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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 .
This video is from the 2020 Fall Color tour and is narrated by Rick Pewe.
“Day 3 – Colorado Flat Fender Fall Color Tour The group divides for 2 different trails today. Join us as we cruise the Willys Lane on the way to Marshall Pass and we send Liam on an epic shelf road adventure to over 13,000 feet above sea level on Mt. Antero.”
This framed Jeep Gala Map brochure sold for $130 on an online auction (plus an additional $23% buyer premium and whatever shipping cost). I stopped at $50, as the map has a variety of ripples in it.
This Wellingon Jr. stamped lighter sold at auction for $45 on eBay the other day.
Bill shared this article about SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny and his failed attempt to use captured jeeps against the allies (though the second part fo the article about the jeep name is less informed based on the research I’ve posted). There are also some neat stories in the comments, including this one:
“The Hollywood actor David Niven was assigned to Montgomery’s HQ as a frontline liaison officer. Thanks to Bradley basing his 12th Army Group HQ too far on the south end of his operational sector Ike decided to reassign Bradly’s two northernmost armies, the First and the Ninth, to Monty’s 21 AG. Monty sent Captain Niven on a fast jeep drive intended to meet with each divisional and regimental HQ of those two armies with, information, codewords, radio frequencies, etc — stuff they needed to quickly integrate with their new AG assignment. Not being a hardcore baseball fan he had trouble getting through one roadblock until he mentioned his date with Betty Grable. The GIs let him pass with advice to “bone up on baseball, Dave!” Niven’s driver was Sgt. Peter Ustinov.”
Here is David Niven in a jeep years after the war for the movie “Before Winter comes”:
Jim forwarded a FB post showing that the folks that bought the Bradenton, FL, jeep parts store has listed the contents at a price of $1.25M. (we previously discussed the sale of the store contents here)
There are some wondering vintage toys and signs and parts, but I expect that price will drop. The expense to identify, inventory, pack, ship, unpack, post online, and ready the parts for shipping is a massive and expensive undertaking I would imagine, which drops the value. That said, I sure would like a few of those toys and signs though!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfvqKXqLLmONDbPTpFzZbGg
Roger Martin bought this cool, Marine-made jeep.
He wrote, “I bought another Jeep. It was built by marine in August of 1948. He was a machinist on a ship during the war. The wheels are made out of solid brass. The toy is pretty heavy. I bought it from a guy yesterday who bought it in 1970 from the widow of the original owner that built it. The Marine that built it worked for Fisher body in Cincinnati, Ohio.”
In 1969, a local group in northern Utah launched the Golden Spike Jeep Rally, an event that occurred in conjunction with the Ogden Pioneer Days in Late July. I know for sure the event took place in 1969 and 1970, but don’t know how long it lasted.
Events included hill climbs at Rainbow Gardens and an Obstacle Race at Mount Ogden Park, both Saturday and Sunday.
This photo and caption were printed in the June 27, 1969, Hill Top Times (Hill Airforce Base):
This article and photo was printed in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on July 23, 1970.
Bill shared this video of Mr. Metalshaper showing some issues he encounters while rebuilding some L-heads. Check it out on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9hRYtIv0Tk
A photo from the May 30, 1959, issue of the Eugene Guard showing the FC-170 “EL Borrego” with the Boyds.
UPDATE: This series of articles was first published in 2015. I’ve updated with several additional articles and photos.
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(First published February 15, 2015) This interesting collection of news articles captures Howard & Ora Boyd’s 1958 trip in an FC to South America. The first article was published prior to the trip. The second was published during the trip. The third was published following the trip. I was only able to find one photo and it was poor at best. It may have been that the Boyd’s got the idea from the Schreiders, who did nearly the same route three years before them.
Howard Boyd died in 1993, but Ora Boyd lived until 2009, dying at the age of 106, meaning she was born around 1903. Living much of their lives near Eugene, Oregon, according to her obituary their year-long jeep trip was one of her all-time favorite memories. The obituary was published in the Talent, Oregon, Historical Society newsletter, so I’ve written them to see if we can learn more.
1. This October 31, 1958, EugeneRegister-Guard article discusses trip preparations. The Boyds had a custom camper built for their FC (though no articles mention the model of the vehicle — it looks to me like an FC based on the pic below). They named their jeep “El Borrego”.
2. November 09, 1958 Eugene Guard .. brief article:
3. December 14, 1958, from the Eugene Guard:
UPDATE: Today I removed the tube bender from its box, only to find that the collar for the tube bender had irregular holes that had been “patched” by welding two spacers to the outside of it. But, that modification meant that the bolt was no long enough, meaning one of the two sides of the collar would be riding over the threads. Given the importance of the collar, this “fix” is unacceptable, so this bender will get returned.
Below you can see that both holes are irregular, so a spacer has been welded to the outside. What are these people thinking?
The bolt next to the collar is the stock bolt. I happened to have a similar bolt that was longer and better for this application. However, given the poor quality collar, I will be returning this device.
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As mentioned, a couple weeks ago we had the estate sale, which consumed WAY too much of my time. First there was the setup. Then, there was the rain, so then we had to re-setup using part of the shop (which meant moving stuff out of the shop like the race jeep), hanging tarps to hide tools, etc. In the end, the rain stopped Saturday at 4am and began Sunday at 3pm, which gave us a decent window to sell stuff.
We sold or gave away quite a bit, but there were still multiple trips to donation centers, a trip to recycling, and several trips to the dump. Then, once completed, we still had to reorganize the remainder.
The good news is that a lot of crap left the shop, which gives me much more room than I’ve had. Also. good news, the weather has finally warmed up, with blue sky and no rain.
So, I finally returned to work on the racer, though the work was mostly grinding/cutting off the remaining pieces of the rear front spring holders and the former mounts of the side bars. With that done, I can now fit the new side bars.
Before:
After:
I’d prefer to take the whole thing apart to better clean up and paint the frame, but that can wait until winter. For now, I am focusing on functionality over style (though the green will be painted black before the body is installed).
With the grinding done, I’m not far from being able to begin work on the roll cage. The new cage will be wider (for the wider Parkette body) and roomier (so I fit better). To build the cage I needed to get some new tools.
My plasma cutter arrived a few days ago, along with my tube bender (from Affordable Bender). I was going to build another bender, but I cannot locate printed copies of my bender plans nor can I find the password to the PDF I received from gotTrikes.com (locked PDF .. and no response from the gotTrikes website for a new password). So, after some research, I decided to take a chance on the AffordableBender, which as gotten pretty good reviews.
The thing I am awaiting now is my new MIG welder, which was supposed to arrive around June the 9th. It is now expected to arrive June 29th.
