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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 first article from January 22, 1950, in the Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California) provides purchase numbers and eventual destinations for some Forest Service Jeeps.
This second article, from May 05, 1954, in the Sacramento Bee, notes the sale of 10 USFS jeeps that had been part of the Forest Service since 1947 and 1948.
This article featuring a Kent Frost jeep tour through Needles was published on May 2, 1958, in the San Juan-Record out of Monticello, Utah. At the bottom I’ve included an image of the whole paper as I thought the illustrated header of the paper was well done.
This photo and caption out of the February 11, 1946, issue of the Herald-Journal (Logan, Utah), shows the press photo that was for sale on eBay back in 2013.
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Originally Published September 18, 2013: According to the attached information, these jeeps were winterized with left over Japanese transport plane materials.
This 1946 photo was also available in 2013. It too was taken at a Japanese airbase, but it’s unclear to me if it is the Showa airbase or not.
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This press photo was taken in 1946 in Showa as well.
“This is an original press photo. Instead of manufacturing cargo planes for Japanese use, this assembly line is making US Jeeps fit for winter use. Japanese stocks of aluminum, plexiglass, rivets, iron rods and fabric are being fitted to jeep use. Photo measures 9.25 x 7 inches. Photo is dated 2-6-1946.”
This October 14, 1945, article by Earl Albert Selle (more on him below) in the Honolulu Advertiser shared a few stories about the dangers faced by jeep drivers in the Pacific Theater. Brown University has a collection of Earl Selle’s correspondence, articles, photos, and other materials. The collection also contains materials from William Henry Donald, about who Selle wrote a book called “Donald in China” in 1948 (which sounds like an interesting book, also available here). There are pics of the book on Etsy.
Earl Albert Selle, was born around 1887 in Seattle. His early life was full of adventure. During WWII he went blind, as was probably blind when he wrote the above column. But, that didn’t stop him from being adventurous. It is claimed he made news in 1961 when he wrote about becoming an aviator and flying a plan with the help of a seeing-eye-pilot. You can learn more about Earl in this obituary:
This article appeared in the June 19, 1945, issue of the Tucson Citizen out of Arizona. One bit of info mentions that a Chicago junk dealer bought “a small mountain” of smashed jeeps. Could that have been the King of Jeeps himself Hyrum Berg?
An article from January 4, 1947, in the Honolulu Advertiser (and other publications) shared the news that the Japanese were customizing jeeps for civilian use.
This June 27, 1946, ad by the Little Motor Company in Alabama’s The Baldwin Times Bay newspaper is one of the better full-page adds that I’ve seen.
It’s not clear to me who the author of this article is, but he describes the “red tape” he and other must overcome to purchase jeep in Europe. His story appeared in the May 30, 1946, issue of the Tipton Daily Tribune out of Tipton, Indiana.
UPDATE: Well, clearly the exhaustion got the best of me on this post. I thought this was a North Carolina story, when in fact it was a California story.
This November 11, 1946, article in the Wilmington Daily Press Journal highlights the opening of Carl’s Motor Company. I’d love to see an original of that photo.
This article in the April 14, 1946, issue of the Daily Oklahoman, highlighted jeeps, among other issues, with causing injuries in Tokyo.
UPDATE: I’ve added high-resolution examples of each of these articles. You can download the zipped file here: jeep-serial-numbers-sale-in-hawaii.zip
This is a cool find. It announces the first sale of jeeps to veterans in Hawaii for personal use (as well as business). There have got to be a few jeeps still around that originated at this surplus sale. This was published in the June 01, 1946, issue of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (page 4). I’ve divided up the list into multiple images. At the bottom of this post is a link for the entire clipping.
First of three lists:
This ad appeared in the September 06, 1946, issue of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. I have not compared this list to the previous lists, but it sure appears that a lot of jeeps sold over the summer of 1946. This list also contains more non-jeep vehicles.
