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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.
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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.
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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 .
The warming weather has got me busy, but I was still able to get some progress on the firewall covers. Between a small sledge hammer and my big vice, I was able to bend the steel into shape.
Here are my templates.
Here’s an example of the steel. I was able to cut this out using my plasma cutter (Yeswelder 55DS). It was my first attempt at using it, but it worked pretty well.
Here’s it after bending.
The tabs need some adjusting. Otherwise ,these two covers should work fine.
This article popped up in a Fall 1942 issue of College Humor. I was able to find a copy on eBAY. As you can see, this features a Ford GP. We’ve seen a few of these pics in other magazines.
I spent the last couple of days working on the firewall. This is obviously a key element for assembling other items, such as the steering, brake/clutch pedals, gas pedal, etc.
I should begin by noting that we have a new name and theme for the jeep: LEFTOVERS. It’s a food-ish theme that kind of goes with Lost Biscuit. I like that it isn’t a particularly serious name. And, it seems appropriate given I am scavenging two former racing jeeps, but a few parts off of Biscuit, as well as some other random parts.
I saved the original firewall from the yellow-bodied jeep, but it wasn’t in the best shape. I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to use it anyone, because my firewall area includes several rollbar tubes that aren’t present in the yellow-bodied build. Here are some pics of it on the old jeep (btw, I’ve been terrible at taking pics during this build):
I felt the deciding factor would be how well a template I planned to create for the firewall would overlay the old firewall. If close enough, I’d make the old firewall work (again, leftover theme).
Below is my really fancy paper template (I won’t be using the aluminum cover over the gear box .. I was just experimenting with that).
The first thing I realized was that I would need to split the old firewall in two halves in order to install it and have it fit over the roll bars. Once I was reasonably happy with the template, I laid if over the firewall (no pics of that), only to learn that I would need to flatten most of the existing firewall and rebend it; not an easy task!
Fortunately, the other day I bought a 20-ton press from Harbor Freight (I needed it to fix a neighbor’s plow). I used the press to press the bends relatively flat. Then, I cut the firewall in half and began the process of re-bending the firewall to the specs I needed, then cutting out areas to fit one over the roll bars.
Here’s an example of the passenger side after the top part was was bent flat:
Another obstacle I had to consider was the distributor at the rear of the engine. I needed room to be able to remove that if necessary. Here’s a pic of the two haves bolted to the crossmember I made from spare square tubing. It’s not perfect, but it will look alright once I get the paint off of it and clean up everything else. Besides, it will be hidden under the cowl.
With the cowl in place, I began playing with the steering column. I never liked the way the steering column in the original green-black jeep wiggled. The yellow jeep had a much more solid setup, so I will try to use it. It will need a new steering wheel, as that was damaged when the yellow jeep was wrecked.
Next up will be getting the clutch/brake assembly attached, build the bracket for the clutch slave cylinder, build the covers that go over the center portion of the firewall, and add a few attach points along the side for the firewall. Still plenty to do!
I was surprised to find I didn’t own this brochure when I saw it on eBay, so I bought it. It highlights the Locking mub and the Lock-O-matic hub.
Here’s another jeep lighter from Great Britain. As you can see in the first pic, one of the cats was a BIG help with this post.
View all the information on eBay
“USA WW2 WILLYS MILITARY JEEP TABLE LIGHTER
110mm x 60mm x 50mm
THE LIGHTER PART IS REMOVABLE, THE LIGHTER CLICKS AND MAKES A SPARK, BUT FURTHER WORK WILL BE REQUIRED TO GET THE LIGHTER UP AND WORKING CORRECTLY AGAIN. SO PRESENTLY LIGHTER NOT WORKING.”
Updates are limited today. I spent much of today repairing a plow for a neighbor, so no jeep work got done. Then, we picked up the new kittens today, which have kept Betty Page and Lizzy very busy this afternoon and evening (which means they will sleep hard tonight).
The 2-month-old kittens are sisters and rescued cats. We discovered that a neighbor fosters cats, though she mostly ships them to the Seattle area as folks over on this side of the state don’t adopt them too much apparently. We formally named them Dorothy and Louise, after these two jeep explorers (because we were told the cats were pretty curious about their surroundings). We can attest that the kittens have wasted no time in exploring their room (they will have more run of the house later).
However, we are having difficulties telling them apart, so they may end up just as Thing One and Thing Two.
In the two pics below, you can see how happy Lizzy is! The good news is that the cats have had lots of dog time, so they aren’t scared of our dogs at all.
Betty Page is enjoying the new kitties, too.
Thanks to Chris for selling me these NOS Free-Lock 27-spline hubs he got from a friend. He also included copies of the original documents that were included with the hubs. Since I have a Dana 30 on Biscuit, these will got on it once I start working on it.
This doc is one I posted last week:
I’m guessing the warranty is no longer any good, lol?
As I mentioned last week, this doc is the first evidence I’ve seen that Free-Lock became a “division” (whether actual or virtual) within Dualmatic. It is my belief that Selectro was another division:
Here is one look at the hubs:
And, a second look:
There was a Jeep Jamboree game for the Gameboy? I remember having a gameboy shortly after they hit the market. I mostly played Tetris and Scrabble, though I had a few others. I don’t remember hearing about the Jamboree game. Anyway, this ad is on eBay.
View all the information on eBay
“Jeep Jamboree Vintage Gameboy Original Print Ad / Poster Game Gift Art”
This unusual jeep dealers point-award’s catalog on eBay has a buy-it-now price of $39.99. It’s an unusual item for sure. My understanding is that dealers (or sales folks?) earned points in various ways that they could redeem for items in the catalog. There’s a pretty extensive choice of items!
View all the information on ebay
“HERE IS A REALLY COOL AND QUITE RARE FIND!!
THIS IS A 1964 WILLYS JEEP DEALERS FAVORITE SPORTS CATALOG OF AWARDS…AN INCENTIVE PROMO FROM THE KAISER JEEP CORPORATION TO THE TOP DEALERSHIPS!! THIS LARGE ISSUE COMES IN THE ORIGINAL ENVELOPE ADDRESSED TO: MR. SIMON REDNOR FROM REDNOR & RAINEAR AUTO SALES OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY…
THE ENVELOPE SHOWS AGE/USE WEAR, ALONG WITH SOME HAND WRITTEN PENCIL NUMBER TOTALS ON THE BACKSIDE..THE CATALOG
FEATURES SOME REALLY COOL MID CENTURY MODERN GIFTWARE, COOKWARE, SMALL & LARGE APPLIANCES, FURNITURE, WATCHES, JEWELRY, TOYS, GARDENING, CLOTHES AND MORE!!
PLUS THE VACTION SPOTS!!…THE CATALOG IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION WITH SOME NORMAL AGE WEAR & THAT OLD PAPER SMELL..A WONDERFUL ADDITION TO YOUR WILLYS JEEP COLLECTION OR MID CENTURY MODERN COLLECTION!!”
Willys-Overland produced a July 01, 1947, brochure featuring its family line up of vehicles. The following year, on July 01, 1948, the company reprinted the brochure with a few minor changes and it was printed on a glossier, thinner paper. So, when buying this brochure, make sure to check the date of printing.
Here is the 1947 version of the tri-fold brochure:
The brochure opens to the left revealing these two pages. At the bottom of the page on the right is the date “7-1-47”.
This image shows the fully open brochure.
These docs cover Locking and Lockmatic Warn hubs from the mid 1960s.
View all the information on eBay
“VINTAGE 1966 1967 1968 1969 WARN LOCKING 4 WHEEL DRIVE HUB ADVERTISEMENT FORD CHEVY JEEP TOYOTA DODGE GM.”
Here is another set of Warn Hub Docs on eBay.
View all the information on eBay
“VINTAGE 1969 JEEP WARN 4 WHEEL DRIVE LOCKING HUB ADVERTISEMENT CATALOG PRICE LIST LOT MODELS WL-2, WL-2A, M-175, M-54”
I spent the last couple days figuring out where I want the firewall positioned and how I want to attach it (and watching some March Madness, so not a lot has gotten done). I may even be able to reuse the firewall from the yellow jeep, though I’ve had to “massage” it with a sledge hammer into a useable state. I will know more once I remove the body.
But, before removing the body, I wanted to see if/how well the front clips I have fit the body and frame. It turned out that the radiator (and the attached power steering cooler in front of the radiator) needed to be moved back about an inch for either front clip to fit. Thankfully, that was easily done.
I tested out the better of the two front clips, but it didn’t want to mesh well with the body. So, I tried out the more damaged of the two front clips, which was original to the yellow body, and that fit much better. The problem is it will require more work to fix (which I will take as an opportunity to do something creative with the grille portion).
Note that this is sitting crooked at the front. I have not added an mounts for the front clip yet.
This is another example of a San Juan Scenic Jeep Tour brochure. It is a tri-fold brochure that is 8.5″x11″ when fully unfolded.
This is the cover.
This is the back when folded.
This is partially unfolded.
This shows the brochure when fully unfolded.
There’s no date on this brochure which offered tourists a chance to see Nevadaville and Central City, Colorado, by jeep.
Steve let me know this video of the 2022 Summer Convention had been published.
After our wayward trip to Phoenix, I’m back in the shop making progress on the racer. The rear sway bar has been added and some rear bump stops should be done soon (once I get some more welding rod). That will complete the rear suspension repairs/mods.
Once I finish the mount for the gas tank and battery, the rear area will be complete. Then comes the floors and cowl area, after which is the seats, the wiring (most of it just needs to be re-run), and, finally, mounting, prepping and painting the body. May 1 is still the goal.
UPDATE: This was originally published Aug 30, 2013.
Famous barnstormer and racing pilot Roscoe Turner endorsed the jeep in this 1946 letter.
This military-appearing parade may be a part of the state fair. That’s the only thing I can think of when the card references “fair day”.
View all the information on eBay
“Rocky Ford CO Street Scene Main Street Signs Downtown Old Jeep Vtg Postcard View
Original, vintage item.
Standard size, measures about 3.5″ x 5.5″ or a little smaller.”
Thanks to Chris for publishing this information on a Facebook post … It appears I will be buying from him a set of model F-28 Free-Lock hubs sold by Dualmatic. These NOS Free-Lock hubs included documentation stating that by December of 1973 Free-Lock had become a “Quality Division” of Dualmatic Products Company.
So, I believe this confirms that Free-Lock was acquired by Dualmatic, so now the questions are 1) when did this happen and 2) why didn’t Dualmatic use the branding sooner than circa 1970 (there was a gap between the end of Free-Lock in 1959 and the re-emergence of the brand circa late 1960s or early 1970s).
This document suggests there were seven different models of Free-Lock hubs, which may explain why we have seen several different types of later-model Free-Lock hub styles. Given the emphasis on “A Quality Division”, this document *might* hint that Dualmatic was using the Free-Lock brand as a premium hub, perhaps hoping to clear more profit from them?
The fact that the top of the hub shows no branding suggests these instructions were intended to be distributed across multiple brands of Dualmatic-built hubs.
The date of the newspaper used to wrap the hubs is December 4, 1973:
UPDATE: Zac shared a Parmley that he inherited along with a document that shows some pricing and states it was designed for the 81″ chassis.
===============================
Originally posted in 2013, with some pic updates over the years:
As many of you know, I am very curious about the fiberglass aftermarket bodies made for the jeep. While I’ve seen most models for sale over the years, I have yet to run across Parmley Engineering’s fiberglass body, one of the more unique ones ever created.
After wrecking his CJ-5 in the early 1970s, Californian Tom Parmley, a machinist by trade, decided to build himself a better body for his still-good chassis. He wanted the body to legally accommodate wider tires, a dash box with more room, a hood that was lower, and other features. So, he built and tested his dream body with great success. Along the way, he received so much positive feedback that he created a kit so others could easily install a Parmley body on their CJ-5 Chassis.
So far, I have only located two resources that document this body. One is the February 1974 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine, which featured a multi-page article about the new body. Additionally, at least two issues of Four Wheeler Magazine also have ads for the Parmley body kit. The other resource is a June 1975 Popular Mechanics article. The Pop-Mech article also shows off the fiberglass top he invented (at least I assume it is fiberglass).
Here are a couple publicity photos taken by Tom Parley and published in the Feb 1974 issue of Four Wheeler:
This image shows the Parmley with a top and is from Popular Mechanics. Note the top example sports Desert Dogs …
Here is a Parmley-bodied jeep on the cover of a the May 1978 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine.
This Parmley Engineering ad appeared on the back of January 1974 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine:
Bob Christy wasn’t sure what this vehicle was when he photographed it in 2008, but now we know.
This Parmely sold in 2015 and included a rare top:
This one sold in 2022:
On Sunday, while we were gone, Tom Cruze left the house in the morning and never returned. On Wednesday morning I found him in the ditch across from our driveway. He’d been hit by a car. The girls, especially Lizzy, who treated Tom like her puppy, remains upset with his disappearance. I brought Tom’s body back so the girls could sniff him in hopes it provides some closure, but Lizzy remains the sadder of the two.
Tom embraced his puppy role, eating with the dogs from their bowls, following us to the gate when it was time to open or shut it, and playing outside with us. He had no fear and was up to the task of taking on both dogs when they wrestled. He was only here eight months, but he made the most of it!
Here is Lizzy grooming and playing with Tom Cruze from January:
So, the greatest-dog-there-ever-was-that-was-actually-a-cat has gone to that great actor’s studio in the sky. He didn’t stay with us long, but he made a giant impact. He also helped the girls get over Zollie’s death. The house will be a quieter place without Tom’s giant personality filling it.
Wildenberg Parts out of the Netherlands has NOS crated M-561 Gamma Goat winches. I doubt there are many of these around.
“NOS Crated M561 Gamme goat winches. € 500 ea. Could be shipped worldwide at buyers expense.”
(Joe-in-Mesa took this video and most definitely earned his ride in the Tour Jeep)
After 3200+ miles of driving over the last 9 days we finally arrived home on Tuesday. Yes, we are tired and exhausted. It has been a LONG three days.
After Saturday’s rescue by Joe and Jan, we loaded the Tour Jeep onto Joe’s trailer and renewed our trek north, but within twenty miles we realized the brakes on his trailer still weren’t working well for us. After testing out some different truck towing modifications (more gain, more effort). We decided it was time to go to Joe’s place and see if we could make the other trailer work better.
Joe, meanwhile, had towed the trailer back to his house. Along the way his truck alerted him to a brake fault. So, it wasn’t us that was having a problem.
By the time we reached his house Saturday night, we were tired and frustrated. Two trailers weren’t working correctly, a heavy jeep needed to be Brough home, and the future weather forecast meant we needed to get home by Wednesday or risk the passes getting bad again. Thankfully, we had Jan and Joe to share some drinks, eat some food. and forget about life for a while.
On Sunday morning, Joe and I tackled the trailer issues. Our first task was to debug the running light issues. Why were some lights working and some not? After trial and error we learned it was a combination of grounding and loose wires. It was a big win when we got all the lights working!
While completing that task, we discovered the trailer wasn’t wired correctly for either of our trucks. That’s when we both learned that 7 blade plug-ins have at least two different wiring options (there could be more, but I haven’t deep dived on the topic). So, rewiring the trailer for OUR trucks, helped solve additional issues.
Once all that was done, the trailer brakes worked correctly. By Sunday’s sunset, we’d completed the work and done a half-hour test of the trailer (with FC aboard) around Phoenix.
Monday at 5am we left for Salt Lake. It was a long, somewhat nerve wracking drive given what happened on Saturday. Thankfully, things went smoothly despite encountering rain, snow, and some hail. We arrived just at sunset to and an-all-too-short visit with my sons.
Tuesday morning, again at 5am, we hit the road again. This time we were less worried about the trailer and more worried about the weather, as we had at least six passes to summit. At about 6:30am we reached Snowville, where we ran into fog an 0 degree temps.
The moon was bright at 7am, while the world around us was frigid!
I wondered just how long of a day it was going to be, but once the sun broke over the mountains, the temps improved, as did the road conditions. It was smooth sailing after that.
We must thank Jesse and Andrea for their “most excellent” hospitality and their support for buying the Tour Jeep. And, we can’t thank Joe and Jan enough for their incredible selflessness in coming to our aid, entertaining us, boosting our moral some, and helping us get the trailer road-worthy again. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Unsure if there will be updates on Thursday morning or not, but Friday for sure.
A huge thanks to Joe and Jan for saving us.
After years of successful trips, this trip seems to be a payback for all the lack of trouble we’ve had. Thankfully, we have made friends all over the country.
On Saturday morning we left at dawn. We’d driven northwest about an hour, just passing Sun City by a few miles. At that point, we found Shell station that had room for us to pull in and check over the the trailer (check hubs for warmth, lights, etc). Of the six hubs, two were hot and one was warm. In addition, the truck was showing a trailer light fault, so, we found out, the turning lights had stopped working.
Hmmm .. not good.
After checking things over, we didn’t have a firm understanding of what was happening, but knew we didn’t want to go any further with the trailer as is. After a few calls, including checking with U-Haul, which didn’t have a trailer that could carry the FC, we called our good friends Joe and Jan. Joe is a former Army Engineer, so it was fun to say that Army was rescuing Air Force.
They immediately changed their plans and came with their trailer (capable of carrying two jeeps), offering to let us take it home (and then I’d return it and come back with our trailer).
After swapping trailers, we put the FC back onto their trailer. To celebrate what looked like a victory, and to wait one of Ann’s former Khobar Tower colleagues (who wanted to make a quick visit to say hello), we enjoyed a beer in the FC, just hanging out and talking: our first group event! What great fun that was!
David, Joe and Jan having a drink in the FC.
Eventually, Joe and Jan had to leave, so they took our trailer home, testing it along the way (during which they found the electric brakes were having an issue.
Meanwhile, Ann’s Khobar Tower friend arrived, so we spent a few minutes meeting with Tim. It turns out that Tim had grown up in a jeep club near Pismo Beach, and his dad still had a built CJ-3A. So, Tim shared pics of the FC with his Dad, which of course both thought was cool.
Once Tim left, and with Joe’s trailer in tow, and the FC atop to it, we drove to Wickenburg, but our truck was having some problems talking with his trailer brakes. They would work, but not as good as we expected. We experiment with the “gain” and the “braking effort”, but that didn’t seem to do enough to make the brakes work like I wanted.
By then it was 3pm. Long story short, we decided to return to the Phoenix area to stay at Joe and Jans and fix our trailer. So, I’ll be going through all the wiring and working on the brakes. So, that’s the task this Sunday morning.
What a crazy trip!
Here are some more pics of the Tour Jeep thanks to Ann.
David and Ann.
The test drive with Andrea. That was her first ride in it!
a ride. That was her first ride in it!
Andrea and David finishing the test drive.
Jesse with George Washington (Ann’s cousin’s dog).
