyone enjoy your Thanksgiving!
Here’s a republished post form 2018:
2018: Roberto Flores
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
If you’d like a nice story to read this Thanksgiving, you can try an article about Durwood J. Smith. The story contains both a jeep and a Thanksgiving memory on the Western Front (see Durwood’s pic below) … do you know how hard that combo is to find?? If not for Roberto Flores, we wouldn’t even have art depicting jeeps and turkeys together!!
Thanksgiving on the Western Front
PHOTO CREDIT: Charleen Smith-Riedel and Smithsonia Magazine
UPDATE III: I just found an ad from the January 4, 1947, issue of Time Magazine that includes a “Get a ‘Jeep'” campaign. It’s on eBay.
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(April 09, 2019) UPDATE II: There was at least one GET A ‘JEEP’ mailer that was distributed to current and potential jeep owners.
UPDATE: As Terry pointed out, the GET A ‘JEEP’ campaign was likely a play off of the popular phrase Get a horse, the popular cry that greeted almost every automobile which appeared on the roads during the early years of the automobile. A 1930 article from the Saturday Evening Post also highlights the use of this phrase.
Starting in January of 1946, Willy’s Overland introduced the GET A ‘JEEP’ phrase to their Collier’s and Saturday Evening Post full-page ad campaign.
Examples of the GET A ‘JEEP’ campaign in the full page ads of the Saturday Evening Post.
The company also introduced a subtler GET A ‘JEEP’ magazine marketing strategy in the form of small cartoons.
So far, I’ve only identified the publishing date of one cartoon, but I’m sure with time we can identify the others. As of a November 13, 1946, the cartoon ad campaign was still being used, but the December 14, 1946, full-page ad does not include that phrase.
2. This version of the ad was published in a 1946 magazine. The cartoon print is available on eBay.
3. This one was found on Pinterest:
4. I’d published this one a few years ago. It was being sold on eBay.
5. This was posted on eBay for sale and labeled a 1946 ad:
Posted on Facebook by both Mario and Roberto, this WWII illustration pokes fun at the jeep for not making a good plane.
Somewhere on eWillys I had relayed the story I was told about an ex-WWII military mechanic who claimed that a few jeeps were tested as gliders in hopes they could be used to fly across the English Channel. While the experiment barely worked in the Southwest desert, it proved impractical over the channel due to the additional moisture in the air. I have so far been unable to verify these claims.
UPDATE: Just to emphasize, this is a recreated version of the original painting.
Thanks to Scott for this link. The sale is for a 22 x 28 inch painting made by an artist named Daves from the original version of this image by Sessions. According to the seller, this painting was used as the cover image for Ray Cowdery’s book All American Wonder II.
https://willysforsale.com/ads/the-original-22×28-inch-painting-cover-of-all-american-wonder-ii/
“Here is the opportunity to own the original painting that was used for the by now iconic book on WWII jeeps ‘All American Wonder II’ by Ray Cowdery. The book is a ‘bible’ for any WWII jeep enthusiast and/or restorer. The author had this oil painting made by an artist of the name Daves to resemble a WWII Willys advertising by Sessions. It graces the cover of his book, and this painting is the only original in the world. On the back a large rubber stamp of the author and his former address. It looks amazing, the colors are vibrant, there are of course no holes or other damage. It looks amazing even unframed and will become a centerpiece in anyone’s jeep collection.”
Artist Roni Santiago created this illustration as a comment to the Philippine phase-out of the Jeepneys (posted by Mario to FB). It seems to be a riff off the Bill Mauldin illustration of the solider with a gun pointed at a tired old jeep.
Bill Mauldin’s famous illustration (as reprinted on the cover of the Nov 1992 Smithsonian):
And as seen in a sculpture at the Shidoni Gallery near Sante Fe:
Roger Martin bought this cool, Marine-made jeep.
He wrote, “I bought another Jeep. It was built by marine in August of 1948. He was a machinist on a ship during the war. The wheels are made out of solid brass. The toy is pretty heavy. I bought it from a guy yesterday who bought it in 1970 from the widow of the original owner that built it. The Marine that built it worked for Fisher body in Cincinnati, Ohio.”
Under the things-I-didn’t-know, Ann tells me that folded material into shapes is 1) a thing and 2) is called a “cake”. To wit, she spotted this jeep made from folding diapers and material together (no glue). This is certainly more clever than if I tried to make a jeep using diapers and material.
From the Facebook Post: “A Jeep diaper cake for a new Mom!! She loved it and doesn’t want to take it apart!! LOL!! 10 washcloths, 6 blankets, 2 bottles, 1 pair of socks, 1 medicine dropper, and 55 diapers. I never use glue!”
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1000582063996149&set=pcb.1224982958173993
Another little treasure found while looking through the family stuff is this card drawn on heavy stock paper by my aunt. An architect, she was famous within the family for the cards she produced.
The card below was drawn for my dad’s birthday, likely mid 1970s. No doubt folks can relate to it (though I teased my aunt during a phone call yesterday about the poorly drawn jeep … she is usually attentive to details).
I ran across this magazine on eBay. Given the cover, I couldn’t resist buying it, though there was no other jeep pics or illustrations within it.
This 1944 letter looks like it appeared in a newspaper. The eBay description isn’t very helpful.
View all the information on ebay
“WWII
Army
Christmas V-Mail
Art Letter
63rd Signal Battalion
Willys Jeep
Named: T4 Robert Glashauser
Look over pictures to see the exact item you will receive and to determine the overall condition of this item.:
Merry Christmas everyone!
It’s a bit of a somber Christmas in our neck of the woods. Mom has been struggling over the past week with lots of confusion and health struggles. After a 36-hour wait in the ER, she finally made it into the hospital Thursday night. She had an operation yesterday (the 24th) to remove fluids from the sac around her heart. The docs extracted 700ml (which is a lot) and left a tube in to drain more. Needless to say, this indicates her heart is struggling mightily. Without some kind of miracle, she probably has weeks left at the very most. So, Ann and I are having a quiet holiday season at our new home this year.
We hope everyone else has an enjoyable holiday season with your families and friends. And, I hope you all are blessed with good fortune in 2022!
This 1945 Christmas Card was auction on eBay in 2015:
Adam shared this ebay auction for another Quackpot poster. The image below is from a 2013 auction (it’s a better quality image than the one posted to eBay).
View all the information on ebay
“THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE VINTAGE, ORIGINAL “QUACKPOT MAINTENANCE” U.S. ARMY CONSERVATION PROGRAM POSTER
DATED – 1944, 20X14 INCHES IN SIZE
VERY GOOD SHAPE OVERALL. SOME SMALL TEARS ON EDGES. THE POSTER WAS FOLDED IN THE MIDDLE SO IT HAS A CREASE.
PRINTED ON POSTER: U.S. GOVERMENT PRINTING OFFICE -1944- 0-612414
ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT NO. 121-021
SHIPPED ROLLED
RARE,VINTAGE JEEP/WW11 POSTER”
Scott shared this link to a Watercolor painting by C. Baij. It shows American Soldier Uncle John 507 PIR; 82 ABN in France. He spotted it online at the Las Laguna Art Gallery.
UPDATE: I thought this was a good post to revisit. I’ve added an obit to the post at the bottom.
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Originally Posted November 18, 2013: Australian Bill Pidgeon (Wikipedia) had a successful career as an illustrator, painter and correspondent from the 1920s through the 1970s. A three-time Archibald Prize winner, one of Bill’s descendants (Peter Pidgeon) has created a wonderful website devoted to Bill’s life. Among the items the site includes are drawings and photos of jeep trains encountered by Bill in the Pacific war-theatre during his trip as a war correspondent for The Australian Women’s Weekly. In his ‘war letters‘ are some detailed observations about daily life in Borneo following it’s release from Japanese control.
One of Bill’s more interesting observations was recorded in Borneo. On August 16th, 1945, he wrote:
From Labuan another four and a half hours of sitting on a barge like a redhot waffle iron will bring you to the area occupied by the 24th Bgde. This is the land of the celebrated jeep train. Steam engines used to haul the train from Weston to Jesselton but on their hurried way out the Nips did their best to incapacitate the locomotives and the RAAF filled the boilers full of holes. So the engineers put iron tyres on the jeeps and shoved them on the rails and hooked the trucks behind.
Here is an example of an illustration and photo published on the site. There are others from an August 4-6, 1945, letter:
An additional illustration sketched by Bill that might interest restorers includes a detailed look at designs and colors used to mark one jeep train.
Obituary from the February 18, 19i81, issue of The Age, out of Melbourne, Australia:
UPDATE: I found this article that highlights the inspiration behind the book Creeper’s Jeep. It was published in the Bridgeport Post on August 22, 1948:
The book is still available on eBay, but they aren’t cheap: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=%22creeper%27s+jeep%22&_sacat=0
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Originally published May 18, 2016: This book was listed on eBay.
“This listing is for a vintage book entitled “Creeper’s Jeep” by Hardie Gramatky. It is a cute story about a guy who owns this jeep that wants to share it with his family. They do not take to the idea at first but after a few incidents decide to give it a try. Great illustrations: see pictures. Former library copy with some of the usual markings.”
UPDATE: There’s another of these brochures on eBay for $44.95 (plus $4.68 shipping).
View all the information on ebay
This 1948 jeep family brochure was likely produced in late 1948, as there’s a reference to an upcoming expectation “in early 1949” within the text. Outside of that reference, there’s no date stamp or form number. I’ve only seen few of these pop up for sale on eBay, so I snagged this one right away. I believe it represents the earliest and most complete (in pics and text) listing of the full line of jeep models for the civilian market (it lacks any military models and business-focused models, such as the Package Delivery Vans).
I especially like the illustrations. The discussion of the different factory divisions at the back was interesting, too. Including the covers, the brochure is 26 pages.
UPDATE: I found an inexpensive issue of the February 2, 1946 Collier’s Magazine, so I scanned the cover. It has the Welcome Home Johnny sign celebrating’s soldiers homecoming as a farmer races his jeep down the road. I found no jeep related stuff on the inside.
This potato sack sold for over $60, though I don’t know the exact selling price. Jevon Aasand (1921-2000) owned the Aasand Potato company, but I’m not sure who owned/managed the Jeep’s Best brand.
A good digital example of Joe Dope slamming on his brakes from the National Archives:
This “Figment to Face” article about the jeep’s conception-to-reality story landed in a variety of newspapers across the US, though this is the best scan of it so far (which doesn’t speak too highly of the other scans, as it shouldn’t). I wondered how many other drawings were made that weren’t realized with the standardization of the jeep.
The article appeared in the Daily Reporter out of Greenfield, Indiana, on October 19, 1942:
The War Production Board produced several different “Father’s Day” posters (other posters at the gov archives), including this one with an illustration of a Bantam BRC-60. It also included a letter, though it’s not clear to me how the letter and poster would have been displayed (newspaper? magazine?). Father’s Day fell on June 21st in 1942.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165318061
PHOTO CREDIT: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165318061
Bill shared an image of a menu from the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha. It was one of several hotels that featured James Sessions’ images on hotel menus. Anyone know the history behind why hotels were doing that?
For a complete overview of the Willys-Overland WWII (and post WWII) illustrations featuring jeeps, this page demonstrates how the illustrations unfolded over the years 1941-1946. For an analysis of how the changes in verbiage may have reflected changes as Willys-Overland during the war years, view this page.
I’m sure there are more examples than the ones gathered below. Here is what I have so far:
This is the Blackstone Hotel example that Bill shared:
This one is from the Lexington Hotel in New York City:
And this one is from the Hotel New Yorker:
This menu:
The Benjamin Franklin also ran this other menu with a different illustration:
