The original Jeepster (1948 to 1950) was an early crossover designed to fill a gap in the Willys Jeep product line. Unlike other Jeeps, it was strictly a 2-wheel-drive, but it borrowed extensively from the existing parts bin to keep costs down. Barely 19,000 of them were built before Willys moved on, though the name would be revived in the 1960s. This first-year Jeepster is a project as the engine has been partially disassembled with will need rebuilding. Located in Mount Sterling, Ohio, this rare survivor is available here on Facebook Marketplace for just $1,900. Kudos to “Sam61” for the cool tip!

Willys-Overland cooked up the Jeepster as a way to bridge the gap between the utilitarian Jeep and the passenger car market. It was a step up in terms of features for buyers used to the basics of the CJ (Civilian Jeep) that was patterned after the World War II workhorse. The Jeepster was the third new product to come out of Willys after the war, the other two being the pickup in 1946 and the truck in 1947.

Though its features were plenty, the Jeepster was priced in the same territory as a new Ford convertible, which was bigger, had roll-down windows, and came with a flathead V8 rather than the little “Go Devil” inline-4 in the Jeepster. That may have had a big impact on why the Jeepster never really caught on. A little more than half of Jeepster sales came in its first year when the seller’s yellow runabout was built.

Details about this SUV are few. The body, paint, and interior look good enough, so perhaps the “to-do” list will largely be related to putting the 134 cubic inch I-4 back together. Or maybe the buyer will want to take the opportunity to beef things up since the Go-Devil only produced 63 horses with a 3-speed manual transmission. Also, this Jeep has no title, so you’ll have to sort that out with how the DMV works in your state. But the price seems right!