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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. This section used to be split into jeeps, parts and other categories, but recent changes to eBay will require this information to be recoded.
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 .
FEATURED JANUARY 2011
I was trying to locate some more interesting willys-related museums, but instead stumbled across the atlantic, landing in the Netherlands (back in time no less). The result were these 2 great images of old Fire Jeeps with extended rears and wonderful details. There are a few more smaller images of these jeeps at the Netherland focused website Brandweerforum. They have some other non-jeep firetrucks there as well.
FEATURED MAY 2010
Despite some sketchy weather this Memorial Day weekend, I still managed to get into the hills. Sunday proved to be the best day, so I chose to head out of Boise on 8th street again — otherwise known by me as trouble road. You see, every time I’ve headed out that road, something has happened (one time, the fan stopped working .. last time, I broke the fender and almost got stuck near the hill top). This trip was no exception.
Fixing my Carb
First, let’s talk carbs. I thought I had gotten the carb running well, but hesitation problems continued over the past week. By Friday of this week, I was getting ticked off at not being able to floor it and go — instead, I had to accelerate slowly.
My solution: find a Carter/Edelbrock manual and get instructions. Sure enough, I found one online that described my problem. What I thought was the result of too much fuel was actually a problem of too little fuel. So, I increased my primary jets to .86. I also re-routed my PVC valve into the base of the carb. Those two changes made ol’ Lost Biscuit much much happier. Nothing like reading the manual ….
Now, onward and upward until …
So, with the carb functioning correctly, climbing out eighth avenue into the foothills went smoothly. As usual, I checked my gauges frequently, especially my temperature gauge. So, it was quite a surprise when I looked down and saw that the temp gauge had lept to 260 degrees! SHIT! I pulled over immediately and shut down the engine. I jumped out to lift the hood to let the engine cool more; however, much to my surprise it turned out the engine was holding down a ready-to-explode radiator hose. As soon as I lifted hood, the hose separated from a connection tube and a geyser that could be seen from Yellowstone NP let loose. If I wasn’t so pissed off, it would have looked pretty cool.
So, there on the trail I sit scratching my head. After letting things cool just a bit, I quickly found the cause of the problem — a wire had come loose at the base of the fan relay that was part of the original connection. So, I spliced around that loose connection and the fan started working again.
Now, how to get some water into the radiator? I had a total of one bottle of water on me, so I poured that in; unfortunately, I needed another 20 bottles or so. That’s when lady-luck arrived in the form of a puddle around 20 feet behind me — I think it was the only puddle along that entire road.
So, I took my bottle, gathered water from the puddle and filtered the muddy water through a shirt. After many trips back and forth, I got the radiator filled, cringing the entire time. But, I figured it would work until I got it home to drain and clean it.
Now, onward and upward for real …
But I was sure about one thing in particular … I was getting to the top of that road this time! And I did get there, all the way to the ridge road — finally! Once I got to the top, I was having too much fun, so I just kept going and exploring. And so, here are some pics from the trip.
First is a composition of images taken from the ‘road’ that ran along the mountain ridge.
On the north side of the ridge there is plenty of green, while the south side is pretty brown.
Here’s a bunch of sheep munching along the hillside.
I wanted to make sure I can get through the snow. Without a winch, I don’t want to get stuck.
Finally, near the top of the highest mountain, too much snow filled the road to allow passage. So, I have to save the very highest roads for some warmer weather 🙂
And here is the view looking west of this road. You can just make out Bogus Basin road which carves upwards to Boise’s ski area, Bogus Basin.
And yes, once I arrive back home, I immediate drained the engine of water and flushed it with additional water. I also changed the way the fan relay was mounted and simplified the wiring so that the damn fans won’t ever shut down again!
FEATURED DEC 2010.
(NOTE: The link I had for this picture no longer works, but it was a part of the Getty Images)
I’m not sure if I’ve seen this before or not, but I don’t really care; that CJ-2A makes Elizabeth Taylor look mighty fine … or maybe it is the other way around.
FEATURED MAY 2009
There’s many more jeeps pics at the Life Magazine Photo Website.
Here’s how the Navy transported their rowing shell.
An MB or GPW pushing a Midget car to start it
An early CJ-2A and a post hole digger
FEATURED SEPTEMBER 2010
I didn’t know they made Willys postal right hand drive wagons! The Smithsonian’s Postal Museum Exhibit has some great images of early original vehicles used to deliver mail.
From the website, “In August 1953, the first postal jeeps rolled off the Willys Motors assembly line. The model, the first U.S. car in three decades to have right-hand drive, was soon being tested on postal routes around the country.
Carriers used these right-hand drive vehicles to save delivery time on their routes. They were able to more easily reach the mailbox without having to park and go around their cars, or reach over the passenger’s seat to deliver the mail.”
FEATURED IN FEBRUARY 2009
Matt’s provided us with a couple of projects completed by Edmund Angelus Automotive. If you are near Roanoke, Virginia and are looking for someone to handle your rebuilds, you might consider them as they have rebuilt a couple of beauties. Thanks for sharing Matt! You can contact Matt at 540-354-4321.
Matt writes: “Welcome to Edmund Angelus Automotive. Located at the foot of Bent Mountain in Roanoke Virginia. I do restorations and all kinds of custom work,heck I will paint a refridgerator if pays my rate of $38.00hr. The yellow jeep is a restoration w/a body kit installed. The Green CJ-3a is the second for the same customer, it also is a off-frame restoration with the original and complete make over with nearly 900hrs, the christmas jeep as it is called by the customers two little twin boys. These are taking an average of 18 to 20 weeks to do. I am currently doing B.J.#102, It is ’46 Willys Boyer Fire Jeep w/out the fire equipment. It found its way to me in literaly pieces and in lots of boxes. Now in week 19 I am acctually able to get in it fire it up and take it around the patch.”
Here’s a variety of pics related to these builds:
FEATURED IN JANUARY, 2009
So, you wanna shoot guns, dig with backhoes, race a suzuki, work a jackhammer, and drive a dozer all in one day? Where do you go? How about a Disneyland for Dudes?
The most recent edition of Wired Magazine ran a very interesting article about the Mannerspielplatz, which I roughly translate as a “play place for men” (I knew those 3 years of highschool german would come in handy someday). I went to the Mannerspielplatz, but even my rudimentary German isn’t quite enough to translate all the things you can do at this unique German park.
However, it did get me thinking — could you pull off something similar in the U.S.? Of course, the version in my head has an jeep/4×4 focus, but adding some big machinery along with some old automobiles, a tank or some other cool stuff might really be fun. Frankly, there’s all kinds of vehicles I always wanted to drive but never have had the chance. If the insurance and liability issues could be successfully negotiated, which I’m sure they could, then this could be a really cool idea.
FEATURED IN MAY 2009
The next time you are in Perth, Australia, make sure you stop by and see Ben Carlin’s SEEP named Half Safe. Ben Carlin and his wife navigated their SEEP around the world back in the 1950s. I found two website’s that chronicle the adventure: David Brooks shows pictures along with the story and Leisure Wheels has a large article with a single pic. Below is the beginning of the story and below that are a few pictures. Ben Carlin also wrote two books about his adventure “Half Safe” and later ““The Other Half of Half-Safe”.
FROM DAVID BROOKS WEBSITE: “Ben Carlin (1912 – 1981) was born and attended school in Western Australia. While awaiting demobilisation after service in India in World War II, Ben noticed a US amphibious jeep among other war debris, and remarked “You know, Mac, with a bit of titivation you could go around the world in one of these things”. For some never-explained reason, Ben was not certified insane on the spot, and eventually fulfilled his dream ….”
>>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF THE STORY<<
Half Safe Pages
SEEP Pages:
FEATURED IN MAY 2009
UPDATE: I found a long discussion, details and the pic below at this website:
From this website, vectorsite.net, I’ll put some of the content just to make sure it isn’t lost.
“The AirGeep was first flown on 12 October 1958. Apparently it proved grossly underpowered, barely able to fly over a fence, and it was sent back to the shop, where the piston engines were replaced by a single 317 kW (425 HP) Turbomeca Artouste IIB turbine engine. The upgraded AirGeep flew in late June 1959. It weighed 1.1 tonnes (2,500 pounds) and could carry a payload of 550 kilograms (1,200 pounds), including the pilot.
The AirGeep was put through trials for both the Army and the Navy over the next few years. The engine was upgraded again to a Garrett / Airesearch 331-6 engine, which had a higher power-to-weight ratio. For Navy trials, which began in June 1961, the rotorcraft was fitted with floats, and redesignated the “PA-59 SeaGeep”.
* Piasecki wanted to build a bigger and better AirGeep, and the Army Transportation Research Command obliged them by issuing a contract for what Piasecki called the “Model 59K” and what the Army called the “VZ-8P(B) AirGeep II”, which made its first flight in the summer of 1962.
The AirGeep II was similar to the AirGeep, except that the aircraft was “bent” in the middle so that the rotors were tilted fore and aft, it seems to improve forward flight characteristics. The AirGeep II used twin 298 kW (400 SHP) Turbomeca Artouste IIC turboshaft engines, once again linked so that if one failed the other would drive both rotors. One engine could also be coupled to the landing wheels to drive the machine on the ground. The increased power allowed a maximum take-off weight of 2.2 tonnes (4,800 pounds). The pilot and observer had “zero-zero” ejection seats, allowing safe escape if the machine was on the ground and standing still, and there were apparently seats for additional passengers.”
As we learned, the rotabuggy was a bit of a failure. However that didn’t stop the military from investigating some type of ‘flying jeep’. Now, I don’t know if the military really called it the Aerial Jeep or whether it was Life Magazine’s attempt to sell magazines, but the result is a pretty unusual flying machine:
After discovering Snow Canyon State Park was full yesterday, we decided to hold up in a motel last night. Because of the crazy winds, camping didn’t sound all that great anyway. Today, the winds have died down and we’ve found a new area to try: Cedar Pockets, Az, a small area a little ways from I-15 in the northwest corner of the state. It’s off of that one exit in the middle of the plunge through the tight rocky canyon as I-15 descends from St. George, Utah, to Littlefield, Az. So, we’ll see what we think of that spot. I expect no cell service there, so if there aren’t any updates for a few days, that is why. However, I will re-run some older feature stories each day for fun.
Here’s an image from the area (not ours):
