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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 .
UPDATE: Still Available.
https://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/d/1948-willys-cj2a/6830088003.html
(12/20/2015) “original motor and trans,runs good. 12v converted. updated radiator otherwise original.new tires,water pump, fully restored chasis. needs shocks. updated rollbar with 4 shoulder belts(2000). fiberglass tub, everything else original steel.”
This ad may have appeared multiple times, but appear at least once in the January 30, 1943, issue of Colliers magazine on page 29. Included below is a color version supposedly published in 1942.
This ad was published in the February 7, 1942, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, pg. 31.
UPDATE 3: There are some broken links, so I’ll need to spend some time and clean up this post.
UPDATE 2: Daniel Strohl over at Hemmings provided a solid background update about Wally Cohn.
“Born in 1924 in Germany, his father and stepmother sent him to the Chicago area in 1937 both to live with family and to escape the increasingly anti-Semitic mood in Germany. After Kristallnacht, his older brother Herman, his father Siegfried, and his stepmother joined him in Chicago. Walter flew 30 missions for the U.S. Army Air Corps as a bombardier during the war, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Star and rising at least to the rank of Sergeant. After the war, he served as a member of the chief justice’s staff during the war crimes trials in Nuremberg, then returned to the United States and founded W&W Foreign Auto Parts in Blue Island, Illinois.”
UPDATE: A reader named Clint just determined what type of vehicle Wally was using — A 1936-1940 Opel Olympia. Here are two links to images: Link 1 & Link 2. Thanks Clint!
ORIGINAL POST published in 2010: I ran across the images shown below and others. I didn’t think much of them until I looked more closely. It appears the builder, who I assume is Wally Cohn, has merged a 1936-1940 Opel Olympia with a MB to create, arguably, the first Jeepster-like vehicle, except it is four wheel drive. The ‘Wally’ appears to use the entire jeep drive train. If you look in back, you’ll even see this car can tow a trailer!
Who is Wally Cohn? I have no idea. I can’t seem to find anything about him, other than his name was Wally Cohn and he was nicknamed the Jeep King by photographer Walter Sanders.
Photographer Walter (Wally) Sanders worked for Life Magazine from 1944 to 1961. After growing up and leaving Germany for the US in 1937, he returned in early 1946 and lived the rest of his life in Europe, mostly in Munich. You can learn more about his biography here.
Because Walter was in Europe during December of 1946, and because these photos were snapped during that month, and because of Wally’s uniform (which Bob noted is an Army Airforce Uniform), I have concluded that Wally Cohn was a member of the armed services trying to merge cars and jeeps into a Wally vehicle of some kind (note the name Wally is displayed prominently on the dash in one of the pics).
This would be a great collector’s item — and a cool jeep too!
One of the places this Rice Krispies with a Jeep appeared was in the October 24, 1942, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, pg 6.
UPDATE: This is the original patent for the Jeep-a-Loader! The application was first filed on February 07, 1955, by the Minneapolis Freeman Mfg, Co. (Out of Minneapolis??). I am guessing that the Jeep-A-Loader Corporation was a subsidiary or offshoot from the above parent company. The drawing shows that the Jeep-A-Loader was designed to fit over a CJ-3B (perhaps a CJ-5 as well), though the only one I’ve seen documented is fitted on a CJ-3A.
The filing date likely means this was manufactured around 1955, plus or minus a year. The patent was granted February 11, 1958.
This photo is from 2009:
From June 2008: A reader named Ed sent me some pics of a rare find he just purchased: A front end loader for a jeep from a manufacturer called Jeep-a-Loader. The serial number is 1001. The hydraulics system is powered by a Hy-lo hydraulic pump, which has been used to power other Willys devices. You can see an example of a Hy-lo pump here and here. Here are some pics below.
UPDATE II: Bob Westerman shared a few cage photos he’s found during his research:
UPDATE: Dan tracked down this detailed explanation of the Squirrel Cage: http://weaponews.com/weapons/16209-a-system-for-increasing-the-patency-of-the-squirrel-cage-usa.html
The November 9, 1948, issue of the Evening Star ran a short article on the Squirrel Cage. A February 1949 issue of Mechanix Magazine ran the same photo (and it’s more clear).
The Evening Star photo and caption:
The Modern Mechanix photo and caption:
UPDATE II: Some additional photos of the Esslingen, Germany, recondition facility posted to Facebook. The first one is similar to the final photo in this post, but the details show it’s a different photo (probably earlier given these have soft tops and military markings.
UPDATE: This was originally published in 2013.
The Bechtel-McCone Remanufacturing Process rebuilt from an article in issue #122 of the Army Motors Magazine Winter ’08 by Lloyd White
One topic that appears in my new book is the 1941 attack on Russia by Hitler. Called operation Barbarossa and named for the medieval Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa it was the largest invasion in the history of warfare. It included three million soldiers, 600,000 vehicles, and 750,000 horses. For comparison, the D-Day invasion force was approximately 150,000 men. Even a month later, only a million men had landed on the beaches of Normandy.
Supporting these huge numbers required plenty of logistics. For example, the German military had 250 companies of veterinarians that, at the height of the war, were capable of servicing almost 100,000 horses a day. Near the end of the war, horses became vital for the Germans on the Eastern front, as the terrain was often too inhospitable for vehicles, if they had any running vehicles at all.
What does this have to do with jeeps? Well, despite their disposable nature, many people don’t know that the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Department created special facilities to rebuild jeeps (and other vehicles). Facilities were located both in the U.S. and abroad. Here’s some information about the US divisions.
I spent time last night, probably too much, gathering and organizing some information about these programs. The idea and much of this information came from Maury Hurt’s efforts to gather and document reconditioning programs. There are a variety of threads about these at G503. However, what I didn’t see was a place that gathered the information together as I have below. I expect to add to this post over time with more information about the international programs.
Steam cleaning jeeps at Bechtel-McCone’s remanufacturing facility in Birmingham, Alabama.
UNITED STATES REMANUFACTURING:
The following companies remanufactured a total of 16,176 jeeps in the United States according to Charlie Weaver via Jim Allen’s book “Jeep”. There are examples of the data plates applied to the dash of jeeps by the companies below. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find examples for all the companies. Next to the companies are the number of jeeps each is credited with rebuilding.
1. Bechtel McCone 4,986
2. Allison Steel Manufacturing Company Plate 2,865
3. Moore Equipment Co plate and a second one and a third one. 2,443
4. Higgins Plastic Corp 1,850
5. Stewart & Stevenson 1,750
6. W.A. Bechtel plate 1,555
7. Bishop McCormick & Bishop (no examples found) 343
8. International Diesel (no examples found) 267
9. Vancura Motor Company (no examples found) 66
10. A.M. Meyerstein (no examples found) 49
I found these plates in several locations (documented in the links above) and then organized them as you see. I thought it would help people who run into plates, but don’t know what they have.
UPDATE: There’s another Hammock State Park postcard on eBay. The original post is from 2013.
“This is a very cool black/white postcard that shows a jeep “Conducted Tour – Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring Florida” It is unused, but has a hand written date of 1955 on the back. It is in excellent condition.”
View all the information on ebay
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Original Post from 2013:
Highlands Hammock State Park ran tour trains from at least 1948 – 1962. As the first photo shows, they started with a CJ-2A. It looks like a set of benches on a platform with wheels. By 1962, the park shifted to CJ-5s. It also appears they added sides. I images that was safer. These are all from the State Archives of Florida.
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/56346
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/56343
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/78488
UPDATE II: This brochure is reminiscent of the Argentina jeep pickup, though this one looks much more CJ-5ish. This is currently on eBay.
UPDATE: Maury found a couple related photos. That top looks kind of similar to one of the DJ-3A tops I’ve seen in pics. Nice half doors, too.
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(Original Post 02/02/2015) This is a single page unfolding brochure.
“original part color folder , 9.5 x 3.5 folded , 9.5 x 11.5 unfolded , Spanish text. Produced by Kaiser, Argentina .”
