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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.
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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 .
Jeepster Jim is driving across the southern portion of the USA. He left St. Augustine, Florida, April 6th and will arrive at Imperial Beach, California, April 24th. Learn all about it here:
I put together this map of their trip based on their itinerary. As of the 18th they ought to be near Tucson, AZ.
One of our stops will be in Georgetown, CA, to see the Jeep Jamboree hometown. I’m not quite sure if we’ll see much at all, but we’ll be close enough that I gotta go.
Here’s a Truck Trend article that includes a variety of vintage Jamboree jeeping photos. Most appear to be downloadable in high resolution, too.
http://www.trucktrend.com/features/consumer/163_1310_the_rubicon_trail/
Speaking of the Jamboree, Dirtxdirt.com has a good article about Jeep Jamboree founder Mark Smith and his collection of jeeps. http://dirtxdirt.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-mark-smith-collection-founder-of.html
This video link is included as well. Note that during the video Mark is mentioning his Bantam jeep, but the video shows a Ford GP.
<– Day 27 –Apr. 15th: Strolling Monterey | OVERVIEW | Day 29 – Apr. 17th: Revenge of the Sushi –>
World’s largest artichoke in Castroville
Monterey was our launch point today. Before we headed north, Ann submitted a request to re-photograph the western side of Fisherman’s wharf. It took a few wrong turns, a couple mistakes, and dumb luck to find a good spot from which to take the photos she wanted. That’s where we discovered a memorial to Father Juniper Serra (he was news to me) who was responsible for forming a variety of spanish missions along the coast of California. Unfortunately, he’s seems pretty forgotten in his current spot on Monterey.
A hazy Monterey morning.
With photographs snapped, we continued toward our second goal, Castroville.
Our drive from Monterey to Scotts Valley, Ca, on Wednesday.
As we approached Castroville, the highway was lined with never-ending fields. It had been six years since I’d seen these fields, as I used to live just north of them in Aptos, California. I’d driven through the fields many times and seen folks working the fields no matter the weather. It always looks like hard work, often they are hunched over for hours. Hoodies are a popular item, as they are loose, flexible and offer sun protection. Whether hot or cold, field hands wear them.
Eventually, we arrived in Castroville. Apparently, Castroville is famous for two things. 1) it is the birthplace of Norma Jean and 2) It is the self-proclaimed artichoke capitol of the world and holds an artichoke festival every year.
Norma Jean and artichokes came together in 1948 when Norma was named the very first honorary Artichoke Queen. History would show that such an honor didn’t keep Norma from leaving Castroville nor did it keep her from changing her name to the more familiar Marilyn Monroe.
We didn’t travel to Castroville to learn more about Marilyn, but rather to find the world’s largest artichoke. The area surrounding Castroville provides 75% of the domestically grown artichoke crop. The other 25% is grown in other areas of California.The unusual thing about the artichoke plant is it is basically a weed, a type of thistle. But, a yummy thistle it is!
The town of Castroville is pretty small, so it wasn’t hard to spot a giant artichoke once when we arrived (see photo at the top of the post).
We took some photos. Then, Ann spotted ‘Fried Artichokes’. She’d never had them, so we set about having some for an early lunch. We also added an order of spinach and artichoke dip. Life was good!
Fried artichoke hearts
Spinach and artichoke dip
<– Day 26 –Apr. 14th: Gorditas Make Me Sleepy | OVERVIEW | Day 28 – Apr. 16th: Artichokes and Sushi Boats –>
After lunch we got on our tourist vibe with a walk to the other more notable wharf.
It doesn’t look like his fishing is faring to well.
Visitors strolling the wharf.
At the end of wharf Ann got busy with her camera, so I got busy photographing her.
As we left the wharf I decided to see if YELP could find an interesting ice cream place. Sure enough, YELP found Kai Lee Creamery in Pacific Grove. So, we headed west until reaching the cannery row area, with some recognizable places.
Kai Lee Creamery was started six months ago by Butch Adams who had no experience in the industry. His goal is to make ice cream that is organic, gluten-free, non-soy, all-natural, vegetarian, and handmade.
Oscar Skold was in Colombia last month. He shot these photos for us (at least that’s the way I’d like to think of them).
He reports, “I know most of these are not actually Willys jeeps but nevertheless a very cool encounter while I was visiting Colombia a month ago. They use most of these old jeeps as taxis and you see them everywhere. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera to shoot all that I saw but these pics gives you an idea what a great country this is to travel around in. We were mostly in the Medellin area and south, down to a town called Roldanillo.”
<– Day 25 – Apr. 13th: Port Why-Knee-Me | OVERVIEW | Day 27 – Apr. 15th: Strolling Monterey –>
Henry is looking toward the coast on our way from Paso Robles to Highway 1.
Today’s goal was to drive Highway 1 north to Monterey, California.
Today we drove from Arroyo Grande – Pismo Beach area to Monterey.
We started off this morning with a quick visit to Pismo Beach to say we’d been there and done that. One thing we didn’t do was give into the temptation for some pastries from Old West Cinnamon Rolls, though my mouth sure watered as we passed their store front.
Pismo Beach pier.
After a short walk on the Pismo Beach pier, we drove north to Paso Robles to visit the highly recommended Pioneer Museum. When we arrived, I discovered that I hadn’t read the fine print; it was only opened Thursday through Sunday. Still, there were a few exhibits outside, so we entertained ourselves for a little while.
The front of the Pioneer Museum. Me wondering how I missed the fact that the museum is only opened from Thursday-Sunday
Ann took the news of the museum’s closure pretty well. I only stayed in jail for a little while.
I got a little worried when she found this witch’s pot and began uttering the words “Double Double Toil and Trouble“.
If you travel anywhere along the coast you are likely to run across signs with bells for El Camino Real, one of the early roads through California. Bells were added along the route at the turn of the 19th century.
<– Day 24 – Apr. 12th: Dan’s FCs and The Lost Romanian | OVERVIEW | Day 26 – Apr. 14th: Gorditas Make Me Sleepy –>
Dinner off of Hwy 1 overlooking the Pacific Ocean. After all the craziness of the northern LA traffic, we found a peaceful spot for some dinner with a postcard-perfect view.
Our first objective on Sunday was to grab a bagel at the Old New York Deli & Bakery Company in Newberry Park, California. I’d spotted the bagelry when it delivered some bagels for an event at the Hampton Inn where we stayed Saturday night. They looked so good, that I made the bagel place a must stop. Thankfully, the bagels didn’t disappoint. They were chewy and tasty. If you are in the area, give them a try.
A map of our trip from Thousand Oaks to Pismo Beach.
From Newberry Park, we drove to Port Hueneme to visit the new Seabees museum. If are like me, you are unsure how to pronounce the name of that Port. I learned it is pronounced Port Why-Knee-Me, named for a local tribe. Again, Hueneme = Why-Knee-Me
On the way to the museum we encountered this terrible fire. Ann determined it had been a medical building (we pulled up to a gas station to fill up while watching the action).
You can see Henry parked in the background.
The beautiful new building apparently replaced some leaky, smaller buildings. The entrance sure looked welcoming:
http://www.weirdca.com/location.php?location=197
UPDATE: Tom from ROAM reported (see comments) that this camper FC was a custom installation. He noted that the camper was unsalvageable, so they felt it was a good candidate for something unique. Tom plans to do a post about the camper in the future.
Here’s what it looked like when they bought it:
Here’s the completed project:
Follow the whole build here: http://roamauto.com/1960-willys-jeep-forward-control-fc170-build/
