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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 .
My wife thought this puzzle was too good to pass up, given our 2017 Alaska Or Rust trip, so she surprised me with it. This puzzle is available through a variety of sellers (one of which is Amazon). The illustration was done by Ken Zella.
As best as I can tell, this booklet was part of a Willys-Overland Motors Dealer Day presentation on March 30, 1950. This particular booklet came out of Canada, so I am not positive whether this was a Canadian event or a Brand-wide (US, Canada, and other?) celebration.
At 5″ x 7″ the booklet is smaller than I thought it would be.
I’m not sure what this is worth. It is currently priced at a buy-it-now price of $92.
View all the information on eBay
“Wonderful artist rendering of CJ-5 Jeep. 1970s in a coffee plantation or cocoa plantation setting. (I’m thinking inspired by the popular TV icon Juan Valdez). Not sure if this was done for Ford Brazil or AMC given that Ford do Brasil built these for the South American market. In any event, this is a fantastic, original rendering on artist board of the era. You can see pencil lines underneath paint. I’m not an artist so I don’t know if it’s acrylic paint or watercolor or ???
Measures approx 16″ x 11″ and is in very good condition for its age. There Issa bit of very faint spotting in the yellow sky area but it’s barely noticeable; corners are bumped but framing will cover that. The blue strip at bottom of rendering appears to be painted tape.”
UPDATE: Apparently, I never published all the pages in this circa 1947-1949 booklet. Also, there’s another one of these booklets on eBay right now: View all the information on eBay
This was originally posted October 23, 2014: Eddie Devlin of the Willys Overland Engineering Art Department sketched a variety of drawings of the factory. Some were published in a book called “WHAT I SAW AT WILLYS OVERLAND”. I’m not sure if the booklet was sold or used as a promotional device.
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: Originally Posted July 26, 2014. There is currently an issue for $7 on eBay.
The December 1945 Issue of Outdoor Life Magazine contained an article titled “A Jeep Will Get You There”. It is filled with photos of a VEC CJ-2A used for a fishing trip. The photos aren’t the best, but still an interesting article. Outdoor Life also featured the story on the front cover.
Neat little unscripted and signed card with a jeep and Christmas tree from Hungary.
View all the information on eBay
“Original signed old Xmas card without envelope from Budapest 1945. Good condition, (please see scan). Dimensions are (folded): 108 X 155 mm.
I will send this item Worldwide. Shipping by registered Air-Mail only (Worldwide) is 4.20 $ for 1-3 Postcards.”
Bill shared this news. FCA held a sketch competition to solicit independent designs for electric jeeps. Three winners were selected. The first was a futuristic FC design; the second a buggy design; and the third an extreme buggy design.
This instagram page has more examples of these: https://www.instagram.com/p/CH0cVPJlned/
Did all the Kool Kids get Jeep For Juniors for Christmas in 1945? Well, more likely Kool Boys as the Kool Girls were offered a tea party set. Hopefully, the aspiring Jeep Girls asked (and received) the jeep, too.
November 08, 1945, Arizona Republic.
November 10, 1945, Arizona Republic.
These two glass coasters popped up on eBay last week for a reasonable price. Strangely, the image of the jeep is reversed. The gas inlet and steering wheel appear to be on the passenger side in the image.
The starting price on this matchbook is $49.99. Note the illustrative details of the jeep, including bows+holders and a rear pto.
View all the information on eBay
“Jeep Willys Matchbook Indianapolis Indiana Vintage Rare Dealership 40’s?. Condition is “Used”. Shipped with USPS First Class. This is old and used. The colors and advertising are beautiful! No matches. What you see is what you get.”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
This poster includes a jeep driven by soldiers looking as if they’d just driven from the Italian movie version of M*A*S*H. Given M*A*S*H was released the year before in 1970, maybe that wasn’t a coincidence?
As noted at IMDB, “A girl is drafted due to a misunderstanding and this gives her the occasion to check on her boy-friend, whom she believes to be a womanizer.”
“Original poster measures approximately 140 x 200 cm (78″x55″), in conditions as in the photo.”
I bought the following 5″x7″ Portuguese ads off of eBay for $2/ad plus shipping from Europe. The seller noted he had more ads, so sent me a link to 96 more (including lots of good early ads). He wanted to sell these outside of eBay, so I figured I’d get a better price, especially buying in bulk. Instead, he doubled the ads to $4/per ad. When I balked at the price, he claimed he was selling his ads for €6 on eBay ($7.09). Given I’d just bought them for $2, I was a bit confused by his claim. Maybe something was lost in translation, but, needless to say, I won’t be buying any ads from this seller outside of eBay.
These ads have some neat illustrative work.
June 1947
1948
1947
Here are pics showing 1/4 of his collection of ads:
There are two vintage matchbooks in this auction, one from Peru and one possibly from Peru that has a jeep on it. The jeep matchbook is cool, but the asking price is $89.99 (at least they include with matches).
View all the information on eBay
“Rare WWII Era WILLYS ARMY JEEP Matchbooks Peru Indian Spanish
Incredibly rare
Great graphics and color
A few matches have been used
Books are in great shape
This auction is for both matchbooks, you get two!=
Feel free to ask questions”
Here’s a an odd jeep-like Christmas card labeled “JEEPERS”.
View all the information on eBay
“Vtg 1940s Christmas Greeting Card WW11 Green Army Jeep Anthropomorphic Dog/AS IS.”
Steve shared this photo. Though it is an undated reprint, it’s one I hadn’t seen. The photo is only 5″x5″. I’m surprised it isn’t reproduced as a 8″x10″ photo.
View all the information on ebay
“This is a nice reproduction of an original World War Two photo showing US soldiers in a Jeep reading a sign prepared by French citizens expressing gratitude for the liberation of France from the Nazi’s. Great photo! Size of photo is about 5″ x 5″.”
The photo above sent me on a quest to find another example of a medic/ambulance jeep with a cross painted onto the grille. I finally found one on a model, one built to replicate a Brazilian Expeditionary Force jeep ambulance from 1944 Italy. The author of the post did a good job retelling the history of the jeep (and didn’t fall for some of the incorrect history on the internet).
http://panzerserra.blogspot.com/2013/04/jeep-14-ton-4×4-ambulance-brazilian.html
This illustration is one of the inspirations for the model.
This French Army poster has a buy-it-now price of 136,50 Euros.
View all the information on ebay
“ORIGINAL FRENCH LITHOGRAPHY POSTER
ORIGINAL FRENCH VINTAGE POSTER IN LITHOGRAPH
LEARN A GOOD CAREER IN THE ARMY (1950)
Format : 60x77cm / size : 23×31 inches”
UPDATE: Vince shared an article from autoblog.com that provides more information on the Rainbow Sheikh (Sheigh Hamad bin Hamdan) who built the world’s largest running jeep. It had been many years since my last post on the subject, so it was time to update this post.
In 2010, reports were that Guinness Book of World Records had recognized the jeep as the largest running jeep in the world; however, I could not verify the record through the Guinness web site. Recently, a huge CJ-5 built by the same Shiekh for his offload museum may have surpassed the flat fender.
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/31/worlds-largest-working-jeep/
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Published in April of 2009: I thought it was just a fake keep prop of some kind, but apparently it’s being built on the framework of a large quarry mining truck.
The movie Come to the Stable includes a jeep in the movie and on many posters about the movie. Based on how often a jeep appears on advertising literature, I thought a jeep might have played a prominent role, but after reading a movie synopsis, it doesn’t seem that way. I couldn’t find a full version of the movie online to see for myself, but there is a version on Apple TV (and likely elsewhere).
The movie features a song titled “Through the Long and Sleepless Night“, with a record jacket that includes a jeep image. It was the reason I began researching the movie:
These are posters found online:
This illustration was donated to the University of Toledo. It was drawn by Steven Escayne while was serving in Italy in 1944.You can see a few other illustrations by Steven drawn during the war in the Library’s collection here. Another website, https://toledosattic.org/exhibits/war-in-their-own-words also has some drawings by him.
PHOTO CREDIT: https://utdr.utoledo.edu/islandora/object/utoledo%3A3557
UPDATE: The cow in this illustration may represent an estate and cattle ranch Canaday owned on St. Croix, USVI.
This 1952 birthday card for Ward Canaday has been persevered at the University of Toledo. One of the signatures is from Barney Roos.
https://utdr.utoledo.edu/islandora/object/utoledo%3A3929
Seller is asking $115 for this unusual jeep made of wood and metal. It’s missing the driver’s side fender. Appears delicate.
View all the information on eBay
“RARE WWII ARMY JEEP. MADE OF METAL AND WOOD, 14in LONG, 6 1/2in WIDE, 8in TALL
Blaine spotted this watercolor illustration, titled The Investigators, that shows some sailors in a jeep ogling two women standing next to the Greenpernt Grocery. The watercolor sold for $287 at auction in April of 2019. It’s larger than I initially thought at almost 3 feet wide (35.75 inches) and 28.75 inches tall. I could find nothing about an artist named “Sweet”.
The name “Greenpernt” might be a reference Greenpoint in Brooklyn, New York. Apparently, Greenpernt was how Brooklyners referred to the area at one time. As one person wrote on a remembrances page, “My Brooklyn was High School days riding the GG train to Brooklyn Automotive in Greenpoint (Greenpernt to my dad)”.
There’s also a corner of Noble St and West St (note the signs in the illustration) in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that suggest this corner might have inspired the artist.
Something a little different …. According to Autoeveolution.com, there’s been an increasing number of “Jeep Willys builds” at drag strips. A digital artist, Yasid Oozeear, decided to render a drag jeep with a WWII look (this is an illustration, not an actual build).
You can read more here: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/jeep-willys-fat-boy-looks-like-a-stock-car-for-offroaders-140712.html#
CREDIT: Illustration by Yaddesign: https://www.instagram.com/p/B76Z8OBFST3/
CREDIT: Illustration by Yaddesign: https://www.instagram.com/p/B76Z8OBFST3/
