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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 is a neat photo of Warren Harber taken under a National Army and Air Force – Expeditionary Forces Institute sign in France: https://cdm17228.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/wwii/id/25
Warren only recently passed away in 2019 at the age of 96. There’s an excerpt about Warren at the Standard Democrat. There’s supposed to be a longer story on the paper’s e-edition, but I couldn’t find it: https://standard-democrat.com/story/2116511.html
A March 06, 1949, photo in the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph highlighted Newgren’s recently introduced bush and bog harrow. The Pittsburgh firm of Buyers Motors was promoting this piece of equipment and others as part of a product exhibition for Willys-Overland Motors dealers.
The January 1952 issue of National Geographic included an expansive article on the King Ranch in Texas, which at the time was America’s largest ranch. One of the photos included in the article showed a CJ-3A (in black) and a CJ-2A (in green) towing farm implements.
PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Locke using Kodachrome.
These pics featuring the newly designed jeep appeared in the December 05, 1941, issue of the Ithaca Journal, two days before Pearl Harbor. I feel bad for those women having work the line in a dress and high heels.
The blurb below states:
THE JEEP TAKES ITS PLACE IN ARMY AND IN DICTIONARY: Officially designated as “quarter-ton four-by-four trucks,” but known to the U.S. Army as jeeps, the fast little scout cars, being turned out by thousands to serve as liaison between advanced mechanized units and infantry follow-ups, now are recognized as among the most important contributions of modern American assembly-line methods to the service. Powered with a 63-horsepower, four-cylinder engines, the jeep has a four-wheel drive, can carry three men and a machine gun, and can tow a heavy-calibre anti-tank gun. The pictures, illustration jeep production and testing, were made at the Willys-Overland plant in Toledo, Ohio. Left (in our case top): Women employees at work on a jeep assembly line. In the rear is an assembly line of civilian cars. Center: The cars being tested on the proving-ground. At right (in our case at the bottom): Negotiating an open field choke with heavy brush.
This July 8th, 1943, article in the Oakland Tribune shares information and pics on the Ford assembly plant in Richmond, California. Note the rationing table at the top of the page.
This photo from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science shows Denver’s female Marine Reservists piled onto an M-38. The women were in their second week of training in San Diego.
https://dmns.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/DMNSDMS~4~4~170428~121051
PHOTO CREDIT: Denver Museum of Nature and Science, July 16, 1954.
“A jeep load of Denver’s Woman Marine Reservists arrive at a San Diego beach to enjoy some swimmin’ and sunnin’ as a part of their two weeks of summer training here at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. They represent the Woman Marine Disbursing Platoon, 1st 155 Millimeter Gun Battalion of Denver. The unit has just begun their second week.”
This m-38 fire/brush jeep has some unusual mods.
View all the information on eBay
“You are bidding on (1) 35mm Fire Apparatus Slide of Burrilville RI Brush 1 1952 Willy’s Jeep X-US Army
Slide is in excellent condition. If image appears to be cut off it is from my scanner. Actual image is fine in slide mount.
Original photographer retains the copyright on the image.”
These photos appeared in the Des Moines Register on March 17, 1943.
UPDATE: Here’s a side view photo of the Sno-Jeep.
PHOTO CREDIT: The Huntington Library, https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll2/id/10124
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Originally Posted April 10, 2021: This CJ-2A with duallies all around appears in undated photos taken in Los Angeles. Photographed by Doug White, the jeep is described as a “Sno Jeep”. Note the chains with mini-paddles on the front and the tall, extended exhaust in the back.
I’ve been unable to find any additional information about this jeep. There might be some mention of it in the Los Angeles Department of Transportation archives (if such archives exist).
PHOTO CREDIT: The Huntington Library, https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll2/id/10122
This REPRINTED 11″x17″ photo from eBay shows a Thrif-T-Van body on an unknown chassis with Kaiser-Willys printed on the side. Anyone have insights into this?
View all the information on ebay
“1950 ‘S KAISER WILLYS PANEL VAN TRUCK 11 X 17 PHOTO”
This 1944 video shows the early days following D-day. Not a whole lot of jeeps, but some interesting footage.
Various shots of American soldiers in street of village of Isigny. Fires are still burning in some of the wrecked buildings. Various shots of villagers returning home, passing American troops pushing on through smouldering ruins. M/S of dejected looking German prisoners resting against wall. Various shots of American soldiers helping civilians and rounding up more prisoners. They issue out advice and food to villagers from loud speaker van.
Aerial view of flooded area near Carentan. Point of view shot from jeep travelling along country road, American troops are resting in hedges. Various shots of refugees returning to Carentan. Happy American soldiers in the main square of Carentan, the World War One memorial is decorated with allied flags. The villagers come out of bomb shelters to greet the liberators. More shots troops advancing. Various shots of local fire fighters putting out fires in the town using hand pump.
Aerial shots of of Dakotas dropping paratroops over Northern France. Various shots of U.S. infantry passing through St. Marie du Mont. Various shots of British artillery unit firing field guns into the German lines. L/S of Sherman tanks of the British Army moving across fields. M/S of British infantry moving along country road. Various shots of American infantry moving through Montebourg, includes shots of American soldiers using a motorcycle-halftrack captured from Germans. American soldiers also seen operating remote controlled midget tank captured from enemy.
Various shots of Canadian troops evacuating their Public Relations H.Q. which has been hit by a shell. Various shots of Normandy farmyard where British and American troops are lining up for food. Army chef has made jokey menu board. More shots of Infantry on the road between Caen and Bayeux
Various shots of General Charles de Gaulle climbing down from DUKW (amphibious vehicle) on Normandy beach, before being driven off in a jeep. Various shots of De Gaulle meeting the people of France again. He is seen at the town of Bayeux, shaking hands and receiving flowers from cheering crowds.
Back on the beaches. Various shots of King George VI arriving on DUKW, he is greeted by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (aka Monty). The King wears naval uniform. Various shots of King at investiture ceremony in the field. He presents medals to soldiers, including the Commander of the Third Canadian Division. Troops cheer the King. The King shakes hands with Monty before departing.
This Union Defence Force video was titled Look Out! This was apparently filmed in South Africa. There are multiple clips of jeeps. No sound provided.
“Various shots of soldiers in training. We see them doing exercises, jumping over walls and doing forward rolls with bare chests. Then they seem to be receiving instruction on how to handle a jeep. Several shots of men driving jeeps and tanks over rough and bumpy ground. Some soldiers in a jeep crisscross over the path of a tank in motion.”
Pepperdine University’s Digital Archives includes a photo of Academy Award Winning Art Director Water Tyler in a DJ-3A Gala jeep. He was involved in a variety of movies from the 1940s through the 1970s. In this case he was working on the Elvis Presley movie “Fun in Acapulco“.
Here’s the trailer for the movie, which includes a brief photo of a DJ-3A:
The Internet Movie Car Database also includes a photo from the movie that shows both a Gala and the DJ-3A-mobile cocktail bar:
Was this movie the one that inspire Elvis to get himself a DJ-3A Surrey? Nope, according to the 3B page, he bought his famous Tropical Rose/Coral Mist 1960 DJ-3A from Sharp Motors in Memphis, prior to filming both “Fun in Acapulco” and “Blue Hawaii”.
This April 03, 1946, photo from the Spokesman Review shows Dave Zimmerman and his band/radio show ensemble stuffed into a jeep. With a Detroit transit strike raging, a borrowed jeep was the only way to get everyone to their radio show gig.
According to this page, Dave Zimmerman was a long time announcer at WWJ in Detroit. He hosted a popular radio program called Coffee Club and was on the air for Detroit’s first television broadcast from the 47th floor of the Penobscot Building.
Gayland shard this photo posted on the Navy Seabee Museum site that features Seabees working on a jeep and some other vehicles. The Navy’s Seabee website has done a good job of organizing its digital collections based on multiple factors (time period and location in most cases).
If you haven’t ever visited the museum, it’s located in Port Hueneme. We had a chance to visit back in 2014 while it was undergoing updates. I’m sure it’s even better now.
UPDATE II: Somehow I missed this second version of the Senators with Charles Payne driving down he steps on May 20, 1941:
PHOTO CREDIT: Florida State University’s Digital Repository https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A154424
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Published March 28, 2021: Here’s another, earlier jeep photo, including a dedication by Charles Payne, related to Senator Claude Pepper in a Bantam BRC-40. According to the Florida State University Digital Archives, Senator Robert Reynolds is driving the jeep, Senator Claude Pepper is in the passenger seat, and Charles Payne and Harold Crist are seated in the back. The photo is dated May 1941.
https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A117598
Also, according to a June 02, 1968, column by Larry King in the Miami Herald, there was a video taken of Senator Pepper riding up the steps and it was to be shown on TV on June 30, 1968. I was unable to find the video on the internet.
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ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 09, 2012: This pictures tells the tale of Senator Claude Pepper‘s bid for re-election as a Senator from Florida in the 1950 race. Like his jeep, Senator Pepper’s campaign crashed that year as well.
PHOTO CREDIT: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/36090 CAPTION: Addressed to George Smathers from his friend Carl L. Hahn, an accompanying note says, “Here’s what is left of the Pepper machine in Palm Beach County – Souvenir of your successful 1950 campaign.”
The accident led to a lawsuit against the driver and Senator Claude Pepper. The appeared in the August 04, 1950, issue of the Palm Beach Post:
This March 24, 1955, article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel shows Boys Scouts readying a jeep display to demonstrate both traffic safety and jeep camping.
Pictured are Bruce Donald, Bill Scout, Pete Schipper and advisor Charles Cloud. The group was affiliated with Explorer Post 89.
This press photo’s caption’s text and ID number looks identical to the one posted in 2019 (at bottom), except now the caption paper itself is trimmed and now in color (unlike the one at bottom).
View all the information on eBay
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Originally posted May 16, 2019: This press photo shows the lost point in the Burma Road (as of 1944).
“American Jeep on the Burma Road.
An American Jeep Rides through a section of the Burma Road in China that is cut right into the rocky mountainside. This is at the road’s lowest point of elevation, 2960 feet. Picture form the Chinese Ministry of information. Associated Press Photo EEM 10-13-1944 430P CNS.”
This looks to be a CJ-3A (the rubber seal around the edge of the windshield is one clue) with a Worman hardtop. Emily Osborne owns both the jeep and the farm.
https://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10736646
“Emily Osborne works an eighty acre farm north of Albert Lea; she is shown here checking the oil in her jeep.”
This photo shows Police Chief Schrage in the new Burbank airport “Follow Me” jeep used for the escort parking of aircraft. The aircraft in front of the jeep is a Lockheed Hudson, also known as a Lodestar. Note the camouflage in background. The photo is an 8 x 10 in. black and white photograph.
https://digital-collections.csun.edu/digital/collection/SFVH/id/3889
This National Archives photo was taken on Iwo Jima in February of 1945. The Original Caption read: Duck Row—Enroute to the front lines, a stretcher jeep travels a matting runway as it passes a pool of amphibious trucks near the beach at Iwo.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/32607197
This photo appeared in the August 21, 1942, issue of the LA Times, along with a number of other newspapers.
UPDATE: The University of Washington’s Digital Collections includes the below photo with a more accurate date (1947) and description. According to the UW Library, pictured in the top photo is Joe Woolfe and his grandson,
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Previously Posted February 11, 2019: These images were posted on Facebook and the toy jeeps attributed to Boeing. However, as a commenter pointed out below, these were actually produced by Western Toy Company in 1959. Here are some other examples.
(02/11/2019) These jeeps are pictured in front of the old Seattle Art Museum (we did field trips there in high school) which is inside Volunteer Park in Seattle, Washington.
This “Figment to Face” article about the jeep’s conception-to-reality story landed in a variety of newspapers across the US, though this is the best scan of it so far (which doesn’t speak too highly of the other scans, as it shouldn’t). I wondered how many other drawings were made that weren’t realized with the standardization of the jeep.
The article appeared in the Daily Reporter out of Greenfield, Indiana, on October 19, 1942:
UPDATE: Here’s an example of a Windsor, Canada, data plate, one of the CJ-5s that was imported from Canada to keep up with sales demand in the US.
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On August 21, 1959, the first Canadian-built jeep, a CJ-5, rolled out of the assembly plant in Windsor, Canada. Below are two articles and one advertisement that celebrates the acheivement.
This first article appeared August 22, 1959, in the Windsor Star and shows the actual first CJ-5.
This second article appeared September 19, 1959, in the National Post our to Torono, Ontario, Canada, and shows the actual Windsor Plant.
This third item is an advertisement that appeared in the August 25, 1959, issue of The Province, a Vancouver newspaper.
