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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 .
From the Magazine “Field Ford” comes a rare article about the Ford Pygmy Prototype. The article projects that 30,000 of these 4-4s might be used eventually.
View all the information on eBay
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay
Here’s a rare letter that advertises woodie kits from Station Wagons, Inc, for CJ-2A and MB/GPW models. This 2 page letter shows both a full and a half cab. Below the two page letter is an example of an ad that appeared in Popular Mechanics.
Popular Mechanics Ad from the January 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics, pg 266. This ad appeared in the February 1948 issue as well. I haven’t done a full accounting to determine how many other issues had the ad.
Here’s an add from the 1947 issue of Time Magazine showing two different jeeps involved with airplanes. There is a reference to National Skyway Freight Corp and the “Flying Tigers”.
View all the information on eBay
UPDATE: Herbert Lanks wrote a newspaper article with the same name that was published in February of 1944. You can read it here.
Here’s a magazine article from the September 1944 issue of Popular Photography. This must have been quite the trip, as the Alaska Highway had been completed less than two years previously in November of 1942.
The magazine was on eBay, so I decided to purchase it. You can view the article at Google Books.
Colin forwarded this wonderful cover from the December 1947 issue of Unity Magazine, a Willys Overland Magazine.
Coling writes, “The cover shows a small girl, actually the daughter of the magazine editor, holding an Al-Toy Jeep truck and just below it, the box it came in. The Jeep truck was to the best of our knowledge, the Christmas toy for the Willys VIPs and high volume dealers for 1947.”
Kurtis spotted this article from the July 20th, 1942, issue of Life Magazine. Some of the pictures are familiar, but this is the first time I’ve seen this entire article. The article extends 7 pages and can be viewed in its entirety online.
http://books.google.com/books?id=6k0EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q&f=false
Here are the first and last pages:
It appears this might be an article about creating or purchasing stainless body parts.
View all the information on eBay
The July 23, 1945, issue of Life Magazine has a three page article by Joe Weston that describes a jeep trip through Sweden in what I would guess was May or June of 1945. Based on the three cartoons (show below) they were driving a Willys MA.
The article describes crowds of people gawking at the jeep wherever they went. In Stockholm people started removing parts off of it. The article was a funny read.
Read the entire article within Google Books or
Below are the three cartoons:
The auction for this has expired, however this is still an interesting vehicle that made the cover of the 1976 Four Wheeler Magazine. Looks like it is part jeep and part truck.
View all the information on eBay
I like reading books about the history of odd subjects. Whether gum, beer , milk or salt, if it is a history about something food related, I want to read it. A few years ago I read a fun little book about the history of popcorn called Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America by Andrew Smith. I was surprised to learn how many different kinds of popcorn there are, having grown up on the basic non-branded yellow variety. So, when I spotted this article about popcorn trailers that were pulled by Willys Wagons, I thought it was interesting. Below you can see the trailers built by Clyde Gould, see one of two wagons that pulled them, and learn about his attempt to create a popcorn business. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t indicate how successful he was or what happened to the trailers.
You can read the entire article here: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/he-popped-corn-into-a-fortune/
Here are two New Yorker Magazines with jeeps on the cover.
The first one is from May 27th, 1944. View the Magazine information on eBay
This picture appeared on the cover of the March 11, 1944, of New Yorker Magazine. View the Magazine information on eBay
Here’s a nice looking race flattie that appears on the cover of Offroad Magazine and taken at Gravelrama. Gravelrama is held in Ohio and has been since its inception in 1971. The Magazine is currently listed on eBay for $15.
Here’s a nice looking CJ-3B Hill Climber and Drag Jeep. You can see more vintage photos here.
This ad was featured in a 1952 Modern Mechanix Magazine advertisement. It advertises a remote control jeep that “goes forward . . reverse . . left . . right. It’s called a “electra-JEEP”.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/amazing-values/
Dexter spotted this 1949 issue of Popular Science at a local swap meet the other day. A reader of the magazine sent in an idea for waterproofing a jeep for only $.75. Not a bad price. Probably wouldn’t cost much more today. Note that it was in 1949 that the CJ-3A came out with a mini gutter to distribute water similar to the role the weather stripping hint accomplishes. I still have one of those gutters if anyone needs it.
And some other neat hints that aren’t jeep related
Link to Part 1: http://www.fourwheeler.com/project-vehicles/154-1208-the-old-man-and-the-jeep-part-1/
Link to Part 2: http://www.fourwheeler.com/project-vehicles/154-1209-the-old-man-and-the-jeep-part-2/
You’ll definitely want to pick up the August 2012 issue of JP Magazine, along with the subsequent issue, if you like jeep history (I have yet to see the story online). It features 94 year old Don Prine, who has been driving jeeps since the very beginning of the jeep. Don Prine was a test driver of the prototype Willys, Ford and Bantam jeeps. Seventy-Two years later he is still involved with jeeps and, at age 94, still goes into his shop daily in Lakewood, Wa.
According to the article, a recording of Don describing the day pictured in the photo below in early 1941 at the US Capital is supposed to be here: http://www.jpmagazine.com/prine, but I couldn’t make the link work. Also, according to the article in JP, he was driving up the steps in the below picture. However, according to this link, it is Senator Meade of NY driving the jeep and Representative Thomas, of NJ, in the passenger seat at the time of this photo. I can only guess that in the photo Don is seated in the rear?
Don has long been a fixture in jeeping and racing in the Northwest. In 2008 I called Don and had a very nice conversation with him, which you can read about here, about Stainless Steel Parts. For those that belong to the PNW4WDA, Marty has posted a few pics of the visit with Don, Herm Tilford, and Christian at their forum.
Unfortunately, the seller didn’t provide any of the pictures of the 3 page jeep pictorial spread from this magazine. The seller explains what the SALT Magazine was.
“SALT: AUSTRALIAN ARMY EDUCATION JOURNAL 10th April 1944 ( Vol 8, No 3 )
Contents:
Our PWs ( Prisoners Of War) In Italy
Jeeps- Civil ( 3 page pictorial on Willys MB, Ford GPW Jeep potential Civilian Post War uses
Britain v Japan ( Q&A Plans for war in the far East )
On the shores of Milne Bay ( Milne Bay Entertainment Concert party)
Plus additional articles …. .”
View all the information online (the auction ended Friday night)
Mark reports that the recent edition of Hot Rod Deluxe Magazine has a variety of jeep pictures in it. Here are a couple. I have yet to pick up my copy.
Mark writes, “Found this cool copy of Hot Rod Deluxe magazine – May 2012 edition while in Barnes and Noble the other day. This nice little gem features a ton of Willys cars, trucks and quite a few Willys Jeeps as well. See pics attached. Page 6 features the first Four Wheel Drive Grand Prix in 1965 with allot of Jeeps in the pic. Page 33 features Bob Panella’s huge collection of Willys cars and trucks. Scattered throughout the rest of the pages you will find race jeeps and tricked out jeeps from back in the day which are pretty cool.”
FEATURED MAY 2009
There’s many more jeeps pics at the Life Magazine Photo Website.
Here’s how the Navy transported their rowing shell.
An MB or GPW pushing a Midget car to start it
An early CJ-2A and a post hole digger
FEATURED IN MAY 2009
UPDATE: I found a long discussion, details and the pic below at this website:
From this website, vectorsite.net, I’ll put some of the content just to make sure it isn’t lost.
“The AirGeep was first flown on 12 October 1958. Apparently it proved grossly underpowered, barely able to fly over a fence, and it was sent back to the shop, where the piston engines were replaced by a single 317 kW (425 HP) Turbomeca Artouste IIB turbine engine. The upgraded AirGeep flew in late June 1959. It weighed 1.1 tonnes (2,500 pounds) and could carry a payload of 550 kilograms (1,200 pounds), including the pilot.
The AirGeep was put through trials for both the Army and the Navy over the next few years. The engine was upgraded again to a Garrett / Airesearch 331-6 engine, which had a higher power-to-weight ratio. For Navy trials, which began in June 1961, the rotorcraft was fitted with floats, and redesignated the “PA-59 SeaGeep”.
* Piasecki wanted to build a bigger and better AirGeep, and the Army Transportation Research Command obliged them by issuing a contract for what Piasecki called the “Model 59K” and what the Army called the “VZ-8P(B) AirGeep II”, which made its first flight in the summer of 1962.
The AirGeep II was similar to the AirGeep, except that the aircraft was “bent” in the middle so that the rotors were tilted fore and aft, it seems to improve forward flight characteristics. The AirGeep II used twin 298 kW (400 SHP) Turbomeca Artouste IIC turboshaft engines, once again linked so that if one failed the other would drive both rotors. One engine could also be coupled to the landing wheels to drive the machine on the ground. The increased power allowed a maximum take-off weight of 2.2 tonnes (4,800 pounds). The pilot and observer had “zero-zero” ejection seats, allowing safe escape if the machine was on the ground and standing still, and there were apparently seats for additional passengers.”
As we learned, the rotabuggy was a bit of a failure. However that didn’t stop the military from investigating some type of ‘flying jeep’. Now, I don’t know if the military really called it the Aerial Jeep or whether it was Life Magazine’s attempt to sell magazines, but the result is a pretty unusual flying machine:
Alex forward this image made by an artist friend of his, who also lives on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, drew a picture of his jeep. It celebrates twenty-one years of Tahiti-Pacifique Magazine, of which Alex is the Director of Publishing and the Editor. Congrats on surviving two decades!
This might be a good article. I tried to find the article online, but didn’t have any luck.
“This is an original magazine article carefully removed from COLLECTIBLE AUTOMOBILE magazine. This is a high quality production with high quality paper, without advertising. If you are familiar with this magazine, then you know its quality is considered the best in the industry. This is a 3, 4 or 5 page article under the heading of Collectible Commercial Vehicles.
To determine the approximate length of the article, look at the above photo. If you see 2 sheets it is probably 3 pages long. If you see 3 sheets, it will be probably be 4 pages or maybe 5 pages, and so forth..”
UPDATE: Originally published 12/15/2011
Nothing about this idea sounds good. Mechanix discusses the attempts to use rockets for braking in their June 1946 edition of the magazine. One of the vehicles tested was a military jeep, with a special pyramid behind the driver to protect in case of a roll. It almost looks like the driver has a seat belt.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/11/14/rocket-brakes-for-emergency-stops
This article ran in the September 1949 issue of Mechanix. This might just qualify as the first Hi Hood!
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/04/03/midget-jeep/
Mechanix ran this article and picture on the future of the jeep in December of 1944. I think I might have this picture somewhere else, but never new its origin.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2009/02/01/jeepers/
From September 29, 1952, comes this Ad from Life Magazine, pages 40 and 41, titled “A World Famous Family … Each a Leader in its Field“.
