Roger shared this photo from Facebook showing another example of a sedan hardtop on a jeep (link includes other car-like modes, too). I’ve been amazed at how many different times this was tried (see other examples here).
Features Research Archives
More About The Barrel Cars
A few days ago I posted a video about the oil barrel cars in Thailand. Here’s some more info about them thanks to Bill.
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Video Oil Drum Cars Out of Thailand
UPDATE: More info here.
Bill shared this video about little cars/go-karts made from oil drums. Nothing jeepy here, but they certainly are creative. I want to test drive one, but not in Thai traffic!!!
Collecting Jeeps in the Dominican Republic
Antonio reached out to me from the Dominican Republic the other day. He told me he collects jeeps and was working on restoring an M-38. He needs the following parts: A windshield, the hood and the radiator front grill. Can be used but in good condition to restore. (If you think you can help him out with the parts he needs, email me at d@deilers.com and I’ll share his email.)
I wrote back and asked if he could send some pics. He generously shared the following pics and a short history of how he got hooked by the Willys Sickness.
“My first vehicle was a Willys cj3 b that I bought in 1989, after several years using to work on it, I sold it. Several years later, in 2002,
I acquired another cj-3b which was very poorly rebuilt and I decided to convert it to military originality, (M-606 Sand desert in the photo), then I acquired an M-38-a1 and rebuilt too.
From, that moment I have not been able to stop. Now, I have several military Jeeps which I have rescued and rebuilt as best as possible.
I also have other willys from Japan and another from Spain, Ebro brand.
In the future I intend to create the first jeep museum in the DR. It would be located in my hometown, Constanza, a military city located in the center of our island, which is the coldest and highest city in the country.”
Here’s a good pic of his collection:
This show one of Antonio’s sons jeeping with a 3B in the mountains of the Dominican Republic.
The ‘Jeep’ As a Light Tractor
Barry wrote a version of this article for “Farm Collector” magazine. It has been accepted, but he’s not sure when it will print. I was gratified to see he was able to use some of my research in it. I hope others can leverage their research with other aspects of eWillys.
Mystery Hardtop and Doors
TJ shared this ad for the doors (hardtop not for sale) out of Everett, WA. The doors are priced at $50 on Facebook. I don’t recognize the doors or top. Does anyone else recognize it?
“These doors fit a hardtop like the one pictured. They contour to the jeep body nicely and are complete with glass. Unfortunately the top is not available.”
1955 Blunder Boys Movie w/ Real Jeep?
Blaine spotted what appears to be a jeep in the background of this Three Stooges movie. The jeep appears at the 1:08 mark and is shot from a couple angles until the 2:35 mark.
Can you spot the jeep and what model does it most look like to you? To me there are elements that make it look like it was originally a jeep, but it also has some elements that don’t look correct for this particular model.
https://archive.org/details/166.BlunderBoys1955ShempLarryMoe
Buick V6 History Video
Bill shared this video that provides some history about the Buick V6. What the narrator doesn’t mention is that by 1965 installations of the Buick V6 were already happening in places like Salt Lake City, where a local dealer was installing them. At least one article in Four Wheeler Magazine also mentions the modifications necessary for a Buick V6 install. Unfortunately, my jeep mags are still stored, so I don’t have the Four Wheeler article handy to share.
(The good news is that we are nearly done with our master bedroom remodel. Once we move in there, we can remodel our ‘family room/office’, which is where we are sleeping right now, where I plan to display and shelve my books/binders until I can remodel the shop … one step at a time)
Tractor Field Books
Since this post about a 1954 Tractor Field Book ad for the Farm Jeep, Barry has been able to track down some Tractor Field Books and post the information at Farmjeep.com. If you are a vintage tractor fan and haven’t heard of the books, I think you’ll like them.
https://www.farmjeep.com/tractor-field-book/
This page from the 1951 Tractor Field Book advertised the Universal Jeep, but post of the book covers standard tractors:
Trench Art Exhibit at NOLA National WWII Museum
This article that Bill spotted mentions a trench art exhibit at the National WWII Museum, a place I still want to visit. I wouldn’t be surprised it there’s a few trench art jeeps there, too.
https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/article_6542294e-1592-11ec-b22f-479c562f0e04.html
Here’s one example of a trench art SEEP at the exhibit:
Snow Day
Today we received our first “big” snow. Anything over a few inches is a big snow for us. So, I’ll be shoveling and using the tractor to clear some area. Thankfully, this stuff should melt pretty quickly over the next few days.
Anyone plow with a quad or ATV/UTV? Is that heavy enough to do a decent plow job? Most of my plowing is pavement (about a half acre worth). We could use a small little runabout vehicle for the property anyway.
Maury’s Lighters
Maury shared a pic of four of his lighters. I don’t know the exact dates, but made my best guess as to the order they might have been manufactured. Maybe someone else has a better guess?
My guesses:
1) The Willys Motors is likely the earliest, possibly not long after the merger with Kaiser. It didn’t take long after the merger for “Willys” to take a back seat to ‘Jeep’, so my guess is 1953/1954.
2) The 4 Wheel Drive one is my guess for second, maybe 1954-56. Kaiser was ramping up the advertising and “4 Wheel Drive” was definitely a prominent element of that.
3) The yellow-blue logo is from 1957ish. That logo appeared on a number of brochures of that era, including this one from 1957.
4) I can’t tell if the red ‘Jeep’ light is plastic/glass or a combination, but I will guess that one is the newest one? It kind of feels like late 1950s or early 1960s to me.
Pics from Facebook
I don’t think I’ve shared this specific jeep-trailer photo. It was posted by Morihisa Ochi on the G503 Facebook page. He’s posted a number of interesting WWII-jeep photos.
Here’s another interesting photo from Morihisa Ochi. It shows a Ford GP that’s been converted into more of a truck and a radio jeep.
No date on this photo posted by the Maine Forest Rangers on Facebook:
This customized jeep was on g503, posted by Graham Thrussell.
Roger Martin pointed me to this jeep with a modified hardtop sitting on the back:
Roger also pointed me to this unusual tracked mb:
Mario Maipid posted this May 09, 1943, article to Facebook. It indicates the FTC gave credit to Bantam for creating the jeep.
Article About Importing a Mini-Jeep from Alibaba
Bill shared this article about one person’s experience importing an electric mini-jeep via Alibaba. Included is the cost of shipping and importing the jeep, which raised the cost of the jeep by about 40%.
Late 1940s? Photo of Jeeps & Men Welcoming W-O People on eBay
This old photo shows a series of early wagons lined up, along with a committee of men, to welcome the Willys Overland Motors Service School to Seattle. That might be Boeing field?
View all the information on eBay
“1950’S WILLY’S JEEP DEALERSHIP SERVICE MEN SCHOOL SEATTLE PRESS PHOTO ORIGINAL. THIS IS AN ORIGINAL PHOTO. NOT A COPY. MEASURE 8 X 10 INCHES. ”
“Submarine Jeep” Transmission Trouble
Bill shared this video. It is part of a series of videos about its creation and challenges.
A Different Kind of “Fire Jeep”
The video highlights the saving of a jeep that’s been through a fire.
Happy New Year 2022
The year 2021 was a bitter sweet year for us. We lost two people we love (our moms), gained a new home in Prosser, brought to that home the jeeps, yet to make everything work, I’ve had to let eWillys go, or at least leave it on life support. In fact, over the last six months I’ve used my computer less than I have since sometime in the late 1990s when I was using an iMac, one of those Bondi Blue iMacs; that was 2 x-wives ago! Wow, time flies.
Instead of working on the computer improving eWillys, I’m outside removing stumps, inside remodeling another of our interior spaces, or pondering where we are going to put a new barn. Instead of doing updates in the early AM, I am walking the dogs down the driveway to open the gate, eating breakfast, and doing some puzzles on my phone. Instead of pondering the narrative structure of my next book–October Gold, a book that intertwines Japanese Gold, American POWs used as Slave Labor, and the State Department’s denial of their reparations from their use as slave labor–I am wondering if I should just get an old jeep with a snow plow or get a snow plow for my tractor.
In other words, my mind is simply not focused on ewillys or jeeps. This isn’t just an isolated moment; It isn’t the result of contemplation following our mother’s deaths. It also isn’t the result of the fact that at age 56 I am now fully retired, meaning I don’t have to work (but being a work-a-holic, I have to be doing something). Instead, it’s been true since we bought this place.
This doesn’t mean eWillys will come to a dead stop. But, updates will continue to be infrequent and I don’t expect them ever to return to their full glory (Unless someone else wants to step in and do it). I guess the question is, what do I do with all the bits and bytes that constitute eWillys?
That is the big question, a question for which the answer has been elusive. Perhaps I can answer that question in 2022?
In the meantime, we’ll continue to remodel. This summer I hope to do more about redoing the shop area; My hope is to set this place up so we we can entertain folks, so we can hold some kind of annual vintage jeep event, something a little different and unique, hopefully in 2023. But, we’ll see how 2022 progresses.
I hope everyone’s 2022 is fantastic!
Wild Man Willis Ray Willey
UPDATE II: This post was originally posted in January of 2011 (yes, hard to believe it was eleven years ago!). The post covers some of the history about Willis Ray Willey, which is a pretty cool name for a site about vintage jeeps. Who else had a name that includes both “Willis” and “Willey”? Anyway, this post is full of some great and useful comments. It’s taken on a life of its own.
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UPDATE: Thanks to Mike for sorting out Willis’ real name. He was Willis Ray Willey, while his twin was Willard Roy Willey.
It might not surprise you that my interest in history has led me to become the family historian. As a part of my self-assumed title, I make it a point to look through the family albums and scan images whenever I’m visiting. This morning while looking through my grandmother’s album, which contains images from Fighting Creek, Idaho, the place her parents homesteaded in 1911 (they actually won a land lottery), I stumbled upon the unusual photograph of a man in an early motorcar that I show below. I called mom over and asked her if she recognized anyone in the photo, as I didn’t. She said she didn’t either.
About mid-day I was talking to my aunt (mom’s sister) and briefly described the photo. I described the guy as ‘wild looking’. Well, my aunt said that there was once this guy with the name of Wild Willy or something that used to be a colorful character around the Spokane area. I got curious about who this guy might be and why the unusually nice photo, for a photo taken in 1933, ended up in a family photo album.
So, I powered up Google’s image search feature and input a variety of search strings until I spotted a picture of a guy who looked like the guy sitting in the car. The story accompanying the photo said his name was Willis Ray Willey and, while he didn’t have a jeep, he had quite the unusual, adventurous story. So, I thought I’d share a brief summary of it.
To read more about Willey, visit this article from Nostalgia Magazine. Willey reminds me of the Camel Man, who Hein ran into a few months ago in Australia.
In the picture above, we appear to have Willis Ray Willey in his 1904 REO, the first year that the Ranson E. Olds Automobile Company built a car. This photo was taken in 1933 (note the ’33 on the license plate). The photo is taken with the Monroe Street bridge and the Spokane Falls in the background. Willey planned to drive this car from Spokane to the 1933/1934 World Fair in Chicago.
You’ll note that Willey is only wearing shorts. It turns out that Willey was a sickly youngster. After examining him, a doctor suggested that he improve his constitution by exposing himself to the elements. So, over time, he reduced the clothes he wore, eventually only wearing shorts whether winter or summer.
Apparently, that did the trick, as he never got sick, at least not until he was on his trip to the Chicago World’s Fair. See, it turned out that simply wearing shorts wasn’t very common practice and, in fact, wasn’t tolerated. People complained when they saw him and police would arrest him, with many arrests occurring on his way to Chicago. According to Nostalgia Magazine, he did make it to Chicago, where he was arrested again. However, this time they cut off his hair and beard and he promptly got sick and remained sick for 3 months.
Now in the photo above, you’ll note that along the side of the seat it reads “Postcards 3 for 25 cents”. One of the ways Willey made money was by selling postcards of himself; I guess he recognized just how much of an oddity he was.
If you look below, you can see two of the postcards he sold. One is of him on Treasure Island in San Francisco, with a dog, a coyote, a turtle and multiple possums (click on photo and scroll down to see closeups). The other is of him ice skating at LIberty Lake (thanks Jerry).
Yes, quite the character indeed!
1969 CJ-5 “462” Profile on Hemmings
Bill shared this story from Hemmings about a restored 1969 CJ-5 with the 462 package.
Saginaw Steering Conversion Video
Bill was kind enough to share this video. I don’t have time to review it, so I don’t have any comment on it at this time.
Video about History of Mitsubishi Jeeps
Again, I haven’t reviewed this video, but hopefully it’s done well.
Mahindra Roxer Review (1 Year Later)
Here’s one more video courtesy of Bill. It might be a practical vehicle for the right folks.
The Passing of My Mother
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
This morning at 2am my mother passed away. She was 82. Over the course of the year she’s endured strokes and several heart attacks, but it was especially in the last month that she faded quickly, both physically and mentally. I am gratefuly she went relatively quickly, unlike my father, who passed in 2019 and whose stroke in 2002 set him on a slow decline for more than a decade.
As many of you know, this comes on the heel of my mother-in-law’s passing in September; we surely didn’t expect my mother to follow my wife’s mother so quickly.
My mother was born in Seattle in 1939. Her father was an aeronautical engineer at Boeing, where he worked, initially, in the famous red barn, the original home of Boeing. He was a fun, silly man who loved woodworking, singing, and mischief.
Her mother was tough as nails, having grown up on a farm her parents homesteaded in Idaho. Because of this, Mom grew up with one foot in Seattle, a suburban teen, and one foot in Idaho, a farmer girl.
She attended Franklin High School in Seattle. That’s important specifically because her group of high school friends remained a tight group to this day. Her passing means that her group has dwindled to only five and all five are surely heart broken this morning.
After she married Dad in Seattle, they moved to Renton in 1963. She gave birth to me in 1965 and lived in that same house until we moved her in November to the elder care home.
When my sister got into gymnastics, my mother did as well, eventually becoming a judge. She worked as a judge at multiple levels for over 40 years.
Mom’s farmer-girl side got great joy out of her seasonal garden. We learned to pick strawberries, shuck corn, collect peas, and much more. During the summers we ate fresh fruit from our property: strawberries, huckleberries, black berries, blue berries, apples, raspberries, cherries, along with the fresh fruit and herbs. That was all her (dad on the other hand loved to grow trees).
When my sister wanted a horse, mom was right there, supporting her efforts emotionally and financially, support that continued right up until the day she died. This relationship and support of my sister naturally meant that they were closer.
I, on the otherhand, more independent, was not as close to her. Over the years, mom and I grew farther apart as our politics and other issues divided us more. My separation/divorce from my first wife in 2000 really ripped us apart and we didn’t speak for more than a year. It was actually dad’s stoke in 2002 that forced us to start communicating again. Still, and sadly, there was always a bit of distance.
From the time I started eWillys in 2008, mom often checked the site. She really loved to follow our trips and was a frequent commenter on the posts. She was always amazed and proud of the warmth, friendship and kindness so many of you shared with Ann and I on our journeys.
Mom was also a big fan of my books. She always wished I would contact Hollywood so they would make a movie of the Amber Panels book. She never quite understood that rewriting the book into a screen play was a non-trivial under taking, me for which I did not have. Still, I’ve always appreciated her support of that notion.
Despite our differences over the years, I never doubted that she was kind, thoughtful, and had a big heart. Having lived most of her life within a 10 mile area, she developed many friends and collegues over the years and those folks are mourning her this morning.
Godspeed Mom on your journey to join Dad.
Obviously, eWillys will likely remain lightly updated over the next week. Best wishes all for a better 2022.
Collins Brothers Jeep Collection for sale
Thanks to Bill for forwarding this video. There’s a lot of nice looking jeeps here. You can also learn more here: https://collinsbrosjeep.com/cj-for-sale/