Willys Jeep History | Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog

ICON offers more than just a Willys Reproduction

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Rachel | 7 Comments

If you’ve heard of the ICON CJ Series, then you probably know that these babies are expensive, starting at a cool $50,000 (approximately) for a turnkey Icon CJ3B, then up to a possible $100,000 with optional kits ranging from $15-$27,000, but what do they offer consumers that the original Willys CJ-3B didn’t? Posing the question, “What is your fancy?” to…

1942 "Auburn" MB Jeep - Earliest Known Civilian Jeep Test

“Auburn MB” – Earliest Known Civilian Jeep Test

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Mike Meditz | 2 Comments

This 1942 “Auburn” MB Jeep is the earliest known documented “civilian” jeep. While there are drawings commissioned by I.B. Hazelton showing potential postwar uses for the jeep in the fall of 1941 and a photo of Willys-Overland president J.W. Frazer in a MA with a private 1942 Ohio license plate, this was a specially factory prepared MB whose purpose was…

The Restoration of a CJ-2 Prototype

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Mike Meditz | 6 Comments

Last week, I came across this back-story about the restoration of the CJ2-37, a 1945 CJ-2 Prototype! We contacted the current owner, Todd Paisley, who was kind enough to let us post it on our blog this week! So, a special thanks to Todd for his contribution – Now, on to the story… The Restoration of the CJ2-37, a 1945…

A Brief History of the “Tuxedo Park”

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Mike Meditz | 20 Comments

At the request of a member… Recently, we received a request from a member who was interested in knowing more about the Tuxedo Park – and we are happy to oblige! Here is a brief history and general”list of options” for those who want to know more about what the “Tuxedo Park” Jeep® was all about: Is it a…

The CJ2A: A Brief History

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Mike Meditz | 13 Comments

The Willys CJ2A was one of the civilian jeep designs put out by Willys after the completion of the war. Similar in most ways to the Willys MB, Willys CJ vehicles, including the Willys CJ2A, incorporated design alterations to include vacuum-powered windshield wipers, a tailgate and civilian lighting. Production on the Willys CJ2A started July 17, 1945, sharing production time with the…

About Kaiser Willys.com…

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Mike Meditz | 0 Comments

For this week’s blog post, we want to take a moment to thank you for the great response on last week’s post (we had a few chuckles in the office — I won’t tell you which names were the cause, but you could probably guess if you took a look at the “Pet Jeep Name” comments), and to tell you…

Willys Civilian Jeeps – CJ “Universal”

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Mike Meditz | 1 Comments

At the close of World War II, Willys realized that it could leverage its wartime fame and enter the consumer vehicle market under an already well-known brand name. The first “civilian” Jeep was the CJ-2A, also known as the “Universal”. It offered features not found on the military MB model, including a tailgate, side-mounted spare tire, higher windshield and larger…