emailNeed to contact me and don't have my email? Click on email button.
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’ve never seen one of these. Is it a vintage item or was it produced more recently?
View all the information on eBay
As part of the continuing updates to our property, we’ve added some additional walkways. These serve three purposes. 1) We found that lots of dirt was being tracked into the bunkhouse, so that needed to be addressed; 2) the bunkhouse felt separate from the rest of the buildings and 3) we expect to replace the lean-to ‘barn’ to be replaced with an actual barn, so these walkways will help link everything together. So, we hoped extending the walkway would help incorporate the buildings.
This is one of the few tasks that we decided to hire a contractor to complete. Unfortunately, our calls to local contractors proved frustrating. We couldn’t get local folks to respond. Finally, Ann reached out to Wine Country Landscaping in Milton-Freewater, about an hour away. They gave us a free estimate and had great reviews. It’s a young company, but they are eager to grow, easy to work with, and did a great job. In fact, the guys repaired some concrete for free just to make everything look better, something they were not required to do.
At this rate, I see no reason we can’t hold some kind of jeep event next year. I’ll announce something by January.
Here are some pre-concrete photos. This first one shows the gravel in front of the shop, an annoyance when moving something with smaller wheels from the concrete to the asphalt. To the right of the shop is a form for the new propane tank pad.
After: The concrete now runs the northern side of the shop. The white building in back is a series of lean-tos that are super inefficient space wise. We will repurpose the lean-to materials in to a hay barn and shelter for the cows and a barn will replace the existing structure. To the right is the guesthouse.
A reader shared a rare look at a Willys Electric Light Plant, including the sleeves during cranking. In the pic below, the Willys Electric Light Plant is on the left and a rare Alamo (electric light plant?) is on the right.
Here is a video of the sleeve functioning:
Some more pics:
(<– See Part II of the road trip)
Over the past few days Randy and Carson made good time, yet saw plenty. From Yosemite, they traveled southeast until camping somewhere in Nevada.
The next morning, they drove to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they hit the Vegas strip. At some point, Carson broke a fan belt, so they got to spend more time than planned in Vegas.
Back on the road, they drove to Utah. There, they met up with Jake White and others to take the offroad trip to Toquerville Falls, Utah.
This model just sold on eBay for $108.51. At six inches long, it’s a good side. I was going to bid on this, and even set my alarm, but got too busy rendering 15lbs of pork fat into lard (we just had our pig butchered), so when my alarm went off to go to eBay, I turned it off, got distracted and forgot. Sigh. This is a cool one.
This unusual and rare booklet from 1946 offered marine-conversion kits from the Osco Motors Corp out of Philadelphia for standard engines from several manufacturers, including Willys-Overland. The were called “Convo-Kits”.
View all the information on eBay
“Vintage 1946 Booklet * Convo-Kits For Marine Conversion Of Ford And Jeep Motors .
Vintage Booklet – Has Lots Of Wear But Complete – From Osco Motors Corp. Philadelphia PA.
Measures App. 9 X 6 – 14 Pages .
Loc. A-39.”
Jerry’s father is selling this jeep he found in Wyoming (contact Jerry via FB — https://www.facebook.com/groups/18657808157/permalink/10160120357838158).
Jerry was told this was one of about a hundred that were built by an unknown company. I looked through my archives, but could not find anything exactly like this one. Anyone ever seen one like this?
For all the work that was done to create it, it seems possible that more were made. Jerry indicates that the body is galvanized. The entire top is custom, along with the fenders, and it looks like the work is reasonably good. The doors are suicide doors. The hood looks like an original part. The cowl and dash may be original, but the dash has been modified. The fan shroud is galvanized with an old electric fan.
If forced to guess, I’d say if several hundred were built, that they were older jeeps that were stripped and rebuilt. If all like this one, they were designed for colder and wetter climates (permanent hood, perm dash, and a perm heater blower), so I could imagine these would have been constructed out of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, or Northern Idaho.
Another theory is that if several hundred built, maybe they weren’t all built the same? Maybe some were more custom than others or more creative than others? That might explain some of the odd designs that we’ve seen over the years out of the northern Intermountain West? My assumption had been these were all home built, but perhaps not?
Ann and her son Daniel will be traveling to NY, Philly, and DC over the next two weeks, so I will be juggling animals, chores, and managing the completion of 200′ of new walkways. I suspect she will be having much more fun than I! This may also affect updates …
The purpose of the walkways is 1) to reduce the dirt tracked into the bunkhouse, 2) to better marry the bunkhouse and the rest of the buildings together, 3) to make an access path for mowers/UTV from the west of the buildings to the east and 4) to prep the area for the new barn. With the pathways in place, we can then finish up the landscaping of the bunkhouse.
Before the walkways:
Levels found and walkways dug. Forms, gravel bed, and cement to come this weekend.
This coming Saturday, the forms will be layed, rebar positioned, and concrete poured.
On the jeep front, we have decided that the next project will be setting up our corral system. Once that is done, we plan to set aside other property project updates in favor of me working on Biscuit and/or the race jeep starting roughly in early November.
This Willys Makes Sense banner from 1950 was used to promote the Willys Makes Sense campaign that was part of Willys-Overland’s marketing shift toward “Willys” as an overarching brand, away from the use of “jeep”. It is listed on eBay for $499.
View all the information on eBay
This California Four Wheel Drive Club of Fresno’s roots date back to 1953. It’s unclear what size this is.
View all the information on eBay
“Vintage Four Wheel Drive Club Of Fresno Vest, Green. 8 Vintage Patches. 79-83..”
UPDATE: Here is another Drifters Jeep Club jacket for sale on eBay, this time for $60. The name on this one is “Crash”. It is a Large.
The San Gabriel Valley area Drifters Jeep Club still exists.
View all the information on eBay
====================
This jacket sold in 2019/2020. It was priced at $199, but when I clicked on the “watch” button I received an offer of $175 from the seller.
Roger Martin at his father’s funeral
To honor his father, Roger drove up Mt. Currahee in a 1942 GPW loaned to Roger by his friend Paul Grice. The mountain road is 2.5 miles and climbs 850 feet. Roger was accompanied on the trip by two daughters, two nieces, and a few other family members. They all enjoyed the beautiful views!
Of course, Jim was one of several members of the 101st Airborne that were portrayed in the HBO series, The Band of Brothers. According to Roger, the series transformed Jim’s life. Here is unique look at Damien Winters and Jim sharing stories about making the series along with some of Jim’s experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynzOAqTZFUE
