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 .
Andy shared this rarely seen US Navy Smalley Port-O-Spot. It’s another odd utility vehicle partly built with Willys-Overland parts. Only a couple hours left in the bidding; the high bid is currently $3100.
“Made by Oxnard Heavy Maintenance & Mfg Co. Oxnard California. It has a Willys drivetrain, and it does run and drive.”
UPDATE: I thought this was a good post to revisit. I’ve added an obit to the post at the bottom.
======================
Originally Posted November 18, 2013: Australian Bill Pidgeon (Wikipedia) had a successful career as an illustrator, painter and correspondent from the 1920s through the 1970s. A three-time Archibald Prize winner, one of Bill’s descendants (Peter Pidgeon) has created a wonderful website devoted to Bill’s life. Among the items the site includes are drawings and photos of jeep trains encountered by Bill in the Pacific war-theatre during his trip as a war correspondent for The Australian Women’s Weekly. In his ‘war letters‘ are some detailed observations about daily life in Borneo following it’s release from Japanese control.
One of Bill’s more interesting observations was recorded in Borneo. On August 16th, 1945, he wrote:
From Labuan another four and a half hours of sitting on a barge like a redhot waffle iron will bring you to the area occupied by the 24th Bgde. This is the land of the celebrated jeep train. Steam engines used to haul the train from Weston to Jesselton but on their hurried way out the Nips did their best to incapacitate the locomotives and the RAAF filled the boilers full of holes. So the engineers put iron tyres on the jeeps and shoved them on the rails and hooked the trucks behind.
Here is an example of an illustration and photo published on the site. There are others from an August 4-6, 1945, letter:
Obituary from the February 18, 19i81, issue of The Age, out of Melbourne, Australia:
UPDATE: The two post cards at the bottom of this post were on eBay several years ago. I recently came across some newspaper clippings that give background about the Winter Park Villager tram’s purpose. The service began November 28, 1966, but I could not find an end-date.
This first article discusses the jeep tram’s beginnings:
Article dated November 13, 1966, from the Orlando Sentinel
This next article notes that Monday, November 28th, as the launch date for the jeep tram service.
Article dated December 1, 1966, from the Orlando Evening Star
This short article from March of 1967 describes some of the tram’s stops:
March 03, 1967, in the Orlando Evening Star
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This Winter Park Villager shows a DJ-3A Surrey pulling a matching trailer in Winter Park, Florida. One of these postcards is currently on eBay.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Here’s another view of the same combo. One of these postcards is currently on eBay
This June 25, 1960, article the Los Angeles Times shares the news that the jeep train would be expanded to two trams, rather than just one. Based on other articles, it appears the one-tram jeep train was started sometime around 1955.
The article shares information on why the GI’s had to use jeeps on the tracks and the dangers they faced. The photo is from a later newspaper.
January 31, 1945, in the Evening Sun, Baltimore, Maryland.
From the Tucson Daily Citizen, October 23, 1944:
In 1963, the city of Tucson, Arizona, was looking to save money on garbage costs. That summer an experiment was tried whereby a CJ-5 towing three garbage trailers was used to cut garbage transportation costs. I could not find any information on how long the experiment lasted.
This first photo showing the jeep, trailers and how a trailer was dumped into a larger truck, was published in the Tucson Citizen May 24, 1963:
This article from May 22, 1963, published in the Arizona Daily Star, provides more information on the experiment:
Roger Martin shared this Canadian Jeep Junkee photo of a CJ-5 that (I think) has been transformed into a train engine. I tried to learn more, but had no luck. It’s unclear to me where this might be located.
UPDATE: Here’s another example of a Wisconsin Dells Jeep Train, probably from the mid-1960s.
View all the information on eBay
“3-1/2 x 5-1/2 (Standard Size) postcard.”
================
Originally Posted April of 2017: Seth spotted this postcard depicting a jeep pulling visitor trams at the Wisconsin Deer Park at the Wisconsin Dells. Opened in the 1950s (see history here), the park still operates, but there’s no evidence that the trams are still used, The closest thing to a jeep tram is a kids train.
UPDATE: A newspaper article from May 20, 1950, published in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, provides more information about the jeep-driving circus chimp named Nero. He passed away later in the year.
======================
Originally Posted January of 2013: This 1950 postcard shows some chimpanzees driving a battery powered jeep. They were part of a Chimpanzee show at the St. Louis zoo started in 1925. Chimps were taught to ride bicycles, tricycles, motorcycles, ponies, a Great Dane, and more. You can learn more about them in the January 8, 1951, issue of Life Magazine.
“VINTAGE POSTCARD – CONDITION: VG. DATE/ERA: 1950s-60s. Standard Size 3.5×5.5.”
View all the information on eBay
You can view some additional pictures at Jalopy Journal (scroll part way down the page). The quality seems good enough that they may be from Life Magazine, but I tried, but failed to locate their original source. Here is one of the images.
On December 13, 1950, several newspapers announced that Nero had passed away. Here’s an article from the Southern Illinoisan:
UPDATE: Jerry contacted me about a locomotive jeep he would like to restore (see near bottom). He noted that it was used at Tinkertown and found this older post while hoping to learn more. So, this post is a complete redo of an early post that focused just on photos in a January 1950 issue of Popular Mechanics.
It is probably no surprise that the Los Angeles metroplitan area was a hotbed of theme parks and carnivals following World War II. In particular, there was Beverly Park, which is claimed to be the park that stimulated Disney’s interests in theme parks.
One of those carnivals was a traveling kiddie carnival called Tinkertown. Articles show it existed at least from 1950 through 1952, operating in Monrovia, Wilmington, Los Angeles, and other LA area towns.
December 06, 1951, Wilmington Daily Press, Wilmington, California. Tinkertown Kiddie Carnival announcement.
Tinkertown appears to have owned, at one time or another, at least four unusual jeeps. One was a fire jeep made from a CJ-2A, shown below in red.
A second jeep appeared to have been a stretched (probably surplus) WWII jeep made into some kind of fire jeep used to tow a small Ferris wheel.
The article above refers to the jeep as a “fire engine”; perhaps it was modified during WWII? Here’s a better image:
A third jeep-related setup was a train possibly made from a jeep (or jeep-engine-powered at the very least). It is pictured here:
The fourth known jeep was a jeep turned into a locomotive. It’s the one Jerry now owns (along with two of the tram cars), one he’d like to restore. It’s in surprisingly complete condition. He’s hoping to learn more about the manufacturer and/or Tinkertown. Here’s a photo of his train:
Here’s how it looked in 1950:
UPDATE: Still available.
(05/20/2019) This jeep-train carried visitors through Fairchild Gardens.
View all the information on eBay
“Postcard Florida CJ-5 Rambler Jeep Fairchild Tropical Garden”
UPDATE: There’s another Hammock State Park postcard on eBay. The original post is from 2013.
“This is a very cool black/white postcard that shows a jeep “Conducted Tour – Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring Florida” It is unused, but has a hand written date of 1955 on the back. It is in excellent condition.”
View all the information on ebay
========================================================================
Original Post from 2013:
Highlands Hammock State Park ran tour trains from at least 1948 – 1962. As the first photo shows, they started with a CJ-2A. It looks like a set of benches on a platform with wheels. By 1962, the park shifted to CJ-5s. It also appears they added sides. I images that was safer. These are all from the State Archives of Florida.
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/56346
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/56343
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/78488
