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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 .
UPDATE: Still Available.
(02/24/2023) Here’s a rare Blue Star hardtop that needs a few repairs.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1131435957572141
“$600obo Selling blue star top for cj2a. Everything is there for it, needs some frame repair on rear door and one side door.”
Needs some repairs.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/656177006171537
“$600obo Selling blue star top for cj2a. Everything is there for it, needs some frame repair on rear door and one side door.”
Rooney77’s Blue Star Top for sale
UPDATE: This post from 2014 has been updated with additional brochure examples. See all the Blue Star hardtops documented thus far:
(From 2014) This Blue Star aluminum top was built by the Blue Manufacturing Company, founded in Kansas by Max Blue circa 1946. ‘Blue Star’ was the brand name used on several products he produced. There’s some conflicting information, but it appears In 1946 Blue Manufacturing was building aluminum airline parts. About that time, as a hobby, Max began building aluminum boats. He also tried manufacturing and selling jeep hard tops.
Demand was so great for the boats that in 1948 he leased space and built boats full-time. Meanwhile, he either sold or abandoned the jeep top business altogether. Given only a few Blue Star tops have surfaced over the last few years, I imagine he didn’t sell too many of them.
However, Max was able to sell boats. By 1953 the company was building 1,000 boats a year. In July of 1953 he moved the company from Goddard, Kansas, to Miami, Oklahoma. There are various articles into 1960 that talk about the Blue Manufacturing Company. However, the company appears to have ceased boat production in 1964.
A picture of Max Blue in the center of the photo. http://newspaperarchive.com/us/missouri/joplin/joplin-globe/1960/04-17/page-6
This brochure featuring a CJ-2A is the earliest example I have of this top. It was part of an early industrial equipment book.
Here’s another example, this time with a CJ-3A:
Here’s an ad that was featured on eBay.
Here’s an example of the logo badge:
Here is an example of the half tops:
Actual top:
Here are some photos of actual full hardtops:
During the summer of 2013 a seller on eBay had two jeeps with Blue Star tops for sale:
Jeep 1)
Jeep 2)
UPDATE: Still Avaialble.
(08/29/2019) May need some love.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/496757200881225/
“1940s willys cj2a blue star topper. Rare needs TLC”
This rare Blue Star top is missing it’s rear lift door.
“Really neat hard top for jeep CJ3A or CJ3B. Aluminum riveted over steel rod frame. Has doors with slide up windows. Rear lift door missing. Looks like it was made by an aircraft company. ”
http://littlerock.craigslist.org/pts/5251434517.html
The hardtop pictured is a Blue Star, not a sears.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/836670698391593
“1946-1947 tub ,2 transfer cases ,2 tires, hood , gas tank, sears and roebuck’s top and a engine block”
This has a Blue Star aluminum hardtop. This might have a patched driver’s side floor (can’t tell for certain).
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/428491326641917
“With snow plow, runs and drives. New alternator and new windshield defroster.”
The top on this is an interesting one. I thought it was a Porter & Reed (the front portiion appears identical (maybe built from that design?), but it has angled edges along th sides of the top rear rather than rounded ones. Another Kanas-based aircraft-related manufacturer of hardtops was Blue Star, but this doesn’t look like one of theirs.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/310890408212163
“95% bone stock 1947 Willys CJ 2a Jeep. Orig flathead 4 cylinder engine w/3 SPD trans and stock transfer case. Engine has not been started for approx 20 years but turns freely by hand. Body in decent shape w/75 years worth of dings, dents and rust. The hat channels are needing the most work. The top (aluminum)is a unique “military look” that, according to original owner, was built and installed by a Wichita aircraft manufacturer in 1948. The interior seats, including the rear seat, are correct. The transmission and transfer move into their gears freely but the unit seems to leak an excessive amount of fluid into the driveway. The engine also seeps oil from the oil pan drain plug. Frame is in excellent condition showing only a slightly bent front bumper end. This is a very original 1947, the perfect candidate for a resto. Currenly registered and titled. Numerous extra parts included: f & r axles, trans / trans case etc. Rolls freely on old tires.”
UPDATE: Price dropped to $2000.
(12/12/2022) This is a project with a rare Blue Star hardtop.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/700082138343106
“1951 Jeep CJ3A Current condition is rough, notrunning; motor is running but not installed. would be a good parts Jeep. I have a spare willys frame from a jeep wagon with axles and transmission. I have lost interest and funds for this project and need the space. Make offer i need to move this thing from my garage.”
UPDATE: Still Available.
(08/28/2022) This has a Blue Star hardtop, though it may be missing the rear and side doors.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/557768702697578
“It’s been stored for 25 years and was running.”
It’s rare to see a Blue Star hardtop on a jeep for sale anymore.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/899721907293721/
“1951 Jeep Willys · Other_body_style · Driven 42,000 mile”
This has a Blue Star hardtop.
https://tulsa.craigslist.org/pts/d/tulsa-1948-willys-v8-jeep/7326417737.html
“48 Willys with chevy v8. Runs and drives. Needs brakes gone thru due to sitting”
UPDATE: Price dropped to $2500.
(03/03/2021) No engine or tranny/tc. But, it does have a Blue Star aluminum hardtop.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1900799976743629/
“1948 jeep willys I has the soft doors and the hard top it’s a roller no motor or trans also have square body truck frame that goes with it if you want was planning on put the body on the Chevy truck frame but just have the time for it $3500 or best offer”
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Blue Star top on a jeep.
https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/pts/d/bakersfield-1950-willys-cj3a-jeep/7066794166.html
“I am selling my military style flat fender jeep. It is road and trail ready. It is very well used, with rust in spots. Runs amazing and strong. Licensed through this year. Transmission, transfer case and differentials are all stock.
List if upgrades as follows:
231 Buick v6 out of 1978 skyhawk
Power steering out of a f150 truck
Warn overdrive
Mile marker 8,000 lb winch
High lift Jack
Custom bumpers, with rear tire carrier, rock sliders, and roll cage
4 inch suspension lift, new leaf springs and shocks
Full length bikini top
Hard top with doors and windows
Fold and tumble seat in the back
Tuffy lockable tool box under rear seat
Custom lockable center consul
Seats out of a 2004 Chevy aveo
4 point master craft seat belts
Set of 5 new Mickey Thompson Baja mtz on 5 white steel wheels”
UPDATE: Thanks to Dave, we have some additional Koenig history:
“The son of the founder built the company up into a successful business making winches, “truck bodies”, and other stuff. His name was Herbert Koenig and he died in 2011 at age 95. An obit mentions that Koenig Iron Works (of Houston) was sold in 1978, and is now known as “RKI” and makes truck equipment (in Houston). They are RKI-US.com. Nothing indicates they care about Jeeps anymore!
Also, a Danish guy seems to have a website named Koenigwinches.com and it seems he makes parts for Koenig winches.”
=========================
Original Post November 2019:
This is a good example of simple post that spun out of control. Initially, I wanted to look at some changes in Koenig’s CJ-5 hardtop model numbers over the years; But, that then expanded to a look at twenty years (or so) of brochures.
THE EARLY YEARS:
The timeline of the early Koenig brochures are pretty easy to identify based on the jeeps used. In later years, Koenig began using numbered ‘bulletins’ to identify brochures. At first, I thought the numbered bulletins should be ordered by ascending number, but after closer examination, I the later two digits of each bulletin number reflect the year of the brochure. As you will see, other brochure elements back this theory.
Before we start, you can find installation instructions for some Koenig hardtops here.
The earliest Koenig brochure I can find was published in an early Willys-Overland Equipment brochure (1949?). The models consisted of “Full Cab” and “Half Cab”. This brochure was included among a surprisingly large number of hardtop competitors’ brochures, including Worman tops, CarsonCraft tops, Boston Top tops, Sturdee tops, Porter & Reed tops, Body V7 Works tops, Blue Star tops, Lambert tops, Hills Custom Built tops and Meyers tops (which became sears tops and a company that was different from the one that produced later Meyer tops).
This brochure circa 1949 showed half and full cabs on a CJ-3A:
UPDATE: This post started out as a post about Koenig hardtops, but that lead to updates on the Car Craft and Blue Star hardtops. I should have the Koenig post done for Saturday morning.
This updated post provides more info on the CARCRAFT hardtop. An early Special Equipment catalog contained two different versions of the Carson Machine & Supply Company’s Car Craft brochure. I’ve added a third brochure at the bottom which I’d found off of eBay years ago. Here are two real-world examples: one jeep and another jeep.
This brochure was published back in 2017. It features a CJ-2A and does not have the stylized CARCRAFT branding. Instead, it shows a plain “Car Craft” brand with a space added.
This is the first time I’ve published this brochure. It includes the new CARCRAFT branding and used a CJ-3A jeep:
This brochure was available on eBay in 2013. It appears to be the company’s signature brochure for the hardtop. I haven’t tracked down another copy:
It’s a crazy price. That said, it does have a nice example of a Blue Star hardtop and what appear to be late model Free Lock hubs.
“1947 Willys Flat Fender Jeep
CJ4-CJ Civilian Jeep
4 cylinder engine/4 wheel drive/spare gas tank/top/ with doors/spare tire/new brakes
100 miles on the rebuilt engine/all a regional
80,000 miles on mileage metor/ 3 rd roll seat
6 volt/converted to 8 volt battery
RUNS GREAT/ SELLING DUE TO ESTATE SALE”
https://stjoseph.craigslist.org/cto/d/1947-willys-flat-fender-jeep/6458867714.html
UPDATE II: More history on the Worman company in the January 1948 issue of Wilys Overland Sales News.
UPDATE: This article appeared in the 2016 Winter edition of Dispatcher Magazine. The original of this was posted in October of 2106 as a series of notes, but is now updated with text from that article along with some additional photos.
Willys-Overland equipment manufacturers experienced a range of successes and failures. One of those who entered the market at the dawn of the CJ-2A to achieve the former was Laurel C. Worman, a businessman who created the first set of jeep hardtops for different applications, most sold under the brand Jee-Cab.
Early Willys-Overland branded Laurel C. Worman built hardtop.
EARLY YEARS OF LAUREL C. WORMAN:
Laurel C. Worman was born in 1898 in Toledo, Ohio, to Ernest and Clara Worman. He was the younger of two children. The boy’s father Ernest was a self-made man, who developed a large hardwood lumber business, something Laurel must have watched with fascination. When he was old enough, Laurel married Muriel Florence Jackson. The pair had two sons, Ernest “Ernie” William and Lester Lee Worman. The couple later divorced. By 1940, Laurel had remarried a woman named Ruth.
Perhaps Laurel’s father’s entrepreneurial influence led him to become a self-made man himself. While his early employment history has yet to be unearthed, by 1941, Laurel was president of Packard Toledo, Inc. Well known in Toledo automotive circles, Laurel later that year became a northwestern Ohio distributor for the new Willys Americar. It may have been the car that interested him most, but more likely it was the potential of the jeep, which had garnered automotive interest for more than a year.
About this time in 1941, Laurel C. Worman incorporated a company by the same name, under which he placed the Willys dealership. It was only one of several companies he would co-found. In December 1941, he went to Washington, D. C., as a dealer representative and gathered with other auto industry to reps to establish a ceiling on car prices, perhaps in anticipation of war. Four days after returning from his D. C. meeting, the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor.
The war doesn’t appear to have slowed Worman down. By 1942, he was placing ads in the Toledo Blade, arguing how “Willys Truck Owners Are Lucky!” Laurel noted that Willys-Overland had produced the most economical line of trucks. He told potential customers they would be well-served by the truck’s low use of gasoline and their rugged nature, two characteristics important for enduring war time challenges. Worman also made sure to note that Willys was the producer of the jeep, already famous by September of 1942.
As an automotive dealer seemingly in the thick of things in Toledo during WWII, there’s no evidence he formed plans for any jeep equipment. But, as a Willys dealer in Toledo, he certainly would have stayed abreast of the CJ’s progress and must have saw potential in the jeep following the war.
THE CJ-2A ARRIVES:
When the CJ-2A was introduced to the public in July of 1945, options included a front soft top ($55) and rear soft top ($39). The first civilian hardtop half-cab, according to Fred Coldwell in his Preproduction Civilian Jeep book, didn’t go into production until the fall of 1945. Somewhere around that time, the Army asked Willys-Overland to design a full steel cab for the late 1945 MBs. The result was a stretched version of the half cab, but it never went into production. One probable reason was that steel was in short supply. Another reason was that they were heavy.
In August 1945, Worman invited prospective buyers to visit his dealership and see the new “Universal ‘Jeep’” for themselves. The amazing “4-in-1” vehicle was advertised as a light truck, a light tractor, a runabout, and a mobile power unit. But, it still lacked the comfort of a full cab, a fact that must have been apparent to Worman as he engaged customers and sold jeeps through ’45 and into ’46.
Perhaps after hearing from dealers and customers that they’d prefer a hard top over the canvas front and rear tops, the Willys-Overland decided to contract with Laurel C. Worman to produce a line of hardtops. The hardtops would be made of aluminum, which, unlike steel, was amply available and light.
UPDATE: **Not For Sale**.
Looks like it has an APU hood and a blue star hardtop.
“Very Solid Willys, NO RUST!!!!!
OHV 4 Cyl.
31″ tires. Have stock wheels and tires.
Blue Star Aluminum Hard top.
Mastercraft seats.
Very fun to wheel, but sat in the garage last couple years.
Clean Title! So no dealing with trying to get a title.”
The most valuable part might just be that aluminum blue star hard top.
“51 WILLY JEEP CJ3A . WITH CAB. I HAVE HAD THIS JEEP 55 YEARS. IT IS IN ROUGH CONDITITION. SOME RUST. RUNNING GEARS ARE GOOD. NO ENGINE.”
http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/5454443908.html
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $5500.
Has some updates. Might have a Blue Star top.
“Pinto motor, new tires & wheels/Chev steering box/shackles/e-z ride springs/warn hubs/rebuilt transmission/transfer case/rebuilt overdrive (not installed) + extras.”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was Make Offer
Has a Blue Star top.
“1951 willys cj3a
– Clear title
– complete L head
– transmission and transfer case are free.
– 4 original 16″ wheels
– solid frame
– blue star top with doors
– extra parts included
Best offer or trade for other willys parts”
It looks like this has a rare blue star hardtop.
“46 willys jeep running project.
Really good running L-head go devil 134 (original flathead 4 cylinder)
3pd dana18 Tcase. 5.38 gear ratio
Near new BFG mud terrains 31/10.50 15
Need brake adjustment to be driver
Body in pretty good shape for nearly 70 years old. Little rust, solid floors,
Needs TLC but good project. Bought to restore but plans changed
Comes with another parts jeep tub and chassis. ( axles brakes springs etc.) has vin tag but no title on parts jeep.
Will discount if sold with a different set of all terrain 31″ tires
$2400 complete or best offer, trades considered, cash talks”
http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/5067762504.html
UPDATE: Was $1500. **SOLD**
This jeep includes a rare Blue Star Hardtop.
“1952 Willy Jeep CJ3A 4×4, 4 cyl, standard, fold down windshield, has towbar, and spare tire. It comes with an aluminum hard top and soft door frames. I don’t know if it was factory or aftermarket.
Was told that it ran 5 years ago. I couldn’t get it to turn over, it’s stuck. Has some rust in the floor. Can be fixed easily, because it’s all in flat areas. And needs seats recovered.”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $3750.
Rare suicide doors. Anyone recognize the hardtop? Could be a Blue Star aluminum top that’s been customized.
“cool little jeep from montana.very original late 40 early 50s. runs ,drives and stops.flat head 4cyl. has cool hardtop and rollbar with suicide doors. 6 volt with generator neat,neat,neat.”
