I bought the Willys with my father. He mainly made the restoration and I made the logistics and project management. My father is now half retired, he is 72 years old and he restored a 1942 MB in 1962 when he was 20 years old. He sold it after using it daily for 10 years but I know he always loved the Willys. I was feeling that he was just waiting for support to buy one and start a restoration. Than suddenly, one day in January 2013 we decided to buy a Willys and restore it. We looked for an MB but it is almost impossible to find one for restoration. There are quite a lot of CJ-3Bs in Turkey, but we could find this CJ-3A which are getting rare also. It was quite in good shape and with many original parts. But it was quite rusty and I think, it did not see some good maintenance in its entire life. Anyway, my father who is a very good mechanic, dismantled the Willys down to the very smallest part and we did a complete restoration. It was possible to find many spare parts in Turkey and we ordered some from the USA also. I have to confess that our family business is designing and manufacturing various types of machines for marine industry. Therefore, with the capabilities of our workshop it was not very difficult to make the restoration. We wanted to keep our CJ-3A as stock as possible. Beside keeping its civilian look we wanted to add some military features such as Air Force Blue body color, olive drab canvas seats, olive drab jerry can, olive drab safety straps, rear bumpers, pintle hook and the M38 used speedometer. We finished the restoration in 6 months and enjoyed it a lot. I hope you will like our Willys also.
Greetings from Istanbul
Hello Gurhan Huroglu your willys look very beautiful and your color choices is very good i would love to colour my willys cj2a in this colour . So can u please tell me the right colour code or right colour shade . I am from india so i have to find this same colour in India market . Sir i request you to please send me this colour code or shade name . Thank you
What color paint is that. Looks great
Hello Fred,
I am happy that you liked our willys. I hope you can restore one soon as you want. As I wrote above, my father used to have a 1942 MB which I didn’t see but I saw the pictures and listened stories about it. I like old cars and I have always had a sympathy to flat fenders and one of a sudden we bought one in the begining of this year. I was really enjoying to make the restorationa and now its very enjoying also to drive it along the bosphorus. It attracts the interest of many people more than any car on the streets. Years ago it was was easier to find flat fenders which were mainly used in the army and they were quite popular in the countryside of Turkey especially in the mountaineous parts. But now it is really difficult to find a stock condition flat fender. In the years they were generally modified or repaired without taking care their originallity. According to ours’ register plate, it was imported to Belgium than somehow imported to Turkey. But I don’t know if it was used for military or civilian service. There were many layers of paint on it but as far as I can see the original color was a shade of blue also. So we wanted to restore it in civilian style but with some military features and with Air Force blue.
Gurhan; I like the project you and your father restored. I have had the same desire to restore a cj3a also for many years. I have had jeeps all my life and this model is the one I will restore when I get other projects finished. I have driven and owned most Willys models and one new model in 1974 made by American Motors. I now own a Wrangler and I still want to do a flat fender cj3a. I owned an old one when I was 14 years old and I guess I desire to return to my roots. I find it amazing that in your country someone still has the same desire to restore jeeps just like we do here in Texas, USA. I believe maybe some American influence led you to do the project. I am glad to see our influence may have sparked your interest in something like the Willys jeep stuff. Keep up the interest and communication is welcomed if you care to continue. fred