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About eWillys
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.
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 .
I found this cool and rare brochure for the ill-fated Sierra Dana 20 overdrive on eBay. It’s printed on 8.5″x11″ paper, so the marketing budget must have been tight (as I understand it, working capital was an early issue, which played a part in the demise of the company). A few years ago there was a post of an article that also highlighted this rare overdrive.
The following instructions and schematics were tucked inside the brochure above:
“Jeep Vintage Catalog on conversion components by Novak Enterprises Inc. Manufacturers of quality adapters and motormounts.
13 pages in good condition.”
This is the last page of the Press Release. One thing that caught my eye is that every jeep shown here, based on what I can see, came equipped with dual windshield wipers. I tried to discover when wipers were required on all vehicles, but did not locate that info.
This is part I, the History of Willys-Overland, from the Willys-Overland April 22, 1948, forty-seven page Press Release. Part II, the Jeep Line of Vehicles, will be published on Tuesday.
Thanks again to those who’ve made donations making it possible to purchase unique items like this so that we I can obtain and publish them for all our benefit. This particular item was poorly marketed on eBay. Only one page was shown and no description of the number of pages was included. I took a chance and it turned out to be a great piece for only $13!!
UPDATE: Here’s another version of the 24-page “A Report on The Universal Jeep in Conservation” available on eBay. You can view all the pages of the report here. It’s priced at $29.95.
In the summer of 1955, Edgar Kaiser Sr. provided testimony to the United State Senate, Subcommitte on Antitrust and Monopoly, regarding the car industry, specifically the history of the Kaiser Motors Company, it’s post war challenges and how/why it merged with Willys Overland.
There’s lots of interesting details in here, but my takeaway is that Kaiser didn’t believe Willys-Overland was properly leveraging the opportunities of the consumer market for four-wheel-drive vehicles. Moreover, Kaiser had a better dealer network for selling vehicles than Willys-Overland had been able to create.
So, some of this info is useful for understanding the mindset of Kaiser as to the challenges Kaiser Motors faced, before buying the assets of Willys-Overland, and the reasons the company purchased W-0. Given we will be covering the marketing aspect of this time period, it makes more sense why the new Kaiser Willys entity produced so much new literature for the sale of jeeps. Kaiser simply didn’t believe Willys-Overland execs were doing enough to promote jeeps and their capabilities to consumers.
Image 1 compares a WWII jeep used for testing vs. a CJ-2 (note the lack of a fuel inlet and the WWII grille; also looks like JEEP is printed on the windshield) received in April of 1945 for additional testing:
Image 2 describes an early drawbar experiment that was later ruled too narrow:The last image of the bulletin provides evidence that the jeep can get stuck:
I found this M-38A1 Installation Instructions Conversion Power Plant Heater Kit 32 page manual on eBay. It seems a well done and detailed look at how to install the heater kit. Hopefully, someone can use the information.