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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 .
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.
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“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
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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.
In case you hadn’t heard, Roger Martin’s father Jim ‘Pee Wee’ Martin passed away recently. He was one of the “Toccoa Originals”, one of the folks that was there when Camp Toccoa in Georgia first opened.
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
UPDATE: A reader noted that the auction site had updated it’s photos with some jeep photos. Here are some of the jeeps that will be auctioned:
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Original Post: Roger Martin shared this truck auctions, which is supposed to include at least one jeep (I couldn’t find any pics of said jeep). Lots of neat old trucks.
https://www.farmauction.net/auction/nebraska-truck-hoard/
UPDATE: Ann’s family descended upon our place this past weekend. We are only catching up with everything now. The property worked great for the family event and should work great for a jeep event, once we get one organized.
Earlier this week, we managed to collect all the corral panels Ann won at the auction, including the 24′-long heavy metal fence (with an added 12′ foot gate). With the help of a tractor bucket, I was able to carry it home on our 18′ trailer (Dave, we’ve put those straps you’ve sent us to good use!).
While loading the gate, a man came by in a truck to check on us. It turns out, he is the owner of the auction facility (Mr. Booker of Booker auctions). He asked where we lived and we said Prosser. Given he’s a long time resident of the Tri-Cities, I jokingly asked if he knew the former owner of our property in Prosser, Merlin Brown, as he was a bit notorious around these parts. Sure enough, somehow Mr. Booker had met Merlin while camping one time. Mr. Booker noted, “I thought I was a pretty good bullshitter, but that Merlin, he was over the top”.
Meanwhile, in “slicer” news … I discovered that when I plugged in the slicer, it didn’t work. After dissembling the power box, I found the power lines weren’t attached to anything (see lower left circle and arrow). Why didn’t they at least cap or cut the ends?
After some discussions with my uncle, we figured out that the former owner (Walmart) must have disabled/decommissioned before selling it by pulling the wire the power wire between the cord and the board (likely a safety thing). So, after unable to find any schematics online, we made and educated guess and I wired the hot and common wires to the board near that lower arrow on the left. Viola, it now works!
I also discovered one of the foots was an incorrect length (by half an inch see upper right arrow above), making the slicer unstable. It took a while to find at our local ACE store, but I finally found another 4″ metric Phillips bolt to properly adjust the footer to the correct length.
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Originally Posted Sept 23: Ann’s family will be here this weekend, so the next updates will likely be Monday. So, we’ve been busily tidying up the property, inside and out. However, we did sneak away on Thursday to pickup some items Ann won at a local auction.
The principal purpose was to buy some corral panels (we couldn’t justify buying new ones at $200+ per panel), scoring about 200 feet of 12′ long panels at a great price. But, she also spotted a meat slicer for sale at the auction.
Ever since working at restaurants, I’ve always wanted a quality slicer, but it’s hard to justify the purchase. So, Ann surprised me by winning an auction for a Bizerba GSP HD 13″ slicer! Plus, it came with a stainless steel cart. Priced new (to my surprise) without the cart at between $4k-$7k. Meanwhile, a stainless cart goes for a minimum of $1500 all by itself. So, I was pretty shocked that she snagged the slicer plus a cart for less than $600. I’d say she scored!
I finally found a good price on one of these ACME Jeep posters, so I snagged it. I’ll get a better pic of it when I get a chance. It is 29″ wide x 23″ tall.
