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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 .
Inventor David Stone filed a patent for a Power Take-Off Mechanism and Drive Therefor, with Willys Motors as the assignee, on August 08, 1950.
This ad may have appeared multiple times, but appear at least once in the January 30, 1943, issue of Colliers magazine on page 29. Included below is a color version supposedly published in 1942.
This April 5, 1941, article in Colliers puzzled me. Through it, the author referred to a train as a “Giant Jeep”. I’ve never run across a reference before or after that time of a train being called a jeep. The article never mentions any reference to the newly created 1/4 ton vehicles, whose ‘jeep’ name was still catching on in the press. It also does not indicate where/why the jeep name for the train originated.
This ad was published in the February 7, 1942, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, pg. 31.
UPDATE: Chief Detective SteveK realized this is actually a CJ-3B. I thought it was a poorly done CJ-3A.
I snagged this 5″x7″ postcard off of Craigslist. For some reason it is depicted with a CJ-3B raised hood bump along the top side of the hood.
UPDATE: I’ve updated these images with corrections and four additional ads. You can a similar listing of Collier ads in black and white. I’ve added two ads that only appeared in the CIO-News, one that only appeared in Colliers, and one Sat Evening Post ad that I’d missed.
Original Post (03/01/2019): I tried to find a listing of all the Willys-Overland ads and their issue dates that were published in the Saturday Evening Post during and after WWII. Unable to find any good resource, I spent the last three days surfing through 250 issues of the magazine using the Saturday Evening Post non-profit site, which costs $15 a year to use. Then I organized them in a way that I hoped would make it easier for me to study them. Hopefully, it’s handy for you all, too. For expediency and bandwidth size, I used low-resolution images to create the files below. Eventually, I’ll go back and replace them with hi res images so that everything is clearer when viewed more closely.
The ads started in May of 1942 (at least that’s the earliest I found) and were published on average once a month. All ads published up to November of 1945 were placed on the inside of the back cover.
On November 10, 1945, Willys-Overland formally introduced the CJ-2A to Saturday Evening Post readers with a more centralized, two-page ad. After that, one or two-page ads for the CJ-2A appeared until August of 1946, when the first wagon ad appeared in the magazine.
UPDATE: As Bill notes, there’s also a May swap meet. That should not be confused with the August Annual show.
This August the National Pike Steam, Gas & Horse Association will be holding it’s annual show in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. This year it will be featuring working jeeps. Learn more about this event at http://www.nationalpike.com.
Tomorrow is the Moonshiner’s Swap Meet at the Puyallup Fair Grounds in Puyallup, Washington.
TJ is there today (Saturday .. vendors get in early) and spotted what I believe to be Jim’s restored (by Willys America I think) Traveller. It’s a beaut! It looks to be located in the main hall, so if you are there, be sure to check it out.
Steve Bovee just contacted me about the upcoming 70th anniversary of the De Anza Jeep Cavalcade, aka Hemet-Borrego Jeep Cavalcade.
He writes, “Willys Jeeps and Flat Fenders Welcome … Next month will be the 70th anniversary of the De Anza Jeep Cavalcade aka Hemet-Borrego Jeep Cavalcade. Some 400 vehicles, mostly Willys Jeeps, went on this epic off-roading event April 2, 1949.
To celebrate the anniversary a few flat fenders will be getting together on April 6th and will be retracing the original route, as much as possible. There might be several starting points, but the main one will be in Hemet and as in the first run we will travel south through Battista Canyon, stop in Anza for a snack and photo shoot and then head out to Coyote Canyon. Coyote Canyon part of the trail is for the brave at heart and there is only one way in and one way out so I’m sure some of us will stop there.”
You can read more about the original Cavalcade in this July 1979 article from Desert Magazine (below), which can also be found on Archive.org.
This Collier’s cartoon ran in the July 31, 1943, issue of Collier’s Magazine, page 56.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $26.
Roger shared this unusual artworks for sale.
“Jeep engravings on wood
Sealed with two coats of sealer.
Approx dimensions are 9×12 .
$26 shipped each to the continental US
They can be discounted some if multiples are ordered.”
Mike spotted a Matchbox retro 2019 jeep wagon on eBay, but the auction has expired. It turns out there is a 2018 truck available through Amazon (and likely other outlets). 1. Matchbox 2018 Truck on Amazon:
2. 2019 Matchbox Wagon (was for sale on Australia’s ebay and can’t find it on Amazon):
Maury shared this photo of an MB modified in ways to keep it looking relatively stock. There are pics and videos exploring southwest Utah in this story by Traci Clark.
http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/1606-mighty-1943-wwii-military-jeep/
A big thanks to Jim for finding this brochure in old box of files, then sending it my way gratis. It shows the EasyLok Hub, manufactured by the Mechanex Corp, a devision of Tenneco, out of Englewood, Colorado. You can learn a little more about the EasyLok hub’ s history in this post.
Mechanex Corp patented another hub in 1978, but I don’t recognize the hub.
I have no date yet on this ad from the Russell, Burdsall, & Ward Bolt and Nut company.
View all the information on eBay
“This is a vintage original ad , not a copy or reproduction. Neatly removed from magazine. Would look beautiful framed. Measures 10 and ½ by 14 inches.”
Gayland shared the news of this unusual car jack, one that tilts the car to make it easier to get underneath.
Learn more here: https://newatlas.com/its-a-jack-tilts-cars/58404/
Gregg Stoerrie shared several stories and photos of his uncle’s time during WWII on his Facebook page.
One image shows a sketch by Dean Joy, a soldier who served with Gregg’s uncle. Dean went on to write a book, 60 Days in Combat, as well as sharing his story on youtube:
Here’s is Dean’s sketch of some jeeps during an ambush by 88mms. Dean wrote:
“Front Jeep took a direct hit, drivers headless torso still behind the wheel and other GI’s on the side. They hit the end Duce and a half. Col Wooten came running along the convoy yelling everybody off the trucks now. A few GI’s worked around to out flank the 88’s. The firing stopped as they captured the first 88 and found it was maned by kids. As they approached the other 88’s they could see the crews were dead and it was clear they were knocked out by their own guys. It was the first 88 who turned the gun on their own guys. We assumed that they knew the war was lost. Had they not it would have been a massacre.”
Gregg also shared this photo taken by his uncle of a plane that was hit by Japanese flak. Greg wrote, “This picture was taken by my uncle joe Stoerrle during the Second World War. This is the tail section of his B25 bomber. He told me a story how they barely made it back after their tail was shot up from Japanese flak. Uncle joe told me how accurate the Japanese flak was. I would like to thank my cousin Shelly (uncle Joe’s daughter) for providing me with these pictures at a family get together on 1/6/18.”
Charles just purchased this CJ-2A. He’d been watching eWillys for a long time and finally found one that was near him with a body in great shape. However, what’s unusual about this 2A is that it has an electric fan installed under the passenger seat. He said it’s a pretty heavy fan, too. Anyone ever heard of that?
UPDATE: This was published in Coliiers on September 11, 1943, pgs 66-67. This issue also contains the Willys WWII Ad, “Ordnance Doctors Operate Under Fire”, pg 57.
Fred Caldwell mentions the ad in his book “Selling the All-American Wonder“. According to him, this is one of the few Ford-sponsor, jeep-related Ford ads.
Roger Martin spotted this odd looking jeep-truck on Facebook. The caption indicates it was taken in December of 1960 in Vienna, Austria.
This ad was published in the March 6, 1943, issue of Collier’s. I wish I could locate an online archive for that magazine. Anyone know of one?
View all the information on eBay
“This is a vintage original ad, not a copy or reproduction. Neatly removed from magazine. Would look beautiful framed. Measures 10 and 1/2 inches by 14 inches.”
UPDATE 3: There are some broken links, so I’ll need to spend some time and clean up this post.
UPDATE 2: Daniel Strohl over at Hemmings provided a solid background update about Wally Cohn.
“Born in 1924 in Germany, his father and stepmother sent him to the Chicago area in 1937 both to live with family and to escape the increasingly anti-Semitic mood in Germany. After Kristallnacht, his older brother Herman, his father Siegfried, and his stepmother joined him in Chicago. Walter flew 30 missions for the U.S. Army Air Corps as a bombardier during the war, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Star and rising at least to the rank of Sergeant. After the war, he served as a member of the chief justice’s staff during the war crimes trials in Nuremberg, then returned to the United States and founded W&W Foreign Auto Parts in Blue Island, Illinois.”
UPDATE: A reader named Clint just determined what type of vehicle Wally was using — A 1936-1940 Opel Olympia. Here are two links to images: Link 1 & Link 2. Thanks Clint!
ORIGINAL POST published in 2010: I ran across the images shown below and others. I didn’t think much of them until I looked more closely. It appears the builder, who I assume is Wally Cohn, has merged a 1936-1940 Opel Olympia with a MB to create, arguably, the first Jeepster-like vehicle, except it is four wheel drive. The ‘Wally’ appears to use the entire jeep drive train. If you look in back, you’ll even see this car can tow a trailer!
Who is Wally Cohn? I have no idea. I can’t seem to find anything about him, other than his name was Wally Cohn and he was nicknamed the Jeep King by photographer Walter Sanders.
Photographer Walter (Wally) Sanders worked for Life Magazine from 1944 to 1961. After growing up and leaving Germany for the US in 1937, he returned in early 1946 and lived the rest of his life in Europe, mostly in Munich. You can learn more about his biography here.
Because Walter was in Europe during December of 1946, and because these photos were snapped during that month, and because of Wally’s uniform (which Bob noted is an Army Airforce Uniform), I have concluded that Wally Cohn was a member of the armed services trying to merge cars and jeeps into a Wally vehicle of some kind (note the name Wally is displayed prominently on the dash in one of the pics).
This would be a great collector’s item — and a cool jeep too!
UPDATE: I didn’t understand the significance of this ad until purchasing Fred Coldwell’s “Selling the All-American Wonder” (great collection of Willys-Overland WWII ads). It’s the only WWII Willys-Overland ad that I’ve found which doesn’t appear in his book. Titled “They’re getting the stuff and they’re using it, too!”, the ad seems to have been only published in the newspaper.
Originally published January 12, 2019. This Willys Overland Ad appeared in the September 25, 1944 issue of The CIO News.
Mike spotted this 1960s photo on Facebook. It shows some DJ-3A Dispatchers doing pizza delivery work for Volcano Pizzeria, a North New Jersey pizza place in the 1960s. Mike notes there were a lot of pizza jeeps in the area at the time.
Anyone know when this ad was published?
View all the information on eBay
“This is an original 1942 ad neatly removed from a vintage magazine. Measure 11 by 14 inches.”
