Jalopnik

Definitely ahead of its time. Don't know if the camo green paint is original, but it would certainly serve to hide it well in a less urban setting than Alameda.

I actually have seen one of these with a deer lashed over the hood, although the roof rack looks like it handle a 10-pointer if you could get it up there.

Those might be aftermarket foglights, but they could easily be aftermarket blinkers. The originals never worked very well (or very long) on Willys Jeeps. I'd love to know if that's a 6-volt daily driver...can't be too many of those around.

A friend from church had on of these. The amazing part is that it was a 2 wheel drive model with a single leaf spring in the front. It looked more like a Model T than a Jeep.

Some people don't seem to consider the fact that our whole nation got around with six-volt daily drivers for many decades. Some people still do.

That looks like the one that Terry-Thomas and Milton Berle were driving in one of my all-time favorites movies: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World.

[members.cox.net]).jpg

@MeMikeYouNot: I love that film. And yeah, it does.

Sorry, that link to the photo didn't work but a little googling will find all you ever wanted to know about that movie.
A neighbor of mine had one of these when I was a teenager and I think it was that color.

(I've got a red one if you want to see it: [skyrocketpenguin.blogspot.com]).

Just scroll down a little.

My brother had one with an engine swap and conversion van front seats. Otherwise stock. It was comfy and awesome.

I remember sitting in the back, trying to be ballast to help free a semi that was stuck in my neighbor's yard. I probably weighed 70 pounds. It was fun being three feet from the grille of a semi that was revving it's engine. He left ruts a foot deep in their yard.

About a year ago there was a mid 50s Willys pickup on Craigslist here for around a thousand bucks and I'm still kicking myself for not buying it. The body was in excellent, relatively rust free condition and it only needed a rebuild of the F134 Hurricane engine to get it back on the road. It also came with a second parts engine.

I want one of those pickups or one of these suburbans so badly. Swap the T-90 for a T-18 with modern gearing, install a Warn overdrive to split the ratios, and a PTO winch off the front bumper. You'll have highway speeds, untouchable offroading, and 4, count 'em, 4 levers on the floor of your cab. That's the gear shift, the transfer case, the overdrive, and the PTO winch. Is there anything cooler than a truck with 4 unlabeled levers on the floor? Perhaps the only thing cooler is if it's made by Willys!

That's weird. At first glance, the 3-bar grille looked a little like the Citroen chevron.

Still a very cool vehicle!

I've got some pics of a nicely restored FJ that I spotted at the mall, let me know if you'd like me to pass 'em on.

@brandonvalentine: A mostly-rust free Willys? For $1,000? Kick yourself some more. Have your friends kick you.

It's Alameda. Likely somebody stole the wench.

A guy that I smoke with drives one of these to work, school, and theater jobs every day. His his two-tone white/green, original everything.

It was his grandfather's. It had been sitting for about 10 years up until a few months ago when he changed all the rubber and gave her new gas. He's driven it every day since.

Time for another gratuitous "amazing design from the genius that was Brooks Stevens" comment.

@brandonvalentine: You'd actually have at least 5, b/c the t-case would be twin-stick (one for range, one or two for axles).

@TPSreports: I figured the day of wench stealing were behind us. As far as winches go...that might be another story...

These things are so rad. They're just the right size...not quite full-size, but big enough to live/hoon in indefinitely after the Zombie Apocalypse.

@Bumblebee: In my defense I didn't have the $1k at the time, and I have no children to sell.

Nice.
There is a 1953 Willys pickup, the registration calls it a Willys Suburban and says it is a four passenger vehicle, that lives in Red Hook.

@Triborough: That's a thing of beauty. Love that color on it and the Willys logo on the tailgate and bent radio antenna FTW.

@Mad_Science: True, true. I had forgotten about the dual lever t-case. Even better for pretending you're in a Tonka truck!

@Triborough: My kingdom for a stamped-steel Willys tailgate. I'd hang it on the mantle.

Gives me the Willys.

One of my dad's classmates had one of these. One day at school,they decided to see how many of them could get in it and make the block. I'll have to ask dad to verify this,but I think the number was almost twenty.

I learned to drive a stick in one of these. It may not have been fast, but that flathead 6 always pulled her out of anything I put her in. The rack on the top was good for keeping the beer cold in the winter.

@brandegee:

I think those are Western Auto fog lights.

@thekaiser:

Would "Little Willie and the Handjive" be a "wanker" in Britspeak?