1001 Jeep Facts. Patrick Foster

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      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.