www.ewillys.com

When I launched eWillys at the dawn of 2008, no guards were hired to keep back the excited crowds, no parades were held in its honor, no grand speeches were crafted to announce it and likely not even the two people I offhandedly mentioned my intentions to days before the site launched even dropped by to see it.  So, you can imagine my surprise when, on occasion, over successive months, I would receive an email from someone I had never met, someone from a different state, or even a different country.  They would write me, indicating they knew not why they came, maybe to find a deal, maybe to relive earlier days, or for reasons they could not fully understand, as if James Earl Jones himself were involved.  But instead of build it and they will come, it was build it, then update daily.

My dear mother thought I was a bit on the looney side, though she thinks that a lot about me. The how-will-you-make-money-from-all-the-work-you-do question she asked more than once.  My friends said that as well, ‘you need to monetize it’ I have heard again and again.  Even readers continue to ask if and how I will do it.  My response to all has been that the site itself was never intended to generate a living for me.
So, why do it?  Why expend the energy? The answers are complicated and multi-faceted. You would have to understand that I was around jeeps most of my young life.  I was around club members most of my life.  And, you’d have to understand all the things I learned and the experiences I had building my first jeep.  Finally, you’d have to be shown the crap I went through during the past decade. It would literally take a book to explain; which, not coincidently, is why I’m in the process of writing a book about it.  It’s quite literally a look at my life as a jeep, or if you prefer, growing up jeep.
Whether guards will need to be hired to keep back throngs of book lovers lining up to purchase the book, whether parades will be held in its honor, or whether the sounds of crickets will greet its launch remains to be seen.  About its reception I am not concerned, because I believe my kids will cherish my crazy stories of growing up as they too get older and that will be compensation enough.  There are other books I want to write as well, a couple of which are technically based and desperately needed so lovers of jeeps can more readily identify what they have or seek. I mocked up and tested the idea with a couple readers and their response was a resounding ‘YES, I NEED THAT BOOK’(I only thought of the idea, because I need it too!).
There is one more note I should make. Over the next month or two or more I will be working in conjunction with the folks attempting to complete the movie “Jeep: A story of Triumph”.  My objective is to see the movie gets funded.  It is a small budget, independent movie with a great story unknown to most of the world.  For the people that agree to help fund it, the movie will be a great and unique legacy, especially for lovers of jeeps, world war II history buffs, or both. So if anyone has any interest in this, please contact me ASAP!
email: d@ewillys.com

In 1941 as the United States became involved inWW2 , the Jeeps were coming off both Willys’ and Fords’ assembly lines just as quickly as they could produce them. Once they were placed in service, support was just as important as delivery. The Maintenance Manual for Willys Truck 1/4 Ton 4×4 was issued under the governments heading of Training Manual,hence the designation TM -10-1513. The particular copy shown here is a first revision dating to October 1,1942. It was obtained in Europe and I could not say if it was actually printed there. Its center binding of a strip of fabric tying two holes together is a method I have not seen in another. It would be great if those with more knowledge than I would comment.

At any rate, this 122 page book is full of the basic mechanical procedures to be followed when trouble arose. It has no details on the “extras” that would soon be added to this mighty vehicle. This copy is in our library and available for consultation per your requests.

Here he is. Eugene the Jeep. Namesake of our favorite vehicle? Maybe.  Eugene was first mentioned in the late 1930′s in a Popeye the Sailor comic strip. He was a very mysterious little animal with supernatural abilities who lived in a fourth dimensional world paralell to ours. He was considered to be some sort of a dog who was spawned in Africa and only ate orchids as his diet. His only utterance was the word “Jeep” . He could only tell the truth through various gestures and could also teleport himself and reappear in another place.

So, the debate rages. Was the 4 wheeled vehicles’ name taken from this character or the poetic license of a  military reference to all things military that had no name “GP” (General Purpose”) Hard to say at this point. Many also think the soldiers named it because it could move with stealth and solve impossible problems. Several other military devices were referred to as “Jeep” at one time or another  but this 4 wheeled dynamite on wheels won the title.

Tin friction drive with siren. This is only 2″ x 4″  although a larger version is known to exist.

This 6 1/2″ long lithographed tin vehicle is from the 1960′s. Made by Yoneya of Japan, it has a siren,gas can, and spare tire. Nice graphics of radar screen and phone.