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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 .
I spotted this Amsterdam video with jeeps on this Facebook page. It shows a jeep helping manage traffic following WWII.
In July 1943 the Ordnance Department released a jeep to the Washington State College (now University) for farm testing. A year later the College produced a bulletin titled “The Jeep as a Farm Truck-Tractor for the Post-War Period.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a copy of that document online. But there’s a hard copy at the WSU library (which is only a couple hours from me). Anyone have copy of that?
In August of 1944 the Spokesman Review published this article based on the information.
This CJ-5 is shown navigating a closed road in 1973.
“1973 Jeep Drives Through Washed Out Road Windsor Vermont Press Photo”
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UPDATE: Was on eBay. SOLD for $191.50.
” VERY WELL CARED FOR Vintage Structo Toys Fire Dept. No 26 Pumper Ride On Jeep Truck WITH RARE CRANK SIREN INTACT. This truck is about 25 1/2″ long and about 12 1/2″ tall.
There is some wear to the paint from age and some rusty areas on the wheels and body of the truck. The steering wheel turns easily and the wheels turn with it in same direction. Having the siren intact is VERY RARE (See other similar trucks, all sold without the siren!). The siren does crank and rattles, but may need cleaning after 50 years of storage! The truck says Fire Dept. No 26 on the top of the hood of the jeep and on the rear it says PUMPER. On the sides of the truck are painted on pictures of firemen hats; a fire extinguisher; and a shovel and axe.
It has been in our family since purchase in the ertly 1960’s. This truck is in used but very good original condition.”
Paul continues to make progress on his jeep. He received his tires and has made some custom stainless rim discs.
Paul’s new tires
TIRES:
He writes, “The New Tire Fairy arrived at the house today with eight brand new STA Super Traxion 6.50-16 tires along with eight new inner tubes for the little Willys. I’d been searching the internet for a vintage looking narrow tire with an aggressive tread design that would look good on the Willys so shortly after I discovered these tires I put my credit card to work and placed my order.
I wanted to replace the brand new but 30 year old tires on the Willys so that accounted for 5 tires and I needed 3 more tires for the military trailer (I want the trailer to have it’s own spare tire) so that’s why I bought eight. Shipping wasn’t too expensive since I wasn’t in a hurry and compared to Coker tire who wanted to ship their tires 2nd day air ($1,100 for the tires and an additional $900 for shipping) it was down right reasonable by Alaska standards.”
WHEEL DISCS:
In this photo he’s testing out the disc concept with poster board.
He writes, “I bought some poster board that was large enough to make full size mock ups of the stainless steel wheel covers I’m thinking of making to cover the plain steel wheels I’ll be using on the Willys. The six larger holes are 1 & 1/2 “ diameter and the smaller holes are 1 “ in diameter. I’ve made other discs, some with more holes and some with less holes on each disc in various patterns but I keep coming back to this design. It’s simple, the spacing of the holes is easy on my eyes and the wheel covers make the tires appear larger and more heavy duty.
Each hole will have a reinforcing ring fastened to the back side of the disc either by 1/8th inch diameter monel raised head style rivets or 3/16” dimeter stainless steel machine screws (the size of the machine screws used on the door just below the window). These doublers and rivets are for style only and not necessary for strength. Each disc will be attached to a wheel by six stainless machine screws and these screws will thread into steel mounts welded to the wheels.”
A completed disc.
“Above is the first wheel disc with the holes drilled and the rivets installed. I gave the plain disc a brushed finish to see what it would look like … I think it’s about as close as I can come to matching the body finish. These wheel discs need to be easy to clean and easy to touch up the finish so a mirror polished disc would require lots of maintenance to keep the metal shiny. I don’t have enough energy to keep up with the mirror finish.
I finished riveting the last two wheel discs today then I cut a hole thru the center of the front wheel disc slightly larger than the Warn hub so these discs could be test fitted to the wheels on the Willys. The tires on the Willys are still the old new ones and not the new, new ones I recently received since the steel wheels currently on the Willys have the wrong offset and will be replaced with the correct wheels in the near future. Anyway, I think these discs match the Willys much better than the aluminum wheels I was originally planning on using.”
The wheel discs attached. The discs came out a little darker, but that’s probably because of the angle. The discs are made of the same stainless as the rest of the jeep. These are the old tires, not the new ones.
UPDATE: **SOLD** $22.50. Was on eBay.
Here’s a radical jeep design!
“1945- Members of the 237th Medium Ordnance Maintenance Company in Hawaii shown with their “streamlined jeep” made from two wrecked jeeps, discarded chromium, and four “belly-type” auxiliary gas tanks discarded by the Air Force.”
This June 19, 1942, Milwaukee Journal article describes early farm jeep tests at the Auburn facility.
I’ve seen plenty of Marx Jeeps, but finding one with an original box is rare.
“Vintage MARX WILLYS JEEP Pressed Steel Toy Car + Box *EX* (USA) Neat and hard to find 11″ pressed steel Willys Jeep in original box. This toy would rate as the cleanest one I have ever seen except for the front grill area where I’m guessing the paint reacted and flaked off. Other than the grill issue this toy is bright and shiny as day one with a crisp and clean box to match. Good luck. NO RESERVE!”
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This September 1, 1944, press photo shows salvaged 5th Army engines in Italy.
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This September 1957 article from Willys News shared the news that the NYPD was testing jeeps for use in New York’s Central Park, Coney Island, and the Rockaways. I’ve tried to find subsequent photos of the green and white jeeps in color, but haven’t had any luck.
This April 14, 1941, article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shared an article about “American-China” support of the army’s new Blitz Buggy, a Bantam BRC-40.
I was able to pull out the text on the caption.
Training Soldiers of Mercy: A Tiny jeep car is converted into an ambulance by the deft(?) place of stretchers at the front and back by soldiers in training at the Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, PA. This method of transporting wounded is recommended for short distances. Physicians and first aid men serving in the United States Army must carry the fight on disease and wounded not only in hospitals, laboratories, dressing stations and test tubes set on the front under enemy fire. Trainees at the school learn to succor the wounded and fallen through actual field work under simulated conditions they would see in battle. Ingenious methods are used to speed first aid, transportation of the wounded to base hospitals and removal of wounded from the field of action. 9/3/42
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I forgot to publish these on Tuesday. Here’s a link to the crossword puzzle.
This article appeared in the February 1956 issue of Willys News. No pics were added, but I thought the article itself was interesting.
Good front-end shot of a BRC-60
“1941- Troops at Fort Benning in Bantam prototype pre-Willys jeep armed with 30 caliber and 50 caliber machine guns.”
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UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on ebay.
The mule is pulling the stuck Bantam “midget tractor” out of the mud.
It needs some work.
“Monroe 3 point hitch with reservoir and lines. The hydraulic housing is cut but can be repaired by an experienced welder. The cylinder, lines & reservoir all were full of oil and move freely.”
http://eastky.craigslist.org/cto/4876721063.html
Over at Kustomrama.com I found the below photo taken by Marvin Patchen. Marvin took a variety of older photos that have landed on the pages of FourWheeler and JP Magazines (or perhaps just online).
Frank M. James CJ-2A. Photo taken by Marvin Patchen.
Last year Verne Simons published three articles at Four Wheeler.com with jeep camping photos. The photographer for some of these was Marvin Patchen. Apparently some were also published in a 1959 Motor Life Magazine article (I believe it was April 1959 — I will know for sure soon). There are some great photos. Click on the links below to see them.
Photos from the first two links were taken during a Chuckwalla Jeep Club Trip from Hemet to Borrego Springs.
Part 1: http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/1403-vintage-expedition-trailer-camping-part-1-march-2014-vault/ (Eric Rickman photos)
Part 2: http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/1404-camping-part-2-april-2014-vintage-vault Marvin Patchen photos)
In an article titled “Old-School Camping Extravaganza” from September 2014, Verne shares some more photos. http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/1409-old-school-camping-extravaganza-vintage-vault/
Mark has just posted a new feature story over at Warjeeps.com. Read about how David Egerton spent three years restoring a 1942 GPW that had been civilized.
http://warjeepstories.blogspot.com/2015/01/honoring-veteran-42-gpw.html
David Egerton’s 1942 GPW
Robin shares this photo and caption. It describes the close combat course in North Carolina.
We are hoping someone recognizes the type of camper on this Willys Truck. It looks like it was built for Willys trucks it fits so well. Below the color photos are a couple of black and white photos showing a similar but slightly different example.
Jay Lewton is rebuilding his grandfather’s racing jeep. He’s looking for a few hard-to-find parts.
My grandpa and Dad owned Lewton’s Jeep Sales and service from 1952 until 1989 when chrysler took over. My dad still has the shop and now does minor repairs and vintage jeep service work. The jeep I am restoring is my grandpas 1948 Willys race jeep. He raced this at Tri County 4 Wheelers, which he and 13 friends started in 1963 in Lisbon Ohio. I am now the proud owner of the jeep and trying to find the same rims and tires he used to run. 15×10 5 slot rims and Formula Desert Dog Tires 31×10.50 r 15. Luckily I still have the rims for the paddle tires but along the way I am not sure what happened to the aluminum rims. My dad tossed the Desert dogs about 10 years ago because they were falling apart.
I am looking for some Desert Dog tires and alumuinum rims. I am also looking for a 3a or 3b frame because of the many years of offroad racing the frame on the jeep has gotten week and stressed and I would much rather put another frame under it to make it safe if I decide to show or run the jeep again.
I am including a picture of my grandpa in his jeep from the early 90’s when he was still racing. Any help in searching for these parts would be greatly appreciated. I am lucky to finally add this Jeep to my Jeep collection here in Phoenix Az where I live now.
At 3.5″ x 5″ this isn’t too big, but it sure looks interesting.
“THIS IS A RARE OLD AND ORIGINAL 1941 ONE-OF-A-KIND “65TH COAST ARTILLERY” FORT BARRY, CALIFORNIA WATER-SLIDE DECAL.
GREAT ILLUSTRATION OF A DOG SOLDIER MANNING A HOOD-MOUNTED MACHINE GUN ON HIS JEEP AND TOWING A 3-INCH ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN.
THE 2ND BATTALION 65TH COAST ARTILLERY WAS STATIONED AT FORT BARRY ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE IN THE MARIN COUNTY HEADLANDS. MADE UP MAINLY OF 3-INCH ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNNERS FROM WASHINGTON, OREGON AND CALIFORNIA STATES, THEY DEVELOPED A FRONT-PEDESTAL MOUNT FOR 50 CALIBER ANTI-AIRCRAFT MACHINE GUNS FOR THEIR JEEPS. MADE BY THE FAMOUS ILLUSTRATORS AT THE LACQUER GRAPH PROCESS COMPANY, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.
THIS UNUSUAL BEAUTIFUL DECAL SHOWS ITS AGE, BUT DISPLAYS WELL IN EXCELLENT UNUSED CONDITION.
IT MEASURES ABOUT 3 1/2 BY 5 INCHES IN SIZE.
IT WOULD BE A NICE ASSET TO ANY 2ND BN 65TH COAST ARTILLERY REGIMENT, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA STATE OR TRAVEL DECAL COLLECTION.”
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