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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 .
Strangely, I’ve never experience anything in my jeep like these drivers did …. (I think these are both images from Life Magazine, too — I will have to double check this)
About a week ago I was looking through some images and noticed a couple jeeps with unusual paint jobs across the windshields. It turns out these were jeeps associated with the Constabulary Force in Europe. (I believe these differ from the ‘white mice‘ MPs)
Here’s an excerpt about the Constabulary Force from the history of the 2nd Constabulary Regiment, “The District Constabularies were regarded as an interim force during the time USFET [United States Forces European Theater] was submitting plans for a more extensive organization.
The Theater plan of organization proposed a Zone Constabulary composed of three Brigade Headquarters at the German Land or state level, each to include an Air Reconnaissance Squadron and varying numbers of Cavalry Groups; twelve Constabulary Group Headquarters; forty-eight Squadrons with 192 mechanized recon troops, 48 tank companies, and 48 Headquarter and Service troops. The total strength was to approximate 38,000 troopers.
Paralleling the planning and development of the United States Constabulary from its origin to the operational date of July 1, 1946, was the Mobile Security Control of the U. S. occupied zone (as we have already stated) by the District Constabularies. The Second Cavalry Group was shortly joined by the Sixth and Fifteenth Cavalry Groups to accomplish this.”
Back to the paint schemes, here are several pics with the unusual paint schemes. Unfortunately, I don’t have any color pics and the pics I do have aren’t great ones.
Walter Sanders snapped the 2nd and 3rd images as part of his work for Life Magazine.
Here’s a link to the site with this image:
Here’s a link to the site with this image:
Tim contacted me to note that he published more images about Willys and Fidel from Cuba on willysjeep.com. Here is a little history of Fidel and Willys along with a gallery of images. I previously published a post about Cuba here. Tim continues to publish some truly unique items!
Here’s a sneak peak of an ambulance. I haven’t come across too many later model Willys Ambulances.
Here’s a couple images from the Library of Congress showing President Roosevelt cruising the American troops in Morocco.
Here’s one image: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8e01227
Here’s a second image: morocco2: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8e01229
Gerald forwarded me some classic offroad postcards he owns. He says he’s got some more and I look forward to see them! These three cards take us across the country.
We start at Cape Cod:
Here is a card from South Dakota:
Finally, here’s a shot from the Oregon Dunes.
I really like the composition of this image. One thing I had not seen before was a gun mounted to the windshield. I guess they didn’t drop the windshield?
“Four men in a jeep at the Dusty Hollow Training Center included the following members of an airfield security detachment in Hawaii. Front seat (left to right): Private Lester H. Howell, Statesville, North Carolina and Private First Class Thomas Irvin, North Ashville, Tennessee. And rear: Private Arthur W. Blakemore, Saint Louis, Missouri and Private First Class Donald Wilson, Sanford, Florida” — Library of Congress
These images of maneuvers out of Fort Riley, Kansas, are some of the most calvary-like jeep pics I think I’ve seen. I suppose the older army cavalry hats contribute to that, too. These are all shot by photographer Jack Delano and hosted at the Library of Congress.
I seem to have the wrong LOC links, so I’ll have to grab them tomorrow and add them.
According to the Library of Congress, there was a serious scarcity of crude rubber, so reclaimed rubber made from scrap was required to meet demands. All Americans were encouraged to donate used or worn out rubber articles to the nation’s scrap piles.
As part of that campaign, Judy Canova, star of stage and screen, opened her personal salvage drive for scrap rubber in September 1942 by donating her personal slingshot to the drive. Behind here is an image I’ve seen before, but I’ve never seen it used as part of the ‘Save Rubber’ campaign.
Many thanks to Tim from the WillysJeep.com site for sharing these unusual images. He notes he has many more. I suspect over the next few months as the site grows it will become an important library of information. Thanks Tim!
The timing of these photos is fascinating, as early 1959 was the ending of the Cuban Revolution and the assumption of control of Cuba by Castro. Based on a few searches I just completed, it appears Fidel was a fan of jeeps and there are multiple references of him riding in a jeep.
And, in the last photo, that is Fidel himself.
Here’s a pic I’d like to get. After recieving the pics from Tim, I did a little research. Here is a video of an image of Fidel and Che Guerva posing in a Jeep in April of 1959. Unfortunately, I do not understand what the narrator is saying.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-rg8DEFuhE
Some of the folks over at the ww2talk.com website had a discussion regarding the Museo Storico Piana delle Orme – Latina (Italy). The museum describes itself as a “historical theme park designed to accommodate one of the largest and most diverse collections in the world: planes, tanks, locomotives, wagons, radio, weapons and hundreds of military vehicles, agricultural tractors, threshers, trams and coaches, tools and thousands of objects of all types and sizes. Dedicated to the twentieth century, the Museum is a journey through 50 years of Italian history. 14 themed to tell the traditions and culture of the peasant, the great works of improvement, the Second World War but also to show the vehicles and means at the dawn of industrialization and great toys with which children entertained themselves.”
For the purposes of ewillys, the highlight of the trip might just be the opportunity to check out these two modified flatties a little closer (ok, hopefully we could find many more highlights as well!)
In the foreground, we have a MB that has been converted into a tow truck. Behind, and to the left, is a jeep with a water tank(?) on the back of it. Maybe a water transporter? This photo was taken by “Captain Bill”.
Doing some research on Warn hubs this morning, I ran across this image on Warn’s corporate website. This may very well be the original Warn Motor’s Service station in Seattle, Washington, where Arthur Warn developed his early ‘Summer Hubs’ as Mike refers to them. Note the signs atop the roof, “Jeeps” and “Warn Motors”.
If there were just one of these trucks, i would call it a custom one-off project. However, two of these suggest to me this was a kit of some kind? It kind of looks like the prototype for the Willys we have named a Tender.
I wish I had found a complete picture of this truck from Camden, NJ, but it appears we’ll have to make due with a partial image. I think that’s supposed to be a wooden typewriter on top. Here’s the original link.
“Sitting on the wall are Mr. Robison’s nephews and niece, Tony, Annamarie and Joe Di Paola Jr. In the background, parked on the Haddon Avenue side of 964 Pine Street is the Willys truck belonging to Robison’s Typewriter and Cash Register Repair.”
I’ve seen a few pics that show the jeep as a temporary place for worship. This is another image from Roy O. Bingham. The Library of Congress reports that in this pic, “Members of the Tenth Mountain Division, 605th Artillery Battalion, attend a Protestant Easter religious service at Rocca Pitigliano, Italy, conducted by Chaplain William H. Bell. In the foreground, four men bow their heads together. Corporal Ralph Squires sits at a portable organ and two soldiers face the Chaplain who stands in front of his jeep draped with a white cloth in use as an altar for a small crucifix.”
UPDATE: I added this post in January of last year with just the single image (the first one below). Today, David pointed me to the Tahiti-pacifique.com website that has a few more images, which follow the first image. You can learn more about these pics at that site.
(01/31/09) Robert pointed me to a collection of Life Magazine photos of old jeeps hosted at Google. Click on the photo and then click on it again to see all kinds of details.
I think at least some of these images are from Israel? If not, I believe they are from that general area.
The first one might be the newest. I’m not sure if the grilles and fenders are armored or not, but most certainly appear heavy duty.
Note how thin and tall the tires are on this jeep.
Now, that seat below can’t be comfortable for long drives!
In the two pics below, the people look like they are from ‘Rat Patrol, The Reality Series’. I think either the jeep in this first pic is a 1948 or the image was taken in 1948?
After seeing this ad multiple times, it got to me. The seller claims in each ad that the photo below was taken during the Prohibition era.
I mean, c’mon, how difficult is it to look up Prohibition (1919 -1933) and look up when jeeps were built (nothing before 1940). I mean, am I asking so much?
Now here’s a more complete version of the picture. Note the jeep is atop wood slats which are atop beer bottles.
Ok, here’s the best one I found. I thought I had posted it previously.
and a pic of the Andrew sisters .. is that them? Could be.
My jaw dropped as I opened the magazine. I was in my early teens (mid 70s). To this day, I’m unsure why my father hid a couple Playboy magazines in with my mother’s stash of old magazines (I’m guessing he never thought she would look there?). But, sure enough, in my hands was gold, my eyes were big, and it was coooool! And thus, that was my first introduction to Playboy.
I can’t say I’ve done much research into the history of Playboy, but during a search of vintage magazines in general, I came across a website called Stagmags.com, which appears to be a gathering and recording of many old ‘stag’ magazines that have since gone out of publication. It’s a reminder that Playboy had plenty of competition from day 1, but to Hef’s credit, managed to successfully carve out a successful niche, while many others failed.
Now, I only bring this up as a segway to one of two images I found on the page and which you can view below. Hopefully that provides a little more insight into the image.
Gerald found these pics. If anyone has or runs across any similar pics, I’d like to see them.
1. Here’s an ad for the older Armstrong tires:
2. A vintage 1946 stamped envelope top from Willys Overland:
3. During a search for the 1960 auto show pics, Gerald found this image from the 1965 auto show. He immediately thought of the show Mad Men. The girls may be as lovely as the ones on the show, but the men are much older (compare the photos below and you decide!
UPDATE: Bob also snapped a picture at Phil Nelson’s Place in Columbiana. You can see it below.
I’ve never been there, but these are some great pics of the place from Gerald.
“A small display outside of Phil Nelson’s place in Columbiana Ohio. It is truely a treasure.”
Here’s a variety of pics from Gerald. Thanks for sharing!
Here’s Gerald’s trailer and his jeep with Military Tires. The tires make a world of difference. You can see the jeep with the mini terras here.
Here’s some old dealership photos:
Damn, what a lucky kid this guy was … I’m gonna have to talk to mom and dad about this! I had to wait until I was 18 for my first ‘real’ jeep!
I can’t tell how young/old this photo is:
And this is just for fun. If you didn’t catch it, there was a fascinating documentary on the 2006 auction of Star Trek Memorabilia.
One of the more interesting early modifications for water fording is visible in the picture below. Note how the jeep facing the reader has the exhaust vented out the front of the grill with the muffler laying parrallel to the grille. I can’t say I’d ever seen that before.
The CJ-3A.info page notes: “The recommended maximum fording depth of an unmodified jeep was 21 inches. That is about the height of the fuel pump and transfer case vents. Any deeper and things would start to fill up with water. Even at this relatively shallow depth the Technical Manual (2) advised that the generator brace should be “pulled up to release tension on the fan belt and stop the fan from throwing water over the engine”. That would be important in order to keep water off the ignition system. During a combat landing the 21″ maximum fording depth was not adequate.”
Read more about the Evolution of Water Fording here
UPDATE: The was first published September 23, 2015: Perhaps one of the earliest wagons used as a tour wagon?
This unique tour jeep truck was featured in the April 1955 issue of Willys News.
