Prior to the Kaiser buyout, Willys-Overland was a regular advertiser in the Saturday evening post, with ads appearing almost monthly from late 1941 (after winning its military contract) up until 1952.

From 1952 through 1954, the focus of the advertising shifted to the new Willys Areo line of vehicles, abandoning jeep advertising in the Post almost entirely.

In February of 1954, one ad for the Willys wagon was published, the only jeep-oriented ad of the year. However, the title of the ad was “The Common-Sense Car that Leads a Double Life”. So, even that ad was as much a “car'” ad as a “jeep” ad.

February 27, 1954. The branding emphasis remained on the ‘car’ being a ‘Willys’, rather than jeep, as it had since the 1951 ‘Willys Makes Sense’ campaign.

Given how similar the above ad was to the Willys Makes Sense campaign of 1951, It’s clear that even under the early days of Kaiser’s management, the advertising for the Willys/Jeep line had yet to be changed. That probably explains why no more jeep ads appeared in the Saturday Evening Post for the remainder of 1954 (and Willys Aero ads ceased after June of 1954).

Then, on January 8, 1955,  Willys Motors published a two-page splash with an ad for it’s new model: The CJ-5.

January 08, 1955, Saturday Evening Post

Subsequently, Willys Motors’ advertising in the Post waned again, absent throughout the remainder of 1955. It’s advertising in the Post remained dormant until mid-1956.

On June 16, 1956, Willys Motors published “Gets there … works there … anywhere!”. The ad also appeared to have introduced a new slogan: ‘Jeep’ VEHICLES BY WILLYS KEEP AMERICA ON THE MOVE (that was used by the company at least through the end of 1957 .. I haven’t check past that yet).

June 16, 1956, Saturday Evening Post, “Gets there … works there … anywhere!”

Once again, jeep ads started appearing on a regular basis. On August 4, 1956, the ad, “Gets there … works there … anywhere” was published:

August 04, 1956, Saturday Evening Post, “Traction … Action … Satisfaction!”

Willys Motors continued advertising monthly with the same three-pane theme. These were the next three ads:

Willys Motors ads: September 22, 1956, “Goes more places, Does more Jobs, Save more money”; October 20, 1956, “Takes the lead, On the road, Off the road”; November 17, 1956, “Thousands … Millions … Billions!”. 

On December 29, 1956, the final Post issue of the year, Willys Motors interrupted its three-panel campaign to introduce readers, in a two-page color ad no less, to the new model of jeep: the Forward Control ‘Jeep’ FC-150.

December 29, 1956, Saturday Evening Post 2-page ad, “extraordinary! Now… the completely new Forward Control ‘Jeep’ FC-150”

As well see in a future post, the company continued an almost monthly advertising campaign through out the following year of 1957.

This ad, “Willys-Overland brings Farmers the advantages of 4-Wheel-Drive Power”, was published in March of 1948 most likely in a farm magazine (based on other ads the seller was selling).

View all the information on eBay

When I first completed the post on the early brochures and mailers created by the Kaiser Willys marketing team, I didn’t have a complete list of mailer examples. Below is what I believe to be the completed list:

Here’s an order form from 1955. At the bottom of the order form is a list of mailers, but the mailers lack form numbers.

These are the mailing brochures, but without identifying form numbers, I am not 100% positive these are correct …..

Farmer and Ranchers Best Investment: Whatever You Grow for Profit

Earth Moving Equipment:

Power Producing Equipment:

Jeep-A-Trench:

Service Station (Mr. Service):

They Go Through: Form W-1765

This 1955 brochure form W-201-5 highlighted the CJ-3B as part of the advertising standardization push by the Kaiser Willys marketing team.

1954 Form KW-1706 Brochures, early (orange) and late (green) versions.

UPDATE: For a few years now I’ve noticed that there were two versions of the 1954 Form KW-1706 titled ‘Jeep’ FARM POWER, one having an orange theme and one have a green theme. Since I owned an orange copy, I wasn’t in a hurry to get a green copy. Still, I was curious about why the newly formed Kaiser Willys Marking Team would publish a brochure, with the same form number, in two different colors, as that wasn’t a customary practice.

A few days ago I found a good price on the green version. When it arrived, I compared the two brochures. At first, I couldn’t see any differences. But, after examining the text, I discovered the reason behind the color change.

A small section on both brochures is titled “NEBRASKA TESTED”. Apparently, when the original orange brochure was produced, the jeep had only completed a tractor test (#432) using a jeep powered with an L-head, yet the company had applied to take the test using an f-head. At some point after the brochure was published, the f-head test (#502) was completed (which did show increased horsepower).

So, the company updated the brochure’s “NEBRASKA TESTED” text and changed the brochure’s color scheme, probably to make it easier to know which old brochures should be set aside and/or destroyed. At least, that’s my theory.

So, here’s a look at the two blurbs side by side.

Comparison of early (orange) and later (green) versions of the 1954 ‘Jeep’ Farm Power brochure.

Here’s a full look at the green brochure:

Continue reading →

UPDATE: I was finally able to get one of these off eBay at a reasonable price. It’s form W-1831 from 1955 introducing the new CJ-5. The back page (bottom pic) has some discoloration. The 3rd pic is a foldout, so it’s much bigger than it appears.

This March of 1962 brochure (form 62-03) includes a chart that highlights the performance claims of the engine vs. other engines of the day. It was part of a series of brochures from Willys Motors during 1962 that had ‘wing’ pages that opened horizontally. It’s hard to capture that sense using a scanner, but using a phone Madi those wings more apparent (see the second pic).