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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 .
According to the M201.com website, in 2009 the Musee Des Blindes in Saumur, France, unveiled a Hotchkiss M201 ENTAC. I do not remember ever seeing one of these.
As far as I can tell, this M201 is the only jeep at this particular museum. These first and last pics are from this page on the M201 website. The 2nd pic was on Flicker and taken by Massimo Foti.
UPDATE: Brian’s selling his unique collection of jeeps. Among them is a CJ-6 Wrecker, a CJ-5 Trencher, CJ-5 Snow Blower and the first CJ-5 ever produced.
You are bidding on a massive collection of jeep vehicles, literature, memorabilia, dealer items, toys, and much more. This is the collection of Jeep restorer and enthusiast, Brian Hainer, of Brian’s 4wd Parts, LLC. This list of vehicles is as follows:
1946 CJ2A, original survivor with 7000 miles on it. Original top, chaff screen, rear seat. Even has original key and invoice from Willys/Overland. Has the patina of a 50+ year old vehicle and is one of the most original examples of a CJ2A in existence.
1962 CJ6 Garage Service Vehicle. This has been restored from the ground up and is flawless. Original Koenig Wrecker Boom, and Front winch. Twin Stick PTO powers the front winch, rear wrecker winch, and air compressor. Since the photos posted were taken I have made some top bows and sewn a full lenght bikini top for it. Made out of black canvas. I also added a Extend-a-Bed to this vehicle. There just isn’t any room back there to carry anything and I wasn’t planning on using the boom so I added the extension.
1977 Jeep CJ7. This satisfied my need to go fast every now and again. V8 304, 4.10 gears, …… This jeep is a perfect driver and restored with the same care as every vehicle that comes thru my shop.
1968 CJ5 Jeep-a-Trench. This is an unrestored CJ5 bought from the original owner a couple years ago. Everything is there and is a great example of a trencher. Runs and drives but smokes like crazy. Awaiting restoration.
196? CJ5 Snowblower Jeep. Not exactly sure of the year. This came from an airport and has 109 miles on it. Runs perfect, has the T-98 4 speed in it, but it is very rusty. Body will need replacing.
CJ5 10001 Cut Away Jeep Chassis . This jeep chassis is a cut away display model made by Willys. It has every option you could install on a jeep at the time and everything is cut open so you could see the operation of it. Front winch, governor, twin stick pto, rear gearbox, and right angle pulley. A true piece of history.
That about covers the vehicles. Also included in this sale is every piece of literature, memoriabilia, jeep toy, etc.. that I have collected over the past 30 years. If it is jeep related I probably have it…. bought out a lot of dealers and collected a lot of signs, and early salesmens books.
The Jeep Toy collection is an impressive one and includes #92 of the Fine Art Model of the ww2 MB. Fine art models got into a battle with Chrysler a while back over making these and it is very rare to ever see one for sale. You will receive #92 with this collection.
So, say you want to take your jeep out for a spin without actually driving it. Maybe this crazy setup is for you. Click on the pic to download a PDF about this rig. Thanks to John for spotting this!
While surfing Flickr, I found a young lady out of Canada who was given a CJ-2A from her mother, who inherited it from her father. It looks like a solid build that likely has a replacement body, probably as part of a restoration. She thinks the jeep is pretty cool, but others think she’s a dork. I left her a note, explaining there were others like her :-). Perhaps even more surprising, it’s now her main vehicle, though it’s been put away until winter ends. She notes, “It is a lot of fun to drive but you never have good hair when you get to your destination.”
Here’s a beautiful shot of her jeep with the Canadian Rockies in the background. Below that is a quick lesson she learned the hard way: why you don’t want frost to overtake your jeep. See a few more pics here. Make sure to check out her other photographs, too.
Warren alerted me to the Australian War Memorial Online and found these images of jeeps on their sides.
Warren alerted me to a whole pile of war time Jeep images at the Australian War Memorial Online. I thought the Mobile Cinema Unit was an unusual group, so here are some images. Click on the images for additional information from Australia. (See some jeeps on their side, here)
“BRISBANE, QLD. 1943-09. JEEPS OF THE 84TH MOBILE CINEMA UNIT AND THE 85TH MOBILE CINEMA UNIT OF THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY AMENITIES SERVICE AT THE LAND HEADQUARTERS WHICH IS SITUATED IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISBANE AT ST. LUCIA. THIS PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS THE PROJECTOR, PROJECTOR TABLE AND SOUND EQUIPMENT OF THE 84TH MOBILE CINEMA UNIT STACKED BESIDE THE UNIT JEEP WHILE THE JEEP OF THE 85TH MOBILE CINEMA UNIT IS SHOWN FULLY LOADED.”
Check out this photo from the Australian War Memorial!
“Richmond, NSW. 1945-07-28. Flight Officer Joyce Cain (right, at wheel of jeep) and Corporal Gloria Freeman (left, in jeep) on duty with the Landing Control Officer (right) at No. 1 Parachute Training Unit, RAAF Station Richmond. During their descent, parachutists receive instructions from the Landing Control Officer through a loud speakers system mounted on the jeep.”
I’m not quite sure where this image originated, but it was the only ‘Willys Tattoo’ I could find when I did a search on it (for no particular reason other than curiosity). Everything is backwards, so I’m wondering if it was taken using a mirror.
Here’s a great shot of an unusual wooden hardtop for a CJ-2A. The wood appears knotless, too.
Here’s a cool image from 2006 taken in Iceland that I found on this Flickr Site.
You can see an imagine of a CJ-3B falling apart here, but the image is copyright protected.
Last night installed a free App for my Android phone called CraigsNotifica Craigslist. There is both a free version and a $9 version. (here is something similar for the iphone, but i’ve never used it)
What this App does is allow you to create different searches of one or more craigslists to auto search for items and then notify you if someone uploads an item that matches.
For example, I have a ‘Willys|cj2a|cj3a|cj3b|dj3a’ search string for 6 different craigslists in the northwest that allows me to now keep tabs on local jeeps.
I also have a search on any free stuff listed in the Boise Craigslist (partly, simply because it’s amazing what people will give away).
Here are a couple examples of screenshots.
Here’s a guy (I couldn’t find a name) who has traveled and lived in several countries. He’s owned a variety of jeeps. He saw his first jeep in Spain, owned his first jeep in Colombia, and has enjoyed them ever since. He recently finished restoring a CJ-3A, though the link no longer works.
You can read his whole story here.
I found this photo at Vindy.com. Here is some info:
The stats on this Jeep owned by Ron Stevens of Washingtonville: red 1948 CJ2A Jeep Truck Pro Street 2WD, 350cid Chevy Crate Motor 290hp, Turbo 400, Dana 44 w/Detroit Locker. The hand-built body and frame were a combined effort of Clarence, Don and John Stevens.
I accidentally wandered across these unusual photos from the Timberlane’s thoughts blog. I’ve never seen a Civil Defense FC. Maybe someone out there knows more about it? I *think* this is in California, based on the front license plate. I have lightened all four shots. You can see the originals in the original post at the website.
For quite sometime I have wondered where the below monument was located. I finally found out, from G503.com, where it is located. It is the Monument of Red Army WW2 drivers in Kyiv (Ukraine). Check out a variety of great pics from G503.com.
From G503 we can see the other side.
I found this great black and white shot of an MB taken by Robert Wesley Stone at Flickr.
HOG forwarded me this great video from Youtube that Brendan, from This Old Jeep, titled The Jeep in War and Peace.
HOG spotted these videos of some east coast racing from the last few years.
OBSTICLE COURSE
FLAT DRAGS: Kempton EC4WDA Jeep Racing – October 2009
HILL CLIMB: Gravelrama 37 August 24th, 2007. Includes a CJ-5 called Indian Uprising powered by a Pontiac 4 Cyl.
Here is a shot of the motor:
FLAT DRAGS: Gravelrama 37 August 25th, 2007
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlVJVSUyuOg&NR=1
As I was looking for a picture of Indian Uprising’s engine, I came across this flyer. As the flyer indicates, it was a special gathering of old racers and racing jeeps. I thought this was a fun idea and thought the PNW4WDA might think about that (or maybe they already have).
Here is a link to a page that shows some of the old jeeps that were on display at Jeep Fan.
Here is one of the old flatties that was shown:
Roberto spotted this unusual Mitsuibishi CJ-3B with extended tool indents at Jeep Forum. I’ve not seen anything quite like it.
On the heals of last night’s post on the Nissan 4W60, we have the next major model of Nissan 4x4s which are sort of CJ-3Bish. They were produced from 1955 – 1960. You can learn about them here: 4W61, 4W65/ 4W66.
The 4W61 was produced from 1955 – 1958.
This is the 4W65 produced from 1958-1959. Now, while these have the correct side pieces, you can see the fenders look more like the 4W61. So, compare the front of the two below photos with the Black and white photo underneath.
http://www.earlydatsun.com/nissan4w65.html
The 4W66 was produced for six months in 1959 and 1960. I don’t have any good examples of this, but here’s a modified firetruck F4W66.
http://www.earlydatsun.com/nissan4w61.html
http://www.earlydatsun.com/nissan4w65.html
http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/members-nissan-patrols-19/rays-restored-1958-4w65-patrol-20479/
http://offroadsz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1483
Roberto wrote to me asking if I knew of any manuals or other information for the restoration of a Datsun/Nissan 4W60 for a friend that is considering restoring one (if anyone knows of a manual, please let me know). Well, I didn’t even know the 4W60 existed. So, I started researching. Here are several models that followed the 4W60.
According to this site, Nissan, Toyota and Mitsubishi all submitted prototypes to the Japanese government in 1950 to win the rights to produce government 4wd vehicles. Mitsubishi would win, but Nissan and Toyota continued to develop 4wd vehicles anyway.
The Nissan Prototype submitted for consideration looked like this:
For the first production run starting in 1951, however, Nissan went with a very MB-like design. I tried to find restored examples of these, but had no luck.
The second version of the 4W60 had a few changes. I found this image on a Russian auto website, but misplaced the link.
Here’s a brochure from the Rocky Mountain Patrol and Offroad Website
The would also make a Wagon (4W60 wagon) and a Truck (4w70 Truck).
Here are some useful links:
http://www.rmp-o.com/literature/pages/4W60%20brochure%20002.htm
http://www.rmp-o.com/literature/index.htm
http://www.earlydatsun.com/nissan4w60.html
http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/members-nissan-patrols-19/rays-restored-1958-4w65-patrol-20479/
Back in January of 2010, Dan contacted me saying he and his fiancee wanted to trade their Willys wagon for a flattie (wagon is to the left). After patiently waiting four months, they finally found someone to make the trade. Their goal was to do a low budget build with more modern running gear. Even more ambitiously, they wanted to complete the project by the end of summer. Here is their story of creating version 1. There is plenty of additional work left, but it runs and drives well, so congrats to the newlyweds (may you have many more great adventures together)! And, let me know when the second iteration is complete 🙂
Dan also notes he still has the complete 1946 Willys chassis and drivetrain available for sale if anybody wants it. (He’s in central Idaho).
Dan writes, “My fiancée (at the time) and i decided to get ourselves a Willys since both of us had always wanted one ever since we were little…
We thought that we would spend our weekends working on it in the months preceding our wedding and then use it as our getaway car for the ceremony (I even suggested a 4×4 trail out into the hills for the wedding but that was pushing it a little bit too far 🙂
We found our specimen (see below) on eWillys and traded our ’62 wagon for it. *sniff sniff*
The motor was shot, but that didn’t bother me as i was planning on putting a toyota chassis and running gear under it. The original plan was to put all of our time into the chassis and suspension and engine to make it SOLID and drivable. Then, later, restore the body at our leisure. However, once i started stripping down the body it became apparent that the body wouldn’t hold together without immediate work; the floors had galvanized metal screwed over them to give them an appearance of -something- but underneath was just rust held together by an occasional shred of metal. So, diamond plate and 18g metal were quickly purchased to make new floorpans with and the welding and grinding started.
For 2 months of weekends all we did was cut, grind, weld, grind and assemble (see pics). As we wanted to keep the budget tight, we gathered a variety of parts, including:
1965 toyota 4runner chassis
1983 toyota pickup axles
Completely rebuilt 22r motor
1987 5sp tranny/t-case
Rear driveshaft shorted to 11″
Front driveshaft lenghtened aprox 14″
Bought an m38 arctic top from an ewillys user over the hill in montana
We were pushing the limits trying to get it done in time for our wedding in august of 2010, but then a week before our wedding K got in a serious car accident and all work on the Willys stopped (of course) as we attended to her broken bones.
We still got married the next week -her with her jaw wired shut and on pain meds but, sadly, the Willys wasn’t able to attend the wedding. The following months we focussed our energies on work ($$) and working on our house. After Christmas passed I again had some free time available and set about finishing the project which was mostly connecting the new engine, building a clutch/brake pedal assembly and creating a wiring harness.
Finally, after many long weekends, last week she ran! We took a weekend trip up to see the in-laws in it the very next day. Other than a clogged fuel filter (old tank) and the brakes being sticky from disuse, he did awesome! The power steering is nice; K says that he’s even easier for her to drive than my toyota pickup.
Today i built a rear bumper for him and put in some better (hopefully) seats. There is still much to do like a complete front bumper, custom fuel tank (today i spied an air-compressor tank that looks like it might be perfect to modify and bolt underneath the back end.) and create a new tailgate. Sometime this summer we hope to get around to doing some body work but for now maybe we can just try our different colors with rattle cans to see what we like (hey, we could have a different color every week!)
Can’t wait ’til the warm weather comes and we can take off the hardtop!
UPDATE: Paul forwarded a pic of the parts for the speedometer:
I’ve included a pic of Paul’s topside dash as an illustration of Paul’s dilemma/solution. You can read all of Paul’s adventures here.
Paul writes, “I recently hit a bit of a snag with the speedometer sending unit and I thought other Willys modifiers might be interested in the problem and solution. Since I repositioned the instrument panel above the windshield (the hard top will not be removed and the windshield is not a folding unit) I realized there would be a problem with the mechanical speedometer.
The speedometer drive cable would have to have many tight bends as it snaked it’s way from the rear of the speedometer, down the windshield post, behind the dash and under the body where it would screw into the drive unit on the transfercase. Taking into account the numerous tight bends, the length of the drive cable and the space necessary for the drive cable routing I figured it would be much easier to use an electric speedometer. This way I’d only have to string some wires from the speedometer to the sending unit (a hall effect device) attached to the drive gear in the transfercase.
Really rather simple but I discovered the original Willys speedo drive unit was made for a flanged drive cable and the electrical sending unit was made for a square drive cable. The stub cable supplied with the electrical sending unit is only two inches long but both ends are square so this wouldn’t work with the original shaft in the transfercase.
A friend of mine suggested I talk with the local marine diesel parts guys because he remembered the Detroit diesel engines used similar adapters as tach drives and they might have something which would work. Less than five minutes after I explained my adapter problem and showed the items I wanted to connect, Jim (the parts guy) found a two inch long flex shaft with a square drive on one end and a round, flanged end on the other. Not only was this the exact part I needed, the right length, and the right ends, but it was also the right price …FREE!
I realize most of the eWillys folks are keeping their Jeeps closer to stock when it comes to the instrument location, but it’s something to keep in mind if you do decide to go with an electrical speedometer. Jim sure saved me hours of work since I won’t have to build what I need; I believe a few dozen donuts delivered early in the morning are necessary as a special thanks. THANKS JIM !!!”
You can easily turn your CJ-2A into a Wagon! Just follow the easy turn-my-cj2a-into-a-station-wagon-kit from Puffer Engineering. I spotted this image via a British site that linked me to oldcarandtruckpictures.com. Strangely, when I go to oldcarandtruckpictures.com’s jeep area, I can’t locate the image. The web works in mysterious ways!
I tried to learn more about the manufacturer, but searches on ‘Puffer Engineering’ revealed nothing, to me anyway, other than this image.
