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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 .
UPDATE: Here’s the scanned version of this January 1961 military vehicles brochure, It highlights the M-38A1 and M-170.
This brochure came from eBay. I’m guessing it was published sometime in 1956, given it describes both the DJ-3A and the CJ-6 as new models. The brochure folds out horizontally.
I’m not sure how a jeep is supposed to help sell underwear, but maybe they have extra padding?
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“This is an original 1953 print ad
size : 6.7″ x 5.1″
condition : Excellent”
UPDATE IV: Branden found this 1945 Parts List booklet that includes a prominent “J” logo. This is the most prominent use of the logo that I’ve seen. It’s not clear to me whether this booklet was introduced with the jeep in August of ’45 or a little later in ’45.
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UPDATE III (04/07/2019): Maury spotted the a “J” dealership sign example on this Miller Tools brochure:
UPDATE II: I’ve added two examples of ‘dark’ “J”s, dark (blue or black) background with white letters. Now that I think about it, I guess this is similar to the black and white newspaper versions.
CREDIT: Douglass, Neal. Harry Payne Motors, photograph, June 3, 1942; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth34338/m1/1/: accessed April 7, 2019), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. … MY NOTES: The photo year is more likely late 1947 or 1948.
From Willys World March-April 1991 issue.
UPDATE: This is best described as a working draft that Maury Hurt and I have constructed in the hopes of understanding Willys-Overland’s “J” logo better …. If you have input, please email me or add it in a comment at the bottom of the post.
In January of this year, Maury emailed me about a Willys/Cars•Trucks/Jeep logo that he was hoping to reproduce, wondering if I had any better examples of it. That simple email turned into a mission: Find out the history behind the logo.
I have one of these patches. Not sure who created them or when.
It turned out that we could find no articles or discussion about the evolution of the logo. So, we spent a month looking through old brochures and advertisements to develop a theory of what it should look like, when it was used, and why.
What’s the logo supposed to look like?
Our first challenge was to determine what the logo was supposed to look like. As these examples show, different fonts and slightly different looks were used in the printing of the logo.
Another patch example.
This was from a January 1946 magazine ad.
or even this one …
Our suspicion is that this is from overseas, possibly Australia? We don’t have a time frame on this one.
And, the list would not be complete without some matchbook covers:
How should the “J” look?
This no reserve brochure is only $.99 (plus shipping) right now. It’s a good price on a nice brochure that folds out pretty large.
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“1954 Willy’s Jeep Station Wagon Original Sales Brochure. Condition is Used. Great condition! Shipped with USPS First Class Package.”
This ad by the American Thermos Bottle Company was published in the May 22, 1943, issue of the Saturday Evening Post. I believe the takeaway from this ad is, If Thermos products are good enough for workers building jeeps, than they are good enough for the average American. However, there seems to be a lack of evidence that Willys and Ford employees were using Thermos products.
Anyone ever run across one of these cranes. It was manufactured by the Construction Machinery Company out of Waterloo, Iowa.
Blaine shared these two ads from the February 1966 issue of Popular Science. The jeep ad appears on page 71 and the engine adapter ad was published on page 227.
This auction starts pretty cheaply on this very 1960s looking brochure (pics are from an older auction)
“Up tonight I have more from several lots of literature I recently Acquired. Here I have a 1961 Jeep Brochure. This is 7 and 1/2 by 11 inches folded, opening up to 15 by 22 inches. Decent shape with wear as shown. A neat piece of Advertising to display with your classic.”
In a column titled Underwater Puzzle: A Post War Anecdote, an article shares the story (true?) about a lost jeep. This appeared in the December 1, 1944, issue of the Saturday Evening Post.
This ad may have appeared multiple times, but appear at least once in the January 30, 1943, issue of Colliers magazine on page 29. Included below is a color version supposedly published in 1942.
This ad was published in the February 7, 1942, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, pg. 31.
UPDATE: I’ve updated these images with corrections and four additional ads. You can a similar listing of Collier ads in black and white. I’ve added two ads that only appeared in the CIO-News, one that only appeared in Colliers, and one Sat Evening Post ad that I’d missed.
Original Post (03/01/2019): I tried to find a listing of all the Willys-Overland ads and their issue dates that were published in the Saturday Evening Post during and after WWII. Unable to find any good resource, I spent the last three days surfing through 250 issues of the magazine using the Saturday Evening Post non-profit site, which costs $15 a year to use. Then I organized them in a way that I hoped would make it easier for me to study them. Hopefully, it’s handy for you all, too. For expediency and bandwidth size, I used low-resolution images to create the files below. Eventually, I’ll go back and replace them with hi res images so that everything is clearer when viewed more closely.
The ads started in May of 1942 (at least that’s the earliest I found) and were published on average once a month. All ads published up to November of 1945 were placed on the inside of the back cover.
On November 10, 1945, Willys-Overland formally introduced the CJ-2A to Saturday Evening Post readers with a more centralized, two-page ad. After that, one or two-page ads for the CJ-2A appeared until August of 1946, when the first wagon ad appeared in the magazine.
A big thanks to Jim for finding this brochure in old box of files, then sending it my way gratis. It shows the EasyLok Hub, manufactured by the Mechanex Corp, a devision of Tenneco, out of Englewood, Colorado. You can learn a little more about the EasyLok hub’ s history in this post.
Mechanex Corp patented another hub in 1978, but I don’t recognize the hub.
I have no date yet on this ad from the Russell, Burdsall, & Ward Bolt and Nut company.
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“This is a vintage original ad , not a copy or reproduction. Neatly removed from magazine. Would look beautiful framed. Measures 10 and ½ by 14 inches.”
UPDATE: This was published in Coliiers on September 11, 1943, pgs 66-67. This issue also contains the Willys WWII Ad, “Ordnance Doctors Operate Under Fire”, pg 57.
Fred Caldwell mentions the ad in his book “Selling the All-American Wonder“. According to him, this is one of the few Ford-sponsor, jeep-related Ford ads.
This ad was published in the March 6, 1943, issue of Collier’s. I wish I could locate an online archive for that magazine. Anyone know of one?
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“This is a vintage original ad, not a copy or reproduction. Neatly removed from magazine. Would look beautiful framed. Measures 10 and 1/2 inches by 14 inches.”
UPDATE: I didn’t understand the significance of this ad until purchasing Fred Coldwell’s “Selling the All-American Wonder” (great collection of Willys-Overland WWII ads). It’s the only WWII Willys-Overland ad that I’ve found which doesn’t appear in his book. Titled “They’re getting the stuff and they’re using it, too!”, the ad seems to have been only published in the newspaper.
Originally published January 12, 2019. This Willys Overland Ad appeared in the September 25, 1944 issue of The CIO News.
Anyone know when this ad was published?
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“This is an original 1942 ad neatly removed from a vintage magazine. Measure 11 by 14 inches.”
UPDATE: Thanks to Tremaine for supplying better pics of the CJ-2 grille guards seen in a couple of these photos.
Original Post March 4, 2019: These photos were published in the July 22, 1945, issue of the Sunday Star Gravure Section of the newspaper. I don’t think I’ve seen a photo of the jeep pulling the trailer from the driver’s side.
One of the places this Rice Krispies with a Jeep appeared was in the October 24, 1942, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, pg 6.
UPDATE: Through Fred Coldwell’s “Selling the American Wonder“, Maury learned that this unusual ad featuring the Ford Pygmy was published in the August 18, 1941, issue of Time Magazine.
Given this brochure suggest the winch would fit on a DJ-3a, this must be post 1956. I didn’t realize the Ramsey was still advertising them so late.
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“Here I have an
Excellent Condition
Single-Sheet Mailer
NEW!
The Ramsey C7R Capstan
For
CJ-5 CJ-6 CJ-3B CJ-2A ‘Jeep’ Universals and DJ-3A ‘Jeep’ Dispatcher
Measures about 8 ½ x 11 inches
Has been folded
Bulletin 141”
This particular Wilmington, North Carolina, dealer was selling trucks, cars, jeeps, tractors, and much more. The ad appeared in the February 7, 1946, issue of the Wilmington Morning Star.
UPDATE: Nate’s hoping to gather some Stratton-related information. So, I’ll be using this post to gather that info. If anyone has any more insights into this lift, email me at d@ewillys.com or post it directly to Nate’s thread on the earlyCJ-5.com page. Also, Clint Dixon and Barry Thomas have authored a five-part series of articles for the Dispatcher Magazine titled “The Making of the Farm Jeep”. The Fall of 2018 issue includes information on the Stratton Lift.
As early as 1949 Stratton Equipment out of Cleveland, Ohio, was marketing hydraulic products. One example was their truck lift, a hydraulic lift used for placing cargo onto truck beds. The lift is pictured at the top of page 146 in the October 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics. This was just one of multiple patents filed over the period of three decades (1940s-1970s) by Alfred F. Foote, product designs both jeep-related and non-jeep-related.
1) On July 27, 1960, Alfred F. Foote filed a patent for the Stratton Lift with the Stratton Equipment Company as the assignee. Due to the lack of information related to Stratton lifts, it was unclear to most when this product hit the market. Given the patent date, the lift likely entered the market in late 1960 or later.
As part of his patent, Foote references both the Monroe and the Love designs. The patent for the lift was granted on Feb. 26, 1963.
2) This Stratton brochure is currently on eBay (Nate has better scans of this brochure):
3) These are two mailers that I think someone sent me .. was it you Barry? Continue reading
