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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 .
Gerald forwarded me some classic offroad postcards he owns. He says he’s got some more and I look forward to see them! These three cards take us across the country.
We start at Cape Cod:
Here is a card from South Dakota:
Finally, here’s a shot from the Oregon Dunes.
In this image, a large number of jeeps have been parked on a baseball field. The headlights display a V for victory. I searched for other pics or other information about these rallies, but didn’t stumble onto anything.
According to the Library of Congress, this is an Anthracite rally. The Jeep headlights form V for victory at a night rally for Pennsylvania anthracite miners in Wilkes-Barre on September 29th, 1942. Similar rallies were held in other anthracite area cities from September 28th through October 1st 1942.
Tim, from willysjeep.com, shared this Valentine message. You can download the full-size image from his site. He’s hoping to collect more old willys cards for holiday enjoyment. Tim also let me know that he has an agreement that will allow him to share some more great content.
When Paul isn’t working on his Stainless M-38, he travels Alaska repairing airplanes. He often brings along his camera and he recently sent me some of his pics. Here’s 3 images by Paul that caught my eye. Paul didn’t send any names to accompany his images, so I’ve presumptively added by own names:
I call this one — Ran When Parked
I call this one — Ran When Beached
And finally — Too Damn Cold to Run
I really like the composition of this image. One thing I had not seen before was a gun mounted to the windshield. I guess they didn’t drop the windshield?
“Four men in a jeep at the Dusty Hollow Training Center included the following members of an airfield security detachment in Hawaii. Front seat (left to right): Private Lester H. Howell, Statesville, North Carolina and Private First Class Thomas Irvin, North Ashville, Tennessee. And rear: Private Arthur W. Blakemore, Saint Louis, Missouri and Private First Class Donald Wilson, Sanford, Florida” — Library of Congress
These images of maneuvers out of Fort Riley, Kansas, are some of the most calvary-like jeep pics I think I’ve seen. I suppose the older army cavalry hats contribute to that, too. These are all shot by photographer Jack Delano and hosted at the Library of Congress.
I seem to have the wrong LOC links, so I’ll have to grab them tomorrow and add them.
Born in Normandy (near Saint-Lo), France, Eric says he always wanted to have a Jeep. While serving in the French Marines, he got the opportunity to drive Jeeps — In Africa and other places — which only only served to worsen his desire for a Jeep (yes, became a victim of the ‘Willys Sickness’).
Finally, in 1997, he found a 1942 GPW in the town of Carentan that needed restoration. If Eric is like the rest of us, he probably felt it would only take a year or two to restore it (I don’t have any pre-restoration pics); instead, the restoration took 7 years. However, the results speak for themselves — it’s a beautiful Jeep he named the Belly Flopper and in which he travels the countryside whenever he gets the chance.
While Eric’s family still lives in the Normandy area, Eric has moved to the central area of France, which is a bit cooler, especially in the winter. The reason Eric and I exchanged emails initially was because he was searching for a heater. I gave him some links on some newer heater options, but had no luck with any early heaters. If you know of any for sale, he still might be interested in purchase them. Just add a comment below and I’ll contact you.
Thanks for sharing Eric!
According to the Library of Congress, there was a serious scarcity of crude rubber, so reclaimed rubber made from scrap was required to meet demands. All Americans were encouraged to donate used or worn out rubber articles to the nation’s scrap piles.
As part of that campaign, Judy Canova, star of stage and screen, opened her personal salvage drive for scrap rubber in September 1942 by donating her personal slingshot to the drive. Behind here is an image I’ve seen before, but I’ve never seen it used as part of the ‘Save Rubber’ campaign.
While doing some other research, I found this interesting blog entry about the benefits of a Water Methanol Injection System. One of the more unique aspects of this is that the ‘fuel’ is simply de-icer purchased from Autozone. My question would be, why install a separate container; instead just tap into the existing de-icer container (of course, most jeeps don’t have these in the first place).
Mr. Greenwrench writes on his blog, “Before the Snow System I was always adding octane booster or buying 8 dollar a gallon unleaded Race fuel. Now with this system I add de-icer fluid(25%water75%methanol) I get from Auto Zone and I forget about the octane booster and race gas. The power increase you get, well that happens in a big way. How about 33 horsepower at the rear wheels with no additional tuning on the car.Just bolt the system on and go. The system goes on very easy and if you do have a problem their Tech department is superb!!”
You can read the entire article here or visit Snow Performance’s home page here. You can also read some other reviews about water/methanol injection here. Anyone ever tried this system or something similar?
Below is an injection system installed in a 1987 buick. It looks like a fun experiment to try.
Many thanks to Tim from the WillysJeep.com site for sharing these unusual images. He notes he has many more. I suspect over the next few months as the site grows it will become an important library of information. Thanks Tim!
The timing of these photos is fascinating, as early 1959 was the ending of the Cuban Revolution and the assumption of control of Cuba by Castro. Based on a few searches I just completed, it appears Fidel was a fan of jeeps and there are multiple references of him riding in a jeep.
And, in the last photo, that is Fidel himself.
Here’s a pic I’d like to get. After recieving the pics from Tim, I did a little research. Here is a video of an image of Fidel and Che Guerva posing in a Jeep in April of 1959. Unfortunately, I do not understand what the narrator is saying.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-rg8DEFuhE
