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Chapter 2

Willys and Kaiser Jeep Wagons, Pickups, Forward Controls, and FJs

Legend and Lore

122 When it came time to begin designing new civilian vehicles for the postwar era, Willys had neither a design office nor any staff to do the work; just a few men in the engineering department who had some experience in design. Because of this, industrial designer Brooks Stevens from Wisconsin was given the job of creating the designs for the postwar lineup, although he got it almost by accident. He’d written a magazine article presenting ideas for postwar Jeep-based civilian vehicles, and by chance Willys-Overland’s vice president of engineering Barney Roos saw the article. Roos had been worrying about finding a designer, and it was clear that the war would be over soon, so he contacted Stevens and, after an interview, put him on retainer to design new vehicles for Willys-Overland.

The first all-steel station wagon from an American producer was the 1946 Willys Jeep station wagon. Designer Brooks Stevens was instructed to keep the body lines flat and shallow. The steel sides were painted to resemble wood.

123 Prior to the war, Willys hadn’t produced the bodies for its American automobiles; it had purchased them from an outside supplier to save the cost of tooling and body-making machinery. Because of that, there wasn’t an easy way for the company to go back into production when the war ended. Ford and General Motors owned their own body-building companies, so they got back into production fairly quickly. But in Willys’ case, the independent companies that produced automobile bodies weren’t interested in working for such a small firm when they could easily get more lucrative contracts from bigger automakers.

This forced Willys to abandon the traditional passenger car business in favor of building something, anything, that it could produce on its own. For the time being, that would have to be the ex-military Jeep.

124 Willys management realized that the company couldn’t survive for very long by building only the small Jeeps, so they put Brooks Stevens to work designing a series of new, larger vehicles. The first of the “senior” Jeep vehicles to be put into production was the Willys Jeep station wagon, introduced for 1946. The Willys wagon was quickly followed by the Willys Jeep Panel Truck, which was a station wagon with steel sides rather than windows and with a regular monotone paint job rather than the faux wood scheme used on the station wagons.

This Willys wagon is on the assembly line in Toledo, Ohio. This appears to be the body-drop section of the plant.

125 People are often surprised to learn that all of the 1946 Willys Jeep station wagons and panel trucks are two-wheel drive only. Folks naturally assume that anything called a Jeep must have four-wheel drive. Nope. Willys management realized that, at that time, the market for four-wheel-drive vehicles was much smaller than the market for conventional cars, and they did their best to convince people that the Willys Station Wagon was simply a family car with utilitarian styling.

126 The third new senior Jeep model to be introduced was the Willys Jeep pickup truck, which was offered initially as a 1/2-ton model with two-wheel drive, or as a 1-ton four-wheel-drive model. Each of these trucks were powered by the Go-Devil fourbanger engine.

127 At first, Willys tried to emphasize the Willys-Overland company name for the wagons, rather than the Jeep brand. This was partly because it wanted to maintain Willys as a viable brand name in the event that it reentered the passenger car market (which management certainly planned to do as soon as it was possible). And this was partly because at the time the company felt that the public would only accept the Willys Universal (aka CJ-series) as a “real” Jeep. However, in time, the immense popularity of the Jeep brand convinced Willys to refer to its senior vehicles as Willys Jeep station wagons and trucks, which it did successfully.

These new Jeep vehicles are coming off the assembly line and ready to be driven to a storage lot.

128 Have you ever wondered why the postwar senior Jeep vehicles look the way they do? It wasn’t by accident; designer Brooks Stevens was instructed to keep the body lines flat and shallow, with no complex curves or deep-drawing shapes. The president of Willys-Overland at the time told him to design body panels that could be stamped out in a refrigerator factory because there was no other steel pressing equipment available.

129 Although many enthusiasts consider the Willys postwar station wagon to be a truck, the company usually referred to it as a passenger car. It was hard for management not to compete in the traditional car market. After all, the company had once been the number-three automaker in the world. Management wanted to keep a toe in the passenger car business at any cost, realizing it would help them when they were finally able to add passenger cars to the product line.

130 Many enthusiasts and historians believe that Willys came up with the idea of putting four-wheel drive in its station wagon all by itself, but that’s not the case. During 1948, the US Army asked Willys management if they could design, engineer, and build such a vehicle. The military was even then looking for more four-wheel-drive vehicles for various jobs that the MB couldn’t perform. In response, Willys engineers produced a prototype four-wheel-drive wagon for the army.

Although it doesn’t appear that the army thought enough of it to ask for more (in other words, offer a production contract), Willys felt the concept was a good one and rushed it into production for 1949. It gave the company and its dealers another product to sell, something that had no real competition.

As a direct result of building an experimental four-wheel-drive station wagon prototype for the US Army, Willys was able to introduce a new four-wheel-drive wagon for 1949.

131 Regardless of what anyone may say, the first sport utility vehicle (SUV) was the 1949 Willys Jeep 4x4 station wagon. It was built from the ground up as a family station wagon, and it came with factory-installed four-wheel drive. It was engineered for hard off-road driving. In light of the immense size of the worldwide SUV market today, the Willys Jeep four-wheel-drive station wagon is one of the most historic vehicles on the planet.

132 When the Willys Jeep pickup debuted in late 1947, it was offered in five basic versions: bare chassis, cab and chassis, pickup, box truck (with a box bolted on), and platform stake truck. These were available in a two-wheel-drive 1/2-ton version or as a 1-ton version equipped with four-wheel drive.

Do trucks get any prettier than this? The 1956 Willys Jeep 1-ton pickup was a sturdy beast and ruggedly handsome.

133 The next line of senior Jeep vehicles to appear were the Forward Control (FC) models. The first of these, the FC-150, arrived in December 1956 as a 1957 model. The FC-150 pickup was rated at 5,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW) and was based on a beefed-up CJ-5 chassis. It rode an 81-inch wheelbase and had a close-coupled pickup body. Power was supplied by the Willys Hurricane 4-cylinder engine.

Willys Motors went out on a limb, style-wise, when it introduced the Jeep FC-150 (the FC stood for Forward Control). With a short CJ wheelbase and a 4-cylinder F-head mill, it was built for difficult work, mainly off-highway.

134 The next FC model to arrive was the FC-170 pickup truck, which was built on a much longer 103.5-inch wheelbase and powered by the sturdy Kaiser-Willys 226-ci 6-cylinder engine. The FC-170 pickup came with a long cargo bed.

The FC-170 heavy-duty pickup, introduced for 1957, boasted a longer wheelbase and larger engine than the FC-150 series. All FC trucks produced in the United States were four-wheel-drive units.

135 Both FC models were also offered in cab-and-chassis and cowl-and-chassis versions so that buyers could arrange to have any sort of specialty body installed on it. Many went into service as farm trucks and tow trucks.

136 The rarest civilian FC trucks are the FC-170 Dual Rear Wheel versions, which were produced for just three years in the United States. For 1959, the factory produced just 335 of them; for 1960 it built 402 units; then for 1961, another 320 were built.

137 The best year for FC truck production in the United States was 1957, when 6,637 FC-150s and 3,101 FC-170s were produced in the Toledo factory, for a total of 9,738 FC trucks built during the calendar year.

138 Although they were never especially popular in the United States, the Jeep Forward Control truck models ended up being one of the longest-lived Jeep vehicles in production. The reason for that is that after being produced from 1956 to 1965 in the United States, the tooling was sold to Mahindra & Mahindra, a Jeep affiliate and assembler in India. That company produced many FC variants over the ensuing decades, including a very popular bus model that was in production into the late 1990s, for the local market.

139 Mahindra & Mahindra expanded the FC truck model range to include an FC-160, FC-360, and FC-460, along with a passenger bus, cargo van, paddy wagon, ambulance, and army personnel carrier. Production continued in India into the 1990s, and sales brochures often appear for sale on eBay. They are quite an interesting collectible item.

140 Willys was always looking for ways to grow its sales volume without incurring much tooling expense. In that spirit, in 1961 the company began producing the Willys Jeep FJ-3 Step Van for the US Post Office, which used the small trucks for mail delivery. The FJ-3 chassis was essentially a two-wheel-drive DJ-5 modification, and to save the cost of tooling the body was produced by an outside company, Highway Products, in Ohio. A larger-body van was sold through Willys Jeep dealers as the Jeep FJ-3A, and these were popular with package delivery firms and laundry companies.

141 Jeep manufactured the FJ-3 chassis at its plant in Toledo, Ohio, and then shipped them to Highway Products’ small factory. Highway Products then installed the van body on the chassis and arranged for delivery to the US Post Office or, in the case of an FJ-3A, to a dealer.

The FJ line of commercial vans was available in two series. The FJ-3 was a short-body unit built for the US Post Office; the FJ-3A (seen here) had a longer body and was pitched to commercial users such as package delivery, florists, dry cleaners, etc.

142 By 1966, a new version of the FJ series was introduced, dubbed the FJ-6, which was followed by the slightly modified FJ-6A in 1967. These vehicles are much less common today than the FJ-3 models, and they appear to have been sold exclusively to the US Post Office. Nowadays both the FJ-3 and FJ-6 are collected by people who love the unusual. Sadly, many of them have been hot rodded or heavily modified, which is a shame considering their rarity.

143 Most people don’t know it, but the FJ series wasn’t the only Jeep-based van. During the 1960s, Jeep’s Spanish affiliate, a company by the name of Viasa, produced a line of unique Jeep vehicles that included a panel van, passenger van, and van-based pickup. The bodies were tooled and produced locally, and they look like no other Jeep product ever produced. Picture a Ford Econoline, only bigger, squarer, and much-sturdier looking.

This is a nice, circa-1957 Jeep 1-ton pickup in its natural environment: off-road.

Body and Interior

144 As mentioned earlier, the first of the “senior” Jeep vehicles to be produced was the station wagon. Designed by Brooks Stevens, it generated quite a bit of talk within the industry because it was the first all-steel station wagon. Prior to its introduction, station wagons had used expensive, hand-built wooded bodies, and thus the vehicles were priced at where usually only people with high incomes could afford them. The Willys Station Wagon, in comparison, was priced at $1,495, undercutting the Chevrolet’s $1,605 price; a big difference in those days. That price differential continued: In 1947, the Chevy wagon was priced at $1,893 versus $1,616 for the Willys wagon; in 1948, the Chevy wagon was tagged at $2,013, compared to $1,645 for the Willys wagon.

Here is the Willys wagon for 1948, showing no substantial change and still extremely popular today.

Another price factor was that the Willys steel-bodied wagon required much less maintenance than the wood-bodied wagons, which had to be sanded, stained, and varnished on a yearly basis. More than 6,000 of the sparkling new Willys station wagons were sold during the first year of production.

145 One thing that traditional wood-bodied wagons had going for them was style; their gorgeous wooden body panels looked rich and elegant. To give its customers a good measure of that glamour, Willys treated every one of its new station wagons to a paint scheme that mimicked the look of wood paneling. The base paint job for the sheet metal was a pretty color called Luzon Red, which was a deep, rich maroon. Then the factory applied crème paint in a pattern that imitated the look of pine wood borders, and the larger flat body sides were painted brown to imitate stained birch. The effect was terrific. It gave the Willys wagons a beautiful look at the price of a little paint rather than costly wood and varnish. And all the owner had to do to keep it looking nice was wax it every year.

146 The reason that the Willys wagon is so slab sided is simple: Willys had no body-stamping equipment so the automaker specified a design that could be stamped out on equipment used to make refrigerators. The actual depth of the “draw” was limited to a maximum of 4 inches. That specification eliminated the ability to stamp out deep fenders or complex shapes. Everything had to be shallow and simple, but the talented Brooks Stevens made it all look fabulous.

147 The Willys station wagon came only in a two-door model because that was the least expensive way to produce it and was also the industry custom for passenger wagons of the time. Years later, some of Willys’ overseas affiliates added four-door versions of the station wagon, which were quite attractive and very useful, but none of these were ever offered in the United States. In time, Willys decided to invest in an all-new design, which became the Jeep Wagoneer.

The Willys Station Wagon for 1949 was still a very attractive vehicle with its wood-look paint job and rugged reliability.

148 The standard Willys station wagons were considered six-passenger vehicles: three on the front bench seat and three on the rear bench. An optional sideways-facing third seat could be ordered to make the wagon accommodate seven passengers. The rear seats are easily removed to allow more space for carrying cargo.

149 Although it is quite compact on the outside, the Jeep station wagon boasts a full 98 cubic feet of cargo room inside with the rear seats removed. The company bragged that you could use it to carry a broken washing machine or chair to the repair shop. Farm families especially appreciated the utility values of the station wagon, which could work on the farm all week and then take the family into town on Saturday.

150 The versatility of the Jeep station wagon body was truly remarkable. In its initial version it was a stylish family wagon, and then, with the side windows not cut out and with the rear seats omitted, it became a panel truck. With side windows, plain paint, and only the front seats installed, it was a low-cost utility wagon that contractors loved. It was later offered in ambulance and fire/ rescue versions as well.

The two-wheel-drive Jeep panel delivery truck was an inexpensive and cheap-to-operate truck. This is a 1948 model.

151 Although the list of available options for the Willys wagons was usually limited, it did include such dress-up items as front and rear bumper guards, wheel trim rings, whitewall tires, fog lamps, and a spotlight. A heavy-duty air cleaner was also available.

152 Although today we tend to think that the Willys trucks and wagons look rather quaint, when they first appeared they seemed marvelously new and modern. The prewar Willys trucks had looked like everyone else’s trucks only smaller, and the wagons, while stylish, were small, wood bodied, and a little pricey. So, when the all-new Willys postwar vehicles debuted, they were like nothing else on the road. The public loved them.

153 Like many American cars and trucks of the time, the Willys senior Jeep vehicles came with vacuum wipers and a booster-type fuel pump to help them keep operating even when the engine was under load. However, on long hills the wipers do tend to slow down, and sometimes even stop. Let your foot off the gas for a second and they sweep once or twice before stopping again. It’s a little tedious, but it only happens on steep hills, or if the vacuum motor is worn.

154 The 1946 Jeep wagons came in one color only: Luzon Red. With the 1947–1948 Jeep models, color choices such as Wake Ivory, Tunisian Red, Normandy Blue, Olive Drab Green, Manila Blue, and Mahogany Brown were introduced into production.

155 You may see old Jeep station wagons with a grille badge that includes either a “4” or a “6.” This was used to identify the engine (i.e., a 4-cylinder or a 6-cylinder). This practice began during 1948 production.

156 Question: How do you turn a station wagon into a sedan? In the case of Willys, you do it with new paint and a different engine. In 1948, Willys-Overland introduced a new vehicle called the Jeep Station Sedan, which it described as “… a luxurious, comfortable, and beautiful passenger car …”

However, one look and you can easily see it was merely the carryover Willys station wagon with a monotone body paint offset by an attractive canework striped area on the upper doors and body sides, a fancier interior, and the new Willys 6-cylinder engine under the hood. A 3-speed plus overdrive manual transmission was standard equipment, along with a bright chrome T-bar overlaid on the grille. It looked very sharp, and with its 6-cylinder engine it could handle the highway better than the standard wagons. It was priced $245 more than the regular station wagon, and it probably didn’t sell all that well. Have you ever seen one?

This sales brochure for 1952 illustrates the canework body side trim available with the Deluxe station wagon that year. Willys customarily offered the wagon in a variety of trim levels in an effort to expand sales volume.

157 By sometime in 1949, what had been the Station Sedan was now referred to as the Station Wagon and was distinguished from the faux-wood wagon by unique paint with a contrasting side panel, along with its standard 6-cylinder engine. Willys often struggled with nomenclature as it tried to present the image of having a full line of vehicles.

158 Do you have difficulty identifying the year of a Jeep station wagon by sight? Here are a few tips that can help you: The 1947 and early 1950 models have a plain body-color painted grille and flat front fenders. The 1950–1953 models have five horizontal chrome grille bars and rounded, pointy front fenders. The 1954–1963 models have three horizontal grille bars, all evenly spaced except for the 1956 models, which have two of the bars near the top of the grille and one bar near the bottom. Why only that one year? No one seems to know.

Willys-Overland had this interesting display outside its headquarters building in Toledo, displaying all the variations of the senior Jeep line.

159 Here’s another way to help identify years: For 1951, Willys station wagons were given a wraparound rear bumper to replace the thin, straight-bar bumper previously used. The new bumper provided added protection for the rear body sides. It also enhanced the look of the vehicle, at least in my opinion.

160 People often wonder where the Forward Control (FC) Jeep’s styling came from because it’s so unusual. The designer was Brooks Stevens, who was still on retainer with Willys Motors. The styling was quite controversial at the time, with people either loving it or hating it. One magazine writer referred to it as “the Helicopter Look” because it vaguely resembled some of the military helicopters that were around at the time.

161 During the time he was busy creating the FC styling, Brooks Stevens envisioned a whole lineup of FC vehicles, including a short-wheelbase pickup, long-wheelbase pickup, delivery van, and family van/wagon that would have been the first minivan on the market. Only the two pickup trucks were produced for the civilian market in the United States. But as noted earlier, Mahindra & Mahindra added several other bodystyles built on the FC platform.

162 Any restorer of Jeep wagons or trucks knows that rust is usually a big problem. Part of the reason is that rust-retardant materials and spray applications of that era were not as robust as they are today.

Another problem is that Willys (and Kaiser) often tried to avoid the expense of tooling up for large stampings and instead used a series of smaller stamping and then weld them together. For example, they made a fender in two or three parts and welded them together. Although it looks fine when new, the first rust to show on a Jeep is usually wherever those welded parts meet because moisture seeps into and on the unprotected metal and starts the cycle of corrosion.

163 From 1947 to 1964, Willys offered a variety of special-bodied Jeep wagons and trucks. A buyer could order a cargo box for the back of the pickup or a service body fitted with various lockable storage compartments. Rack bodies and stake bodies were also offered. From 1955 to at least 1961 a special Cargo Personnel Carrier vehicle was available, with an open cab and 10-passenger personnel carrier body fitted with sideways-facing seats.

164 The first Jeep to wear the “Commando” name wasn’t the 1967 Jeepster; it was a factory-built fire truck on the Willys truck chassis. Featuring an open cab (the factory simply cut the roof off), it was fitted with a 500 gallon-per-minute pumper along with a heat exchanger to keep the engine cool while sitting stationary at fires. These vehicles were produced in small numbers from 1955 to about 1961.

165 Jeep also offered two distinct ambulance models based on the senior models. The first was a conversion of the standard panel delivery truck, with litters and medical supplies fitted into the rear area, and a rooftop vent installed to keep things cool inside. The second version was fitted with a much larger custom body produced by Mil-Ner that featured a raised roof and much more interior space.

166 One special version of the Willys wagon was the Hy-Rail produced from about 1949 to 1957 by Fairmont Railway Motors (the company is now known as Harsco Rail with vehicles sold under the Hy-Rail name). It was fitted with special steel wheels to enable it to be driven on railroad tracks by maintenance crews. The body was really special: It was converted to four doors! It’s not known how many were produced, but the company is still in business.

167 Another interesting Jeep variation is the 1954–1955 Economy Delivery, a stand/drive delivery truck of the type used by bakeries, florists, and package delivery companies. The Willys Jeep Economy Delivery was powered by the 72-hp Hurricane 4-cylinder engine, and it featured a large, tall, and roomy body built by an unknown outside vender.

168 Countless other variations of the Willys Jeep wagons were built around the world. A 1955 US-market catalog illustrates two types of truck/wrecker that were offered in the truck line, either of which used the standard Willys truck bed rather than a special platform, which was an important money-saving feature.

169 The Willys Jeep FC-170 was one tough truck even in standard form, boasting a 7,000-pound GVW and a curb weight of 3,490, meaning it could carry just over 3,500 pounds of cargo. And it could be ordered beefed up to haul even heavier loads.

170 How’s this for the ultimate Willys truck option: an integrated backhoe. The factory offered it, and with it, a Jeep truck could easily dig a 12-foot hole. The digger was able to swing 160 degrees and offered load buckets up to 36 inches wide. The backhoe weighed 2,250 pounds, so it must have slowed the truck considerably. The trucks were fitted with beefed-up cooling systems to handle the heavy work. These vehicles are rarely seen today, but some have survived in the hands of dedicated Jeep collectors.

171 If you look closely at the cabs on Jeep Forward Control trucks, you notice that some of them have rear quarter windows and some don’t; the panels just aft of the doors are plain sheet metal. Those quarter windows are part of the Deluxe Cab option, which also included dual sun visors, armrests on both doors, cowl trim, foam rubber seats, a cigarette lighter, and front panel kick pads. The Custom Cab option was a popular choice, so you see more FC trucks with it than without.

172 Forward Control trucks offered several body/chassis options including a stripped chassis, with full drivetrain and steering but no body whatsoever, so a buyer could order a special body for it. One step up from that was a chassis and cowl option, which included the cowl, an instrument panel, and a windshield, but no body. A closed cab and chassis were also available. It’s not known how many were produced.

173 For 1958, Jeep introduced a new version of the two-wheel-drive passenger station wagon that played off the name of the television show Maverick, which Willys Motors sponsored. The Jeep Maverick Special was a two-wheel-drive Willys station wagon with a special two-tone paint job and some extra chrome trim, greatly upgraded interior trim, the 4-cylinder Hurricane engine, and a new semi-elliptic leaf-spring suspension system that was said to provide a much smoother ride. To improve handling, a front stabilizer bar was standard, as were four Captive-Air tires (and no spare tire).

The Maverick Special was priced at a bargain $1,895. Although most books say that the Jeep Maverick first appeared in 1959, it actually debuted in 1958 and was continued with minor changes in 1959.

The 1958 Maverick Special was a two-wheel-drive Jeep station wagon powered by the F-head 4-cylinder engine and fitted with nice interior trim. Note the smooth, high-dome roof panel.

174 The 1959 Jeep Maverick Special differs from the 1958 version mainly in the roof panel, which is flatter and ribbed on the 1959, versus tall and rounded on the earlier model. The base price was increased, to $1,995, although even then it still remained the lowest-priced full-size family station wagon on the market.

175 The Jeep Maverick name was dropped after 1959, but the series/model designation was continued in a series of stylish two-wheel-drive wagons that are identified by their attractive “missile” side trim and two-tone paint, along with fancy interior trim. Although the factory referred to them simply as the “two-wheel-drive station wagon,” collectors today refer to these wagon as the “later Mavericks.”

By 1960, what had been the Maverick Special was now simply the station wagon. The exterior trim was new, and the roof panel by now had been replaced with a flatter one with roof strengthening “bows” stamped in.

176 In 1960, Jeep introduced an interesting new model called the Jeep Traveler, which was a Willys station wagon body fitted with a conventional front seat and two sideways-facing rear bench seats. Interior trim was in the Traveler was plain, and a sideways-opening rear door was fitted. Aimed at hotels, resorts, and anyone else who needed to transport a number of guests to and from the train station, these unique vehicles were produced through 1964.

Engine and Drivetrain

177 The Willys Jeep station wagons and trucks never offered a fully automatic transmission, so don’t bother looking for one. A conventional 3-speed manual transmission was standard equipment, along with overdrive. When looking to buy a vintage Jeep wagon or truck, always try to find one with overdrive so you can drive the vehicle on the highway. It still won’t be quite fast enough for today’s crazy traffic, but at least you’ll have a fighting chance.

178 The engine used in the original senior Jeeps of 1946–1947 was the 134.2-ci Go-Devil 4-cylinder engine rated at 63 hp. To say that the senior Jeep was underpowered would be generous, but thankfully the national highway system hadn’t been built yet, so average cruising speeds were still rather low. These vehicles today should probably not be taken on a major highway unless they have overdrive.

179 In late 1947, Willys introduced an L-head 6-cylinder engine for the two-wheel-drive wagons and panel trucks. The engine displaced 148.5 ci and produced just 72 hp, only 9 more than the Go-Devil 4-cylinder, but it offered buyers a little more torque and much greater smoothness. Not having to work as hard as the four-banger, the new six was also much quieter.

The city of Pittston, Pennsylvania, included this circa-1951 four-wheel-drive Willys Jeep pickup in its fleet for service duty around the city.

180 Willys continued to offer only the 4-cylinder engine in its 1/2- ton and 1-ton pickups through 1948. This limited sales appeal because many buyers insisted on having a more powerful 6-cylinder engine under the hood of their new truck, and Willys couldn’t provide that until late in 1948. Even then Willys seemed a bit stingy with them, always trying to push the low-priced 4-cylinder versions instead.

181 The new 148.5-ci 72-hp inline 6-cylinder engine introduced in late 1947 was the smallest 6-cylinder mill in America. Willys called it the Lightning Six, and it was a pretty decent little engine.

182 As noted earlier, when looking for a vintage Jeep wagon or truck to purchase, a good strategy is to find one with overdrive, since that will give you a fighting chance when you take it on the highway. A 6-cylinder engine with overdrive is the best choice by far. Don’t bother trying to find a Willys Jeep with air-conditioning because it wasn’t offered in the product lineup until 1964. By that point, Jeeps were no longer sold under the Willys brand name.

This 1953 Willys Jeep Sedan Delivery is a handsome vehicle for a basic work truck, but not many have survived intact. Many were foolishly converted to four-wheel drive by later owners who didn’t realize the value of an original, stock vehicle.

183 When sales of Willys-Overland vehicles began to slow dramatically toward the end of 1949, the company knew it had to do something to increase interest in them, as well as inspire its dealers to greater sales efforts. So, for 1950 it offered two series of Jeeps: The first series were basically carryover models that were essentially unchanged from the 1949 versions. The second series of senior Jeep vehicles, introduced in April 1950, received new, more powerful engines along with a few styling updates.

The three basic models in the Willys Jeep line for 1953 can be seen in this clipping from a two-page ad that also highlighted the company’s passenger cars.

The Go-Devil four was replaced by the new Hurricane four, which offered 75 hp in the senior Jeeps, a lusty 20-percent increase. Because that number was actually higher than the horsepower of the Lightning L-head six, it increased that engine’s displacement to 161 ci, while increasing output to 75 hp.

184 The last regular-production two-wheel-drive Willys pickup trucks were produced in late 1951, although it appears that some were built on a special-order basis in later years (probably built for fleet orders). The little Willys two-wheeler pickup had simply never caught on with the public, probably because there was so much competition in the light-duty pickup market. The Willys four-wheel-drive pickup, on the other hand, was almost the only four-wheel-drive light-to-medium pickup on the market for many years. It was attractively priced when compared to the aftermarket four-wheel-drive conversions offered by a handful of specialty companies.

This is a “second-series” Willys Jeep station wagon for 1950. By this point, the wagons were painted regular monotone shades rather than the wood look of the earlier vehicles.

185 Willys panel truck models didn’t receive a 6-cylinder option until 1951. Company executives viewed them as simple utility vehicles, driven mainly in town at slow speeds. To appeal to small businesses, Willys highlighted the 4-cylinder panel trucks’ fuel economy and low purchase price, both of which were possible mainly with the 4-cylinder engine.