A few weeks ago, we featured the prototype 1969 Jeep XJ001 4×4 sports car. Today we have another Jeep prototype, but we are going back to the companies army roots. Being that the Bobcat was designed to be an air drop vehicle, it weighed only 1475lbs. The tiny Willys Jeep shared a lot of parts with the M-38 and M38-A1, although the frame was from the MB tooling. Sadly, the Willys Jeep Bobcat never made the production line. However, we are still looking for more information about it. Does know more?
Does anyone have any information on this World War 2 photo? It was tagged “Pacific Beach Landing WW2 Willys Jeep”
I have to admit that I have never seen a Willys Jeep fuel tanker truck. Honestly, I never even thought about it until I saw this 1956 Willys Jeep truck for sale. Have you ever seen a Willys truck used as a fuel truck?
The Tierra Del Sol 4×4 Club Desert Safari rally started in 1967 and continues to this day! Below we have some awesome videos from the early years of the annual event, which takes place in the California desert. The Tierra Del Sol rally is easily one of the largest and most popular events in the southwest, if not for all of the USA. We hope that you enjoy the videos below. Watch them on full screen view if you can! It is really neat to see how much technology has changed over the years. Long gone are the days of manual steering, 3″ of wheel travel and bellbottoms. We are happy to see that the family aspect and friendships gained through four wheeling has not changed over the years. Not to mention bikini’s. What do you think of the videos? Do you have some old videos or photos that you would like to share?
Last week we showed you some photos of 4 door Willys Jeep wagons. This week, Willys Country brings us some photos of Mitsubishi built 4 door Willys Jeep wagons. These were manufactured from the 1950’s through to 1988. At a quick glance, they may appear to look like their American counterparts, they are very different. Probably the largest difference is that they were actually built on a CJ-3B chassis so they are a lot narrower than your normal Willys wagon. they also used a CJ-3B grille. Notice the hood height difference compared to the regular version. As for other body modifications, they used panel style rear doors and the rear side glass radius, which allows for more glass area. Most of them used a diesel engine and some used Dana 30 front ends with a Dana 44 in the rear. Lets not forget the right hand drive!
I have to admit that I love the Mitsubishi built Willys Jeeps. I would love to pick up a diesel J54, something like this one we featured back in March. The Mitsubishi Jeeps were built from 1953 through to 1998. They had the look of the Willys CJ3B, but with some unique features like diesel power and right hand drive. Of course, one has come up for sale, but the timing is all wrong for me to purchase it. Hopefully one of our readers can pick it up and get us some more photos and information. The owner mentions a 3.0 litre, but from my research, it should be a 2.7L. I love the defrost tubes going up to the windshield. It comes with american paperwork as well as registration and import papers from Japan.
I have seen a few photos floating around the internet of 4 door Willys Jeep wagons. In all the cases I had seen, they were also modified for railway use. Dave from Willys Country has done tons of research on 4 door Willys wagons as well as railway Willys. It turns out that some of the 4 door units were made for street use and Dave has supplied us with some photos.
What an awesome restoration. Follow along on this Flickr page as the owner tears down and restores this Willys CJ3B. I think you will agree with me that he has done an excellant job.
Back when Jeeps were simple to work on!
This has to be one of the best vintage military Jeep vehicle auctions I have ever seen! Imagine all of these old military vehicles for sale at the same time!
