Carl
Jeffery’s 1950 Willy’s Jeepster
My father had been a Willy’s Dealer in
The car, of course, was sold to a
gentleman in Summerland, B.C. and a few months later he brought it in to be
serviced and being a 14 year old kid I told him how I would love to own that car
some day. For the next eight years the car kept coming in for regular servicing
and the more often I saw it, the more desperately I wanted to own that yellow
Jeepster.
In the spring of l958, to my surprise,
the owner came into the dealership to see me and advised that he was trading the
vehicle in on a new Chevrolet Station Wagon. He took me with him to Grove Motors
and after he made his deal with the dealership, I went into the office and was
advised that they wanted $900 for the Jeepster. By now it had only 40,000 miles
on it and was in mint condition. I talked the Chevrolet dealership into holding
the Jeepster until 5:00 PM Monday. I had never borrowed money before, so it was
no easy task, but the loan was approved and I purchased the car I had been
dreaming of for eight years.
Once I became a family man, the Jeepster
was not practical anymore and I purchased a Willy’s Jeep Station Wagon.
However, I kept the Jeepster and now 48 years later I still own it and am
driving it. It has been used for many family weddings over the years. Also, in
1950, before the original owner took it home, it was used as the Official Judges
Car for the 1950 Penticton Peach Festival.
It has been running well for the past 48
years and has never let me down. It has never been restored. The new top was put
on in 2003 and in the winter of 2004-2005 the engine was taken out and
overhauled, along with the starter, generator, distributor and clutch. It was a
challenge to find the parts - which came from
Over the 48 years I owned this Jeepster,
it has resided in nine different garages that I have built to keep it in.
My wife and I love this "Fun
Car"! We continue to love all
vintage cars, trucks and hot rods. But, I must confess however, that I would one
day love to own a Packard.
WILLYS . . .
The Allies won WWII with the help of the Jeep. This strange-looking vehicle really was an all-terrain vehicle. It could leap if necessary and even swim. Many regard Willys-Overland as the inventor of the Jeep and the Jeep-Eagle brand that now forms part of the Chrysler and who are the last people to deny this. The reality is that a small-scale American Bantam Company, that built a small Bantam car under license from Austin of England, created the concept. In any event, Willys became world-famous for the Jeep which they made more than 360,000. Ford built 277,896 of them and Bantam a mere 2,500. Willys-Overland also had the foresight in 1950 to register the name Jeep as their trademark. Only Willys continued to build Jeeps after WWII, both for military and for civil purpose. Farmers in particular found it an excellent general purpose vehicle. An entirely new market was created in 1946 with the introduction of the Station Wagon, which was the first all-steel American estate car. At first these had rear-wheel drive only, but in 1949 a true 4x4 could also be ordered. Up to 1950 the Station Wagon had a four –cylinder GO-Devil engine, but after this date it was fitted with the Hurricane Motor.
Probably
the most interesting post-war Jeep was the Jeepster, which became a real fashion
statement in its day. Film stars were pleased to be seen in it. This vehicle was
only available as a convertible. The roof and side panels were attached by
poppers to the body. The Jeepster shared mechanicals with the Station Wagon but
was never made as a four-wheel drive. The customers could choose between the
four-cylinder Go-Devil or six-cylinder Lightning Six power units. Of the more
than 19,000 Jeepsters that were built, 2,431 of them were fitted with the
six-cylinder engine.
Willys
was less successful with building family cars after World War II. The Willys
Aero Wing appeared in 1951 with a two-door monocoque body and room for six
persons. By American standards, this was a small car to fill in the gap between
the Nash Rambler and the larger American cars. A slimmed down version followed
the next year as the Willys Aero Lark with six-cylinder side-valve engine from
the Station Wagon. The cars were also available with four doors from 1953. There
was also a Willys Aero 2600 with monocoque body and similar engine to the Jeep.
In 1953, the Willys Corporation became part of Kaiser.
This
meant the end to production of Willys cars. From 1953 only Jeeps were
produced. A new factory was built in
Taken from ‘The Complete Encyclopedia of Classic Cars’ a REBO Production
