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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 .
This four-page issue of the January 1963 Jeep Service and Parts News focuses on the J-Series vehicles.
This eight-page issue of the 1965 Jeep News volume 11 Number 4 begins with the Vigilante engine billboards, along with a strange story of a hardware merchant using pennies and dollars to buy a jeep only for the jeep dealer to return the favor and buy a washer and dryer from said merchant using pennies, but this time ones bathed in syrup and oil!
Page two contains various pics, while page three includes the story of a Jeepster that looked like new despite having been driven 332,800 miles! His rigorous attention to maintenance was key to his Jeepster’s great condition; it may not surprise you to learn that he worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I wonder what happened to that Kentucky-based jeep.
Page four showcases some international stories, while page five contains another story about Kent Frost and his southern Utah tours out of Monticello, Utah. Page six includes an article about the use of f-head engines in Miller’s Trailblazer welders, while page seven highlights Allen and Phyllis Ellis, who travelled extensively in Mexico in their 1959 CJ-5 (which may have been nicknamed El Osito, which apparently translates to ‘the bear’). Page eight highlights the use of Wagoneers at the 1964-1965 New York City World’s Fair.
This year ending December 1962 Jeep Service and Parts News includes an index page of 1962 topics. A short blurb on page two highlights the desire of some folks to switch their column shift DJ-3A to cane shift. The column shift as a novelty is neat, but it’s not something to be forced. It feels delicate (to me) when shifting. If I were driving the DJ on a regular basis, I would change it a cane shifter.
This December 20, 1954, Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletin introduced the Auburn Jeep-A-Trench to the Willys Special Equipment Line. No brochure was included with this document (unless it was removed).
This issue May 1949 Salesbuilder has seen some better days, but the info matters more to me than the condition. The cover boasts about “smooth” the new Jeepster is, but I never discovered what was so “smooth” about it, unless the company was referring to the new fabric top?
Most interesting to me was the pic on the last page, lower right. It shows the Palmer Dealership sitting right next to a Koenig sign, leading me to wonder if somehow the two businesses were related at some point? I knew both were out of Houston, but it never occurred to me that they might be connected.
UPDATE III: This is a merge post, adding a nicer scan of the Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletin, this one dated October 29, 1954, to the original Gran Hydraulic Lifter history post. This doc welcomes the Gran Hydraulic Lifter to the Willys Special Equipment list.
This 34-page May 1951 Form No. SWC1-10M-551 wagon comparison brochure is one I’d never seen before it hit eBay. The size is about 5.5″ by 11″. It’s not in the best of shape, but it’s there and readable. The front page has a rectangle cut out so that the table of contents on page three shows through cover.
I wonder if an equivalent brochure was made for the truck? I doubt anything was made for the universal jeep, as there wasn’t much to compare to it by 1951.
I wasn’t aware that Kaiser Willys put out a series of Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletins, but I now have examples of at least four of these that I will publish over the next week or so. It’s unclear how many were published or how long this lasted.
This particular example, dated October 08, 1954, welcomed Warn Locking and Automatic hubs to the Willys Special Equipment Line. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first time Willys included hubs in its Special Equipment line. As of 1954, Warn was likely the largest producers of hubs. Free-Lock quickly became the second largest producer of hubs, but that wouldn’t be until 1956 (See Free-Lock Hubs history for more info). To the best of my knowledge, Free-Lock was never added to the Willys Special Equipment Line.
This eight-page 1965 Jeep News Volume 11 Number 2 begins by announcing the Vigilante V-8 engine. Unmentioned in the news article was the response by recent purchasers of the six cylinder models, which was a unanimous, “Wow, I coulda had a V8!” .. or am I confusing that with another product? Pages 2-7 continue with more V-8 info, along with marketing and dealer info.
Page eight reports on the 1965 Chicago Auto Show. Jeep showcased eleven vehicles, all decked in a prairie gold color with black vinyl interior trim, which got me thinking … what did Willys Motors and Kaiser Jeep do over the years with their specially trimmed auto show vehicles? Looking back to the 1959 Chicago Auto show (Feb 1959 Jeep News), it was reported that all the vehicles at that show had been sold. Moreover, the display featured a full line of “Willys approved special equipment”, but by 1965 note the second largest word that appears on the display wall: “fun“… the word is written in what might be described as a playful font and style. Moreover, it’s hard to see a piece of special equipment (but the pic on page eight doesn’t show the best view; I tried to find some better pics). I’m beginning to wonder it the marketing firm hired in 1964 had something to do with the shift in perspective, from “useful” vehicles to “fun” vehicles. That could explain it.
This November 1962 four-page issue is all about the new J-series jeeps.
