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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 .
This brochure is from 1958, which might make it one of the earliest brochures. It was posted to Facebook by Richard Harper, which came from Sam Higginbotham.
Tom shared this ad. It’s the dimpled version of the hubs (the earlier version is waffled).
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/814188986408060/
Just a. few updates today. I got to get to painting this morning, as Ann is still suffering through migraines/auras (day 5), so is unable to paint (or do most anything).
Bill shared this video of Nicole Johnson tagging along on a stock flat fender run in Arizona. She does some of the driving, including a little rock climbing, which isn’t easy when you are driving someone else’s vehicle (so kudos to her).
There are a few comments along the way that aren’t quite correct. For example, the CJ-3A did not use the CJ-2A frame, but rather the frame switched near the end of the CJ-2A production into more of what would be a CJ-3A frame (no gussets, under mounted transmission crossmember).
This video is from the 2020 Fall Color tour and is narrated by Rick Pewe.
“Day 3 – Colorado Flat Fender Fall Color Tour The group divides for 2 different trails today. Join us as we cruise the Willys Lane on the way to Marshall Pass and we send Liam on an epic shelf road adventure to over 13,000 feet above sea level on Mt. Antero.”
This framed Jeep Gala Map brochure sold for $130 on an online auction (plus an additional $23% buyer premium and whatever shipping cost). I stopped at $50, as the map has a variety of ripples in it.
This Wellingon Jr. stamped lighter sold at auction for $45 on eBay the other day.
Bill shared this article about SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny and his failed attempt to use captured jeeps against the allies (though the second part fo the article about the jeep name is less informed based on the research I’ve posted). There are also some neat stories in the comments, including this one:
“The Hollywood actor David Niven was assigned to Montgomery’s HQ as a frontline liaison officer. Thanks to Bradley basing his 12th Army Group HQ too far on the south end of his operational sector Ike decided to reassign Bradly’s two northernmost armies, the First and the Ninth, to Monty’s 21 AG. Monty sent Captain Niven on a fast jeep drive intended to meet with each divisional and regimental HQ of those two armies with, information, codewords, radio frequencies, etc — stuff they needed to quickly integrate with their new AG assignment. Not being a hardcore baseball fan he had trouble getting through one roadblock until he mentioned his date with Betty Grable. The GIs let him pass with advice to “bone up on baseball, Dave!” Niven’s driver was Sgt. Peter Ustinov.”
Here is David Niven in a jeep years after the war for the movie “Before Winter comes”:
Buz is selling this unique windshield frame for the M-38. He has the paper work from the Government and work order to document its origins. Contact Buz Kanzenbach via phone 757 403 9964 or email buzkan @ att.net (remove spaces around the @).
“Split M-38 windshield excellent shape. This is a rare item! Authorized By Order of the Army, The Secretary of The Army. When it was broken during the Korean War it was transferred from a 1 piece two a 2 piece, to save glass. I know of only 2 frames in existence.”
Here are a few others from the archives that might be M-38 split windshields
1) This M-38 appears to have one: http://www.ewillys.com/2010/05/07/year-m-38-mount-vernon-wa-4000/
2) Possibly a modified one(?): http://www.ewillys.com/2014/06/03/1947-cj-2a-lexington-tx-4700/
Jim forwarded a FB post showing that the folks that bought the Bradenton, FL, jeep parts store has listed the contents at a price of $1.25M. (we previously discussed the sale of the store contents here)
There are some wondering vintage toys and signs and parts, but I expect that price will drop. The expense to identify, inventory, pack, ship, unpack, post online, and ready the parts for shipping is a massive and expensive undertaking I would imagine, which drops the value. That said, I sure would like a few of those toys and signs though!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfvqKXqLLmONDbPTpFzZbGg
Roger Martin bought this cool, Marine-made jeep.
He wrote, “I bought another Jeep. It was built by marine in August of 1948. He was a machinist on a ship during the war. The wheels are made out of solid brass. The toy is pretty heavy. I bought it from a guy yesterday who bought it in 1970 from the widow of the original owner that built it. The Marine that built it worked for Fisher body in Cincinnati, Ohio.”
In 1969, a local group in northern Utah launched the Golden Spike Jeep Rally, an event that occurred in conjunction with the Ogden Pioneer Days in Late July. I know for sure the event took place in 1969 and 1970, but don’t know how long it lasted.
Events included hill climbs at Rainbow Gardens and an Obstacle Race at Mount Ogden Park, both Saturday and Sunday.
This photo and caption were printed in the June 27, 1969, Hill Top Times (Hill Airforce Base):
This article and photo was printed in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on July 23, 1970.
Bill shared this video of Mr. Metalshaper showing some issues he encounters while rebuilding some L-heads. Check it out on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9hRYtIv0Tk
A photo from the May 30, 1959, issue of the Eugene Guard showing the FC-170 “EL Borrego” with the Boyds.
UPDATE: This series of articles was first published in 2015. I’ve updated with several additional articles and photos.
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(First published February 15, 2015) This interesting collection of news articles captures Howard & Ora Boyd’s 1958 trip in an FC to South America. The first article was published prior to the trip. The second was published during the trip. The third was published following the trip. I was only able to find one photo and it was poor at best. It may have been that the Boyd’s got the idea from the Schreiders, who did nearly the same route three years before them.
Howard Boyd died in 1993, but Ora Boyd lived until 2009, dying at the age of 106, meaning she was born around 1903. Living much of their lives near Eugene, Oregon, according to her obituary their year-long jeep trip was one of her all-time favorite memories. The obituary was published in the Talent, Oregon, Historical Society newsletter, so I’ve written them to see if we can learn more.
1. This October 31, 1958, EugeneRegister-Guard article discusses trip preparations. The Boyds had a custom camper built for their FC (though no articles mention the model of the vehicle — it looks to me like an FC based on the pic below). They named their jeep “El Borrego”.
2. November 09, 1958 Eugene Guard .. brief article:
3. December 14, 1958, from the Eugene Guard:
UPDATE: Today I removed the tube bender from its box, only to find that the collar for the tube bender had irregular holes that had been “patched” by welding two spacers to the outside of it. But, that modification meant that the bolt was no long enough, meaning one of the two sides of the collar would be riding over the threads. Given the importance of the collar, this “fix” is unacceptable, so this bender will get returned.
Below you can see that both holes are irregular, so a spacer has been welded to the outside. What are these people thinking?
The bolt next to the collar is the stock bolt. I happened to have a similar bolt that was longer and better for this application. However, given the poor quality collar, I will be returning this device.
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As mentioned, a couple weeks ago we had the estate sale, which consumed WAY too much of my time. First there was the setup. Then, there was the rain, so then we had to re-setup using part of the shop (which meant moving stuff out of the shop like the race jeep), hanging tarps to hide tools, etc. In the end, the rain stopped Saturday at 4am and began Sunday at 3pm, which gave us a decent window to sell stuff.
We sold or gave away quite a bit, but there were still multiple trips to donation centers, a trip to recycling, and several trips to the dump. Then, once completed, we still had to reorganize the remainder.
The good news is that a lot of crap left the shop, which gives me much more room than I’ve had. Also. good news, the weather has finally warmed up, with blue sky and no rain.
So, I finally returned to work on the racer, though the work was mostly grinding/cutting off the remaining pieces of the rear front spring holders and the former mounts of the side bars. With that done, I can now fit the new side bars.
Before:
After:
I’d prefer to take the whole thing apart to better clean up and paint the frame, but that can wait until winter. For now, I am focusing on functionality over style (though the green will be painted black before the body is installed).
With the grinding done, I’m not far from being able to begin work on the roll cage. The new cage will be wider (for the wider Parkette body) and roomier (so I fit better). To build the cage I needed to get some new tools.
My plasma cutter arrived a few days ago, along with my tube bender (from Affordable Bender). I was going to build another bender, but I cannot locate printed copies of my bender plans nor can I find the password to the PDF I received from gotTrikes.com (locked PDF .. and no response from the gotTrikes website for a new password). So, after some research, I decided to take a chance on the AffordableBender, which as gotten pretty good reviews.
The thing I am awaiting now is my new MIG welder, which was supposed to arrive around June the 9th. It is now expected to arrive June 29th.
Dave Morgan shared this video taken by his father. With some research, Dave figured out the video was from the 1960 Gold Country Classic (I like the ‘backing a trailer event’ idea; it’s something different), a jeep event held by the Sacramento Jeepers Jeep Club. There is no sound.
You can learn more here: https://www.oldwillysforum.com/forum/index.php?threads/cool-video-jeep-rally-in-n-california-c-1960.24095/
Jeep races used to be a near weekly event during the summer back in the 1970s. Below are examples of Pacific Northwest 4Wheel Drive Association (PNW4WDA) races held between 1967 and 1970 near my local Eastern Washington community.
It’s hard to believe gived the growth in the Tri Cities (an area consisting of three cities–Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, all separate by rivers) in southeast Washington that races were held near Columbia Point. Now, that area is either wetlands, parks, or homes. Here are several articles with names I’m familiar with. These races were held in conjunction with the annual Water Follies celebration, an event still being held, though without jeep races, though the unlimited hydros still run.
From the June 4, 1967, issue of the Tri Cities herald:
An article later in the year contained some great images (July 16, 1967 Tri City Herald):
The results of the race were reported in the July 24, 1967 issue of the Tri City herald:
The July 20, 1969, issue included this pic from the racing:
Two days later, the July 22, 1969, issue of the Tri City Herald published the results:
If you head toward Yellowstone, but it still remains closed (roads got his pretty heavily due to rains/flooding), you might detour to the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, Wy. This huge collection of military vehicles includes multiple jeeps.
George Bondora posted these to FB:
Jim shared this photo from a cookbook of the McDonnell Aircraft Company’s Fire Vehicles, including several jeeps. I tried to learn more, but my searches were a bust. Anyone recognize how the modified CJ-5 might have been used?
It was a beautiful morning in southwestern Ohio, so Roger took his wife’s grandkids to some breakfast this morning in his 1947 CJ-2A. it was was painted Jade Green in 1967.
His jeep still looks as good as it did when I drove it in 2013…
UPDATE: This is not for sale.
Roger shared these pics of an air-cooled engine he has. He showed it off at this year’s Willys Rally. It’s an air-cooled engine with “WILLYS” cast on the valve cover and intended for use as a generator, though he was told it was the same engine used in the M-274 Mule.
UPDATE: This updated post from 2012 now includes photos taken by David Carr at LA County’s Cabrillo Beach. The three photos below are on a wall as part of a “wall-of-fame”.
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From June 28, 2012: Over the past 100 years Los Angeles County has used a variety of vehicles to manage their beaches. As part of a retrospective, the article below shows a few of them, along with welcoming some new hybrids into the County system. All photos belong to LA County’s Life Guard Association.
Here are two GPWs (the pics were from a now defunct blog):
Bathing beauties were still posing on county lifeguard trucks in 1959.
Buz unearthed this CJ-2A Life Guard Jeep used by the city of Los Angeles (vs. the county). Though the caption accompanying the jeep suggests this was war surplus, it’s clear this is a civilian rig. The rear extension is interesting, though doesn’t look neatly done.
The Estate Sale: This past weekend’s estate sale kept us busy! Overall, it was success, but exhausting. Most importantly, we found homes for all kinds of stuff. Still, there are some dump runs and donation runs in our future, but not nearly as much as it could have been.
We have not yet sold the motorhome (my mother-in-law’s), though there was plenty of interest at the estate sale. We haven’t used it in a year and a half and don’t have plans for it, so we figured we’d sell it. We paid off the loan, so we own it free and clear.
2014 Sun Seeker 32800 miles, winter package, built on an E450 Ford Chassis. It runs great, has lots of storage and sleeps six. It has auto-leveling, a slide out, two awnings, gas/electric fridge, and more. NADA average retail is $63,300. We are priced at $65,000.
Perhaps the next best outcome of the event was meeting neighbors who had known the builder of our place. Many had known “Merl”, some fondly and some less so, as he was “a character”. His wife must have been a patient woman!
Miraculously, the pouring rain stopped on Saturday morning at 4am, giving us a little time to remove tarps and pop-up tents. The crowds were even and steady, likely a result of it being graduation weekend (we didn’t know that). The rain stayed away until Sunday around 3pm, when it began pouring to the point of causing some flooding in places across southeastern Washington.
As for Mom’s place:
Last pic from Mom’s place … the garage where several jeeps were built and rebuilt.
On Tuesday, we drove to mom’s place, probably for the last time, so it was a little bitter-sweet. After nearly 60 years in family hands, the property has sold. We met the buyers, who signed the papers Tuesday morning. They were a nice couple who are excited to be get the place, as it is unique. I walked them through the property, sharing stories and pointing out things they should know, which reminded me just how much work the place needs. But, that’s no longer my problem (thankfully).
The DJ-3A: After we get the shop cleared of the remain estate items, I will install Patterson’s new fuel pump, double check a few things, then he’ll be ready for sale.
Bob Smith assembled these pics into a video fo the 2022 Great Willys Picnic.
A big thanks to Tom for sending me some Willys Rally swag. He reports that he had another great time at this year’s Willys Rally! The pic below includes there printed posters from previous years that he sent me last month. The shirt fits great (I’m wearing it as I type this).
On Sunday I turned 57. The years seem to be churning by all too quickly! To celebrate my aging, I spent more time removing parts off both the green chassis and the black chassis (no updated pics of that). While spending time thinking and measuring how to use as much of the existing green chassis and black chassis parts as I can, I made an unexpected discovery.
The green chassis is 5 inches wider than the black chassis!. The black chassis is a standard size (29.5″ from inner side to inner side) and seems to be most likely a CJ-3A chassis. The green chassis has the side mounts for the springs and was most likely a DJ-5 chassis as some point. For whatever reason, someone decided the frame rails should be widened, so all the crossmembers were removed but one (which was simply cut and patched using angle iron). The rest of the cross members are all rectangular tubing.
Given the widening, I don’t feel the need to outboard the rear springs at this time (perhaps a winter project). Unfortunately, the wider frame rails mean that I can’t just reuse the sway bar on the back of the black chassis (though I can reuse the mounts). I just need a sway bar that is 5″ wider than the one I have.
I am awaiting the delivery of an adapter so I can try out my new YesWelder plasma cutter to clean up more of the frame and am awaiting delivery of my new MIG Hobart MVP 210 Welder (I have a very very old arc welder that’s a big workhorse on heavy metal, but I wanted something for finer work). I had considered something as cheap as the YesWelder MIG (it is well-rated, but some folks complained about support problems) and something pricier as the Miller Multimatic 215 (which came highly recommended, but may be more than I need right now), but finally decided to get something more in between.
Anyway, here are a few pics of the progress. There’s nothing particularly exciting .. just the drudgery of cutting, grinding, and smoothing areas …
The seat mounting frame (1″x1″) tubing was uneven and not the best system in my opinion, so I cut and grounded the welds flat:
With the seat mount frame gone, you can see the floor base (also 1″x1″ square tube). It’s not welded level (ugh), so it will likely go away as well.
The side rails needed to be replaced as they were built for the narrower body, so off they came. I also plan to do a side bar similar to the way the other frame is done (more on that later).
Also gone are the mud flaps on the back (racing requirement), as they were welded onto the inside of the rear tubes (ugh). I will cover the rear tube with plates to hide the parts welded inside, then will cut off and mount the flap system used on the other frame, which is a long tube welded under the rear bumper with flap mounts that are bolted onto the tube (again, more on that later).
We plan to have a garage/estate sale this weekend, so work will slow for a few days. At least I will finally be able to get rid of a bunch of junk that has filled the shop. As Ann has been finalizing stuff in the house, more items have ended up in the shop, so I will be happy to have this stuff gone and have more room to work.
Finally, I am awaiting a new fuel pump for Patterson (which has taken more than 2 weeks to get here). Once that is here, I will test things out once more, then put Patterson up for sale (essentially trading up for a different jeep, but I will announce that later).
