The Portland Swap Meet celebrates its 51st year this weekend (April 10, 11, 12). Billed as the largest parts swap meet on the west coast, the event is hosted by 6 different auto clubs. There will be jeep-related folks there as well. I know for sure Willys America will be attending. As i understand there’s a pretty good showing of other 4×4 parts there, too.

Learn more here: http://portlandswapmeet.com

Might be a good price.

“I have a WW2 mb/cj2a cold weather top. From the 1940’s. It is all aluminum and has all of it’s original glass. One window is broken. Asking $250 obo. No scrapers. Email or text me with any questions you have or to arrange pick up.”

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pts/4968364321.html

I’m sorry to report that we’ve cancelled the 2015 Texas trip for the time being. We were supposed to begin the trip April 4th (tomorrow), but Ann’s 86yo grandfather’s health has slipped rapidly in the past couple of days. Hospice assistance is now being provided to him. While his death has been expected for some time, it’s imminent enough that we both feel it is better remain in Pasco.

If we find ourselves skipping Texas this year, we should still be getting to Colorado/Utah/Nevada. There are some places I need to visit and photograph for my current book, so that trip (maybe May??) might be the replacement. Mostly, I’m just itching for a good long trip after being cooped up in my office researching and writing most of the last six months.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay

Just a great looking wagon.

“I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD PART WITH MY WILLYS WAGON.  I MADE IT TOO NICE TO TAKE OFF ROAD.  PULLED MY AIRSTREAM BAMBI ONCE ON VACATION AND THATS ALL I USED IT FOR EXCEPT PARADES AND CAR SHOWS.

AIRSTREAM TRAILER IS NOT PART OF THIS AUCTION,  HAS ALREADY BEEN SOLD.

TOTAL BODY-OFF RESTORATION WHICH INCLUDED POWDER COATED FRAME, TOTAL REBUILD OF ORIGINAL 4X4 RUNNING GEAR, GM POWER STEERING, CUSTOM FABRICATED X-MEMBERS, 8000 POUND WARN WINCH WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN USED, CUSTOM FRONT BUMPER AND WINCH MOUNT AND BUSH GUARD ALL SILVER POWDERCOATED THEN CLEARCOAT POWDERCOAT.  BODY HAS BEEN PAINTED WITH PPG URATHANE SINGLE STAGE WIHTOUT ANY CLEARCOAT, COLOR IS CORVETTE SILVER AND WHITE.  COLORSANDED AND BUFFED INSIDE AND OUT, ENGINE BAY WITH SAME DETAIL AS OUTSIDE.
Continue reading →

The folks producing the 4 wheel hero movie are having a raffle for a cj2a and offering the Bantam BRC as a reward for a significant donation. Learn more here:

This unique press photo referred to as a Squirrel Cage for the Jeep has been featured in several publications.

The Day out of New London, CT, published this photo on November 11, 1948.

Squirrel Cage for the jeep published in Mechanix Illistrated

A similar version was published in the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

No pics provided.

“1952 CJ3A WILLY’S JEEP
ORANGE IN COLOR
BRAND NEW TIRES
PTO RAMSEY WINCH
DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS ONE!”

http://toledo.craigslist.org/cto/4941782764.html

My cousin’s truck broke down on Friday. For him that is bad news, but it is also good news, because we’ve gotten to spend time hanging out. So, no updates until Monday.

– Dave

This unique South Africa Personnel Carrier was owned by the Union Mine. That’s one strong looking roof! In the last photo it looks like there’s another one of these in the background. See new ones here.

http://www.clearasset.co.za/asset/view/1284/jeep-personnel-carrier

The announcement of the low-cost Jeep Dispatcher by Kaiser Willys was published in a variety of newspapers during 1956 with different photos. Here are some examples. First, we have an article from the January 6 issue of Deseret News.

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Next updates monday morning.

We had the last of the family Christmases last night. So, no updates were planned. But, naturally during true middle of the party a corrupt file brought down the site. I properly ignored the problem and enjoyed myself anyway (as you can see below).

Everything is working correctly now. Even I am functioning pretty well 🙂

This weekend racers from the Pacfic Northwest will sharing their love of jeep racing with attendees of a monster truck event. He writes, the Pnw4wda competition has been invited to be part of the Monster jam show at the Tacoma Dome this weekend.  We will be part of the preshow doing barrels.  We will be having 12 race rigs in each show. 1 show Friday,  2 shows Saturday and 1 show Sunday. This will be our 4th year that we have been invited to race with them.

Here’s a look at a past race. They do a two barrel rather than a three barrel race for space reasons.

UPDATE:  **SOLD** Was $1500

May be worth a look.

My boys are in Seattle for the next week, so for me Christmas has finally arrived! However, this means postings will be erratic for the next week. I will continue to check emails.

Body needs finishing of some kind.

“High Performance Buick V6. Offenhauser High-Rise Four barrel intake, with a 700 Holley carb. Body off Refirbished frame, NO rust and fully painted. Body needs finished, Basic painted-primer.All original parts, with factory Power-Take Winch. Factory Transmission and Transfercase.”

http://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/4818723998.html

Joe, a self-described eWillys addict (aka – Joe in Mesa), created this post about the reasons why some jeeps never seem to sell. He’s organized the problems into four categories: seller issues, ad issues, buyer behavior, or the jeep itself. His examples reflect what I’ve experienced. No doubt there are more . . . Perhaps you’ll find this instructive or amusing. Thanks to Joe for assembling it.

SELLER ISSUES:

• Unrealistic seller (thinks jeep is worthy of Barrett-Jackson price).
• Reluctant seller (doesn’t really want to part with his/her “baby”).
• Seller won’t respond (doesn’t answer phone or email). Could be jaded from the SPAM attempts. Some people get slammed with email SPAM when posting to craigslist. Others have received telemarketers after posting their phone number.
• Email responses from buyers are going into seller’s junk mail. Dave has run into this problem when replying to a Craigslist ad using a yahoo account.

AD ISSUES:

• Wrong contact info in ad (incorrect phone number or email address. Sometimes just a “type-O”).
• Misspelled “Willys” or other issue making ad hard to find (copy the spelling from your vehicle!). That’s why Dave uses a whole bunch of different spellings for “Willys” when searching Craigslist. He just got a great deal on a 25 page brochure off of eBay because the seller spelled misspelled the name WYLLIS. Sometimes Willys nor Jeep is used in an ad. One alternative some sellers use is “flat fender” as in “Flat Fender for Sale”.
• Old ads, seldom updated. Only gets reposted with the same price, pics, and description every time. Buyers quickly tire of old ads.
• Poor pics or lack of pics in ad. Have great pics can really help. Conversely having poor or no pics will turn off many potential buyers, that sometimes no-pic ads are fantastic deals. But, you have to investigate a lot of bad ads to find a good deal.

BUYER BEHAVIOR:

• Not local to buyers: too far from the major metro area. Some folks don’t want to deal with an absent buyer. Some want the money quick and don’t trust paypal. Others don’t trust absent buyers.
• Particular buyers. Many jeeps are worth the hard work but not everyone can afford the time it takes or don’t have the facilities to repair a mechanically challenging-jeep.
• Cheap local buyers (many people only want a deal, a “steal”, or a bargain).
• Scared, reluctant local buyers (see reasons for HARDER to sell, below)

JEEP ITSELF:

Technically the jeep itself should never be an issue that a low enough price can’t solve (a common example would be “no engine”: I bought one of those), but some jeeps are much HARDER to sell:

• – no title (in some states nearly impossible to resolve, and expensive in many others)
• – excessive rust
• – bad engine (cracked, seized, etc.. IMHO “no engine” jeeps sell better than “bad engine” ones).
• – horribly ugly (despite the current saying, there really isn’t a butt for EVERY seat)
• – similarly, “what the heck did Bubba do?… and why’d he do THAT?”
• – botched, incomplete “projects”
• – jeep covered by piles of misc. parts, furniture, dust, animal droppings, etc. (“barn find”? Really?)
• – jeep looks way better in the photos than in person.
• – seller places an ad without pics, but offers a description that doesn’t match with what a buyer finds when he or she sees the vehicle in person.
• – Bottom Line: insufficient value (cost too much to fix or restore… even if you gave it away for free)

Could there be other reasons? Poor economy (buyer issue), seller is a jerk, nearly impossible to move/get (tree growing up through frame, buried deep in a barn or basement, holding up the corner of the structure, in window of Banana Republic mall store…)?

So, buying a jeep can be an adventure!