A reader recently sent us a link to Rural Willys, a website dedicated to Willys Jeep Wagons built in Brazil. There was over 182,000 Rural Willys Wagons built in Brazil from 1958 to 1977. The basic body tub is the same, but is is obvious that there is a lot of differences between the Brazilian model and its American cousin. The first thing you notice is the different front end, but as you look closer, you can see the smaller details like different door handles, front and rear bumpers, tail lights, etc. What else do you notice that is different?
This is a signal corps pic taken in Sicily 1943. The jeep has a number of interesting features…
We had lots of interest in our recent article about the restoration of a CJ-5 with a factory installed camper. Leo, one of our readers, directed us to Mike Leavensworth’s Flickr page. There we found photos of a camperized Jeep CJ-5 about to roll off a cliff! These photos were taken in 1969. Does anyone know more about this incident?
I love Willys Jeeps. Regular readers of this blog already know this. What you may not know is that visiting Africa is on my list of things to do in the next 20 years. I want to see lions and zebras in their natural habitat. I want to see the pyramids. But travelling across Egypt in two restored Willys Jeeps for two weeks? A group of explorers from England and Egypt and doing just that and are inviting you to join them!
This 1969 Jeep Jeepster is for sale on Long Beach, California Craigs List. Although the photos are pretty small, it looks in pretty good shape. Known as the ugly big brother of the Jeep CJ-7, the Jeepster has a cult following throughout North America. (Although it is not as ugly as the Bullnose) The larget size offers more interior room, but the unique body style is often what draws fans to the Jeepster. For $3450, this Jeepster seems to be a good deal. What do you think? Are you a fan of the Jeep Jeepster or Commando?
What a great shop of a Jeepster rusting away..
You just have to love this mini Willys Jeep build! It is a 1/2 scale Bemak 1941 Willys MB Slat Grille body mounted on a 1980 John Deere 111 lawn tractor chassis and powerplant. It has an 11 hp Briggs and Stratton engine with 5 speed manual transmission. The 1.5 gallon jerry can on the rear is actually the fuel tank. Colin modified the tractor to run on 12volts so he could have working lights! I want to build one! I do not have kids, but that does not matter, right? Now, I wonder where to find a Bemak body.
Do you remember the Orange Blossom Special 2wd pull truck from the 80’s? It was probably the most popular pulling truck of the time. Check out the video below that we found on the Orange Blossom Special Facebook page!
Lately, we have featured some posts with lots of vintage off road desert race Jeep photos. There has been lots of discussion about Ray Russell in this article, this one and this article, along with some photos that Kevin Vaughan sent of the desert race Jeep CJ-5 that his uncle used to race in the 70’s. Ed Bray from Tacoma, Wa lvoed the vintage desert racing photos and sent us some photos of the Jeeps that he used to race. The Willys is at Riverside and the Mint 400 in 1978, which the CJ-7 was at the 1982 Baja 1000. We love the photos Ed! Do you have old off road racing photos that you would like contribute? Contact us!
What an awesome landing photo! Great use of chain on the sand.
