You’ve got to give it to Willys for trying new things; after all, when you’re a smaller automaker trying to make it work by finding niches in the market, you have to find those niches. Well, for all Brooks Stevens’ talent (and his Jeepster is an attractive vehicle), few wanted a slow and somewhat clumsy on-road Jeep; therefore, only 19,000 and some change were built during that first run. But yesterday’s failures can be today’s success stories, and the Jeepster makes a fun collectible with top-down sportiness and Jeep name recognition. This one was found in a New York barn back in 2006, hasn’t run since 2010, and is now being sold on eBay as a project in Brighton, Michigan.

This is not the first Jeepster I’ve written about since I started here at Barn Finds, and it seems that few of them have the engine they’re supposed to have. For example, this Jeepster is listed as a ’49 but titled as a ’50 (apparently the dealer had it retitled at some point). The “4-63” in the VIN tells us that it should be a ’49 with the “Go Devil” flathead four, but this is clearly the “Hurricane” F-Head four, which was only supposed to come in 1950 models (and 1951 models, which were rebranded ’50s). Of course, a lot can happen in 76 years, but from what I can glean, Willys followed few rules as far as model years were concerned. The Hurricane was probably a better choice anyway; it produced a much-needed 12 horsepower boost over the Go Devil, resulting in 75 horsepower.

The seller doesn’t include much information about the Jeepster aside from its recent history, which I’ve already mentioned. It was last registered in 2015, but has been kept inside since it was found in that barn back in 2006. Given the condition of the interior, I’d imagine there will be some fumigating to be done, and a few trash bags will come in handy. All Jeepsters had a Borg-Warner T-96 three-speed transmission with standard overdrive, and the rest of the suspension and driveline were standard Willys Station Wagon gear.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the undercarriage or discussion about whether or not the engine is free. The pictures that are posted show a solid Jeepster that desperately needs a new top and a thorough cleaning, and the current high bid is a reasonable $3,050 with about two days to go. It will be a roll of the dice, but for a few grand, it might not be a bad gamble if you like a quirky creation from a company that was certainly willing to gamble themselves.