UPDATE II: If you want to email me directly, feel free to use d@deilers.com (not d@ewillys.com, which hasn’t worked for a few years).
UPDATES: I greatly appreciate all the kind words. I see there are some questions, so let me answer them…
- I am not shutting the site down due to financial issues. We are in fine shape. The site has never made much money, but it has made enough to pay for the basics costs, plus the purchase of brochures, a few toys, etc.
- Someone has reached out about taking over the site. If I can make that happen, then maybe the site goes forward in some form. If I can’t find someone, I plan on condensing the most important info into static HTML pages (similar to the CJ-3B page) that can be more easily be saved and republished for posterity.
- I don’t have any specific plans for the future, except reducing my time demands, so I can focus on finishing the Tour Jeep, traveling a little more without having to do updates on the road, and tackling more property tasks.
- As I have described to a couple folks, if you remember the scene when Forest Gump stops running in the middle of Monument Valley, realizing he’s done, that’s the way I feel. I feel like I’m just done.
I hope that additional info helps!!
===================
I have decided to shut down eWillys. At this time, I don’t plan to do any more updates.
Thanks to everyone who were able to use it, read it, all those who commented, and the many domestic and international friends Ann and I have made over the past 17 years.
The site will remain up until the end of the 2024 year. I hope to figure out a way to republish some of the unique information the site has on it in a different, less expensive manor.
Best wishes all. It’s been a good run.
Crap. Sad news.. my son and I enjoy looking at the site daily.
Thank you!
-Mike
same, come here very often in hopes of finding a project, is there something we can do to help (sorry if I missed something before)
Sorry to hear that, what’s the cost to operate the website?
Wow, that was unexpected.
it was my fun daily Jeep fix.
Where will the reading comprehension challenged folks go to ask you about Jeeps you are clearly not selling?
I know you’re not retiring, so enjoy your Jeep. and look me up if you’re in NE Washington.
Very sad to read this. This place is not only a listing of current Jeeps available today, but a historical reference for so many past Jeeps. Really a very under recognized wealth of information.
I bought my CJ6 because of this site.
David,
Thank you for sharing your passion for Jeeps with the rest of us! I have no doubt that it was a lot of time, effort, and expense. I truly enjoyed your expertise on the older Jeeps.
Happy Trails
NOOOO!
Dave, sorry to hear it’s the end, so many of us will miss our daily dose of EWillys. Why not just hand it over to somebody who would be willing to WORK IT. If you should decide to do this, let me know. Mike Finegan
OMG ?… so sad. You’ve went over and above for us for all these years. Along the way I’ve learned a ton, bought at least 6 Willys here in Arizona that you found from your computer in Washington state, read your great books, followed your epic journeys and feel privileged to call you and Ann friends ?. I will miss my daily dose of vintage flatfender and related updates greatly, but you’ve certainly earned this retirement and I will be forever grateful.
Thanks for all the years of fun, Dave.
I remember reading this in Middle School, all the while dreaming of owning one at airshows around PAE. Now I am 2 years past my college graduation, have a MB, and am a hooked Jeeper.
Thanks Again,
Austin S
Thanks for all the years of fun, Dave.
I remember reading this in Middle School, all the while dreaming of owning one at airshows around PAE. Now I am 2 years past my college graduation, have a MB, and am a hooked Jeeper.
Thanks again,
Austin S.
Thanks Dave, I wasnt always active but over the years I looked at this site at least three times a week for years. Hard to believe its over. Good luck in your endeavours and thank you again for your efforts.
Lew
Dave, that’s sad news indeed. You’ve provided a daily Jeep fix and a wealth of Jeep knowledge that we’ve all enjoyed. Thank you for all of the time and effort. Tom in Paris
Dave thank you for everything over the years.
Thanks for everything you have done and for letting us be on the journey with you. I found and bought my 1953 CJ3B in 2013 based on seeing it on ewillys. Since then there were several more projects which are all gone now. This website was a great asset in taking me from zero Willys knowledge to enough tribal knowledge to enjoy my CJ3B and be able to keep it humming.
Also…..as someone mentioned….thanks for introducing us to your books and publishing endeavors. I wish you both all the best as you move forward with new chapters in your life.
Dave, very sorry to learn of the ending of eWillys, always enjoyed reading all the great info on your site. I understand though, the time it takes to keep a site like yours going must be so consuming. I enjoyed meeting you and Ann at the Phoenix FC Roundup and perhaps our paths will cross again.
Thank you so much for all your efforts for the Jeep community! Your site will be very missed for sure!
Dave, thats sad…. Willys stay livin with this side… but thanx for the time,
Frank,Germany M38A1
“I’m so glad we spent this time together……”
Your community will miss you.
A good run it has been for sure Dave!!! I’ve been a huge fan from day one and can’t thank you enough for all your hard work and knowledge in the Willys Jeep World. I can’t imagine the time and effort it takes to keep all us Jeep freaks informed and up to date with all the Willys Jeeps and parts that pop up all over the place. I’ve been blessed to have such a cool site to share some of my parts and jeeps over the years. Hands down best Willys site ever!!!A well deserved retirement from this chapter in your life for sure
Also enjoyed your progress on the new property and all your killer Jeep projects. Everything looks great and it looks like a great place for you guys to settle into and enjoy.
I hope alls well and my best to you and Ann and your families!!!
Thanks again for all you’ve done, and still trying to figure out how you find all that killer stuff on EBay and get to it before I do!!!
Be well and enjoy retirement, I’m right behind you and can’t wait
Dave,
Congratulations on making what I know was a very difficult decision. I also know that there are thousands of us who will want to stay in touch. You and Ann have your own followers separate from eWillys. We are going to need a “fix” now and then.
Thank you for sharing the thousands of pages of Willys reference materials. Many of the research projects we have done at farmjeep.com have started with something that appeared in an eWillys post.
I am going to have to adjust my morning routine. But what fun it has been.
Barry T
Sorry to hear it’s shutting down but understandable that it’s a lot to maintain and keep going. Thank you for the time and effort you’ve put in over the years.
Robert
Dave,
You and eWillys have been a blessing to myself and my business. We will keep in touch as friends. And when in Ohio, please reach out to say hello and visit! All the best to you and Ann going forward.
Barney
Barney’s Jeep Parts LLC
Thanks for providing us with such excellent content over all of these years Dave!
Best wishes to you and Ann on all your future adventures.
I hope a means can be identified to preserve and keep electronically available the outstanding collection of historical documents, images, for sale ads and general interest stories that you’ve graciously served up to us over that past several years.
It’s been a tough time lately in the Willy’s universe. First Carl and Daniel Walck decided to close up their shop, and now you are moving on.
Rust Never Sleeps,
Joe B
Say it ain’t so.
Thanx for all you’ve done for all of us…
You should see if one of your advertisers or another entity “in the business” wants to take it over …
You should see if one of your advertisers or another entity “in the business” wants to take it over …
Dave,
Thank you for your time and efforts. I enjoyed your site
Dave…It’s been a great ‘Jeep’ ride with you for many years…I’ll miss my daily visit to your eWillys site…Stay well…
Dave, thanks for the wonderful website as well as your personal time assisting me in the purchase of a great CJ-2A!
Best wishes in all your future endeavors.
Dave,
Can’t thank you enough for all of those 17 great years of Willys. It truly is a treasure for any Willys fan, thanks to your hard work and dedication.
All the best to you.
Thank you for the years of dedication you’ve put into this. I’m sorry to see it go.
Have you considered contacting Old Willys Forum to see if they could take your archive?
https://www.gofundme.com/
We can help…
Thank you for this. It will be missed.
Sorry to see this announcement. I really enjoyed your site. Good luck on what ever you decide to do.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into this website over the years. I looked forward to sitting down with my coffee and checking out the jeeps on your site. It was a good run. Thanks again and good luck in your future endeavors.
Sorry to see you go. I am sure it’s not about money so much as time and energy. Also, someone “taking over” is unlikely since this was obviously a labor of love and not wildly lucrative.
The Wayback Machine should have a lot of copies of the static stuff but I do hope you can find a way to keep the important stuff on line. Hosting static content from an S3 bucket directly to the world used to be a thing, if it still is that’s probably your best bet.
That’s a shocker, Dave. Please keep us updated.
Derek
As a long time Jeeper and also a long time dreamer about other Jeeps, I will echo what others have said.
Your work will be missed!
This was the second site I visited every day. First email then EWillys.
Always hoping to find an old flat fender close to me for a project. Can always add to my daily driver TJ, my wife’s WK2 Trailhawk and my original owner, first year YJ that is currently torn down for a total rebuild.
Thanks, David, for all your help. You actually had a hand in me getting my Jeep. Ay work they had firewalled Craigslist which at that time I was intensely searching after work hours. You listed one on eWillys from there that was nearby with a seller’s phone number which I was able to call from work and make arrangements to go see it the next day. I was the first potential buyer that came to see it. Imagine my surprise when i got there and discovered a jeep with an intact body, intact floors, weep holes, all footman loops, and an engine that immediately started up and ran well AND was within my budget! I had to fight the urge to rip my pocket getting the cash out to buy it. Thanks again for all you’ve done, we could never thank you enough.
Dave,
Im sorry to hear this but what you have given to the Jeep community over the years has been an enormous blessing and something I will always refer to as the best resource of Jeeps for sale nationwide as well as a database of information that cannot be found anywhere else. Lots of history has been uncovered here and many Jeeps have found loving homes thanks to you. The search feature of ewillys has been my encyclopedia that I have used at least once or twice a week for the past 15 years and ewillys homepage has been my first stop every morning since the beginning. Like many others have stated, I myself have purchased and sold many Jeeps and related items over the years thanks to ewillys and I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done. Ewillys will surely be missed. I wish you the best!
-Matt Hovey
Dave and Ann-
This is so sad to hear, as I have been a follower for many years and have become personal friends with you, meeting at Jesse’ FC Roundup and through personal communications over the years. I know I can speak for Derek, Glenn, Jim Sullivan and myself as to how much we will miss your input, everyday, and the work and the money you have put into developing and keeping this site going. I know you have personal reasons behind your decision and we respect them immensely, and hopefully you might be able to find a way to make the archived information available to those who might need some historical info about Willys from time to time.
Please stay in touch with us and let us know how you are doing on a regular basis.
Colin
There is SO MUCH information here that is priceless…even if there is no additional content added, all of the photos, dealer documentation, model-specific information — would be a shame to see it go.
I’m sure many of us would be willing to contribute financially to keep the site up (again, just to have the archive). Your hosting provider might be willing to keep it up and running (I’m sure we could take up a collection…)
Please think about it–this is truly a unique site…and part of Jeep history now.
My morning coffee will never be the same.
All the best to you and Ann!
Thank you Dave! I appreciate all that I’ve learned from such a well documented/searchable/formatted site! You’ve done amazing things for the wide variety of interests in the vehicles and associated history. Your updates will be missed. Please count me in on the list of folks who would like to help in anyway possible with retaining (and possibly updating/ maintaining) the valuable info on this site.
A bit stunned but happy for you and Ann. You have done a great job for us all.
It’s like loosing a friend because that’s how you have made many of us feel.
All the best.
Thanks for giving us our Willys fix everyday you will be missed. Whatever lies ahead of you, enjoy the journey!
Holy Shit! You hit yer biggest fan. Let me count the blades.
Ewillys. Hallowed be thy name
thank you, thank you, thank you!
so sad to see it come to an end.It will be greatly missed. On the times when I did comment thanks for the immediate replies. Jeep will be losing a great friend in this site. Good luck and keep your powder dry.
Thanks for your service and knowledge base, you will be missed, Enjoy your freedom. Your site has helped with many purchases and sales. Peace out…Mike
Dave, I hope you enjoy your “retirement” as much as I have enjoyed mine!
Thank you Dave for all the years of enjoyable reading. Not just Jeeps, but with Ann, literature, your books, adventures, your family life and the new ranch. It has truly been enjoyable following along. EWillys personally helped me with buying and selling a few things. We will miss your morning updates. Praying for the future for you and Ann. Thank You again.
Wow! I’m really going to miss EWillys. Every morning I took a look with my coffee. What’ll IO do now?
WOW….. please leave up the site for research purpose… LOVE THE SITE!
Wow… I love Ewillys
I’m deeply saddened, definitely one the best 4 wheeler sites.
thank you for all your years of hard work.
Thank you for the effort you put into ewillys. It has always been a great place to visit. I will miss it. Best wishes to you. Steve
Thanks all … Sorry for the delay in my response. It’s been a busy few days with more property stuff. I’ve updated this post with some notes and more info.
– Dave
Dave,
You and your entire family have provided me with countless hours of entertainment and JEEP
knowledge through this site. It’s hard for me to imagine the hours involved in the daily grind
of producing it and living your life. Ewillys will be missed, but life goes on.
I thank you and wish you all well in every future endeavor.
Willy
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I would certainly not begrudge you your plans to “retire” from the Website, but your efforts have been long appreciated and will be greatly missed.
I formally retired 3 1/2 years ago and have not had any problem with finding things to do. I worried about it before I retired, but my wife told me I’d be just fine. I am. I also wonder how I ever managed to get things done when I was working full-time.
Again, thank you thank you, thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I would certainly not begrudge you your plans to “retire” from the Website, but your efforts have been long appreciated and will be greatly missed.
I formally retired 3 1/2 years ago and have not had any problem with finding things to do. I worried about it before I retired, but my wife told me I’d be just fine. I am. I also wonder how I ever managed to get things done when I was working full-time.
Again, thank you.
Dave, still interested, lets kick this around, just maybe the EWILLYS spirit is still alive. Contact me at the email address listed below. Mike Finegan
Dave, I sure hate to see the site shut down, but I understand. I’ve enjoyed your posts, and appreciate all your help. You have my contact information, if you and Ann are passing through Illinois, you’ve got a place to stay.
Illinois Larry
Hi Dave
I will miss ewillys a lot. The same I felt when Chris Mckay shut shop, willys dispatcher site went off line and now it’s you.
The extent of knowledge and information shared here would be surely missed.
Hope someone with a similar interest take over and continues the effort.
We will surely be in touch as usual and hope all goes well at your end.
Regards and best wishes.
Dinesh
Dinesh,
One of the main reasons for no longer maintaining a “host” web site is the cost, with so many social media web sites such as Facebook Market Place, why bother with a web page. Cost benefit ratio analysis, that’s all it is.
Dave, there’s nothing I can add after reading all of the glowing comments except thank you for all you’ve done to keep the old Jeep family alive and well. We’re an interesting bunch and you’ve provided so much knowledge and insight over the years. Have a blast with your retirement and all of your new adventures.
May the future keep you healthy and vibrant!
BobL aka Tralehead
Dave,
Thank you for all your hard work done through the years. EWillys has been my morning newspaper for a long time and your information and creativity will be missed.
But, congratulations on taking the step to remove that hundred million billion pound workload from your shoulders. You’ll enjoy it immensely!
Thank you David. It’s been a great ride browsing ewillys.com for over a decade. Good luck, enjoy life and maybe our paths will cross some day.
Best, Oscar
Dave –
Thanks for an excellent site with no BS… was my only daily “Go To” on the web. Understand that you do need to stop and smell the roses. As John Muir said.. “we all have but one destination in this life, but it is our choice as to how fast we get there.
Dave I have really enjoyed your site over the years. Learning from you along with reply’s from others.
I get the stop and move on to other things you enjoy more. I’m trying.
Thank you so much for all you’ve done for the community! The first Willys I ever purchased was found on this website, and 10 years later I still checked the site for more treasures. Good luck with your future endeavors and enjoy the extra free time!
Sad news. Although no one could argue against moving on, ewillys has been THE site for Willys fans across the country. I’ve conversed with several fellow WillysWonkers over the years due to this site. I hope someone has the ware withal to take on this treasured resource.
Thank you for the years you’ve catered to us and best luck on the future endeavors.
Hello Dave, I sent you an email. Did you get it?
Now I’m hearing this is AI generated!
Frank, I can attest that no AI was harmed or involved with anything related to eWillys. But, then, an AI algorithm might say that?
Thanks Dave! I enjoyed willys and all your efforts
Hi Dave. I knew ewillys couldn’t last forever but it sure has been a joy to read your content and find jeeps to save. Wishing you and the family all the best. Let me know if you ever need anything.
Thanks Dave, I enjoyed your page for many years.
Hi Dave, thanx for all your work! but its verry sad to lost ewillys…
Frank, M38A1, Germany
As the saying goes “ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO A END”. Thanks Dave for everything you have done. We will miss eWillys.
Thank you for the years of providing not only quality content, but also being a valuable resource for finding jeeps. I wish you all the best of luck in finding more time for yourselves. Godspeed!
p.s. pretty sure I follow all of your available social channels. See you on the trails (virtual or otherwise)!
Dave,
Thank you for investing so much of your time and effort into ewillys. Like so many others here I have enjoyed it immensely. Ewillys led me to my first flat fender and to many other aspects of vintage Jeep culture. The knowledge and love for vintage Jeeps that ewillys reinforced will be with me for a long time. I hope the site lives on in some form, but all good things must come to an end. That’s why they’re called good things, otherwise they’re just ordinary. I wish you the best in your future endeavors and hope to hear about your Jeep adventures via other forums.
Dave,
This site was for years a daily coffee stop. Through your efforts I learned so much, found so much, acquired a few things likely not to have been found otherwise. On this site I stumbled upon a restored CJ2A Farm Jeep near enough and at a decent price, that we now use it as a primary farm vehicle. My own schedule hasnt allowed much interaction in the last couple years but this was always my encyclopedia of knowledge of the type and where I went when time allowed. Good luck in your future endeavors. Like losing a good friend, I will miss it.
Lew
Thanks so much for your efforts on this site! I just found it a year ago, but it lead me to the ’49 truck I just bought to restore as a retirement project! Deeply appreciate your time and work, and wishing you the best as you move on to new places, being done here. Well done!
Peace, Earl
This site has always been a joy to read and learn….
I tip my hat to your past efforts and wish you the best into your future Dave! Hooah
PS. Hope you’re able to find someone who can continue the mission here with this content
Hi all,
Thanks again for the kind comments. I am glad I could create something valuable for the community.
We are in the process of readying the site for the new owner. If site appears down over the next week or so, it means the domain name is being redirected to the new IP location, which will take up to 48 hours to property resolve the new IP worldwide.
Thanks for your patience!
– Dave
Coming in a little late to the conversation. Like many have stated opening up the latest post from eWillys was how I started my day over the last few years that I have been following. Dave, thanks for your commitment and dedication to the site. I am glad to hear that it seems like it will continue on. As someone who dreams of owning a Willys one day the information on this site is invaluable. Best of luck Dave to everything you do in the future.
Again, I have to thank everyone for the kind words. I couldn’t have done what I did without everyone’s support.
The new owner of the site and I have signed the transfer of ownership paperwork as of today, Dec 16th. The new owner will make an announcement once he’s ready. We are awaiting one change on my web host’s side then the site will move to the new webhost. There may be downtime of a couple days, so don’t worry if eWillys is offline for a couple days.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Congrats, Dave. And thank you!
Here’s to the next chapter of eWillys.