Hi all, the former MR. EWILLYS is here with a couple updates. First, a quick look at my newest jeep Otis (more info and pics at the bottom of the post).

2025 Review: The year 2025 proved both busier and bumpier than expected. Some of you may remember that I listed all my jeeps for sale last fall. Of those, only Lost Biscuit, the 1949 fiberglass CJ-3A, sold. Patterson, the 1956 Convertible DJ-3A, looks like it will sell shortly. The FC Tour Jeep and the Parkette-bodied racer remain in my possession. But, I did receive a new flat-fender jeep, an unexpected treasure.

The new book – Henry Farny: For 2025 I planned to get more rest. The plan quickly detoured. Shortly after the ‘ball’ dropped on 2024, I received an email from Justine Keller, Assistant De Production for Supermouche, a French video production company. In her January 2 email she explained that French television was funding a documentary dedicated solely to French-born Henry Farny, best known for his paintings of Indians in the 1890s and 1910s. She explained that the director of the documentary used to work with a friend of  mine (non-jeep) in Henry Farny’s hometown of Ribeauville. Since Henry Farny, who went simply by Farny, happened to be my great great uncle, Justine hoped that I might have some art, information or useful connections to Farny and Wurlitzer family relatives! (You can learn more about Henry Farny at a web site I built)

I began hunting down referencing to Henry Farny’s life. I immediately envisioned a possible book. I didn’t know much about him; in fact, I thought his story had been told in several biographical pieces in books about his paintings. I was wrong. His life hadn’t been fully described.

Farny was a large, broad man with a personality equal to his size. He looked nothing like an artist (some funny stories there). He had an adventurous upbringing, but then spent most of his life in Cincinnati. I thought there might be a few hundred references to Farny in old newspapers, but eventually discovered more than two thousand. It took me five months working part time every day (yes, I can be obsessive) to document them all (the other half my time was replacing the interior trim, something Ann hoped to have done).

The documentary crew appreciated the information I shared with them to the point that they requested an interview. In May I spent a week in Cincinnati. It was an adventure reminiscent of our eWillys trips. One contact, opened the door of another and soon I secured a special visit at the Cincinnati Art Museum to view their collection of Farny’s works. I got to eat meals at several private clubs, obtained access to view rare documents and paintings, attended a local German festival (food and drink on the house) and, finally, spent several hours with the French video crew, who were an absolute kick. I walked from the Farny family home on McMicken to downtown Cincinnati, the same one and a half mile walk my great great grandmother, Leonie Farny (later Leonie Wurlitzer), made daily when she worked in downtown Cincinnati during her early twenties. I spent time downtown where Farny spent time. I got an exclusive invitation to attend a Cincinnati Literary Club meeting, a club of which Farny was a member for several decades. That they, a bunch of readers, recognized the biography’s value is a good sign for the book. Now I just have to write it well!

By June, all seemed to be going very well. I just celebrated my 60th birthday with my kids and was prepping for a summer of projects and working on the FC when one morning I stopped being able to urinate … such a strange feeling. My flow had been slowing for a while and, after turning 60 that June, I’d planned to get a new primary doctor to address that issue and others, because I had become “a man of a certain age”. Eventually, I went to our local ER (I’ve never been so thankful that our local ER never has a line) seeking help. I returned home wearing a painfully stiff catheter.

A few days later I met my new GP, who seemed like she had her stuff together. She diagnosed me, due to my PSA of 125, and my otherwise healthy appearance, with an enlarged prostate due to a prostate infection. She believed the infection had caused inflammation that then clamped my urethra shut. She prescribed a six-week antibiotic and sent me home.

At that point I was quite happy to be working on my book. It was a great mental distraction, for I couldn’t do much that first month but sit. (And, as a result, I was able to finish my first draft of the book in November). I learn a whole lot about using and maintaining catheters.

I will save you from the tales of the subsequent hiccups in health care that occurred, but eventually it was revealed that prostate cancer and not an infection was the cause of my inability to urinate.

In September, I had a biopsy to confirm cancer that accessed the prostate via the anal canal, an unpleasant experience for sure. It confirmed I had Stage Four Prostate Cancer. A later test added to the diagnosis: Stage Four High Volume Metastatic Cancer, meaning the cancer was present, albeit mostly pinpoint spots, in several different bones.

Of course, this was all very unexpected! That’s when I chose to list my jeeps for sale. If things went downhill fast, I didn’t want to burden Ann.

We secured a University of Washington oncologist through the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in September. He, together with my new urologist, both great docs, developed a course of action. In late October I began taking Lupron, an every-three-month hormone therapy shot designed to stem the creation of testosterone, upon which the cancer feeds. I also began taking a set of hormone therapy pills. Finally, I began an alternative therapy, with my doc’s blessing, that has low risk and high return potential. Research showed that the alternative therapy can sometimes destroy cancer cells. Some bodies respond and some don’t. I am happy to share info about the alt therapy privately (d @ deilers.com) for those interested.

After only a month of these protocols, My PSA dropped from 125 to 19. We and the docs were thrilled. In early January, my PSA was testing again, dropping from 19 to 1.9. Again, excellent progress. Assuming this path, and assuming nothing else happens, my prognosis is 6 years and up. The prognosis appears optimistic at this point. I should note that other than an occasional hotflash and a little more fatigue (partly because I did almost nothing the past few months), I feel very normal.

In December, after wearing a catheter for six months (and having it pulled and replaced every month), I went through Aquablation surgery. That surgery used a high-tech system of water jets to ‘roto-rooter’ my prostate, carving out a wider path through the prostate. The surgery went smooth and my ‘flow’ is better than ever! These past four weeks without a catheter has felt like a blessing.

Otis: On Christmas Eve day my long-time friend Steve, truly a brother, made me an offer I never expected, a Christmas present that blew me away. He offered to gift me a jeep name Otis, a flat-fender that I had loved since I was a young kid. He could think of no one better to have it than me. The jeep was owned by his parents Jim and Patti Carter, who’d been long time family friends, who’d named me, and who’d been charter members of the Wandering Willys Jeep Club, which my parents were, too. Their sons, Tim and Steve, were like brothers.

Otis was the jeep that sparked my interest in flat-fenders in general (dad always owned a CJ-5) and fiberglass flat-fenders in particular. Otis was the GOAT and a legend in the PNW4WDA, partly because Jim was president of the association for a year. It was a great street jeep, an amazing trail jeep, and a trophy-winning race jeep. Otis could do it all.

Naturally, the situation isn’t all rainbows and lollipops, as OTIS needs some rusted parts replaced after sitting outside for six years, albeit covered by a tarp. It also needs a lot of cleaning and, eventually, a repaint. Still, there’s a lot there. It has a motor rebuilt by Jim not too long before he passed. Jim had significant experience building engines. The V8 (whose specs I don’t have at hand) is backed by a Ford-Toploader three-speed and a dana 18 transfercase that might have a few mods (unsure at this time). That the original transfercase (I am told) has survived three decades of racing, including drags, and years of jeeping, is a miracle. It’s got posi in the rear Dana 44 and posi in the front Dana 25. The front springs are reversed and the rears outboarded, which was the inspiration behind both of my builds. Most of all, the fifty-year-old fiberglass body, one of eleven full-body parkettes made, is in great shape. It could use some small repairs, but they are trivial to other fiberglass bodies that usually require significant work.

OTIS will delay the FC Tour Jeep again, but this is an amazing opportunity for me to own a jeep that inspired and meant so much to me for a variety of reasons. I’ve put together a few pics of Otis over the years:

The Carters acquired Otis sometime around 1965. It was a 1948 CJ-2A painted light blue. They painted around 1971?

Around 1973 Otis went through an entire rebuild and repaint. There were many customizations. and multiple different paint jobs. I do not have pictures of all the different paint schemes. The upper left photo is the most common of that era.

Another repaint and a few other changes, like the front loop on the fender, were the result of several rolls while racing. The loop was to protect the radiator and other parts during a roll. During this time Jim experiment with four-cylinder engines. The color scheme also changed, with Steve creating the blue/orange/yellow scheme. Eventually, the four cylinder was abandoned and Otis was returned to a V8 jeep.

The upper pic shows the 4 cylinder header. The designed allowed the header cap to be removed for racing, then easily replaced to direct the exhaust through the muffler for driving on the road.

Here is how Otis looks at the moment. I’ve done some cleaning and removed the top, the passenger seat, and a spare rear tank that sits in the cargo area.

Cheers to 2026. Hopefully, the news on my health remains good, my book turns out great, and Otis runs again. That would make for a great year right there!