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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 .
Andy McIntyre built this model jeep with ingenuity and scavenged parts to help teach his two daughters, Ann and Phyllis, how to drive and use hand signals. He also planned to introduce them to local law enforcement. Eventually, he wanted to teach all the kids how to properly drive, as he noted in the article “Children of today are born into an age of speed … Everyone needs to sharpen his wits to keep step with this age of machines.” It sounds like Andy and his wife raised their girls to be tough and independent!
According to a 2016 comment on Pinterest, “This 1962 Willys Jeep was a gift to Carl Sandburg for his help in writing the script for the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told. It is on display in what was once the Goat Dairy building at Connemara, his home and farm for the latter years of his life in Flat Rock, NC.”
This photo appeared in the August 19, 1953, issue of the Dayton Daily News (Ohio). Interestingly, the original press photo does not have the helicopter in the background …
PHOTO CREDIT: August 19, 1953, issue of the Dayton Daily News (Ohio)
This video from 2019 proved popular enough that several folks have sent it to me. Stock jeeps can do some impressive things, especially when driven by someone who knows what their jeep can and can’t do.
Steve spotted this photo from the University of Kentucky’s archives. It shows a modified MB/GPW with a ‘house’ over it for weather protection. I assume the owner of the jeep was also the owner of Nita Electric. The image below shows only the jeep; you can view the full photo here.
Someone spent took some care to do a nice refurb of this jeep. The bolt details on the rims and frame look really good.
In 1953 Willys-Overland shared these mat examples of ads on one page (15″x20″) with its dealers. I’m amazed that any of these surprised, as it is printed on newspaper.
UPDATE: Started as a private endeavor, Chimney Rock was a tourist attraction for most of the 20th Century (more history here). In 1963 a Jeep Trail was added to the Chimney Rock and a tour jeep began ferrying tour groups up the mountain. The tour company had three modified CJ-6 tour jeeps. This photo was likely taken between 1963 and 1977, when the jeep trail became a walking trail. In 2006 Chimney Rock became a North Carolina State Park.
The photo below was taken from the website, but no longer appears on the history page itself.
“You are bidding on an original press photo of Hickory Nut Falls Tourist Jeep Chimney Rock Prk North Carolina. Photo has creases right corners & slight waving top edge due to too much glue being used to attach the information sheet onto the back of the photo. Photo measures 8 x 10 inches and is dated 8/5/1969.”
UPDATE II: I managed to track down all four colors of wagons on eBay.
The four known colors of the Wannatoy Wagons by Dillon Beck Mfg.
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UPDATE Posted July 2020: It turns out that I I had “Wanna Toy” as two separate words, but the brand name is actually “Wannatoy”.
From Chriscollectibles.com: Wannatoy, the trademark of Dillon Beck Manufacturing Co., produced toys made of acetate plastic. Based in New Jersey, they manufactured numerous toy vehicles (as well as doll house furniture, pot and pan sets and possibly other toys) after the end of WWII through the late 1950s.
From “O’Brien’s Collecting Toy Cars & Trucks” book, 1990, “Wannatoy was among the first toy makers off the starting block at the end of World War II. Of the millions of children born during the war, and the millions more who arrived soon afterward, a good percentage played with Wannatoys.
What seems to have been the company’s first offering, the twenty-five-cent futurist Coupe, was a hit toy for Christmas of 1945, selling a million units that season. With streamlined, Deco-influenced body and bible top, the Couple continued to sell well into the 1950s.”
Here’s an ad (thanks to Andy) from 1952 (available on eBay). The ad suggests there were only three colors of wagons, but doesn’t indicate what those were. So far, I’ve identified four colors (red, green, blue, purple … see them at the bottom of this post).
