Not letting anything go to waste, Jeremy has put an old rim to good use.

He writes, ” The TRUE Willys enthusiast uses old Jeep tires and rims as a fan stand, rather than donating to the scrapyard. Behind the fan you can see the newly restored frame from my 43 Willys.”

My son spotted this as the dentist’s office.  Motor Trend is reporting that Fiat is producing a true jeep for Europe, one that will be both crossover and a trail rated versions.  No pics of the concept or final version have been released just yet.  There are plans to sell this in the US, too.

“Jeep is preparing a new subcompact SUV crossover for the middle of calendar year 2013. It will be built in Europe on a Fiat platform, but Jeep promises it will have significant off-road capability. Jeep CEO Mike Manley told Motor Trend, ‘It will be a true Jeep. It has to be, for us. There will be an all-wheel-drive version, and a Trail Rated version.'”

View more here at Motor Trend (Note:  The vehicle pictured is a disguised version of what they will produce.)

Thanks to John for sharing this with us.  The final design of these vehicles could be very interesting. It has to carry two fighters, gear over rough terrain under cover of darkness.

“Self-driving cars may already seem like a dubious idea to most drivers, but the U.S. Air Force wants to raise the stakes. U.S. Special Forces soldiers may soon trust their lives to a stealth robot jeep that can autonomously carry them to their target and back, through mountainous terrain under the cover of nightfall, without alerting enemy patrols.

The robotic vehicle must have the ability to carry two warfighters and up to 700 pounds of gear over more than 18 miles of rugged terrain, according to the request for information issued by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). And it must be capable of navigating enemy territory stealthily, day or night, under any weather conditions. “The mission will be executed under the cover of night and the system must be able to work autonomously with only minimal inputs from the warfighters,” says the AFRL. “The hostile area does not have radar, but they do have patrols who will respond to visual and audible cues if they detect something out of the ordinary.”

The AFRL also requested that the robotic vehicle must fit within the cargo hold of a CV-22 Osprey, the tilt-rotor aircraft that carries Marines around Afghanistan and ferried Osama bin Laden’s body out of Pakistan.

Plenty of academic and private teams have developed robotic vehicles capable of some autonomous driving, either on their own or as part of DARPA’s Grand Challenge. Google has even tested its self-driving vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area. But driving on paved roads is a far cry from navigating rough terrain and perhaps having the capability to actively avoid possible enemies. Still, the Air Force lab has wisely sought out “new ideas from hobbyists, enthusiasts, teams and organizations that have not typically done business with the government in the past.”

The recent notice precedes an upcoming request for proposals that would award $200,000 to each of up to five teams for stealthy design concepts. Each team would eventually have the chance to compete for a $2 million contract to build a prototype of their dream robotic jeep.”

Bob sent me a note that Allen Boyd, Aka West Fork Boyd, passed away.  He was a good friend to many CJ-2A Page readers.  You can learn more here at the CJ-2A Page.

My mother tells me the month of July in Seattle is on pace to be one of the coolest on record. Fortunately, I didn’t move here for the heat!  And as I took a relaxing walk this morning (sunday) dodging tourists through bustling Pike Place Market, with new female friend in tow, to the Seattle Art Museum in the drizzle that defines Seattle, I rather relished it.  I relished the cool rainy July day, weather I ran away from back in June of 1992 as fast as the moving van would travel on a journey that seems otherworldly at this point.

So, 19 years later, here I was walking only a few blocks from the very spot from which I moved, an apartment at the base of Queen Anne hill in downtown.  As I walked down 1st Ave towards the SAM, I realized I’m older, yes;  I’m grayer, slighly; I’m richer, financially no, experientially yes; I’m wiser, maybe; more introspective, absolutely! I sold my jeep to finance the move so long ago and arrived back with a nicer one; maybe that was worth the entire adventure?

I guess I can’t help but be introspective at this time.  A heady move followed by a delightful time with my kids, which after their summer stays, I’m always simultaneously proud at who they have become and disappointed that their time with me is up for another summer.

And, of course, there was the added element of my father, whose dignity we fight to preserve as time weighs heavily on his formerly stout constitution.  The truth is dad is a little south of odd for the kids to recognize, as they really did not know him the way I did. I wanted to show the kids he is facing his mortality head on, despite infirmities and incontinence, and fighting for his end goal, to live to the age of 80.  Will he make it?  If he has any say about it, he will.

During all these events eWillys has suffered a bit, as time demands bit into my updates. Whenever that happens, I wonder if I have run out of time and energy to keep running the site.  And it always seems that when I start feeling that way, when I think there are better things (money making things) I could do with my time, some far flung reader I have never heard from sends me an email.  In this case, the reader’s name was Joe who hails from the Nashville area.

He writes, “Ewillys has refueled my passion for old flatfenders. I never knew much about them growing up, other than I wanted one and they were cool as all get out in all the old black and white war movies. I have wanted one ever since I was a kid. Two years ago I finally got a 46 cj2a. I traded a Harley for it, straight up. Figured both were about 3000.

I put 2000 miles on it in the first year and I am currently replacing the motor and catching up on some long over due maintenance. I will send a pic or two.  I took my mom for a ride in it last winter through the snow and it was 21 degrees out side, no heater. I have created a monster of her now. This past November she called me and told me that she wanted an “old” jeep. I figured a cj5 or 7 so she could get around, go fishing, and wat knot. She said “I want one like yours!” She wanted a flatty! After searching all over the craigslist and ewillys we finally found her a beautiful 48 cj3a in GA. She drives it everywhere! I will send you pics of it as well. Now my son is 5 and I have created a jeep nut of him as well.

I bought a parts 2a and it ended up having a title. So my son and I have tinkered with it and after getting his little hands greasy he’s hooked. He can see the corner of a hood behind something and he will shout, “JEEP DADDY!” He is also convinced that they don’t make “real” jeeps anymore and he loves cj’s. We plan on building from the ground up(with a lot of help) the parts 2a into a daily driver. When he turns 16 I am going to sign it over to him.

My father and I never had a project like this and its been great and created an even larger bond with my son. He will sit with me in the recliner and look through eWillys and give me full commentary on all the jeeps. My father is now retired and has run out of projects around his house……until now. We have dissasembled my 2a and replaced the motor and are working on the body. My family is now 3 generations deep in jeep and I hope it continues. So a BIG THANK YOU for ewillys! I hope there is many more years of it.”

I shared that letter with my kids and they thought it was pretty cool.  So did mom.  She wonders less and less why spend time on the site.  A few letters like that and she is a 100% backer.

Karson, my oldest, also informed me near the end of his stay that he’d like to have a jeep to drive around here.  With the perfect warm weather we had at the beginning of the month coupled with the hills and valleys of Renton’s East Hill, he finally got it.  He understood why I thought it was so fun to drive a jeep around here, even on the roads.

To be honest, it was funner to drive here than in Boise.  I was having a blast driving the kids on the roads I had grown up driving.  While driving,  I tortured my kids and their cousins with the history of my old jeep and where I had driven around the area.  “Oh, here is where I did such and such” and “this is where I got stuck” and even the rolling of their eyes at the sound of my history-lesson voice did little to dissuade my lesson. I was having too much fun.

So after all of this introspection, with the kids gone and my life sort of re-orienting to normal, with Joe’s passionate call for another few years of eWillys, updates will commence on a more regular schedule starting tomorrow.

Well, at least until early September when I hope to get to New York to spend one to two weeks doing research in NYC and Yale on a family project.  I will finalize that schedule this week, which will include several jeep specific stops that I know will interest readers.

Until tomorrow’s updates, I am happy to report, for the record, that four paddle tires will fit inside a BMW 540i.  Matt, who specializes in early Dana axles rebuilds (if you are near the Boise area and need axle or drive train work done, drop me a note; Matt has about 18 years of drive train experience.) sold me this set at a great price.  Since I only need two, if anyone has an interest in the other two, drop me a note.  The tires will hold air, but they really should have some inner tubes put into them.  Thanks Matt!

Gerald spotted this great image on tumblr.

Doug sent me this a few days ago.  I had wanted to post it earlier, but kids, feeding kids, playing games with kids, and putting kids to work, has meant my updates have been a bit sketchy.

So, here’s a tribute to his year’s 4th of July celebrations.

Doug writes, “these flat fenders were all part of a 4th of July parade in a small Northern California cabin community. Far left is a my 48 cj2a, center is a 53 cj3a, right is a nicely resstored 46 vec cj2a with a few updated parts. All are pretty stock and daily drivers in the mountains of Northern California.”

I spotted this ‘group wanted’ ad.

“Wisconsin Jeep Owners Group… We are looking to start an owners group where we can share pictures/videos, information, parts, etc. If interested, check out wjog.blogspot.com.”

http://madison.craigslist.org/cto/2468410344.html