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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.
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 .
These two “No Roads Needed For a ‘Jeep'” ads appeared during the late spring of 1953 in two different California newspapers. I don’t know if this was just a regional or a national campaign.
This first ad appeared in the April 29, 1953, issue of the Sacramento Bee, sponsored by the Winter Willys Company:
This second ad appeared in the May 12, 1953, issue of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, sponsored by Mosso & Puccinelli:
UPDATE: Here’s another “Bond Wagon” ad for sale on eBay.
View all the information on ebay
“Grade per Six Grade System: Near Mint
Page size in English units (approximate): 10 1/4″ X 13 3/4”
This 4-page brochure from D.L. Beck Manufacturing included a separate price list that dates the brochure around August 1, 1955. Curiously, the “Econo” hardtop was no longer featured in the brochure (see a 1954 example brochure at the bottom of this post). Apparently that “Econo” line of hardtops wasn’t good enough after all (see letter at the bottom that explains the reference).
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Originally Posted December 14, 2014 —
These three ads are each listed separately on eBay. Two of the ads are from 1947 and one is from 1948. All three are the same size, approximately: 13.5 x 18.5 cm (5.31 x 7.28 inches).
UPDATE: As best as I can tell, it looks like 1963 was when Don Pratt’s Jeep Tours began working with the Kachina Cab company. The article appeared in the August 13, 1963, issue of the Arizona Republic:
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Originally posted June 2019: According to this Pink Jeep Tour site, Pink Jeep Tours is the oldest continuously operating Jeep Tour Company in the United States. It was started in 1958 by a Sedona Realtor named Don Pratt, who would drive clients to see homes at Broken Arrow Estates. The Broken Arrow tour is the original Jeep tour and is still today the most popular tour in Sedona.Why did he make the jeeps pink? Mr. Pratt got the idea while visiting the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach, where everything was pink.
But, that’s only part of the story. In her book Echoes of Sedona Past, Mary Lou Keller explains how her and her husband cleared the first trail and how, when Glenn Keller decided not to open a jeep tour business, their friend Don Pratt asked if he could do it instead. Mrs. Keller covers the story in five pages of her book available to read on Google.The book also includes the image below of Mary Lou Keller with her do Pico in her (probably) 1946 CJ-2A:
Oops .. this was supposed to appear on Wed morning … Oh well!
This ad for Winter Willys was published in the February 21, 1953, issue of the Sacramento Bee. It highlights the availability of the Jeep branded implements. some of which was saw in these ‘Jeep’ brochure posts.
This 1946 brochure was produced as part of the GET A ‘JEEP’ campaign that lasted through most of 1946.
This ad just expired on eBay and will likely be reposted at some point. It’s a Willys Export Company magazine ad, but unclear to me who the audience was. If this were a Canadian ad I imagine it would be tagged with a Kaiser Willys of Canada moniker, so it’s unclear to me what magazine this might have been.
View all the information on eBay
“1956 4 Wheel Drive Jeep Vintage Print Car Ad – Rare International Life Mag Ad
Aprox 10″ X 14 ” – Excellent condition
This is an ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC print ad from a Life or Saturday Evening Post Magazine. Not a reproduction or copy. There may be some yellowing or chipping around the edges.”
This is a good ad for the Structo Ride-on Fire Jeep. It appeared in the September 1961 issue of Playthings magazine.
View all the information on eBay
“You get 1 sheet, 2 pages.”
UPDATE: Steve spotted this interesting post that shows a hoard of envelopes sent by customers and dealers to Olympic that was found. It’s kind of cool.
“There were over 100 covers here, and I have scanned a number of them above to share with members. A few were pre-war 1930s.
There are amazing array of origin country, commercial covers from the 1940s mainly. They have never been near a stamp dealer for ~65-75 years.
Burma, Portuguese India, Iran, Iraq, Cyprus, Malta, Southern Rhodesia, Thailand, Malaysia, France, China, Netherlands indies, Sarawak, Uganda, Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, a real early Israel cover, Egypt, Trinidad, Fiji, South Africa, Argentina, Sudan (several!), Lebanon, Ceylon, Greece and
There is a 1949 India Gandhi commercially used – a $50-$100 cover in today’s market. Who would know – 1949 Gandhi stuff is white hot.
Includes Registered mail and Postage dues assessed etc. Pretty much all of them sent to Olympic Spark Plugs Pty Ltd in Melbourne.”
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This May 29, 1946, ad out of Australia in “The Bulletin” shows what I believe to be a depiction of two Chinese women driving a jeep.
View all the information on eBay
“Olympic Spark Plugs Large Full Page Original Advertisement removed from a 1946 Australian Newspaper and in good condition for age having some marks and creases and age yellowing and minor damage around the edges. PLEASE NOTE the minor damage around the edges. Size of the paper which the advertisement is on is 43 cms x 27 cms. It would look good framed on your wall or displayed with your Olympic Spark Plug Collection or if you collect Spark Plug Memorabilia. This advertisement would be hard to find in this size.”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
This ad was published in an Australian farming magazine.
“Australian Jeep Original Advertisement removed from a 1958 Australian Farming Magazine and in good condition for age having some marks and creases and age yellowing of the paper. Size is 18 cms x 24 cms. It would look good framed on your wall or displayed with your vehicle at a car show.”
An eBay seller has several lots of full-size jeep brochures for sale.
UPDATE: After reading this more carefully, I agree with Don that this is likely something that was aimed as dealers. It is an odd piece for sure.
This ad came to me from eBay and has “KW 258” printed in the lower right, which I am interpreting as February 1958 (but I could be wrong). It is more of a “use your jeeps on the farm” type of ad, which Willys Motors seemed to be going away from in the US by this time.
This unusual brochure shares information about the Baby-jeep, a bassinet available in three colors–blue, ivory, and salmon–that was produced out of Holland. The brochure includes a small, illustrated jeep on the cover. It’s printed on thick paper that makes for a nice brochure, but I’m still not sure why it is call a “Baby-jeep”.
These three Kaiser-Willys ads demonstrate a national campaign ad offering to dealers who wanted to share the news that Kaiser and Willys vehicles were being sold under the same brand. Though the purchase was announced in the spring of 1953, the ad campaign was introduced until the fall of 1953 after the sale was completed (See the June 1953 ad at bottom that introduces a new dealer, but doesn’t mention Kaiser).
The imagery and order of the blocks is interesting. Though Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland’s assets, for the extensive network of Willys dealers the experience was the opposite; they were adding Kaiser products to their Willys sales portfolios. I expect this explains why the Kaiser block is pictured being added to the Willys block rather than the other way around.
This ad was published on November 05, 1953, in The Times out of Shreveport, Louisiana, by Dixie Kaiser-Willys.
This ad was published on October 08, 1953, in the Birmingham News, out of Birmingham, Alabama, by the Roy Bridges & Co., Inc.
This ad was published on November 15, 1953, in the Great Falls Tribune, out of Montana, by Robinson Motor Co.
A June 5, 1953, full-page ad out of California introduced Haley Motors, a new “Willys” dealer. Though the merger had been announced, it wasn’t finalized until the fall of 1953; this likely explains why there was no mention of Kaiser in this ad.
In 1953 Willys-Overland shared these mat examples of ads on one page (15″x20″) with its dealers. I’m amazed that any of these surprised, as it is printed on newspaper.
The Form-104 Selective drive brochure I’ve seen previously, but I’ve not seen the 1961 Power-Lock brochure.
This Power-Lock brochure is a tri-fold brochure that folds from 3.5″ x 5.5″ to 10.5″ x 5.5″
This folded Cutlass Selective drive brochure has a form number of 104, but lacks a date. It is small, only folding in half from 3.5″ x 5.5″ to 7″ x 5.5″
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.
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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:
I have a two year gap between my 1961 issues of Jeep News and this one from late 1963. During that period, the name was changed from Jeep News to Jeep News International. The use of months as part of the dating system were dropped in favor of using a volume and issue number.
Not surprisingly, the introduction of Wagoneers and Gladiators changed the focus to the full-size jeeps, but there are still legacy jeep photos and articles.
At $1499.99, the price on this is a head -ratcher. But, it is an unusual and interesting brochure. It reminds me of the Willys airborne prototype called the Jeeplet or the WAC. Here’s a short video with some pics of it.
View all the information on eBay
“SUPER RARE 1960 KAISER WILLYS CONCEPT AMPHIBIOUS TRUCK ADVERTISING BROCHURE.”
The arrival of the FJ-3s made the newspapers in a variety of states. This first article appeared in the February 02, 1961, issue of the Bridgeport Post out of Connecticut:
February 02, 1961, The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, CT.
February 02, 1961, The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, CT.
This next article appeared in the October 04, 1961, issue of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Messenger and Inquirer.
October 04, 1961, The Messenger and Inquirer, Owensboro, Kentucky,
The Mitchell, South Dakota, Post Office may have only purchased one FJ, but it still made the paper:
November 11, 1961, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, SD.
Here’s an add for the followup model, the FJ-3A .It appeared in The Lawton Constitution out of Oklahoma on January 07, 1962.
This is the more common version of the FJ-3A ad published across the country:
December 20, 1961, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, AZ.
The first three ads appeared in Popular Mechanics during 1946, first in February, then March, then June. Note that the February ad does not include the King of Jeeps moniker, but the later two ads have it.
February 1946 Ad in Popular Mechanics, the earliest one I could find.
By June 1946 Berg was advertising Amphibious vehicles.
A November 1955 ad highlighted the use of private labeling by Berg. The hardtop looks like a Worman Jee-Cab that’s been rebranded “the Jeep King All Steel Cab”. I’m sure the “Jeep King Snow Plow” is another private labeled product.
This was the latest Ad from Berg that I found, though my searches were not extensive.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
This is priced at $39 with free shipping. It’s a neat piece, especially the first page with the Willys Overland Motors Canfield custom book wrecker model XH-205.
“great old catalog from 1952 . canfield wreckers for willys jeeps and trucks detroit michigan , illustrated , 5 pages , cover shows age but good overall . free shipping in usa and canada”
This odd item includes two ads with FCs.
View all the information on eBay
“THIS IS A 8 BY 11 INCH BOOKLET FROM LOCAL 12 UNION SUMMER CAMP WOMANS GUILD.
MANY, MANY AREA ADVERTISERS ARE LISTED IN THIS BOOKLET.
THIS IS FOR THE ST. VALENTINES DAY DANCE AND FROLIC.
LISTED ALSO ARE THE DONORS NAMES AND PHOTOS OF THE STAFF.
BOOKLET IS IN LIKE NEW CONDITION.
GREAT COLLECTIBLE.
THANKS FOR LOOKING”
