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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 .
The grandson of Samuel Hunter created an online scrapbook of his adventures during World War II in the Pacific. Interestingly, Sam was 44 when he joined the Navy. Perhaps due to his age, he understood the uniqueness of this experience and kept a scrapbook. From the scrapbook comes the entire story along with this picture, one of many images. It is a fascinating story.
http://robroy.dyndns.info/seabee_scrapbook/index.php
Mama’s Sweet Treats? That made me laugh.
“1977 Jeep Ice Cream truck 4WD w/lockg hubs,has window a/c unit,has platform for generator,360 CID eng,std. trans.,needs a little wiring work….ran when parked last year,just what you need for a business …….asking $5,900.00 OBO………….better hurry ….SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE……..(602)214-3123”
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/2940873512.html
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $1590.
I know this isn’t a Willys Overland bicycle, but it is a Willys. That and the fact it is so odd made it worthy of posting. lol.
“Completely restored, sandblasted & powder coated. 7 speed Shimano gears. Has storage under seat. Must see & ride to appreciate.”
The Polo Fire Department’s Website has nice shots of their Fire Jeep online. According to the website, this is a “1946 Willys Jeep with front mount pump an pull behind water tank. This vehicle is used for small fires at the park and to try to hold ground until Polo Fire arrives on scene from some 6 miles away. They also use it to clean shelters and other structures in the spring.”
Each of these posters is purchased separately from three separate eBay ads. This unique top is not something I remember seeing. Anyone know anything about it?
UPDATE: Since this model was on ebay, I contacted the museum’s curator to see if the museum was interested. The curator let me know they already had an original (brand new) version of this heater along with the original box at the Ypsilanti Museum.
Josh spotted this ebay ad for an unusual hand crank heater. It is similar to the Stewart Warner Hand Crank Heater, but made by the Ypsilanti Machine and Tool Company. That is the same company that Preston Tucker owned.
“UP FOR AUCTION IS THIS HAND CRANK MILITARY HEATER.. I DONT KNOW FOR SURE BUT THIS MAY BE A STEWART AND WARNER HEATER.THIS MUST HAVE BEEN USED BY THE US AIR FORCE BECAUSE THE TAG ON IT SAYS PROPERTY OF U.S.A.F. I’AM NOT SURE WHAT THIS IS USED FOR..I’VE HEARD MANY DIFFERENT USES FOR IT I JUST CANT SAY FOR SURE WHAT IT WAS USED FOR. IT IS A HAND CRANK HEATER.. THE CRANK STILL CRANKS OVER AND THE GAS TANK HAS NO REAL RUST AND TANK LOOKS ALMOST NEW INSIDE.. I TRIED TO TAKE A PICTURE OF INSIDE OF THE TANK FOR YOU TO SEE. IT DOES BLOW AIR OUT WHEN YOU WIND THE HANDLE. I HAVENT EVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS.. I DON’T KNOW IF ITS WWI OR WWII OR LATER..IM SURE SOMEONE ON HERE WILL SEE AND KNOW WHAT IT WAS USED FOR.”
(This has nothing to do with jeeps, but everything to do with food)
Last fall when Ann and I were visiting with Bob and Mindy in Ohio Bob happened to pull out a hand slicer he used to slice meat. I thought it was really cool and told him so. A couple months ago he was at an auction, spotted one, and called me to ask if he should bid on it. Sure I said. He got a good price on it and shipped it out west to me. I finally got a chance to boil, clean and reassemble it.
The best thing is that it is all steel and tough and can be taken apart and cleaned; almost no plastic! It’s called a General 100 Meat Slicer. I still need some two more footings, but it works great. Pretty good for a 45 year-old machine. Even cooler is that someone inscribed their name and a date — June of 1967. Thanks again Bob!
Here’s is are a variety of them on Etsy for sale. Here are others on eBay. Below is a picture of mine with some freshly sliced ham.
Gordon built this foldup/folddown back seat in his CJ. If someone is interested he will provide plans for $20.
Gerald forwarded this story of the Jeeper Vineyards, the full text of which is on Autoblog. The story is from spring 2011.
“To help commemorate the 60th anniversary of Jeep, vineyard Jeeper has teamed up with Delta 4×4, a company well-known in Europe for aftermarket wheels, tires and other offroad accessories, to produce a limited-edition champagne.”
Visit the Jeeper Champagne website here.
A reader had a few specific questions about the Tuxedo Park Mark IV Page related to a jeep he’s considering buying, but needs to know the following:
1. The CJ-5 is missing the chrome rear bumper. Was the rear bumper also used on any other models? How hard is it to find a replacement.
2. The column shift assembly is missing and it is the stock three speed. Where these the same ones used on the DJ or Surrey or any other models?
3. Did all Mark IV Pages have a V6 and the Emblem on the side as shown below (from the early CJ-5 Page)?
If anyone has the answers offhand, that would be great.
Here’s a cool picture from the San Diego Air and Space Museum that was posted on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49487266@N07/5685117554
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $20,000.
This combo is now for sale.
“1951 Willy’s Jeep CJ3A W/1948 Bantam Jeep Trailer, Chevy II Engine (153 c.i.), Polished & Ported Head W/Stainless Steel Valves, T.R.W. Pistons .060 Over, Polished & Shot Peened Rods, Howard Cam & Clifford Gear Drive, Engine Blueprinted & Balance, Carter A.F.B. 575 C.F.M. 4 Barrel, Duce Factory Gas Tank W/Overflow, Ford Top Loader 4-Speed Transmission Model 18 Spicer T-Case, Corvette Clutch Pressure Plate & T.O. Bearing, Lakewood Bell Housing, Hard Chrome Crank, Fr & Rr 5.38 Ring & Pinion, Pwr Locks Fr & Rr Ends, Full Floating Rear Axle Kit, Ramsey 8000 lb P.T.Q. Winch, Chevy Steering Box W/Ford Column & Turn Signals, Le Carra Steering Wheel, Kelsey Hays Wheels (15X8), B.F. Goodrich All Terrain Tires 31X 10.50, 11″ Jeep Station Wagon Brakes, Rancho Springs & Shocks, Deist Seat Belts 5 ea., Colt C.B. Radio, Stewart Warner Gauges, Stock Seats W/Custom Center Seat, Trailer Sleeps 3 on WWII Navy Bunks, It has an Attachable Tent Tarp, mounting Hook-ups for Stove, Stand, Fold up Table, Lanterns & Water Cans, Comes with Fold Up Port A Potty, the Grub Box Holds Cooking Utensils and Enough Food for Days,”
I ran across the below Collage and thought it would make an interesting post to group some of the collages I’ve run across.
From Ensarf.com comes this Bob Facklam Print. It is signed and numbered. Price is $19.85:
Tim Dolan and I were selling these. I haven’t reordered any.
This is a neat illustration I saw at the WAAAM Museum by Yasuo Ohtsuka called “The Jeep . . . A Concise History”
Here are a couple from Roberto Flores:
I ran across the cool picture below at roderblog.com during a search for collages. It was taken by Jeff Roder at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Pueblo, Colorado. Neither Ann nor I have been there, but I’m sure in our travels we’ll wander through there as the ‘Eilers Bar’ is in Pueblo.
From Roderblog.com:
Here is a photo of the MB that I found on Flickr. It was taken by jwm1049.
Merlin has launched a blog for people who’d like to follow Hanson Mechanical’s projects. Merlin has also moved the shop into a new garage, which looks nice.
http://hansonmechanical.wordpress.com/
Nineteen Year Old Erik and I have been tossing a few emails back and forth over the past two days. He’s another one of these young kids who has found time to rebuild multiple jeeps. He shares his story and his jeep below:
Erik writes, “I started getting interested in restoring jeeps when my neighbor got a 43 MB and convinced me to start WW2 Reenacting. I decided that I wanted to get one too and began saving to buy one, This led me to your site were I spent almost every day looking for just the right one. As I was only 17 at the time I didn’t have much of a budget to start with so I wanted to get one that wouldn’t need too much work. I ended up finding one in california and had it shipped here. When I got it I realized that the pictures didn’t reveal how much work would actually go into it.
I began going to reenactments after I got the jeep (It wasn’t restored yet so I couldn’t bring it) and saw that the majority of reenactors who had jeeps did a work as you go kind of thing, Which caused them to not look very good. This made me decide that I would do a complete frame up restoration of mine.
It took me a year to get the jeep torn down, The frame sandblasted, I Rebuilt the engine, Transmission, transfercase, and did some bodywork to the Hood, Fenders, and grill. The body ended up being replaced as I don’t have the tools to do that. It was then rebuilt, Painted the correct OD green for the time and theater of war. I ended up making the stencils by hand and painted them onto the body.
I was able to bring it to the first Reenactment in October 2011. It was an airshow in Midland TX (I live in Houston). It was there that I was asked by a fellow reenactor to help restore his GPW. He had all of the parts he needed already purchased so it was a pretty fast restore (took around 4 months) with his help. I am now working on a 43 MB for a friend.
More photos of the jeep and My reenacting unit (Able company, 502nd PIR, 101st Airborne) at our facebook site (https://www.facebook.com/#!/ablecompany502pir)”
UPDATE: Mark pointed out that Jalopnik has updated the pictures shown below with background information about how why the “Chuck Norris of the Middle East” built the world’s biggest jeep.
(Originally Published 04/10/2010) Thanks to Rich for finding this information on Jalopnik! We saw an early pic regarding this jeep, but here’s the final product. Note the other large 4x4s as well. Ahhhh, the life of a sheik .. so much money, so little time!
FEATURED JUNE 2010
As promised yesterday, here are images of Claus’ Brother’s CJ-2A. Really great work!!
Claus writes, “I also promised you my brother’s nut and bolt restoration of his late 1947 CJ2a. Both of us are very fond of these vehicles – a passion that developed from a simple photograph of a CJ2a that my grandfather had on his farm in the early 1950’s (Photo attached). As we grew older our quest started and we both started searching to only find the right vehicle some 12 years later.
Parts are always a problem as they are not readily available in South Africa. The majority of parts are refurbished originals – although 60 years old, these are usually still more durable than any reproduction parts you can buy these days. When we didn’t have the right parts, we were always very happy to order from Walck’s in the US.
I am not going to give a description of the restoration – I believe the pictures speak for themselves. Perhaps it must just be mentioned that he is a bit of a perfectionist. As you look at the chassis note the nickel plated parts ….“bling” … they were purposely not painted. All elements that could get damaged by brake fluid or a wrench have been plated. The only other thing that is not quite standard is the positioning of the spare wheel. He liked the view of a complete wheel arch and the thought of a wheel’s weight on the body was a bit daunting to him, hence he opted for a M38 style spare wheel mount. He has gone through great efforts to save the body – again body parts are not available and having to ship these to Africa would have cost a fortune. So this is the best he could do with the limited access to parts.”
Below is the front housing assemply:
Here’s the rear assembly:
Here’s the chassis assembled:
Here’s a closeup of the front assembled:
See many more pics here by clicking the link below ….
FEATURED JUNE 2010
Claus contacted me a little while back telling me he was from South Africa and asking if I’d be interested in seeing and sharing some pics of a CJ-2A he rebuilt. Absolutely, I responded. So, yesterday I received pics and a story of both his jeep and his brother’s jeep, which you can see here. Thanks for sharing Claus!
Claus writes, “Its winter in the southern hemisphere and unfortunately this means wet weather for us folks in the Western Cape Area of South Africa. Sunny days are few in this time of year and I/we don’t plan many trips. It must be said that the nicest days are however also during the winter months – not too hot and no wind. All very positive aspects if you are day tripping with the old vehicles.
So now for the jeeps – There are not many flat fenders left in this part of the world – quite a few numbers of CJ2a were imported during the 1946-1949 for the purpose of farming. South Africa was also one of very few countries that ordered CJ2a’s in 1948 as Military vehicles. At that time the Union Defense Force (UDF) ordered 289 units, and these came in fact all standard from the factory in olive drap. Not many survived as they had to work hard on the farms or in service. Some that did continue to “exist” where built up as challenge vehicles and so the numbers decreased drastically. To date limited numbers are on the road – we don’t really have a vintage “jeep” club in the country so it is hard to tell how many are actually “alive”. It has however emerged that many people start to convert back to the original spec CJ’s which is nice.
I consider myself very lucky and after about 12 years of intensive searching, both here in South Africa as well as my home country Namibia, found a beautiful 1948 CJ2a in very good condition on a nearby farm. The Jeep stood for about 20 years on bricks in the owners shed so it has worked only for about 2/3 of its life and those must have been gentle years, because everything was still in very good condition. To top it all it had a complete PTO and monarch governor installed. The pto is currently off so I can restore it. I was also very fortunate to pick up a set of early WARN freewheel hubs (seen on the later pictures) So that in short is the story of my CJ2a. Attached are photos for reference.
Photo1: My Jeep when purchased
Photo2: My Jeep during a short day trip on a nice summer day in the Swartland district. (It just fits so perfectly into the landscape – water reservoir and windmill)
Photo3: My Jeep with new 10 piece canvas top ordered from New Life Canvas in USA
Photo4: My Jeep with original half cab installed
Photo5: My Jeep with new Half cab top installed
Photo6: My Jeep surf’ near Camps Bay
FEATURED JANUARY 2011
I was trying to locate some more interesting willys-related museums, but instead stumbled across the atlantic, landing in the Netherlands (back in time no less). The result were these 2 great images of old Fire Jeeps with extended rears and wonderful details. There are a few more smaller images of these jeeps at the Netherland focused website Brandweerforum. They have some other non-jeep firetrucks there as well.
FEATURED DEC 2010.
(NOTE: The link I had for this picture no longer works, but it was a part of the Getty Images)
I’m not sure if I’ve seen this before or not, but I don’t really care; that CJ-2A makes Elizabeth Taylor look mighty fine … or maybe it is the other way around.
FEATURED MAY 2009
There’s many more jeeps pics at the Life Magazine Photo Website.
Here’s how the Navy transported their rowing shell.
An MB or GPW pushing a Midget car to start it
An early CJ-2A and a post hole digger
FEATURED SEPTEMBER 2010
I didn’t know they made Willys postal right hand drive wagons! The Smithsonian’s Postal Museum Exhibit has some great images of early original vehicles used to deliver mail.
From the website, “In August 1953, the first postal jeeps rolled off the Willys Motors assembly line. The model, the first U.S. car in three decades to have right-hand drive, was soon being tested on postal routes around the country.
Carriers used these right-hand drive vehicles to save delivery time on their routes. They were able to more easily reach the mailbox without having to park and go around their cars, or reach over the passenger’s seat to deliver the mail.”
FEATURED IN FEBRUARY 2009
Matt’s provided us with a couple of projects completed by Edmund Angelus Automotive. If you are near Roanoke, Virginia and are looking for someone to handle your rebuilds, you might consider them as they have rebuilt a couple of beauties. Thanks for sharing Matt! You can contact Matt at 540-354-4321.
Matt writes: “Welcome to Edmund Angelus Automotive. Located at the foot of Bent Mountain in Roanoke Virginia. I do restorations and all kinds of custom work,heck I will paint a refridgerator if pays my rate of $38.00hr. The yellow jeep is a restoration w/a body kit installed. The Green CJ-3a is the second for the same customer, it also is a off-frame restoration with the original and complete make over with nearly 900hrs, the christmas jeep as it is called by the customers two little twin boys. These are taking an average of 18 to 20 weeks to do. I am currently doing B.J.#102, It is ’46 Willys Boyer Fire Jeep w/out the fire equipment. It found its way to me in literaly pieces and in lots of boxes. Now in week 19 I am acctually able to get in it fire it up and take it around the patch.”
Here’s a variety of pics related to these builds:
FEATURED IN JANUARY, 2009
So, you wanna shoot guns, dig with backhoes, race a suzuki, work a jackhammer, and drive a dozer all in one day? Where do you go? How about a Disneyland for Dudes?
The most recent edition of Wired Magazine ran a very interesting article about the Mannerspielplatz, which I roughly translate as a “play place for men” (I knew those 3 years of highschool german would come in handy someday). I went to the Mannerspielplatz, but even my rudimentary German isn’t quite enough to translate all the things you can do at this unique German park.
However, it did get me thinking — could you pull off something similar in the U.S.? Of course, the version in my head has an jeep/4×4 focus, but adding some big machinery along with some old automobiles, a tank or some other cool stuff might really be fun. Frankly, there’s all kinds of vehicles I always wanted to drive but never have had the chance. If the insurance and liability issues could be successfully negotiated, which I’m sure they could, then this could be a really cool idea.