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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 .
John shared this video. It shows some of the steps involved with waterproofing a jeep.
This home video (stabilized and improved by Peerklota, the person that posted it) shows the Germans fleeing and the British arriving in Oosterbeek. Lots of jeeps are shown in the film. One commenter spotted her father in the video!
In this video, the same poster visited Oosterbeek and identified several locations from the video.
John found this video which shows a pretty cool shot of a jeep being unloaded (begins at the 2:12 mark). Now that’s the way to exit a ship!
“Various shots of large battleship in dock. Shots of warships off shore. Several shots of HMS ‘Invincible’ making her way up the estuary. People watch from the shore. Shots of the ship docking. A crane lifts a jeep from the deck of the ship to the shore. Several shots of crew members walking down steps to the shore. M/Ss of the Captain (?) giving speech (no sound).”
Maury shared this video from Collins Brothers Jeep (out of Wylie, Texas) of a 1970 CJ-5 with only 882 miles. (In case the video doesn’t work correctly, the 1970 CJ-5 portion begins near the 5:20 mark).
Updates will resume Monday morning….
Only 17 more days until we close on the new place. We’ve packed most of our stuff and are now doing minor repairs and maintenance, such as some trim painting, light landscaping, and, one of the biggest tasks, cleaning out our backyard waterfall and pond. It can be a pain to clean every spring, but it sure is nice to listen to on the back porch on a sunny day. It will also help sell this place.
Our rather warm winter meant more green growth in the pond. So, we have to empty it, pull out some large rocks, scrub it, and fill it back up. No doubt we will lose some fish in the process. It all looks a bit dreary in back right now.
Here is how it usually looks (though this was taken in April, prior to many of the flowers blooming):
As we approach the closing date, I plan to take at least one, if not two weeks off to get the new place ready, move our stuff, and finish details on the old house to ready it for sale. But, don’t fret, there will still be new daily content (and some retread of older feature posts). One person who is responsible for providing new content is a dedicated researcher named John Hamrin, who has taken the time to go through the British Pathe video site to locate any videos with jeeps in it. He has now sent me over 100 links to videos, with more arriving as I type this post. So far, most appear to be WWII related. So, a HUGE thanks to him for his painstaking research and generosity!!
Finally, a word to one of our newest and most passionate readers, almost-two-year-old Miranda Tilford, who, has become a passionate viewer of eWillys. On Saturday morning (yesterday), Marty wrote to tell me that shortly before messaging me, Miranda came up to him and said, “Jeep, jeep, jeep”. At first he was confused at what she wanted, so she repeated, “jeep, jeep, jeep”. About that time, Marty realized that she wanted to sit down with him and go through eWillys. Sure enough, they sat down and scrolled through some jeeps. That poor, poor young lady has been afflicted with the Willys sickness already; there is no hope for her!!
So, in Miranda’s honor, with a nod to John’s video efforts, here are some WAACs trying out their driving skills with jeeps and trucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiNSjOJEeUA
John helped me locate this short video from 1963 showing one of Cornwall’s surf rescue teams. In it, these brave young men demonstrate how they utilize their specially modified jeep to perform rescues. Baywatch it aint!
View the video here: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/jeep-lifesavers-aka-lifesavers
Bill shared this short article written by Daniel Stroh where organized four videos featuring folks and videos you may have seen on Facebook. These guys have been busy the last few years:
Here’s one of the videos showing parts of their trip over Black Bear Pass:
Updates will resume Tuesday morning.
In the meantime, Bill shared this video by Nick. In it, he obtains a ran-when-parked jeep, only to discover that a ‘2-hour’ repair job took a little longer than he planned. This is always the danger of a ran-when-parked jeep. Note that this has a rare Worman half-cab.
This 1952 video is slightly different than another video (Jeepers Creepers) containing some of the same clips.
vs. this version (which most of us have seen):
Craig shared this video from Mark Felton that focuses on the WW2 Bazooka and Rocket Jeeps.
Blaine spotted a CJ-3A with a trailer in the 1957 Movie “Black Scorpion“. The flick captures the emotional turmoil of scorpions who, once trapped inside a volcano, are released by volcanic activity. Ready to party like velociraptors on Adderall, the scorpions reek havoc on the rural communities surrounding Mexico City. Here’s more on the story from trailersfromhell.com and imcd.com.
The main character drives the CJ-3A, so apparently the jeep appears often in the film.
Here’s the trailer for the movie, though there’s no jeep featured in it.
This was filmed in July 07, 1954.
Italian description: Descrizione sequenze:Francia: partenza della gara automobilistica ; fasi della gara di velocità della Jeep su un terreno accidentato ; la jeep vincitrice della gara ; il pilota della jeep affaticato dopo la gara ;
Rough English translation: Sequence description: France: start of the car race; stages of the Jeep speed race on rough terrain; the winning jeep of the race; the jeep driver tired after the race;
This somewhat silly movie included numerous jeeps and other war-time transport. It looks like the Sierras were substituted for Northwestern Canada. Perhaps the funniest part of the movie begins at 21:36 as a jeep rolls up behind a guy in a parka (a scene that looks fake). For some reason, two soldiers have climbed a Matterhorn-looking spire. One guy starts to fall, so the other uses a rope with a loop to keep him from falling. Then, somehow, the guy up top then climbs down on the same rope, but how does the top of the rope connect to anything?
While looking for something else, I was pleasantly surprised with this video of Bruce Agan’s former 1964 DJ-3A Surrey. The video was posted in 2012, prior to his passing. He was the guru of Surreys and Galas for a time and his restoration (including all the interior fabric) is a testament to that fact. There are various photos of his Surrey, Surrey advertising, and other jeeps on Flickr.
UPDATE: Bruce Agan assembled these clips of DJ-3A scenes from the movie, “When the Girls Take Over”.
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Original Post May 10, 2018:
Maury spotted this rare poster for the movie “When the Girls Takeover“. The full movie is on Youtube and the jeep appears in multiple scenes.
“THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE Original Vintage 1962 MOVIE POSTER FOR THE MOVIE “WHEN THE GIRLS TAKE OVER”.
THE POSTER IS IN GOOD SHAPE AND THE COLORS ARE GOOD AND CLEAR BUT THE WHITE BACKGROUND HAS SLIGHT DISCOLOR DUE TO ITS AGE. THE EDGES SHOW SLIGHT WEAR BUT WILL LOOK GOOD WHEN FRAMED.
THE POSTERS MAIN IMAGE IS OF A WILLYS JEEP “PINK SURRY”!
THE MOVIE FEATURED ROBERT LOWERY, MARVIN MILLER, JACKIE COOGAN, AND JIMMY ELLISON. IT MEASURES 22X28 INCHES.”
Clip from the beginning showing several Surreys in a row.
And the full movie:
UPDATE: Bill shared David Tracy’s updated to this commercial. Apparently, there’s a disagreement on the history of the truck between the former owner and jeep. While an interesting story, I still think it’s a big issue over nothing.
https://jalopnik.com/jeep-bought-his-awesome-1963-gladiator-and-then-crushed-1845936078
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Originally Posted Feb 2, 2019:
Several folks have emailed about the controversy over the new Gladiator Jeep ad. The new ad shows an old Jeep Gladiator being crushed from which the new Gladiator emerges. Some folks resent the fact that the old Gladiator was crushed, as it appears to be in restorable shape. Given there were over 100,000 of them produced, I don’t think crushing one will cause the world to end. There are also plenty of cheap ones available. I found these two on my very first search:
2 for $3000: https://olympic.craigslist.org/cto/d/bremerton-rare-jeep-gladiator/6799254554.html
1 for $1100: https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/d/gig-harbor-1971-jeep-j2000-gladiator/6804750817.html
The actual crushing aside, my problem with the commercial is this: If the point of creating a new Gladiator was to benefit from the nostalgia of the original Gladiator, crushing the life out of an old Gladiator doesn’t do that. Nostalgia should be about reliving happy memories not, literally, crushing old memories.
For fun, here’s an old Jeep Gladiator commercial (the first 30 seconds is an introduction, but the remainder of the video is a commercial or 2 separate commercials):
On a side note, there’s already a Jeep Gladiator Forum ready for the new Gladiator.
Steve shared this video of MuddOxRacing using a trencher for the first time. There are some good closeups of how the machine works.
UPDATE: Mark found this photo which seems like it could have been taken at the same time the video was shot: https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photographs/T9XmZX/Neil-Young-Broken-Arrow-Ranch-1971
Mike spotted this video of Neil Young driving his 1951 Jeepster. Unfortunately, I cannot embed the video, so a screenshot will have to make do. You can see the video snippet of the Jeepster at the start of a video with Neil Young playing “Old Man”. It appears the old man rancher that inspired the song can also be seen.
I believe this is the same Jeepster that Vernon (and his aliases) have mentioned over the years. Neil’s Jeepster has the Lightning (inline 6) engine. It also has the JEEP brass tag and a 673 has the emblem, plug Vernon’s overdrive solenoid.
Per Vernon, “noted rock star NEIL YOUNG opted for the 51 — in 69 he drove it from LA to his new ranch in LA HONDA , guitars in the back , gold records , the TURTLES drummer JOHNNY BARBATA rode shotgun — he had to get out of LA and hide in the wilderness , people were picking him apart”
… and …
“NEIL YOUNG wont drive his fossil fueled classic cars anymore — he’s went utterly , completely GREEN ( listen to his GREENDALE album ) — his 1951 WILLYS OVERLAND JEEPSTER PHAETON is now a ” museum piece ” gathering dust”.
Neil Young in his 1951 Jeepster. Standing next to it looks like David Crosby to me.
Roger Martin pointed me to a Facebook photo from the 1964 movie Ride the Wild Surf. Pictured is Shelley Fabares (who had a higher billing than her female co-star) and Barbara Eden. The beach party movie also starred Fabian and a DJ-3A Gala.
This is a video clip from the beach scene:
Here’s another short video clip of a Gala in the movie:
These photos popped up one Facebook recently, likely pulled from the Just A Car Guy blog. I believe these were originally from some kind of video of Disney driving, because I was able to find an animated gif on Pinterest of the same event. I could not locate the original video, but I’m sure it is digitized and out there on the net somewhere …
The Coast Guard’s “Invader Jeep” (with photos here and photos/article/film here) was apparently also called the “Miracle Jeep”. The designer was Chief Petty Officer Charles D. Benjamin.
For starters, this short news reel clip has a reference to it in the Descriptive Log as a Miracle Jeep: https://www.historicfilms.com/tapes/14555_1773.97_1798 . Here’s a screen shot:
The March 18, 1944, issue of the Dayton Herald refers to the Coast Guard Super jeep as a “Miracle Jeep” as well:
The June 25, 1944, issue of the Indianapolis Star also refers to the jeep as the “Miracle Jeep”.
Here’s another, less exciting video with more safety equipment. I don’t understand why they are racing with the windshield in place? And, I’m glad when I raced I didn’t have so many people so close to the track.
Bill shared this link from Hemmings published today showing jeeps going over Black Bear Road.
They aren’t jeeps, but they are definitely off road (and through buildings). Thanks to Roger Martin for sharing this unusual video. The race took place in 1920s New Zealand according to youtube.
Bill shared this post from thedrive.com about a youtuber named DJ (youtube channel Limitliss) putting a Turbo 1.3 liter Suzuki Hayabusa engine into a jeep-rod build. He was originally going to install a ZX10R, but found it to be too damaged to proceed, so he switched to the Suzuki engine.
Here’s Limitliss’ ‘reveal’l of the jeep build, but it’s not the first episode (call it episode 0):
This is episode 1:
You can follow the rest of the build here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNbNJv69UAARr6Sqxaq-RqBM10eKKaYkp … there are currently 19 episodes.