Getting only the best of the best, the Ohio eWillys Bureau filed this report despite high winds, drenching rains, and hurricane-like end-of-the-world conditions that would prevent even the sturdiest postal delivery specialists from completing their rounds.  As I look up at the clock, I see it’s midnight at the reunion, so many kudos to Bob for his beyond-the-call-of-duty images (Bob, just make sure to keep the camera dry!). Many Thanks!

Bob writes, “we’ve had violent thunderstorms down here for the Willys Reunion and the internet was down until now [editor’s note — the internet goes down?].  Here are 4 photos from today. We got here about 2 pm after driving through rain most of the way. The rain around 5-6 pm was like a typhon.

There seems to be about 40 jeeps here now of all stripes. I’ll send more images tomorrow. The green 3b with the Eugene spare tire cover is mine.”

Don’t forget that the Midwest Willys Spring 2010 Reunion and Swapmeet will be occuring this weekend, May 21-23 in Mason, Ohio!

This could be a fun trade.

“1967 porsche 912 that i would like to trade for a jeep wrangler or willys jeep or a full-size truck 4+4 manual transmission no automatic trade or $5.000 cash”

http://wenatchee.craigslist.org/cto/1748244285.html

UPDATE:  Chris has provided some valuable insight into this mod.  He writes, “There was a retired Ford mechanic in Rancho Cordova, Ca. that was building flatfenders for a while as a hobby. Back in the early 90’s he had built closed to 40. When he picked up a willys that didn’t have a a good windshield,the large windshield is what he put on. He has since passed away.“

As its basic premise, the early jeeps were promoted as a utility vehicle. As such, they were modified in ways limited only to one’s imagination. Some of these modification strategies I have seen; Others I had not seen until I launched eWillys. The modification of the windshield is one of those I hadn’t seen. It is a rare modification, but it has been done a variety of times. I can’t say whether there was an aftermarket product created or if this was simply something that a few folks tried on their own.

After finally gathering enough examples of windshield modifications, and finding the time, I have created a Windshield Modifications section.  Enjoy!

As I read through the Hemmings Blog version of the Wally Cohn story (which I thought was very well done), I saw a picture that referenced a car similar to the Wally Cohn vehicle, but was created in 1942, and called the “Victory Car”, a design suggested by Brooks Stevens.  It turns out, Stevens wrote an article for Popular Mechanics in December 1942 that envisions a variety of victory models, including the Wally-looking vehicle shown in the pics to the left.  One of Brooks’ most prescient predictions was his belief that plastics would be used widely in future vehicles.

In another set of images, which is shown below and is the one highlighted by Hemmings, a Brazilian auto website appears to track the development of Aero Willys starting with the Brooks Stevens vision through both prose and images.  Unfortunately, my Portuguese isn’t best!

After some research, I came across an article from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, dated January 14, 1942 (thanks to the new(?) google news archive search) that covers a meeting which might have launched the entire “Victory Car” discussion.

Here it is in its entirety, written by W.F. Arbogast:

“WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 –AP — A civilian counterpart of the army “jeep” — with certain refinements as a concession to comfort — was suggested today by officials of the National Automobile Dealers association as a possible answer to the new car shortage.

The suggestion came from L. Clar Cargile, Texarkana, Tx., president of the association, and Aurthur Center, Springfield, Mass, it secretary, as a house committee resumed hearings on the effects of new car production curtailment on the nation’s 44,000 dealers.

The small, rough-and-ready vehicle — the answer to any college freshman’s prayer — would probably be called the “victory car” and be produced by leading automobile manufacturers under no trade name.

It would be large enough for five passengers, maybe with a little crowding, and would devoid of costly accessories, nicle or chrome trim and other gadgets adding to cost.

But if built to the specifications of its brothers, it coudl climb most any hill with a top to it, splash fearlessly through the deepest mud, and in general negotiate terrain usually shunned by everything without fur or feathers.

I would be built primarly for service, not for looks, and to meet a need for transportation when present cars wear out and comparable replacements are not available, ” said Center. ” It would be strictly an economy car, with six cylinders and low upkeep.”

Cargile said the automobile industry, despite the conversion of much of its machinery for the production of airplanes and other defense material, could make enough victory cars to meet essential needs, and still not interfere with defense requirements.”

I have to say, it’s been a good, but busy couple of days.  Tuesday, I finally developed a business card design I liked and found a way to easily print some good quality versions.   Yesterday, I received an email I’ve been waiting to get for about a decade regarding some family photos that go back more than 5 generations.  Today, Hemmings thoughtfully referenced eWillys as they covered my ‘explosive expose’ on Wally Cohn, King of Jeeps.  And, tomorrow, maybe I win the lottery?

This one falls into the “I didn’t know they made an adapter for that” department.  I was doing some research into whether there was an overdrive solution (besides the Sierra OD attempt) for the Dana 20, which I thought there wasn’t, when I came across this thread from the early CJ-5.com website.  It turns out, someone made an adapter that allowed the Dana 20 to attach to a BW overdrive, though I suspect such a combo would only work in a long wheel base vehicle (these adapters are also occasionally on ebay as well).  Here’s a pic from the thread.

Additional Threads:

1. Herm the Overdrive Guy: http://www.hermtheoverdriveguy.com/id20.htm

2. International Harvestor: http://www.justih.org/Binder-Bench/showthread.php?p=36604

3. From Jp Magazine: http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticles/drivetrain/154_0611_old_school/index.html

Just a few

And now for something completely different…

While I don’t own an iPhone, I just came across someone who posted a craigslist Ad using a $.99 iPhone App called CraigsPro.  Here are a few of the features:

1) MULTI-CITY search
2) search results with PHOTOS and DETAILS
3) FULL-SCREEN PHOTOS in landscape mode
4) wikipedia photo of your city
5) ALL Craigslist cities, states, countries and
continents
6) POST a Craigslist ad directly from CraigsPro
7) post from MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS
8) take pictures with your CAMERA or use photos
from your PHOTO ALBUM

Dan shared some images updates on the progress of rebuilding his grandfather’s CJ-5.  Truly, I don’t know how he finds the time as he always seems to have nightly craigslist links to share with readers (many thanks for those!).  See some past posts about Dan’s project here.

As you can see, Dan has rebuilt the Hudson steering column, painted the front end, and readied the front end for an updated disc braking system.  NICE!  This will should look great when finished.  Thanks for sharing …

Dave forwarded this to me.  I know it’s not a jeep, and I haven’t called to see if this ad is for real, but it’s so funny, I don’t care.

2002 Focus – good reliable first car – $2000 (Cape Girardeau)

“Looking for a first car for a teen? This car is absolutely brilliant. It’s got low mileage (68k), has been super reliable, and is excellent on gas. Since you’re likely paying for the gas, this will make things much cheaper on you. I average like 37MPG to a tank. And with such low mileage, it’ll work great for a long long time.

But you wanna know the best reason to buy this car for your kid?

It’s slow as shit. You don’t have to worry about speeding tickets or accidents in this baby. Your kid could have a 1 mile run and hit a brick wall not wearing a seatbelt and not be going fast enough to do shit. And there won’t be any sense in him getting some shitty ass fart can off of eBay – this car has the super slow SPI engine, no sense in trying to make it any faster. It’s a 4-door, so your kid won’t try to put gay ass Lambo doors on it. It is still possible to fit this with a body kit, but if you’d like, for an extra $200, I can stab him in the face if he does this.

It’s a 5-speed, so your kid can’t talk on his cell phone while playing Gameboy and smoking pot – he’ll have to actually pay attention. It also means you won’t have to pay for an automatic transmission when your kid beats the hell out of it. It’s got a new clutch and new tires, so you’ll know if he does burnouts. After all, I’m sure YOU’RE the one paying for tires, right? It’s got an aftermarket head unit in it, so your kid won’t fuck it up when him and his buddies try to wire in a “phat ass system”. It’s already had the speakers replaced too, so he won’t have to tear the door cards on and then look like a retard when he can’t get them back on. It’s got manual windows too, so he can’t fuck up the window motors when he rolls one of his friends heads up in it as a joke. A new battery means when he leaves his headlights on, it won’t leave you totally stranded.

But really though, one of the best parts is that, because it is a 4 door, it will be somewhat embarrassing for him to be seen in. I’m sure you get pissed at him from time to time. Hell, you’re probably mad at him for harassing you into buying him a first car. So get this one. It has no A/C, so you’ll know he’s suffering every time you get mad at him. Pretty satisfying. It’ll bring a smile to your face too, to know he’s rolling around looking like a faggot in a Ford Focus.

So buy this car for your kid. You won’t regret it ”

http://semo.craigslist.org/cto/1672654758.html

Good News!  I found myself a set of professionally rebuilt heads for a great price (thanks Greg!).  Greg Berheim dropped me a line after I posted my craigslist Ad (wanted: engine heads).  He wrote that he had acquired a set of heads as part of an engine/parts buyout and didn’t have any use for them.

So, I drove over and met with Greg.  It turns out, Greg operates the Berheim Engine Machine Shop, a local engine shop in Meridian (208-870-1464), Idaho.  This information was especially interesting to me as Bob’s Mechanical had been bought out and most of the services moved about an hour away from me.

So, after spending time with Greg and him generously providing some advice and thoughts on my engine issues, I now know who to turn to if I need any additional work done (which I really hope I don’t need soon!!).  So, if you are in the Boise area and need some engine work done, check out Greg.

Tonight, I pulled the passenger-side head and will get the covers and intake cleaned up tomorrow.  I also carefully cleaned the surface of the heads, as the block facing surfaces had some light surface residue that needed to be removed. Saturday, I’ll put everything together and see if everything works!

You are likely unfamiliar with the Willys Jeep WWII J-8.  Constructed in an underground bunker in Los Alamos by the same scientists who constructed the Atomic Bombs (they needed something to do on their days off) during WWII, this unique piece of WWII history wasn’t released until decades later by the folks at Chrysler.  (ok, so I made that last bit up — hey, it will be April Fools on Thursday — but I didn’t make up this Ad).

“Custom World War II Willy’s Jeep Army Edition J-8 Lookalike. Why shell out over $50K+ for an authentic Military J8 that you cant drive on the road when u can get this 4 door version for tens of thousands less? ….”

http://providence.craigslist.org/ctd/1670239708.html

UPDATE: I called Steve (see below) and he had a perfect engine for me, a 1985 Buick 3.8L for only $199.  Unfortunately, I waited until Saturday to go see the engine and it was sold by then!  However, someone else responded to my Ad.  As part of a parts liquidation they bought, they have a pair of rebuilt heads that are exactly what I need.  So, this should work out perfectly (I should have them by Tuesday and will provide an update then). Hopefully, this resolves the issues with my engine!

(03/25/2010) I placed a I-need-heads-for-my-buick-v6 ad on Craigslist tonight.  I got responses right away. I also located an engine (and tranny) for $125, a brand new rebuild engine in Kennewick for $500, and a running engine in Tacoma for $100.  It’s been a good day for parts hunting!

Steve contacted me. He’s local (actually lives in Eagle, Id).  He’s liquidating a bunch of rebuild motors with new re-manufactured blocks.  They are all being sold for $199.  You can read more about these motors here: http://boise.craigslist.org/pts/1650718277.html
If you like something you see in that list, let me know and I’ll check it out.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $550.

The seller has this as a ’46 and a military Jeep.  I think not.

“NICE OLD PROJECT. 1946 WILLYS MILITARY JEEP.SOME RUST IN BODY.DOESN’T RUN. CHEVY 4 CYL.4 WHEEL DRIVE. DUAL SHIFTERS. MILITARY TIRES.3 SPEED. NO TITLE. GOOD PROJECT. $550.00”

Yesterday I played basketball, like I do most days of the week.  Before we got started, one of my basketball chums asks me if I’ve had any major injuries from basketball, which is normally a segway for the other person to tell me about their injuries. Fortunately, he’s a likeable guy and I new he’d have a couple good stories.

So, I tell him that when I was 20 I had a major sprain on my left foot and when I was 40 I had a major sprain on my right foot.  Otherwise, I’ve had the normal jammed fingers and such, but nothing else major … I’ve been pretty lucky I tell him.

After he gives me the complete run down on his major scars and basketball-related deformities, he asks how old i am.  I tell him 44.  He says, that I don’t look that old.  I wasn’t surprised by that statement; I get that a lot.  And, it’s working out well now, but when I was younger, say 20, I looked about 11.  That wasn’t so good ….

I bring up my age because, back in the day, we used to have these vinyl things we called records.  Now, this was before iTunes, before iPods, before CDs,  before boom boxes and even before Sony Walkmans.

It is true, I actually remember the day my cousin, for his 16th birthday (I was 16 at the time too) got a Sony Walkman II for his birthday.  It was 1981.  These were high-end, expensive devices.

It was soooo cool!  You could put a cassette tape in it and listen to music through high quality ear phones.  It was wicked!  The sound was amazing!  I wouldn’t say I was green with envy or jealous beyond reason, but I sure would have liked to have gotten one of those myself.  Anyway, I digress ….

I bring all this up because Gerald emailed me this morning, asking me if I remembered a singer named C.W. McCall and his album Wolf Creek Pass? He asked me this because he had just ran across some Youtube videos of Wolf Creek Pass, which aren’t ‘video’s’ so much as they are ‘audios’.

You see, this was before MTV, too.  And, despite whatever propaganda you might have heard, God didn’t create MTV on the 7th day.  No, I might be old, but I’m not so old that I remember hearing a Big Bang, yet am old enough to remember the launch of MTV, which might not have been a big bang, but was accompanied by a lot of noise.

That was when they used to play music videos on MTV, all day and every day, 24/7. This was when we skipped the occasional high school class or two to go watch MTV — yes truly rebels without a cause.  Ok, as you have probably already guessed, I never ran with the Lost Boy crowd or anything close to it.

Now, I speak of all these music references as if I’m some kind of audiophile; but I confess to never have been cool or hip enough to own much music.  When records were cool, I only owned a few.  When cassette tapes were all the rage, I was still listening to dad’s 8 track  John Denver albums (all 2 of them) — and that was only on trips to Idaho, as the only 8 track tape player was in our motor home. Well, there was also the Paint Your Wagon 8 track tape as well, which I memorized and can still sing pretty well to this day.

Of course, now that 8 track tapes might actually be cool again, I no longer have any 8 track tapes; I no longer own any cassette tapes; I might have a total of 10 CDs; my 15 year old son not only owns, but knows more about 80s music now that I ever did; But, I still own one record, one piece of vinyl, carefully stored at my parents house — C.W. McCall’s Wolf Creek Pass in its original Cover.

I remember the evening dad brought it home.  This was the first, and last, music dad ever brought home for me.  If I remember correctly, he didn’t even buy it, but rather won it somehow.  I’d never heard of the album nor C.W., but dad said there was a song about four wheel drive on it, about jeeps.  I put it on the record player and, sure enough, it was as close to a Jeep song as I was likely going to get.  I played that album more times than it deserved, because, no offense to Mr. McCall, but it wasn’t really very good.  No matter, though, I enjoyed it — as did Gerald, who played the title song ‘Wolf Creek Pass’ at his wedding. Perhaps only then did Gerald’s wife really understand what she was in for!!

So, for your listening pleasure, Gerald and I present a couple of C.W. McCall’s songs:

Four Wheel Drive:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0461zognANQ

Classified:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wmhOFvMiOM