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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 .
The starting price for this unusual lighter is $49.99.
View all the information on ebay
“1959 Dundee Lighter promoting the FIRST CANADIAN BUILT JEEP® August 21, 1959. Back reads: WILLYS of CANADA Ltd, Windsor, Ontario. Scratches from storage. Blue, white and black enamel shows very little if any wear. Needs a cleaning. Being sold “As Is” as we didn’t have any fluid or flints to test.”
This eight-page October 1962 issue of Jeep News introduces the Gladiator and Wagonneer. So, it may not be too surprising that this entire issue covers these new jeeps.
UPDATE: I found what I believe is another Israel Kaiser brochure which highlights the Compact Tender design. This truck looks more like a modified wagon than a truck. The bed does not appear independent of the cab.
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Original Published Dec 05, 2010: Congrats to Or who spotted some information from a “Kaizer-Ilin Industrys Ltd” marketing document at the Israel Cars forum. He and I have both searched for any official piece of evidence that the vehicles we were seeing were really produced and this represents the first step in that process. We still don’t know how many were produced, nor how many years they were produced, nor in how many countries they were produced (though they have appeared in both Israel and the US).
The document below is from 1963. Or translates it the following way:
1. Tender Willys
2. “Station Car”
3. Compact Tender
4. c’hamp 1963
Moreover, Or spoke with some of the folks at the Israel Cars forum and discovered that the Compact Tender is built on the Panel/Wagon frame (104.5″ wheelbase) rather than the long pickup frame (118″ wheelbase).
Thanks to the guys at the Israel Cars forum for posting this Ad:
The October 1961 issue of Jeep News was eight pages. Page one included a couple photos of the FJ-3A from different angles. Willys Motors also announced that eleven TV commercials would hit the airwaves over the coming months. I am not sure sure if all these commercials have been saved to YouTube or not.
Page two shows the results of the second annual Las Cruces Jeepathon. The event featured fifteen racers and 8500 spectators. An article on page two also noted that the October 1961 issue of United Airlines Mainliner magazine featured four images of jeeps, including “a lavatory truck, Surrey, FC-170, and a conventional one-ton pickup truck”.
Page three shows a small elephant in the back of an FC-170 along with Joan Crawford with an DJ-3A Surrey. Page four shows two ‘comparison-data’ brochures, one for the truck and one for the wagon. Another of these was published for the CJ-5 and DJ-3A and is available on eBay.
Pages five and six are mostly dealer information. Page seven is highlighted by Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida and their movie ‘Come September’.
Page eight shares the story of Evie Durant, a church worker who uses her jeep for a variety of tasks in Alabama. Also on the page is a surprisingly robust rebuild of a CJ-6 into a swamp maneuvering, oil searching rig. Finally, there’s a short story of some college graduates and their training with the Audio-Visual wagons prior to their departure of Africa.
UPDATE: At bottom is a printed version of the plate listed on eBay. A few of the pics show the truck with the high middle cross piece on the grille, which helps date it.
View all the information on eBay
“8 x 6 x 1 inch
“Let us demonstrate America’s lowest priced 4-wheel drive truck”
“4-Wheel Drive Jeep Truck”
“Willys…world’s largest makers of 4-wheel drive vehicles”
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Originally published April 14, 2013: The ad is from 1956.
“Original newspaper ad , 8 x 8 .”
The June-July 1961 issue of Jeep News is only six pages.
Page one shares news about the FJ-3A, which the company planned to introduce in the fall of 1961. Interestingly, the paper refers to it as The Commercial ‘Jeep’ Fleetvan. Page two includes another example of an FC-170 with a custom camper on the back.
An articles on page three highlight the use of jeeps at Lake Placid, New York, and the continued use of DJ-3A Dispatcher surreys as part of the Pepe movie promotion. Page four shows how an FC-170 was converted into a horse carrier. Page five is all dealer news.
Page six shows some images from a jeep club meet at Kaiser Steel, while a pic at the bottom shows a militarized FC-170 with it’s top removed.
This eight-page Jeep News was published in March of 1960. On the front page, the company announced the 1960 ‘Jeep’ Approved Equipment Sales Program to further push third party equipment sales, which rose 33% in 1959 vs 1958. Willys Motors also welcomed a new Jeep Approved Equipment sign.
In addition, the front page highlighted the Surrey, noting that Pepsi had purchased 100 surreys, making it the largest Surrey purchase to date. Eighteen of those went to Tulsa in custom colors of Code N-57 Pepsi-Cola Yellow and Pepsi-Cola Creamed Striped Vinyl, but it is less clear to me what colors were used for the other surreys. Finally, the front page noted that the Surrey would appear in “Seventeen” Magazine on April 04, 1960 (see full ad in black and white here).
Page two referenced three different brochures. The first brochure was highlighted to announce that an updated version of the value-rater with 1960 data had been published (view the 1959 version here). The second two brochures were intended as mailers for a targeted audience of contractors, engineers, and other building trades people. The first mailer was titled “When The Weather Outside Is Frightful” (DM60-01), while the second one was “Building Up? Or Down?” (DM60-02). At least nine 1960 DM60-XX brochures were produced, though I am still missing DM60-05, DM60-07, and DM60-08.
A story on page three describes the use of a Surrey by the fashionable “Togs for Women” stores as “a trailing fashion show, with a trailer loaded of the latest in women’s clothing.” Pages four and five cover the rise of jeep clubs from across the country, both for fun and for community service. Pages six and seven have a variety of FC stories.
Page eight has another Bonners Willys story, this time highlighting a DJ-3A Dispatcher, though the hardtop on the dispatcher looks most like a very early Willys Overland top like this one. Meanwhile, a different article shared the news of a thirty-two Dispatcher purchase by Sommers Drugs, a San Antonio, Texas, drug store chain.
Page 140 of the April 1960 issue of Seventeen Magazine included a photoshoot titled ‘Swingy Surrey Stripes’ that used a jeep Surrey (as reported in the March 1960 issue of Jeep News). I looked into buying a copy of that issue on eBay, but it would have been $50 with shipping. Instead, I found a black and white version from archive.org. In August of 1960, a contest ad for a Surrey-give-away would appear in a Seventeen Magazine ad for Miss Gotham.
These are photos from eBay of a 1960 brochure, though I can’t tell the exact form number. My guess is that it is Form DM60-01, based on this March 1960 Jeep News issue. I had a chance to buy this once on ebay, but missed out on it.
This February 1960 Building Up? Or Down? brochure had some older photos, so I’ve updated them.
This six-page January 1959 issue of Jeep News is only six pages.
Page one shares dealer news, as does much of page two. Page two (and page six) also has a ‘history’ of the jeep, which at that point was only eighteen or nineteen years old, depending on the start date of 1941 or 1940. Page three devotes a whole page to Jarvis Jeep out of Portland, Oregon. An article on page four tells the story of an FC-170, with an unusual bed, that was used as part of a Christmas tree business. Page seven has a story about an FC-170 out of Hutchinson, Kansas, with a variety of extras. Page eight covers the newly formed Tulare County Four-Wheel Drive Club.
UPDATE: Colin estimates 1949 on this brochure, figuring there were new forges installed for some 1950 products.
I won this odd ball item as part of a 3-item auction where nobody else bidded! This twenty-eight-page Willys-Overland Forge booklet provides some background and highlights about the company’s forging process. My guess, based on the last page, is that Willys-Overland was attempting to find corporate customers that needed parts or other items forged, suggesting that the forge may not have been running at full capacity making jeep parts. There’s no date on this, but my guess is that this was produced around 1950.
At twelve pages, the November 1958 Jeep News is one of the largest issues published.
Page one contains various dealer info stories. Page two discusses the growth of jeep clubs and their potential as unofficial ‘salesmen’ for the product and brand. Also on page two is a discussion of the jeep-name origin. You’ll note the appearance in that discussion of the term “G P”, which I’ve yet to see definitive proof to if being used prior to the introduction of the Ford GP in early 1941. Bill Norris was able to locate a blurb, possibly from May of 1942, that suggests the letters “G P” that “appeared on all orders for the specifically made car”, however it’s not clear which orders such letters appeared on or when they appeared. But, it’s an avenue worth exploring.
Page three highlights dealer news, while page four shares how popular jeep exhibits had become at local and state fairs. Page five covers the importance of lighting to jeep dealerships, while page six and seven announce that dealerships have penetrated areas all over the US, though none of the dealerships shown are west of Oklahoma (still 1300 miles to LA from OK). Page eight and nine are again mostly dealer news, though page nine does cover a druggists satisfaction with the new DJ-3A dispatcher.
Pages ten and eleven have a wide variety of stories, but I thought the custom DJ-3A “The Goody Cart” ice cream jeep on page ten was particularly interesting. Page twelve covers a story about some jeepers capturing California horse rustlers.
I thought I had posted this issue a few years ago, but somehow I missed it. So, here is the 8-page May 1956 issue of Willys News.
Page one highlights that thousands of feet of film was taken as part of creating new promo films for Willys Motors. No doubt that film is long gone. Page two has an article explaining the importance of jeeps to rural readers of North Carolina’s Statesville Record and Landmark newspaper. Page two also claims that the first registered CJ-2A appeared in Mt. Kisco, New York, a claim debated on this post.
Page three has a great photo of Bonner’s Willys Motors out of Texas, a part of which eventually became Barney’s Jeep Parts in Ohio. Page five indicates that at least 100 audio-visual wagons (though the paper calls them ‘trucks’) had been assembled. An article on Page six shares the news that Dispatchers were proving popular as delivery vehicles, with an accompanying testimonial from Carolina Tool.
Page seven highlights “Miss Maude”, an excerpt of which I posted back in 2014. Page eight covers the April 1956 Truth or Consequences “Journal de Jeeps” cross-country race.
The December 1961 issue of Jeep News was only six pages, but still packed into a few interesting items. In the center column of the front page you can see the California Association of ‘Jeep’ Clubs had already come up with rules for jeeping on publics lands. Here in the PNW, we’ve seen a small contingent of folks doing stupid things that ruins it for everyone else. Such is life. Also note the bottom of page one showing the two giant billboards. I’ve never seen pics of these.
An article on page two references a 28-page two-color booklet titled “Your Ten Major Retail Markets”. That’s not one I’ve seen. Anyone else run across it? There’s also a reference to a Fleetvan comparison brochure. You can see pics of that here: http://www.ewillys.com/2016/03/29/1961-fleet-van-c…brochure-on-ebay/ (Not sure if I have a copy).
Page three contains something really unique: An Army FC-170 with a camper! The FC camper, an Army FC-170 with a Stahl bed, and an Army Traveller wagon were all headed to Alaska. Page three also has pics from a Billings, Montana, Rough Riders Jeep Club road event.
Page five and six contain a variety of stories, with several photos of FC-170 Fire trucks. Page seven shares the story of a New Jersey firm that operated pizza delivery wagons. Anything you can add to that story Mike?
UPDATE: This was supposed to publish Friday morning, but didn’t for some reason… just discover this Friday night!
This eight-page February 1959 issue of Jeep News begins with a recap of the 1960 Chicago Autoshow, where the all-white jeep lineup on display was called, by some industry veterans, the most attractive commercial display at the show. Page three shows several different FCs adapted to various speciality tasks.
Page four and five share a report and multiple images from the auto show. There’s also a reference to two films played at the show. One was Jeep Frolics, a video shown in the post below, and another video showing a wide variety of tasks jeeps could perform (not sure which video this might be).
Page six contains an article about Warn’s successful hub sales. the article estimated that by 1959 there were 135,000 jeeps using Warn hubs. Page seven covers the use of jeeps in Detroit’s underground salt mines (also captured in pics from this post). Page eight features several stories, including another example of a custom FC camping unit.
This September 1958 four-page issue of Jeep News is devoted to the Maverick show.
The May 1958 issue of Jeep News was only four pages, but the marketing managed to pack in some interesting tidbits. On page one the company discussed the new 3/4 mechanical mule-like prototype. Included is a pic of a model; I wonder what happend to the model? Also on page one, in the lower right of the page is a story about Hugh Smith purposefully driving a jeep through a garage wall to save his brother from a burning garage.
Page two features several FCs, but the one that looks the most interesting (to me) is the unit with the “Samp-O-Rama” traveling meat counter built for Armour and Company in Atlanta.
Page three has a few DJ-3As. Page four features a story about Mr. S. W. Christie, whose contracting company owned 24 jeeps. Despite all the jeeps he owned, he decided to build his young boys a toy jeep of their own.
Because the May 1958 issue was so short, I figured it made sense to include the July 1958 Jeep News issue, which is also short at only six pages. I guess some folks at Willys Motors took some time off during the summer of 1958?
Page one explains some of the improvements made to the new line of Forward Control Jeeps. Page three includes multiple photos of the rare Leveloader FC. Page five shows a couple FCs that were customized to meet particular needs. Page six covers the Jeep Roadeo races in Yakima.
This eight-page issue of Willys News is the last “Willys News”. In March of 1958, the name was changed to “Jeep News”, though under the banner the “Willys Motors, Inc.” moniker remains unchanged over subsequent years.
The first page makes a reference to a commercial that ran in 1958 highlighting the new M-274 Mechanical Mule. I tried to find that commercial on YouTube, but didn’t have any success.
Pages two and three is dominated by dealer news. Pages four and five covers the use of jeep vehicles by ATT and its affiliates. Page six features an article on the new Sacramento Jeep Club. Page seven is a potpourri of stories, while page eight discusses “wetter water” and its use with jeeps against red ants.
The seller from whom I bought a bunch of issues of Jeep News has just listed the remainder he has. Most are 1960 or later, many I’ve never seen for sale.
This May 1959 issue of Jeep News announced that Willys agreed to continue co-sponsoring the Maverick show obviously dominated the headlines, but it is interesting to see that photos from the 1959 Truth or Consequences race also landed on the front page.
Page two contains dealer news. Page three includes a photo of two DJ-3As with unusual nylon tops, presumably custom made, that are owned by the Sheraton Terrace Motel in San Antonio.
Page five includes a full-page report with photos from the Truth Or Consequences, NM, ‘Jeep’ Vehicle Derby. Page six includes a rare photo of a civil defense wagon. Page seven has an almost full-page report on the eleventh annual Hemet to Borrego cavalcade.
Finally, page eight tells the story of a scout troop that raised money to replace their tired CJ-2A, though they replaced it with a non-jeep station wagon, the scouts noted it wasn’t as capable as the jeep. So, why didn’t a dealer step in to help these scouts get a jeep? ??
This June 1958 Jeep News issue is only four pages. There are a variety of stories, including an announcement on the front page indicating the Jeep Jamboree would be starting in July. The back page highlights the Maricopa County Jeep Posse, one of the more storied jeep posse’s in the country.
This four-page July 1964 Jeep Service and Parts News highlights. Note the directions on page one for removing protective wax from new vehicles after they arrive at a dealer. On page four, the bulletin announces a new Tornado Engine break-in methodology. I wonder what was wrong with the old, original one?
Good news. I’ve done a deal to purchase thirty issues of Jeep News, along with around 70+ Jeep Service and Parts News. Some are late 1950s, but most are from the early to mid 1960s.
Page one of the April 1958 eight-page issue of Jeep News highlights the introduction of the Mule, though calling is “space age” seems over the top. The front page also includes an announcement for the third-annual jeep rodeo in Yakima, hosted by the Yakima Ridgerunners.
Page three shares the news from the recently completed Jeep Cavalcade from Hemet to Borrego Springs, California. Page four announced the third-annual Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, Jeep Derby. Page five has some images for the Lake Erie hunting club.
On page six, don’t miss the modified jeep used to transport mobile homes (and attempt to meet some local laws. Speaking of transport, lower on page two is a modified buggy and trailer that carried hunters through and over local swamps. Page seven is a full page article on jeeps and salt water anglers.
