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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 .
Dave captured a variety of photos about an unusual use for a VEC CJ-2A. I’ll post more about this tomorrow night. For now, here’s a preview pic.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $600.
This is how NOT to stretch the front of the jeep to accomodate a longer frame ….
Just a couple updates tonight. The kids have me sufficiently worn out, so I’ll wait until tomorrow to add some listings.
Paul sent this awesome pic of the most unique radio flyer I have ever seen. Paul reports from Alaska, “Sunday, August first, I went to an outdoor car show even though the weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall. Naturally, with the low lying gray clouds and the expected rain the turnout was less than in years past but with the summer season drawing to a close there were still quite a few interesting cars, trucks and motorcycles but what caught my eye wasn’t any one of these. I’ve attached a picture of this impressive ehicle, just looking at the picture causes me to grin and when I watched it being driven down the road to the show I about fell over I was laughing so hard.”
UPDATE: Brendan noted that this is indeed a LOC image. Here is a link to this image and others http://www.history.army.mil/photos/Holiday/wwii.htm.
I suspect it was just easier to stick the tree in the MA rather than his sleigh? It’s a great pic. I found this during an image search, but I could not locate the source. It looks like a Library of Congress type of image. If anyone knows of the source, please let me know so I can properly credit it.
Continuing with our museum series, Bill Maloney has captured a couple pics of this nicely restored 1943 GPW.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
(06/29/2010) The serial number of 130476 suggests this is a 1947 rather than a 1946.
“This is a ONE OF A KIND Vehicle. Its a 1946 CJ-2A Willy Jeep. It is tagged In Delaware as an antique vehicle. The body is handmade wood. It is the perfect vehicle for the beach. V-6 with extra transfer case and extra transmission. Tow bar so it can be towed behind your RV. In and out Locking Hubs. Sucicde Doors . Clear Title. Also log book of all work done and dates from original owner. Selling for a friend. Seller has the right to refuse sale and end auction at any time sitting for sale out side of residence. This is One of a Kind vehicle.”
UPDATE: Lylito pointed out that more information about these models and their New Zealand designer, Sandy Sanderson, can be read here. Plans are available, too. Jalopnik has also did a story about Sandy that includes details of the original drawings.
Randy forwarded me these amazing models. I’ve got more pics of the others and will forward them as an email.
Here are some other models (again, I have more pics of these if you are interested.
Keywords: Aluminum Cans; Beer Cans;
When I was a kid, jeep play/race days were held all over the Pacific Northwest. Whether at the sand dunes, in the forest, under some powerlines, in a boggy area of Everett or at an ORV park, it seemed the places a club could sponsor a playday were unlimited. For a variety of reasons, those days have passed and options for holding 4×4 events are limited.
This is why I was surprised to see a new area that allows some PNW racing (and motorcycle, trucks and atvs as well) called Cadillac Ranch MotorSports. From the website, “Cadillac Ranch Motorsports was started by three brothers who had some unused land that they decided to turn into a destination for excitement. Bring your ATV, motorbike, or truck to our track for a day of outdoor fun.” Check out some sprint racing pics here and some cross country pics here.
From the pics I saw on the website, a few friends and readers have already ventured down for some their outdoor fun, though I haven’t heard any feedback thus far. Even better, it’s only a stone’s throw from my sister’s place in McKenna, so I’ll have to swing by and check it out!
Here are some images from the Cadillac Ranch Motorsports website. This image shows the area in general, which looks great for spectating — you can see an entire run.
This is a pic from a sprint race:
And here are a couple pics from what I assume is a cross country course of some type. In the second pic you can see there is a pretty good line of racers ready to take their turn.
For the Fourth of July, I celebrated by heading back to the formerly snow bound roads near Boise’ only ski area, Bogus Basin. As you can see in this pic, the snow is gone (see snow pics here), the mountains are now in bloom, and more progress was made. More on that tomorrow ….
A 1950 CJ-3A: Today, Darrel had to talk to me. So he stopped next to me, while I waited at a stop light, rolled down his window, and started asking me questions — what year was my jeep, who did my roll cage, and more …
Now, I had no idea who Darrel was. However, in the time it took for the stop light to finally change colors, Darrel had explained through his passenger side window that he A) liked what I had built, B) had a 1950 CJ-3A, C) wanted his jeep rebuilt for his daughter, D) had his jeep nearby, and E) wanted me to follow him there. If I learned that much at a stop light, I wondered how much I would learn about him once we stopped to see his jeep.
True to his word, he lived very close and had a 1950 CJ-3A that needed some work — hadn’t been run in 15 years. It had a V-8 conversion, solid body, rotted top and plenty of potential. And, to my surprise, based on my jeep, he asked me to do the work (and will pay me). I don’t have pics of this just yet. I’ll share more about this if we go forward with the project.
Brian wrote to me late last week to share a sad tale. As a part of the continued testing with his new build, he learned the hard way what happens if the oil in the front pumpkin housing gets too low AND the 4wd somehow gets accidentally shifted into gear (how that happened is still a mystery to him). The result: his front pinion started freezing up, resulting in some ugly sounds and a twisted driveline. See the pics to the right.
The good news is that everything else continues to behave well.
UPDATE:**SOLD** Was $15,000.
Wes found this unusual, old school CJ-5 for sale at the Great Lakes Forum.
“1973 Super Jeep RARE BARN FIND 1 OWNER ,All the papers and doc.360 front and rear dana 44, 28,960.0 original miles Bought new and raced by factory employee.At the jeep proving grounds. Just very cool piece of history.check this out.$15,000. Or Make me a offer.”
My question: is all this stuff keeping this old willys truck together?
A reader ask me about replacing the stock single brake master cylinder, found on many early jeeps, for a dual master cylinder. Can it be done? It turns out there a variety of threads and pages on this alteration. Here are some of the links I found if you are interested in this mod.
1) http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/dual-master-cylinder_topic14193.html
2) http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45099
3) http://cj3b.info/Tech/BrakesDualMaster.html
4) Herm’s conversion kit: http://www.hermtheoverdriveguy.com/id2_dual_reservoir_master_cylinder.htm
OTHER BRAKE UPGRADE OPTIONS HERE
(Image from the CJ-2A Page)
I ran across this today at the Jeep Forum. Posted last year, someone was trying to identify it. This is the closest thing I have seen to a Wally Cohn Jeep.
A reader had mentioned at some point about a modification that involved replacing the front clip of a Commando with a CJ-5 front clip. I asked for pictures and Gerald produced some from the first jeep he owned. I really like the looks of the CJ-5 front clip on it.
He writes, “Since you are talking Jeepsters, this was my first ride. I bought it for 60 bucks in October of 1979. That means it was only 11 years old; yet look how rough it was. Compare that to a 99 vehicle today. Vehicles have certainly improved. Anyway, I though I was the shit at 14 with my own jeep.”
We got her going with another axle, tiger hair and spray can red from K-Mart. Dad would take it to the trail and then I could drive.
Then at 18 came the lift, new body panels and paint. I had to knock the corners off the grille and put a CJ-5 Hood on it.
I was on my way to Jalopy Jungle (got some new springs — but that write-up must wait) in Nampa when I passed by this CJ-5 sitting outside an auto salvage shop in Meridian. As soon as I saw it, I made a quick u-turn and snapped some pics. The CJ-5 itself appears in stock condition with a solid body and no engine. There was no for sale sign and am not sure what it being done to it.
The rear seat itself it something I’ve never seen. The tail gate still works and there is storage area under the back seat.
At JpZombie.com, Casey has uploaded 20 images from the late 40s / early 50s. Several of the images have also been loaded at the earlycj5.com website and a thread has popped up around them. A video was also uploaded (see below) that shows early color footage of the Yakima Ridge Runners (from Yakima, Washington) playing in what appears to be the Little Naches River and shows them traveling over the Naches Trail (you can also see video excerpts from Exploration Northwest which discusses the trail).
Below is a small version of one of the pics at JpZombie. In this pic, you can see on the sign ‘Wally Klingele’, who was one of the founding members of the Ridge Runners. Some of the pics at JpZombie appear to be pics capturing the Life Magazine Folks who put together these classic videos (ridge runner video 1 & ridge runner video 2).
This is also courtesy of JpZombie.com via Youtube:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5eIbxvuKJQ
Doug suggested I do a search at Youtube on “Willys Jeep Tracks”. I found two interesting videos.
In this video, a CJ-2A is fitted with tracks, one track on each side.
In this video, a jeep wrangler is fitted with tracks on each wheel
Randy forwarded me an announcement that Bill Mauldin has been honored with a stamp, shown below.
According to the email Randy sent me, “Mauldin, and his work, meant much to the millions of Americans who fought in World War II, and to those who had waited for them to come home. He was a kid cartoonist for Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper; Mauldin’s drawings of his muddy, exhausted, whisker-stubbled infantrymen Willie and Joe were the voice of truth about what it was like on the front lines.”
Here is a pic of the stamp, followed by Mauldin in a jeep.
Long time readers know that ever since seeing the movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream I’ve been a fan of the Tucker automobile. What I didn’t know was that in early January of 2010 a Tucker Convertible was finally completed after years of sitting as a pile of parts. It turns out there was plenty of controversy surrounding this convertible, specifically was it really a Tucker or simply a Tucker look-a-like built from left over parts. You can read some history of the Tucker and the Convertible here.
Well, after much discussion, enough information has been unearthed to assure most people (can’t make everyone happy) that Tucker had been working on a convertible when the company was forced into bankruptcy and was labeled Tucker #57. Though it took multiple people and 60 years, Benchmark Classics, near Madison, Wi (a place I used to call home) finally has put this beauty together (restoration images).
Here are an image and a video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Wt9cVlngI
UPDATE: Was $600. **SOLD**
“Willys Jeep. 49-51 Willys Jeep CJ-l. Customer fiberglass cab. Local San Diego Truc, 4cly, 4SP, P.T.O- 4WD. All there, Black plates, Not running. Project, lots of potential. Former Glass Truck. RARE- No paperwork. $600 OBO.”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $1500.
On a trip to Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho, Dan discovered this unusual project. Underneath all the modifications is a 1943 GPW. What’s amazing to me is that, all things considered, it doesn’t look all that bad. Someone certainly cobbled together a variety of vehicles, along with a healthy supply of diamond plating to keep this vehicle on the road. No doubt it was better than sporting a soft top in cold weather.
Steve was wondering if any readers knew anything about this aftermarket bumper found on some trucks (I’ll have to look back at some other images, but I know I’ve seen this or something similar on other trucks). I guess it is time to add a ‘bumper mod’ section to the modifications area.
Steve writes, “I Have the following wagon bumper and wondered if anyone knew anything about it? The tag says Ricks Trailer Works, 2003 East Van Buren Street, Phoenix, Arizona. I used to see these on a few wagons, but haven’t in quite a while. My wagon with this came out of Utah. It looks like a nice practical bumper, but haven’t decided how to use it yet. Thought it might be a modification people find interesting.”
UPDATE: Steve found a 2nd patent for an alternative Dually system. I’ve moved both Dually patent information to the New Dually Page.
In early April of 2010, Kurtis found a solid looking, stock 1950 CJ-3A named Ike that he plans to restore to off-the-dealer-floor condition. He’s built a website (http://kurtisfranklin.com/blog/) to chronicle his restoration adventures and recently provided some good details on a V-Cell Radiator.
Good luck on your restoration Kurtis; I think it will turn out well! Here’s a pic of Ike:
I ran across JeepGod’s website today. There’s a variety of interesting tidbits on the site, including an inexpensive solution for an air compressor, a nicely drawn out map for navigating Uwharrie National Forest in North Carolina, and the below list of Jeep Manufacturers, which provides some details into the specific companies that manufactured the vehicles we generally describe as Jeep or Willys. I hadn’t thought of organizing a list quite like this, so I thought I’d highlight it for readers. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, as there’s no FC-170 listed, but that’s a minor quibble I think.
