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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 .
Larry dropped by the Hudson River Valley Antique Auto Associations Rhinebeck 2014 Show at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York. There were a variety of jeeps there. Here are some pics:
Jeepster Jim is driving across the southern portion of the USA. He left St. Augustine, Florida, April 6th and will arrive at Imperial Beach, California, April 24th. Learn all about it here:
I put together this map of their trip based on their itinerary. As of the 18th they ought to be near Tucson, AZ.
On this year’s trip we’ll have a few different items you can buy from us as we travel. If you want the items mailed to you, we’ll figure out a way to do that, too. Just email me (d @ ewillys.com). Everything is first come first serve.
The purposes of these items should be pretty obvious: 1) help raise money for our trips, 2) provide unique, vintage jeep items you won’t see elsewhere, and 3) to promote the community of vintage jeeps. For me, it makes the whole eWillys adventure more fun.
SHIRTS are $20 each: They shirts are good quality material that is 60% ring spun cotton and 40% polyester. They are light and very comfortable. The image is based on a WWII bond-drive image printed on an envelope.
1. Olive Drab: I only have Large and X-Large.
2. Gray: I have a couple of Smalls, Mediums and XXL. Mostly, I have Larges and X-Large.
BOOKS are $20 each: Of course, don’t forget about my books. We’ll have copies of both. For those that don’t know, Finding Virginia is personal journey of mine, including my history with jeeps and more. The Amber Panels is an adventure/fiction novel based around the real Amber Panels. Of course, jeeps find there way into it, too.
One of the reasons for we are detouring down to Sante Fe, New Mexico, is to visit the Bataan Museum. WWII in the Pacific and the Philippines will play a role in book three, tentatively titled October Gold.
POSTERS are $10 each: Not many left, but we’ll be carrying some of these with us as well. These are professionally printed 18″x12″ posters. I have varying amounts of each. Want more than one? We can make a deal.
The 5th Annual Willys Overland Rally takes place May 16th-18th this year in Moab, Utah. The event celebrates Willys Overland Wagons and Trucks.
Don’t forget, the Moonshiner’s Swapmeet will be held on Sunday, March 9th in Puyallup, WA. It takes place 9am to 4pm. The good news is that there is a 10% chance it won’t rain on Sunday.
You can learn more at the Moonshiner’s website.
Bruce spotted this article on the BBC about Colombia’s Yipao Celebration. More pics at the website.
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20140211-little-jeeps-big-wheelies
Joe forwarded this announcement. The Arizona Historic Military Transport Association (AHMTA) Military Vehicle Show is coming up March 1 and 2 in Mesa, Arizona.
For those heading to the 2014 Bantam Jeep Festival, registration for the event is now open (online only). This year the Festival takes place June 13th-June15th. You can learn more about the Festival and make reservations at Cooper’s Lake Campground by heading to the Festival’s site; http://www.bantamjeepfestival.com. We stayed at Cooper’s Lake and found it very convenient.
New this year, don’t miss the Bantam Garage presented by Diehl Automotive Group, Jeep Corral presented by Simpson Family Jeeps, Historic Travels Tour and Bantam Jeep Muddy 5K Race. We’re also extending hours until 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Colin dropped by the 2014 Barrett Jackson auction and filed the following report.
“Went to Barrett-Jackson today with fellow Jeepster and DJ3A owner Jim Sullivan and saw several Willys vehicles that I thought would be of interest. I have attached several photos with a short explanation of each.
1961 FC 150 done in Coca Cola style, might have been on eWillys a week or so ago? (ed note — this FC-Coca Cola is similar, but not the same.)
A rat rod Willys wagon about a 1950-52 model (here are more pics):
A nice 50-51 Willys truck
The 22nd Annual Midwest Willys Reunion will be taking place May 16-18, 2014, in Hudson, Ohio, this year. This year’s Banquet Speaker will be Paul Barry, of Willys America.
Learn more about the reunion here: http://www.midwestwillysreunion.org/smwwr14.htm
Pete from the Old Willys Forum forwarded these two videos he’s just posted from last summer’s 2013 Moab Willys Rally. The first video shows what it looks like when driving through Arches National Park. The second has some jeeping footage.
Merlin posted a follow up article at Hanson Mechanical about the 2013 Mason Dixon Show. You can read part I here.
If you are in the Union Mills, MD, you might check out the Mason Dixon Willys Jeep gathering on Sunday, Oct 27th. You can learn more at Jeepchasm.com
The Show will be held at the Historic Union Mills Homestead, north of Westminster, MD 21158 on Littlestown Pike (MD-97 north) from 10am to 3pm.
5 trophies will be awarded as follows:
A food vendor will be on site, in addition to other Jeep / parts vendors.
Gettysburg Tour:
We will once again do a Gettysburg Battlefield tour to a different section than the past years.
We will meet at 12 noon on Saturday Oct. 26th (near the theater) at the Gettysburg Outlet Shoppes located at the intersection of US-15 and PA-97 just south of Gettysburg. We may “wash the trail dust down” afterward with a stop by Appalachian Brewing Company!
Saturday Evening Activity:
At 6pm on Saturday the 26th, all are welcome to join us at Gary & Dell’s Crab House on Littlestown Pike near Union Mills. They have steamed crabs, American & Thai cuisine. Come join us while we eat crabs, drink beer, and tell stories about our Jeeps!”
Omix-Ada’s President, Al Azadi, has a jeep collection that totals at least 20 jeeps, including some prototypes (see six of his jeeps below). At the November 5-7 2013 Sema Show in Las Vegas, he’ll be showing off a portion of their collection.
You can see more about the collection @ http://www.jeepcollection.com or learn more about the event at http://www.off-road.com/blog/2013/10/22/omix-ada-debuts-historic-jeep-collection-at-2013-sema-show/
Cambodia Jeep, which provides jeep (m151) tours through Cambodia will be running another two week adventure they call the Lotos Rallye 2014. It takes place January 18 – January 31. It’s approx $6000 or 4,400 Euros. You can see a few photos and a video from their 2013 Lotos Rallye here. I just need to sell a few many more books and I can go . . .
More information at these sites:
www.cambodiajeep.com
www.lotos-rallye.com
Roger Martin forwarded these photos of his father (James “PeeWee” Martin) and others. He wrote, “I thought you and others would enjoy seeing pictures of the WWII Veterens, who gathered at Taccoa, GA this past weekend for the 71st anniversary of their training at Currahee Mountain. These were the first and “original” G Company 506 101st Airborne Division Paratroopers who parachuted behind enemy lines at Normandy the night before D-Day. Currahee Military Weekend has become an annual, three-day event in Stephens County. There are book signings, interviews, military reenactors, a parade, and tours of the Historical Society Museum and Military Museum. The pictures I have sent include Paul Grice’s (Waynesville, OH), 1942 GPW Ford Jeep which he loaned me, and I hauled 500 miles to the event.”
Col. Tom Kennedy (age 92), Ira Morehart (age 90), and James “PeeWee” Martin (age 92) are pictured:
My dad, “PeeWee” Martin is in front of the Currahee Monument:
Reenactors with “PeeWee” Martin:
Me and my dad, “PeeWee” Martin:
Camp Taccoa at Currahee Mountain at the entrance to the original camp at the foot of Currahee Mountain where the paratroopers trained daily by running the 3 miles to the top. The mountain is 800 feet above the valley below. “PeeWee” Martin was there from the first of August until the first of December, 1942 as part of his paratrooper training.:
Jesse just announced the dates for the 2014 FC-Roundup in Phoenix, Arizona.
Hugo spotted these jeeps on rails from an exhibit at Retromobile 2013, the February Paris exhibition for car lovers. I don’t know much more about the event, but it looks like fun.
http://en.retromobile.com
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/gallery/32557/Welcome-to-Retromobile.html
Yes, finally, the book will arrive! The Amber Panels of Konigisberg will go on sale next Wednesday. Since the pre-release version, I’ve reduced the number of words, made numerous corrections, changed the font, smoothed out rough patches, cut portions of the book, and added a slight twist to the ending. Even the cover has been altered.
For those wanting signed copies, it will take a few weeks for me to receive my order of books, sign them, then forward them to you (this includes the pre-release readers as well). So, stay tuned for updates.
For the launch and the ongoing sales campaign I’ve created a special website as well which I’ll share Wednesday.
Here’s the newest cover:
The Half Century of Progress Show happened this past weekend in Rantoul, IL. The show takes place every other year. Bob Christy reports there were 13 jeeps or so this year and two empire tractors.
Bob took the photo below. Here’s link to the CJ-2A Page with more photos
Kate Goelzhauser, editor for Lawn and Garden Collector Magazine, was also there. She posted a variety of pictures to her Facebook Page. You can see them all here.
From early Monday through Wednesday Ann and I will be camping at the Ohanapecosh campground in Mount Rainier National Park. There was no cell service when we were there last year and I expect the same lack of service this year. So, I won’t be answering emails or doing updates for a few days.
The book is done . . . now just have to build the PDF, order a proof, and do some marking stuff. 🙂
Photo from http://winterwren.com/Rainier/HostVolunteer.htm
UPDATE: Scott reminded me that this coming weekend is D-DAy Conneaut. Learn more at http://www.ddayohio.us
Brian just let me know that there is a Canada Jeep Show August 10th in Brantford, Ontario. Check out all the details here: http://canadajeepshow.weebly.com/index.html
On Saturday I continued the big sonny-do project of my visit to my parents house: replacing rotten footers under the kitchen. To access them, one of my tasks was to break up some nearby concrete. After working the jack hammer for ten minutes, I remembered why I became a writer; I’m too old to be doing heavy construction. Another two hours passed before all the cement was removed. By then half my body weight had melted out through sweat; I was soaked. But, at least I was done with that step of project. Yeah!
So, how did I celebrate? By abandoning the project for the day and driving down to Tacoma to hang out at the FC Get Together.
The 2pm timing of my arrival couldn’t have worked about better, because there was still some lunch available and I was hungry after digging up half of Renton. I chowed down while enjoying the company of old friends and meeting a few new ones. After lunch, we spent a couple hours basking in perfect weather, staring at the FCs, sharing stories, and discussing the finer aspects of how the Americans consume water from western Canada, yet Canada gets the better view of Niagara Falls. We concluded we have no control over any of it, so we should just play with our jeeps.
One of the more interesting FCs was the FC-150 Blaine dragged to the event late Friday night. He purchased it up north. I think the only thing holding it together is the green moss.
The grand event of the afternoon involved moving of a heavy duty International rear axle from Blaine’s truck to Steve’s truck. Since all of us are handsome and strong bucks, you’d think we’d each grab a part of the axle and move it with manpower. But, no, we couldn’t possible do that when we had a tool for the job: Jim’s Holmes 440 wrecker setup on his FC. So, with Jim, Blaine and Steve doing all the work and an international community of supervisors, including me, Canadian Dave, and other, providing all manner of advice, they set out to make the transfer. Here are a couple photos:
The wrecking arm getting positioned inside the back of the truck. The wrecker runs off the PTO of the T-98.
Even father inside . . .
Success!
They had to set down the axle and hand crank the big arm upward until it was high enough to drop the axle into Steve’s truck.
Thanks again to the Mingo’s for putting on the event!
Thanks to Steve Elkins for filing this great report from the 2013 Willys America Open House last Saturday! You can see more pics at the oldwillysforum also.
The annual Willys America Open House was Saturday, July 13, 2013. Over one hundred Willys vehicles converged on the old lumber town of Cazadero nestled among the towering redwoods of the Russian River region of Sonoma County, California.
Once again, Paul Barry opened up his amazing restoration facility to Willys owners everywhere for his annual event. Willys enthusiast from all over the region, and some as far as the Eastern United States, came to the event. Well known names in the Willys World such as Harry & Jo Sheets from Indiana, and Bill Norris, who publishes the best calendars in the world, were there to enjoy a wide variety of Willys on display and to meet other enthusiasts.
Here are some folks caravanning north to the event. Just to their south the Golden Gate Bridge looms amongst a marine push.
Willys America houses the largest variety of unique Willys vehicles anywhere. There were personnel carriers, Mavericks, Sedan Deliveries, Jeepsters, Forward Control trucks, Jeeps built in Japan and the Philippines, military vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, RR vehicles, just to name a few. There was even a 1943 Allis-Chalmers Snow Tractor powered by Willys (L4-134.)