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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 .
This Route 66 sign was just installed in El Reno a month ago.
Day 34: On Friday we drove from Clarmore, Oklahoma, to Clinton, Oklahoma.
On Friday we drove from Claremore, Oklahoma, to Clinton, Oklahoma. Multiple times we hopped on Route 66, but it proved elusive at times as well.
We started out Friday hunting down the Will Rogers statue in downtown Claremore. It didn’t take long to find it. Having read two biographies about Will, one thing I learned is that he was an early day blogger, always traveling with a laptop typewriter and writing when he had a spare moment. I can relate. So, I thought I’d show him how we do a selfie. He was a natural.
In fact, between our glasses and the hardware in our laps, you can barely tell us apart … (Hint: I’m the one with the ball cap). I could tell right away he liked me. After all, he never met a man he didn’t like, or so he said once.
Thanks to Derek Redmond for sneaking up behind me and taking the photo of me.
Our next stop was the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, which is also in Claremore. On our way, we passed this mural. Below I show two of the three panes (the third has been hidden by a tree).
Chris shared these photos he took from Friday’s Willys Rally in Oxford, Ohio. You’ll may recognize Scotty’s “Rat Fink” CJ-3A and Dave’s blue CJ-5 from the Paris, Illinois, post from a couple days ago.
This section of Route 66 between Miami and Afton, Oklahoma, is the last surviving section from 1922, though this probably is better put: the last surviving easily accessible section. It’s 9ft wide and bordered by cement curbs (though the curbs are even with the road.
Day 33: On Thursday we drove from Ellisville, Missouri, to Claremont, Oklahoma.
Our drive from Ellisville, Missouri, to Claremore, Oklahoma, part of which we did on Route 66.
Late Wednesday night, we repacked our jeep, as Ann and Jim had done a deal for some sewing items. A big thanks to Jim and Tracy helping my wife forget all about our day-1 trials (and for dinner). Thanks also to Jim for the tour around west St. Louis and along the world’s longest strip mall. Whether it’s true or not, I can attest it is long. I was also impressed with the variety of local restaurants and grocery stores. For example, Lion’s Choice, which I test on Thursday afternoon, served a much higher level of roast beef on a hoagie bun. Even better, they offer a gluten free bun with roasted turkey, perfect for my celiac and beef-protein sensitive wife. We hope to return to St. Louis and explore that city in the future.
On Thursday morning, we continue our journey west, following Jim out to Craig “Mr. TheFcConnection“‘s place. It turns out his home is the kind of place that would make Daniel Boone happy, deep in the country. First, it was out a country highway, then we ventured down a long gravel road. Next, we had to cross the kind of cement bridge that might make a city dweller nervous.
Finally, we had to climb a long, steep driveway that only jeepers could love. It was at the top of said driveway that Craig had prepared a welcome of his own for us.
Jim’s showing Ann the finer points of using the emboidering functions on this sewing machine we bought from him. He’s renaissance man of many talents!
Day 32: On Wednesday, we drove from Paris, Illinois, to Ellisville, Missouri.
We pulled out of the Ogle’s lovely Country Bed and Breakfast by following some picturesque back roads. This one was particularly pretty.
Our first stop of the day was the little town of Casey. To get there, we traveled down I-70. Normally, we’d have likely bypassed a town like Casey unless it offered something unusual. The residents of Casey understood this, so in December of 2011, to help draw in some traffic, the world’s largest Wind Chimes were installed near the town’s center.
As word about the chimes leaked, travelers began venturing off I-70 to investigate them. Realizing the potential of having big things, more items began to appear in Casey. According to one woman I met, the influx of visitors ramped up quickly, bringing in unexpected cash and visibility.
Now, the town has multiple “largest” items, along with some other goofy items. Participating businesses offer a checklist for visitors so they can be sure not to miss them. The town’s website touts its “Big Things in a Small Town“.
David, Russ and Ann in front of Russ’ “Alaska Or Rust Shrine”. Russ lives in Paris, Illinois. The Post title is a French translation of the famous line from Casablanca, “We’ll always have Paris.”
Day 31: On Tuesday we drove from Charleston, West Virginia, to Paris Illinois.
On Tuesday May 29th, we drove from Charleston, West Virginia, to Paris Illinois.
On Tuesday, we started from Charleston early, as we had a long drive to Paris. Our first stop of the day was Huntington, West Virginia, for gas. It turns out the city is considered by some to be an epicenter for opioid addiction. We saw this firsthand.
In Huntington, we randomly chose a Speedy Mini-Mart just off the freeway. As I gassed up the jeep, Ann went inside for a bathroom break. Of the 10 people I saw either milling about outside at the edge of the station’s property or having parked and walked inside, 6 looked addicted to something (funky skin color, haunting eyes … something wasn’t right). Inside the Mini-Mart, The conversation between a customer and the cashier included the difficulties of coming down too fast. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
A couple hours later, we headed into the heart of Louisville from the east, then turned north to cross the river into Indiana. This sent our nav system into a panic, partly because, according to our nav, we were not longer on a bridge. Instead, we were driving on the river itself. The nav system restarted navigation several times trying to make sense of the situation. It took a couple miles before everything righted itself.
Sometime later, while still heading north, we spotted a sign for Goat Milk Stuff. The billboards looked intriguing enough to learn more, so we took a short detour.
There are two buildings, one for goat-based health and beauty products, and the other for goat-milk related products and sweets.
The place wasn’t packed with foods, but what was there tasted good. As goat cheese goes, it wasn’t very “goaty”. Instead, the cheese was smooth and tasty. The store offered free samples. We left with garlic goat cheese.
Bob Christy, this is for Mindy, for you 🙂
With our goat needs satisfied, we left for Paris Machine, a business started in 1944 by Russ Lawton’s grandfather. Russ, along with Cowboy, accompanied us on the trip to Alaska last year with Charlene, the yellow Jeepster.
To make sure Ann and I didn’t miss his shop, Russ put out a couple beacons near the entrance.
Day 30: Monday we drove from Chester, Virginia, to Charleston, West Virginia.
On Monday May 28th we drove from Chester, Virginia, to Christiansburg, VA, then on to Charleston, West Virginia.
We said good by to my cousin today, but not until we’d done a few more chores around the house. We didn’t finish everything, so I guess we’ll just have to return soon!?!
About the time we were going to leave, the heavens opened, unleashing a torrent of rain upon our heads. Using umbrellas and a shuttle system, we managed to keep most of the stuff dry. I’m not sure how I ended up carrying the one small bag, while she had my backpack and my guitar, but she’s Army tough. So, you need not worry!
All packed, we began our drive toward Christiansburg, where we planned to meet with Chris. After our onboard Navigation failed us, Chris rescued us via the phone … side note: It’s a mystery to me how driverless cars will ever be expected to successfully navigate our world 100% of the time. I can’t tell you the number of times Ann and I have had multiple nav systems going, yet still managed to navigate places incorrectly because of GPS/Road/Nav flaws.
Day 29: We spent much of the Sunday working on my cousin’s house near Richmond, Virginia. She bought it a year ago and has discovered it is a little more of a fixer-upper than she’d planned. The more time she’s spent there, the more she’s found odd things. She blames it on the previous family, calling it the Exley house. Why doesn’t something work right? That’s because it’s the Exley house.
Me explaining that there are two kinds of shower heads, Speakman heads and all others. She had a Speakman and didn’t realize how good it was (IMHO). In fact, it’s the biggest one I’ve seen, having 8 water jets.
I felt like we ran into the Exley curse when repairing her downstairs toilet. The toilet had a flap that wouldn’t seal. What should have been a 30 minute job, something I’ve fixed in other places, took multiple attempts over two days. I don’t have time to write up all the sordid details, but after the fifth time of removing the tank, I took everything apart and rebuilt it one more time. That finally did the trick.
The list of to-dos … we won’t finish them all, but we made a good dent.
Needing a break from the craziness, we went for a short walk at Marymont Park, then drove to Petersburg to eat some lunch and then see the Trapezium house, which is odd. Learn more in the video below.
On Monday, We’ll be heading for Huntington, WV; Tuesday will take us to Paris, Illinois; and Wednesday will bring us to St. Louis.
On Friday we drove from Philadelphia to Chester, Virginia.
Day 27 & 28: On Friday we drove from Philadelphia to Chester, Virginia. I made a major miscalculation with this decision, as half of Philadelphia decided to head to the beaches early for the Memorial Day Weekend, so the 5 hour drive I expected took 9 hours.
We saw a few interesting things, but mostly it was a long drive in traffic. The drive on the Chesapeake bridge-tunnel was pretty neat. And, I thought that would be the most interesting thing we’d see.
But, no, it wasn’t.
As we drove north on I-64 through Virginia, about where Yorktown is, I was going 70mph in a 60mph, just keeping up with traffic, when this car roared up in the lane to my right, traveling about 85-90. Then, two other cars pulled up behind them. Finally, a noisy (muffler leak?) early black Chevy Yukon(?) appeared to our right in the slow lane, passing us and running at about a 2 O’clock angle to us, several car lengths ahead of us.
Suddenly, the rear driver’s side wheel started smoking. Then bits of tire started shooting across the highway. I slowed, not knowing what would happen. Then the tire exploded (no way he didn’t hear and/or feel it), flying across the middle lane and into our lane. The Toyota truck ahead of us didn’t have a chance and ran over the tire roughly.
I’d slowed enough to dodge the tire, but I wasn’t so much watching the tire as I was the driver, because he wasn’t slowing down. He was still driving about 55mph without the tire, bits of tire still flying off his rear rim. And, he didn’t seem to care that the tire was gone.
The Toyota truck that had hit the tire moved from the fast lane to the middle lane to either (1) complain or (2) notify the driver that he was missing the tire. Apparently, the driver didn’t care, as he never slowed down.
Seeing my chance, with a wide-open fast lane, I floored the jeep and created a large amount of distance between me and the Yukon.
Ann suspected the guy may have stolen the Yukon and didn’t want to stop driving. I don’t know why he wouldn’t stop, but it was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen.
So, we landed late in Chester at my cousin’s house. We spent Saturday helping her fix some things around the house. Other than that, we’ve been working on my cousin’s house in Virginia. That’s a nice change of pace.
Wurlitzer Pipe Organ at the Macy’s in downtown Philadelphia. Ron scored us a visit to see it and the Wanamaker Organ. I don’t know how these things happen to us …
Day 26: We spent Thursday guided around Philadelphia by my cousin Ron Emrich. Having worked in building preservation for most of his life, he is well acquainted with the city’s architecture. We walked down to the first hospital in the country, then checked out Reading Market, where we relaxed and has some launch. Next, we visited the former Wanamaker store, now Macy’s, which houses both the largest organ in the world and a Wurlitzer. Ron got a behind-the-scenes tour. It was a wonderful journey on a beautiful day. Ron will soon be making us some ‘Ron’garitas, followed by some South American food at a restaurant 30 feet away. So, this is the only post for Thursday. Friday we leave for Richmond.
Shown here is Washington Park, one of multiple large parks in downtown Philly:
Here’s Ron and I in front of a mural made of Tiffany glass. It was almost destroyed, but has since been turned into a Landmark. Ron and I are connected via my great great great grandfather Jacob Emrich (he still has the family name of Ron Emrich).
And, of course, Independence Hall:
We looked at a variety of things on our way to the Reading Market. Here are a few photos from the market:
