I bought a Willys Wagon!

[PRattenbury]

Yep, it's a 48. I was knocking around on eBay as I will often do, looking at what vehicles are for sale near me. I spotted the wagon for sale, with 3 hours to go and a high bid of $330. It didn't look too awful, and seemed fairly complete. I said ah what the hey. I'll bid $503. I logged off and went to bed. After work today I got back on eBay. I won the Willys. After a really qiuick Google, I discover a 69-72 Blazer/Jimmy has the same wheelbase as the Willys. Actually the 73-87 Blazers and Jimmys have a 106.5 inch wheel base, 2.5 inches longer than the Willys. This is quite do-able. So if anyone near Little Rock happens to know where a rolling chassis might be, I'm a-looking!

[bouncytruck]

Sounds like a deal. So you're planning on putting the willys on on a Blazer chassis? I don't know much about the willys (except they are cool) so what is the reason for not running the stock chassis.

[69TowRig]

Things got a lot stronger over the course of 20 some-odd years. Those early Willys trucks and Jeeps had pretty flimsy frames. My buddy just picked up a '47 CJ-2A a few weeks ago, that Jeep looks shady. Amazing they helped us win some wars.

[sandnuriz]

Cool keep us posted

[PRattenbury]

I've owned a couple 56 wagons already. I restored one to original condition. The other did run, but it was so far gone I made it a parts wagon for the resto. In original condition, the wagons, although cool, were slow, uncomfortable, and handle like buckets of water. So I want to keep the cool part, but be able to ride on a highway at a reasonable speed if I choose to. Better brakes on a more modern chassis as well. And, Chevy parts are so much easier and less expensive to buy...

[71RestoRod]

I've had quite a few Willys wagons, trucks and CJs over the years. I actually bought my '71 initially to do a body swap with a '49 Wagon. The wife talked me out of it. You are correct that the wheel base is the same. IIRC, the frame width is actually narrower but you can make it work no problem. I really like the early wagons that were built through the first half of 1950 because they have the rounded wheel wells in the back and the flat Jeep front grill and fenders. The later wagons remind me of old man fishing rigs... I had a really sweet '49 wagon years ago (different one) that was built to the hilt. It had a 4:88 rear and an overdrive that gave it six forward gears and a 3:66 final ratio. Super light truck. You could burn rubber in second and leave Vetts in the dust, banging gears up to about 70, then they'd pass me up, but it would still run up over 100 if you had the nerve. Can you tell I still miss that old wagon??? Some SOB stole it. I tracked him down 6 mo. later from an add posted on a bulletin board listing parts for a '49 wagon that I figured had to be mine and as it tured out were. Nothing left but a pile of parts, but that's another story...

Look closely behind the '71 in these shots, that's the '49 Willys that I was going to build up using the Blazer frame. Ended up selling it to make room for a '36 Ford project long after the Blazer was (mostly) done.

Cool truck. Have fun.

[Ridnhi]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHASS...item255eea04cf


Here is a blazer frame and running gear on ebay for $399.00

[bouncytruck]

Here's a rolling chassis on CL in Seattle. http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/pts/2080050019.html