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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 .
Benita made this cool fused glass pane for the annual FC Saturday raffle as a dedication to Dan Horenberger and his love of the Military FCs.
Climbing on Weasels at military shows is allowed, right?? But, Ann said it was a good idea!
Today was another great day of jeeps!
We began the day at Hotel Hovel (aka the Vacation Inn, a run down former Days Inn). It was neither the cleanest nor the best maintained place we’d ever stayed (peeling bathroom paint, linoleum glue stains on the walls, and caulk filling holes throughout), but, to its credit and despite our concerns, it turned out to be a very quiet place to stay. so, we weren’t sorry to say goodbye.
We began in Phoenix, drove to Mesa, then to Sun City, and finally to Palm Springs.
Our morning objective was the Southwest Military Transport show, organized by the Arizona Historical Military Transport Association. It’s President, until yesterday, was none other than our beloved Joe-in-Mesa aka Joe Snodgrass. His reign over the association came to an end in a coup or vote or something like that (or maybe he said he’d finished his term …). So, on Sunday, he had the time to show us around and meet some of the people from his friends. It was greatly appreciated!
The first thing I saw when we walked in the gate were a couple columns of military jeeps.
I didn’t realize just how many jeeps would be there, so that was a wonderful surprise! The earliest I saw was a slat grille.
There were MBs, GPWs, and at least one Higgins reconditioned jeep, too.
The 2017 FC Roundup group photo
Thanks once again to Jesse and Andrea for treating all of us to another great FC Roundup. This year the Roundup was dedicated to Dan Horenberger, who passed away last November.
The weather was a perfect 80 degrees, not too hot and not too cold. Despite the perfect day, we didn’t get going all that quickly. And, when we finally made it to the event, I realized I’d forgotten my badge, so back to the hotel I dashed. While away, I put Ann to work photographs:
“Marilyn” made her first trip to Phoenix.
Mark’s love machine seems to get the women’s attention (so he tells me). It’s his daily driver. Note the rare Husky hubs.
It’s hard not to photograph the FCs.
I’m not sure why all the red-colored FCs were in the middle.
This one polished up nicely.
This vintage Rubicon video was linked to on Facebook.
Ann and I with Lake Mead behind us. It’s great to see her feeling better and traveling again.
On Tuesday, we made a long drive to Salt Lake City where we enjoyed dinner with my kids. Unfortunately, we are so out of the practice of traveling that we forgot to take ANY photos!
On Wednesday, we made a short drive to Mesquite, Nevada, where we spent the night at a remodeled hotel called the Rising Star Sports Ranch, a place with a sports theme and without a bar or casino. it was cheap, but nice, so I was fine with that. I did NO work; instead we enjoyed an evening together. However, we did make this video which documents a robot that comes to your door to deliver food and drinks from the hotel’s concession. The delivery charge was $3, but Ann was so excited, it was worth the cost.
On Thursday, we traveled from Mesquite, Nevada, to Kingman, Arizona. We began our morning driving south on I-15. When we approached Nevada State Highway 169, we turned south.
Thursday’s drive from Mesquite to Kingman.
Highway 169 turned out to be a beautiful drive. One of the first things of interest we encountered was this Rooster themed bar in the Moapa Valley area.
Moapa Valley gave way to red rock, short grass, sage brush, and long views toward Lake Mead. We were all alone was we slowly followed the highway toward our first stop of the day: Valley of Fire State Park. I’d planned to stop in here last year as we drove south down Nevada, but we ran out of time.
You’ll note that our red jeep Henry was retired in favor of this ??? colored Jeep (we still aren’t sure what color it is — maybe purple, maybe dark blue, has some metaflakes). We call her Dolores, after the main character in Westworld (the new HBO show about robots that become sentient). Dolores is a roving hotspot, capable of sending messages to us or to her creator, the Jeep Corp. Kinda troublesome really.
In 2013, I posted the brochure below with note explaining that there wasn’t much known about these mini jeep-looking vehicles. Yesterday, Peter Furrer sent me an email yesterday explaining that he was the developer of the Piccolino and that his five prototypes and everything else related to them are for sale. He’ll only sell them as a package. His price is $100,000. If he can’t sell them by the fall, he plans on auctioning them.
Peter grew up in Switzerland. During his time in the Swiss Army in the 1950s, there were thousands of them. After completing his one year service, in 1958 Peter joined a crew of a filming expedition-team that went from Sao Paulo to the Amazon with 5 Jeeps and trailers. It took them 9 month to film the landscapes, animals and indios, people who had never seen white men before. Later, Peter became a commercial flight captain and did well as real estate broker.
In 1986, Japanese cars became very popular in Switzerland. There smaller size made navigating Switzerland’s narrow street easier. About then Peter’s love of Jeeps returned, but then he had a brainstorm. He decided to make half sized jeep-like vehicles to make parking frontside to sidewalks possible. Engineers in Paris, Switzerland and Italy designed the Piccolino to his specifications. In 1987, he showed them at the Geneva car-show, creating great interest with hundreds of reservations and dozens of dealer applications.
All he needed was the money to start mass production. In his search for money, a Thai businessman paid the airfreight to bring the 5 Piccolinos to the Bangkok car show. Again hundreds wanted to buy, but this time a military coup with tanks in the streets ended the effort and relations.
A Miami boat-show with 5 Piccolinos ended with TV coverage and in golf courses, as this would have been the only golf cart with street license. He feels they would have been great for golf-comunities.
In Detroit, he made it to the first floor of Lee Iacoca CEO building, but Lee would not see him. Later, his lawyers warned him never to call my Piccolino a Jeep!
Peter is now 81 and feels it is time to give up on his dream cars that he has cherished now for 20 years. He Will only sell them all together. He also hopes someone will donate a Piccolino to me, a very generous offer that I would readily accept, but certainly not necessary. If anyone has interest in this, feel free to privately email at d@ewillys.com and I’ll put you in touch with Peter.
This photo was posted by Brendan Gibbons to Facebook. It shows his uncle driving a Ford GPA in 1946.
This morning we are on the road to Phoenix. Here’s our planned route. We’ll be visiting my kids in SLC, then heading south from there.
Some photos from Eric’s Go Pro show him moving some snow in Dannemora, New York. I didn’t think that much snow had fallen this year in the New York area.
