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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 .
Expanding from the previous post about Austin Champs, and continuing our brief tour of british 4x4s, the Austin Gipsy was a chance for Austin Champ designers to start from scratch using what they had learned from the Champ.
One of the most interesting features was an independent suspension design as seen in the drawing to the right.
Austin Gipsy Links:
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $2000
Brian forwarded this ad to me. I’ve never knew these existed. According to Wikipedia, these were built from 1951 – 1956 and were excellent cross country vehicles, apparently surpassing the capabilities of the Land Rover. However, though the Land Rover could only do 80% of what the Champ could do, the Land Rover cost much less to produce, so the Champ contract was eventually cancelled. Interestingly, the Champ had a 5 speed synchromesh tranny with reverse adapted to the rear drive line apart from the tranny, so that the Champ could do 5 speeds backwards as well. Finally, the Champ had no transfercase, instead the driveline went to the rear differential and then there was a takeoff to the front differential (which had a clutch to control 2wd/4wd mode). These would make a very interesting project.”
Once again, I’ve been searching the internet. The newest quest for information involves brake line sizes. Specifically, as I posted a few days ago, I pulled brakes lines and a combo valve from a late 80s Cherokee.
One of the things I didn’t realize initially was that the front brakes lines are 3/16″ while the rear line is 1/4″. The question I had was, does that matter? After some searching, I landed on the Hotrodders site where readers discussed this issue. The nut of the discussion was that this should not be an issue and, in fact, has been done on many newer vehicles….
While doing some research on brakelines, I came across certifiablejeep.com, a website that appears to mostly follow CJ-5s and CJ-7s. There’s some good information on the website.
“This site is dedicated to all that is Jeep. Mostly CJ’s are depicted and discussed on this site, but it isn’t limited to just CJ’s. We have been live now for for a little over 3 years and in that time we have met and talked with many people. The site has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception. It is still geared towards those who want to enjoy the Jeep lifestyle and gain and share knowledge about Jeeps.”
This afternoon I spent some time searching the internet to find some type of vintage mud flaps, without much success. I’m looking for some flexible rubber flaps with some type of 4×4 image or logo on them. Here’s an example of what I had on my last jeep (I should have kept those …).
Don’s got a beautiful CJ-3B that he’s clearly spent a great deal of time building. Only a labor of love would produce details as unique as ‘a 4 barrel with a holley from a scout’. If you don’t see this weekly driver around town, then he’s likely in the the hills of Colorado.
Some stats:
Vivek purchased a 1967 CJ-3B right hand drive Mahindra at the end of 2004. According to his early blog notes, the jeep barely started, was missing the front drive line, and generally needed a lot of work. When he finally did pick it up, on the way back it stalled, requiring the help of some local builders to move it out of the way of a bus. Fast forward several years later and you can see Vivek and his CJ-3B pictured on the right.
Among Vivek’s challenges was his effort to get the papers. Not only were the papers absent, but apparently the owner wanted to sell the jeep, but the owner’s son did not. It took a few weeks before Vivek could get the original papers, insisting the owner drop the price slightly further for all the trouble the owner caused him. You can read about the purchase here.
Learn more about Vivek’s recent engine rebuild, the jeep club he belongs to, and some recent jeeping pictures. Also, check out Vivek’s friend UBS and his one-of-a-kind jeep collection.
Vivek’s working for the next few months in Milipitas, California. When he heads back in December, he hopes to take back a lift kit with him. If anyone has any suggestions, comment below.
A gentleman named Vivek contacted me last night. He ran across ewillys while searching for some jeep parts. He’s from India and owns a CJ-3B that he restored. He’s currently working in California for a few months, before heading back to India, so he’s looking to locate a few parts he can take back with him (there’s enough jeeping in India that maybe I ought to head there and work for a few months — can I get a job with my MBA Vivek?). I’ll be highlighting him and his efforts in a post I’ll write in the next few days.
For now, I want to thank Vivek for opening up the interesting world of jeeping in India to me. After a few email exchanges, he pointed me to a gentleman named Mr. Uday Bhan Singh. Mr. Uday, it turns out, owns 45 flatfenders that he has collected over the span of 40 years. This month, autocarindia did an article on him, which has been copied and posted to the Jeep Thrills website, which is also Vivek’s jeep club.
Here are links to the article pages which is worth reading (once open, click on the page to zoom into it):
Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4
To say Mr. Uday is passionate about jeeps likely understates things; The article’s description of him as a Jeep Junkie is likely more accurate. One look at the images of his “great arc” jeep and you’ll see he not only knows jeeps, but uses and jeeps with them. Last year in his MB he navigated the length of the great arc, the 78th meridian that bisects India. The meridian itself stretches about 583 miles as the crow flies, however the actual driving mileage was just under 1200 miles.
To complete this drive, Mr. Uday went prepared. This jeep carries a few extra parts, such as 2 sets of springs mounted to the underside and a special contraption made of poles for helping winch out of difficult places that are strapped to the driver’s side. I highly recommend reviewing the pictures. Even the paint job is nicely unique (reminds me a bit of the follow-me jeep paint jobs).
There are several important lessons I learned from web and software development: 1) Real artists ship, meaning that sometimes you can’t have everything you planned or wanted in a project if you want to get it out the door; and 2) there’s always a 2.0 version.
With those lessons in mind, after several days of fiberglass filler and sanding, fiberglass filler and sanding, I’ve finally got a roughed out shape I can live with. The reality is, more sanding is necessary to get the slopes on the bump smooth, but I can live with its imperfectness (like anything else is perfect).
I have a little final trimming on the hood edges. After that, it’s time to pull it all apart, prepare the body for sanding/paint, drill the gauge holes in the dash, fix my brake line, and complete some odds and ends in preparation of permanently putting the body on the frame. Oh yeah, and clean up the garage — it’s looking pretty messy in the pictures!
One of the issue’s I’ve put off until now has been the air cleaner. I knew fitting an air cleaner between the hood and carb would be tight, a consequence of the tall Kenne Bell intake manifold. However, I thought I might sneak it in there, but after finally fitting the hood onto the front clip, I discovered that even a low profile air cleaner won’t fit. Unfortunately, the engine can’t drop much more (not that I want to drop and reweld the engine mounts for an extra 1 1/2 inches). The only solution left (that I could think of) was to put a bump into the hood. I REALLY didn’t want to do it. But, I need to keep moving forward on this project, so I decided it was the most expedient solution.
Once decided, I then had to decide the type of bump. After mulling it over, I chose to do a simple bump that follows the lines of the hood. The first step was cutting the hole in the hood. Next, I created a form out of a 2×4, putting a 20 degree edge, the same degree, but opposite, of the angle of the stripe on the body. I laid two coats of fiberglass and resin and let it setup. The good news is that the results are even and the angles correct. The bad news is that I’m not thrilled with the results. I’ve thought about adding some angles to the front to make the bump more interesting, but I think I’ll keep it simple and save the details for version 2 of the hood.
Here’s the hood precut
Here’s the hood with 3 sides cut. I used a cutting wheel to do the cuts and a flat piece of steel as a guide to create a straight line.
