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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 article in a 1943 issue of the Toledo Blade is an interesting profile of Military Chaplain Leland Larson who followed the US Armed Forces from North Africa to Italy. At some point, he got hurt and was awarded a Purple Heart. After the war he moved to Phoenix and became Pastor for the Holy Trinity church in Tucson, Arizona (from 1966 newspaper article). He moved on to at least one other church. He passed away in Green Valley, AZ, in 1990.
A cool (very cool as in freezing cold) photo.
“1945 Press Photo Vintage Jeep Pulls US 9th Army Ski Patrol Soldier Germany WWII. You are bidding on an original press photo of Vintage Jeep Pulls US 9th Army Ski Patrol Soldier Germany WWII. Photo measures 6.5 x 8.5 inches and is dated 2/1/1945.”
View all the information on eBay
The Great Willys Picnic and The Bantam Festival (both in Pennsylvania) are happening today. I hope everyone has fun!
Thanks once again goes to Charles for sharing these photos.
This German soldier was 7′ 6″!
This photo is from 1944 at the Battle of the Bugle. These are some Belgian SAS members.
Blaine shared these two pics of a Topeka mower he spotted at the Ag Museum in Union Gap, Washington. This one has a little different look on the front. You can bet we’ll be stopping by and checking this one out in person.
I’m still up from last night … in fact I’m sitting in the garage typing this up, so I’ll make this short. I pulled Patterson’s engine to swap with Rusty’s engine. I’ve got most of the parts swapped. Patterson’s tranny, though dirty on the outside, looks great on the inside, so I’ll just use that. I have some details I’ll discuss later, such as the carb linkage.
UPDATE II: To me, this looks like a Scheneker All Purpose Loader. Here is the brochure for comparison:
This was posted as part of an article on loaders from FarmCollector.com.
UPDATE: Two years ago Charles shared a photo showing an unusual loader attachment on a jeep (see the photo below the updated post). At the time, a reader named Chris commented that he had the same attachment. Over the subsequent couple of years Chris has worked to turn his attachment into a working unit. He has completed the rebuild in time to showcase it at this weekend’s Willys Picnic. Here’a s sneak peak. We are still looking for information on this loader!
(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DEC 19, 2014) The other day Charles shared some pics of unusual jeeps. One photo (seen below) showed a CJ-2A with a rare style of loader / bucket attachment. Chris spotted that photo and mentioned he owned one just like it, but didn’t know who made it or any history behind it. Does anyone recognize this?
UPDATE: This was supposed to be published this morning, but I was so tired last night I screwed it up .. so here it is, delayed ….
I’ll have a few updates around 9am PST.
I was busy all day Wednesday on Patterson, then worked until midnight on Alaska Or Rust stuff, so updates will be delayed. Here are some brief updates on Wednesday’s work:
Kaiser Willys has organized paint chips on this page: https://www.kaiserwillys.com/willys_overland_paint_colors
The seller lists this as a January 13, 1946 photo, but the text on the photo reads 10-13-46.
“This is an original press photo. The old and the new in transportation- a jeep and a horse and buggy- are parked at a curb in Hearst, a lumbering town in Canada. The driver of the buggy had come in from his farm for a week’s supply of groceries. Canada- Series- 1946. Hearst, Canada. Photo measures10.5 x 7.75 inches. Photo is dated 1-13-1946.”
View all the information on eBay
This Desert News Magazine August 14, 1949, article titled “Knights of the Jeep” highlights the Bountiful Jeep Posse. Unfortunately, I could only find a scanned version with readable text in black and white. The scanned photos are poor. I did manage to locate a couple small colored photos of the article, so I’ve cobbled all the information together.
Here’s the link to the original article in Google News
I thought this a good followup to the above post. A caption from a photo on eBay (a photo with content that wasn’t all that useful) had some interesting historical information. It highlights the fact the Utah (probably the Bountiful Jeep Posse) formed the country’s first Jeep Posse in March of 1946. One of the next earliest was in Lake County, California, started in 1948.
In 1960, spearheaded by the Bountiful Jeep Posse, the National Jeep Search and Rescue Association (NJSRA) was formed.
Two Utah senators (Orrin Hatch and Jake Garn) cosponsored a resolution to make June 11-June 17, 1979, “National Jeep Search and Rescue Association Week”.
As some point, the NJSRA dropped the “J”, becoming the National Search and Rescue Association, which still meets annually. The organization is based in St. Charles, Idaho.
Here’s the text in its entirety a nod to the 1964 gathering of the Association in Lakeview:
Lakeview (Special) — The Lake County Search and Rescue Unit will play host to the 1964 National Jeep Search and Rescue Association convention to be held at Lakeview on June 12, 13, and 14.
The Unit is one of the first “Jeep posses” organized in the United States.
While Utah claims the honor of the first in that field, Lake County was not far behind. Paul Ortwein started the local posse in 1948. He was the first president and served for 10 years.
The Organization now finds itself well recognized in both search and rescue work and in serving the community in other ways, such as Civil Defense, assistance with parades, and other public events.
As a side note, the 1963 Association gathering was in Arizona.
What happened to the N
Last weekend the Willys Overland Jeepster Club held their annual Spring meet for the 51st time. Sixty members and a dozen Jeepsters attended the event at Dundee, Michigan. A Fall Meet will occur later this year.
You can read much more in the Monroe News:
http://www.monroenews.com/news/20170603/its-jeepster-reunion
PHOTO CREDIT: Monroe News by Tom Hawley. Kevin Stepinski is waving out the door of his 1949 Jeepster.
This photo features 2 Bantam BRC-40s. I’m wondering if the date of publishing was later than the photography date, given the Bantams.
“You are bidding on an original press photo of WWII Soldiers Drive Jeep Autos Through Water. Newspaper markings on photo. Photo measures 6.5 x 8.5 inches and is dated 8/22/1944.”
View all the information on eBay
Tim Evans shared a few photos of jeeps he saw during a trip through Texas’ Hill Country. One of his stops was to the National Museum of the Pacific War, a place Ann and I visited in 2015. It’s a great place to visit.
He wrote, “Last week we spent a week in Texas and spotted a few jeeps. In Fredericksburg, TX, is the National Museum of the Pacific War. A very well done museum with many detailed exhibits. On display there in the museum was a GPW, and details about the jeep and its production, use and this advertisement. I spotted another GPW that the museum uses in living history demonstrations.”
About this CJ-5 grille, Tim noted, “In New Braunfels TX, I spotted a jeep grill in an antique store for only $199”
This was probably a mid 1960s poster given the Tux Park featured at the top.
“THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE ORIGINAL ,VERY LARGE WILLYS JEEP “KAYLINE TOPS FOR JEEPS” – “OUR BUSINESS IS TOPS” DEALER POSTER.
THE SIZE OF THE POSTER IS 36X23 INCHES APPROX.
DATING THE POSTER IS HARD BUT FROM THE PICTURES ON IT DATES IT FROM THE 60’S OR SO.
THE MAIN JEEP ON THE POSTER IS A NICE TUXEDO PARKER EDITION CJ5.
THE POSTER IS IN GREAT SHAPE WITH MINIMAL WEAR ON EDGES OR ON PRINT FROM BEING STORED ROLLED FOR MANY YEARS. IT HAS BRIGHT COLORS AND GRAPHICS. POSTER WILL SHIP ROLLED.”
View all the information on eBay
This one is nearly 3.5 feet wide. Has a few small tears.
“THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE (1) KAISER JEEP CORP. DEALERSHIP POSTER ADVERTISING FOR “MEYER JEEP CABS”. IT LOOKS LIKE A TUXEDO PARK EDITION OF THE CJ5 PICTURED! IT DATES FROM THE 50’S/60’S LOOKING AT THE MODEL OF JEEP, AND IT MEASURE 41 X 29 INCHES APPROX.
THE POSTER IS VERY BRIGHT WITH GOOD COLOR, THERE ARE WEAR AND SMALL TEARS ON THE EDGES, OLD TAPE ON BOTTOM EDGE, A PIECE OF PRINT IS MISSING FROM THE “MEYERS” SYMBOL ON LOWER RIGHT, AND SOME EDGE PIECES ARE MISSING. THERE ARE ALSO 6 SMALL ROUND PUNCH THROUGHS ON THE PRINT.
OVERALL A NICE, ORIGINAL, VINTAGE PIECE OF JEEP ADVERTISING THAT WILL LOOK GOOD FRAMED.”
view all the information on eBay
The jeep plays a small part in this unique poster.
“THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE Original Vintage “ARMY EDUCATIONAL CENTER – WINTER TERM” POSTER.
DRAWN BY M.I.MAUL.
LIGHT PAPER. POSTER FEATURES A VINTAGE FLAT-FENDER JEEP ON IT WHICH COULD HELP DATE IT.NO DATE NOTED ON POSTER, BUT THE JEEP HAS A “45” ON IT??
FAIR/GOOD CONDITION OVERALL WITH CLEAN,CLEAR COLOR. EDGES HAVE WEAR AND SOME TEARS AND A SMALL PART MISSING BUT WILL LOOK GOOD IF FRAMED. POSTER WAS ALWAYS ROLLED.
POSTER MEASURES 231/2 X 16 1/2 APPROX.”
View all the information on eBay
Patterson has a Harrison Heater, common in the early DJ-3As. Attached at the bottom of the dash is an Ark-Less four position switch (Off, Low, Medium, High) that controls the fan speed. The switch wasn’t delivering current, so I spent the day figuring out how to pull it apart and clean it up in the hopes that the switch could be resurrected.
The switch is held together by a long pin in the center. The switch also rotates on this pin. To remove the pin, the rounded edges on the pin must be drilled/pressed together/or someone modified. I chose to drill out the ends.
Here’s what it looks like to begin (not my switch .. I forgot to take this pic .. thanks to the cj-2a.com page)
Note the small hole. That pin must be pushed out
Now, here’s my switch. It received some paint when Patterson was repainted (I believe the paint was touched up some at some point). Once I drilled out the end of the pin a little, I used the nail to push the pin through.
Here’s the other side of the pin. Now that it is sticking up, I can remove it.
Pin removed. I didn’t put much pressure on the pin when I first pushed it through, so I *think* the pin was already bent somehow.
Denim Carlson was featured on the Daily Interlake website, a Montana Lake County news source, recently. Denim worked through problems with addiction during high school while completing this CJ-2A as a senior project. Hopefully, some of you helped him along during the process (I imagine he reached out on forums a time or two). The jeep looks like it turned out good. Congrats to Denim!
Read his whole story here: http://www.dailyinterlake.com/article/20170530/ARTICLE/170539989
PHOTO CREDIT: Aaric Bryan of the Daily Inter Lake
Rick shared these unusual hubcaps. Given the single “J” on them, I’d guess these were produced by Cutlas Manufacturing? At the bottom is an example of “J” branded hubcaps by Cutlas.
These were for sale in Florida:
Here’s an example of the Cutlas “J” branded caps from Pascal’s website: http://jeepwillysworld.com/blog/2016/01/23/j-hubcaps/
There are several original and reproduced Love Lift photos. The ones below are suppose to be originals.
2.1947 Jeep Lift Up Implement Hitch Love Tractor Co Original Factory Photo.
3. 1947 Jeep Lift Up Implement Hitch Love Tractor Co Original Factory Photo.
4. 1947 Jeep Lift Up Implement Hitch Love Tractor Co Original Factory Photo.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on on Bay.
This is an interesting photo. It was found on film captured from Germans.
“1945 Press Photo German troop leader folds glasses while jeep burns in Germany.
This is an original press photo. German troops, the leader clasping a pair of field glasses, walk along a field bordering a road on which an American jeep burns beside another tank vehicle somewhere on the western front. this photo is from German film captured by America forces. Photo measures 9 x 7.5 inches. Photo is dated 1-2-1945.”
I found these docs on eBay. They are basic pricing sheets for the DJ-5 and DJ-6 (non mail-jeep looking versions). Though I don’t see specifics, I think these used the T-96 tranny.
UPDATE **SOLD** Was $125.
Bill spotted this wood hardtop. The side windows flip down. Looks well-built.
“CUSTOM MADE WOOD (W/ CANVAS) WILLY’S JEEP TOP/COVER NEEDS SOME REPAIR FOR RETROFITTING YOUR VINTAGE JEEP! ATTENTION SURFERS ! AND DEER HUNTERS !!!”
We had a good day of work on Patterson today. First up, we confirmed that all the lights, blinkers, and even the hazards work. The brake lights don’t work yet, but that’s related to the master cylinder. I’ve ordered a dual master cylinder system from R&P, which ought to solve the brake issues.
The last electronic issue to debug is the heater motor. That’s on deck for tomorrow morning.
We took a look a closer look at Patterson’s engine and concluded it needs a full rebuild. There are multiple areas of pitting on the piston walls. Examples:
Wall of piston #4. Several instances of pitting.
Pitting on #2
So, we turned our attention to Rusty’s engine, one that is marked as a rebuild. Ann tackled the cleaning of it. It was supposed to be a “good enough” job, which she surpassed.
