John spotted this early wagon on Hemmings. Looks like a good restoration candidate.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/03/24/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1949-willys-jeep-delivery
Very original, relatively rare 4×2 Willys Panel Wagon in “All There” condition, owned by the same family since 1959. Original California vehicle, it was parked in 1963 in Hollywood, California, by the second owner. In 2009, to avert a sale to the junkyard, another family member moved it to a garage in Duarte, California, in 2009, with the goal of fully restoring it, but time and space are simply not resources available at this time. As such, it’s time to find it a new caretaker.
The body – All of the steel is clean and straight except for tiny square windows that were installed at the rear of the panels; the doors open and close easily; the glass is in very good condition showing only a tiny bit of delaminating occurring at the edges; the trim and brightwork is good, but in need of serious cleaning or replating; there are no major dents or dings to speak of, although the right side area under the door has sustained some light damage; the roof is very straight, like 99% of the rest of this vehicle.
The interior – A very simple vehicle, the seat is in good shape, just a little dirty, but the vinyl upholstery is in great shape; the door panels are similar, although delicate and brittle due to age and their light color has gotten a bit dirty; the dashboard is perfect, gauge cluster is in nice shape but of unknown functionality; hard plastic elements are in good shape; the rubber mats are damaged from age and a crate of oil cans leaking on them years ago; the cargo floor is very good, the wood strips are beautiful for their age; side panels are nice, together, but stained and aged.
The engine/trans – Thought to be the original engine and transmission, no reason to think otherwise, they have not been run since 1963, so are they frozen, will they turn with some massaging, we don’t know. The intent from the seller was to do a full rebuild, so what (if anything) was wrong with the engine or transmission was never investigated. Bottom line, we don’t know the condition of the engine and transmission, but, we do feel they are original to the vehicle, part of the motivation to restore this little rare panel wagon.
The chassis – California cars rarely suffer rust issues and this vehicle hasn’t either. Dirty, but otherwise very easy to restore from what we can see of it.
This vehicle was thought to have been sold originally in Alhambra, California in 1949. The second owner bought it in 1959 using it lightly for his handyman business, parking it in 1963 for unknown reasons purchasing a Chevrolet Sedan to take its place. The family rented the property where it was parked and thus wanted to junk it. The current owner, who married the granddaughter of the second owner, bought the vehicle from the family in 2009 with the intent of restoring it to original condition. The wheels have been restored and wrapped with new tires so that it would roll easily and hold air, but space and time constraints are simply making the project unfun – as such, he is electing to let the vehicle go to a new caretaker.”