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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 .
I got a great deal on this hard-to-find Fire Truck brochure on eBay last week. This is form W-240-5.
This photo of a Bantam BRC-40 advertising for the Butler County, Pennsylvania, war chest is undated. It was posted to Facebook by the Butlers Standard Eight, a group the preserves early vehicle related information pertaining to Butler County.
This WWII photo of the Willys-Overland Factory was shared with me by a couple different folks and was being shared on Facebook. Jerry Huber remembers driving on that wooden platform seen in the upper left of the photo.
Jerry wrote, “It was basically a wooden ramp supported with steel that ran from ground level to the roof of the 5 story structure of the main building complex. There are some pics of the MB’s parked on the roof that are also pretty cool. I usually drove that ramp daily when I was at the Plant and often parked up there. Going up and down that ramp was truly like being in a “time tunnel”.”
UPDATE: In 2019 I posted a patent filed in September 28, 1946, for a “body attachment”. Yesterday, on an unrelated search, I discovered the names of the same parties, under a different lawyer, related to a patent filed a month earlier (August 12, 1946) for a “body extension” for a jeep. The second patent is more detailed (seen at bottom) than the early one. Both were approved on the same date: June 5, 1951. See most of the body extensions produced over the years in this post.
Filed August 12, 1946:
Attorney Roy Whittington assigned half this patent to William Isler and half, jointly, to Julius Negin and Ludwig Gaspar, the two who also filed the patent at bottom. The whys are likely lost to history.
PATENT DESCRIPTION: June 5, 1951 R. D. WHITTINGTON BODY EXTENSION FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Filed Aug. 12, 1946 A TTORNEY.
Patented June 5, 1951 BODY EXTENSION FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Roy D. Whittington, Belton, M0., assignor of onehalf to William Isler and one-half to Julius A. -Negin and Ludwig J. Gaspar, J r., jointly, all of Cleveland, Ohio Application August 12, 1946, Serial No. 690,019 3 Claims. (01. 296-28) The present invention relates to vehicle-construction, and particularly to commercial vehicles such as trucks and the like, and aims to provide a practical form of extension for the body portion of such vehicles.
The invention has special reference tothe commercial type of motor vehicles such as have been known generally as jeeps in the army service, and which has a body of limited proportions and some forms of which have .an endgate at the rear end of the body. 7
Accordingly an object of the invention is to provide an extension of the body structure of this type of vehiclein the form of an accessory unit which is adapted to be mounted in the manner of a replacement for the endgate of the .vehiclebody and to receive said engate as a supplemental attachment serving the endgate function for said accessory unit….
Patent filed September 28, 1946:
I can only guess that this design was used by Newgren, as I *think* it was the only firm that built a collapsable body extension. The only thing is that Newgren had double supports, while the patent only shows a single support underneath.
PATENT DESCRIPTION: ATTORNEY Patented June 5, 1951 BODY ATTACHMENT FOR JEEPS Julius A. Negin, East Cleveland, and Ludwig J.
Gaspar, Jr., Cleveland, Ohio, assignors of onehalf to William Isler, Cleveland, Ohio Application September 28, 1946, Serial No. 700,006
11 Claims. 1
This invention relates, as indicated, to body attachments for vehicles of the type known as Jeeps.
As is well known, this type of vehicle, which was developed and extensively used during World War II, is coming into general usage for commercial purposes, but its use for such purposes is somewhat limited on account of its body shape and dimensions.
Another factor which has inhibited the use of this type of vehicle for commercial purposes is the fact that the spare tire or spare wheel of the vehicle is conventionally carried at the side of and adjacent the rear end of the body of the vehicle, in which position, it is so remote from the plane defined by the wheels of the vehicle as to constitute a hazard, particularly when attempting to park the vehicle in city streets.
The present invention has as its primary object the provision of an attachment or extension for the body of a vehicle of this type, which attachment or extension materially increases the carrying capacity of the vehicle. Continue reading
UPDATE: This brochure originally appeared on eBay in 2013. This image recently popped up on Facebook along side an actual Jack. So, I’ve included that image with this 1956 Brochure:
“Year: 1956
Type: Original Print Ad
Grade: Very Fine ++
Authentication: Dual Certificates
Image: Two-Color
Approximate Size (inches): 7.75 x 11
Approximate Size (cm): 20 x 28
Description and Condition
This is an original 1956 two-color print ad for the Jeep-Jack, from the Blackhawk Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
UPDATE: Don makes some good points in his comment below as to why there might not be any MBs pictured.
The January 1942 issue of Scientific American included an article titled “Meet the Jeep”, one I’ve been waiting about 7 years to snag. For some reason, though MBs were already being produced, no images of the MB were included. Instead, the first image shows a Ford GP. The second photo shows a Bantam BRC-40 T2E1.
UPDATE II: This version of the Power-Lock brochure was posted to eWillys in May of 2023.
I hadn’t seen this version of the Cutlas Power-Lock brochure. Given the 1959 date, this is likely one of the earliest Power-Lock brochures. This brochure doesn’t not include a form number.
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UPDATE April 16, 2020: The bottom brochure examples show a brochure from 1958, probably Cutlas’ first one. You’ll note that the brochure (and the hub itself) was branded “Power-Lock”. However, the 1960 brochure (shown just below this text) lacks any “Power-Lock”branding. Perhaps someone else knows why, but I can find no reason why. Maybe there was some concern about whether the patent would be awarded? (It wasn’t awarded until 1962).
1960 Cutlas Hub Brochure:
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Originally posted Feb of 2019:
This Power-Lock was the first hub patented (1958), copyrighted (1958), and sold under the Cutlas brand. As I mention in my Free-Lock article, for reasons unknown, the president of Free-Lock became the president of Cutlas. Even more curious, the last two model of Free-Lock hubs were WL-57 and WL-58.
And, what was the Initial model of the first Cutlas hub you ask? That would be WL-6, shown below (1958 Cutlas Hub Brochure):
UPDATE: This was originally posted in 2012, but it’s worth a repost.
Dad never had an overdrive in his jeep, but did have this catalog (No. 1842). I suspect he built a few of these for Al Carroll.
I’ve attached a few random pictures below, but the PDF link includes all the pages and is downloadable to your computer.
http://www.ewillys.com/pdf/Warn-Overdrive-Parts-Catalog.pdf
I bought these two items off of eBay. If I understand correctly, these are mats, produced by the Congress Electrotype Company, were formed from an original engraving. They were then placed wrapped onto a cylinder with other mats to form a newspaper (or magazine?) page. A metal mold is then created from that, which is used to print the pages.
I had erroneously assumed when purchasing them that they would be thick, heavy metal plates (before I understood how the process worked), but they are actually extremely light and pliable. I assume these were extras, never used? They may be a paper mâché of some type (they are that light), which was one of the processes historically used, or something similar,
I’ve taken pics from above and at an angle to show the depth. I have to say that I’m not really sure these were worth buying, but I doubt many survived (these are the first I’ve ever seen anywhere).
This wagon ad is 10″ tall by 6″ wide:
I was able to locate an example of this ad, but it’s a poor example (If you have a newspapers.com subscription, you’ll be able to see it more clearly):
These are likely some of the first brochures produced by Bestop. Here’s a look at the company’s history.
View all the information on eBay
These are fabric swatches:
This is a 1956 price list:
