When you hear the name Willys, there’s a good chance your mind goes straight to the heavily modified hot rods that have become familiar sights in the hobby. But here’s something a little different: a 1937 Willys Model 37 four-door sedan that the seller describes as an original car. Listed on Facebook Marketplace in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for $13,500, this blue Willys has reportedly received considerable work over the years while retaining the character of an older sedan. Thanks for the tip, Zappenduster!
The seller’s description is fairly brief, but it provides an interesting glimpse into the car’s past. According to the ad, a previous owner performed a substantial amount of work on the Willys approximately 30 years ago. The seller doesn’t specify exactly what was done, so there’s no way to determine whether that work involved a restoration, mechanical repairs, cosmetic improvements, or some combination of those things.
What makes that history particularly interesting is the reported use since then. The seller estimates that the Willys has covered approximately 5,000 miles since the work was completed. Facebook Marketplace separately displays 96,000 miles, although the listing doesn’t establish whether that figure represents the car’s verified lifetime mileage.
The Willys is finished in blue and equipped with a manual transmission. The listing also identifies gasoline as its fuel type, but there’s no information about the engine or the transmission’s specifications. Those are details an interested buyer would want to discuss before making the trip to Stillwater.
Another encouraging part of the description concerns the car’s body history. The seller says the Willys originally came from Washington State and reports seeing no evidence that it has ever undergone rust or collision repairs. They also suggest it was probably a nice original example before the previous owner began working on it. That’s a positive assessment, although it’s worth remembering that the seller is describing what they have observed rather than providing a documented history of the car. An inspection would be the best way to evaluate the body and determine what work was performed decades ago. There are also several things the advertisement doesn’t address. The seller doesn’t specifically state whether the Willys currently runs and drives, what condition the interior is in, or whether any mechanical issues need attention. No title information is provided in the supplied listing details.
Still, there’s something appealing about finding a 1937 Willys four-door sedan being offered without an elaborate modification story. The combination of its claimed original character, work completed by a previous owner, and relatively limited reported use since that work gives enthusiasts plenty of reasons to investigate further.
At $13,500, this Willys could appeal to someone who appreciates an older sedan and wants to learn more about its history before deciding what comes next.
Sometimes you get something that’s really unique, attractive and somewhat homely at the same time. The first time I saw this body style was on a pickup, which I’m sure was just like a lot of American vehicles back then; same chassis and front end, different body.
Although I’d prefer the pickup version of this, you could park this car at my place and I’d enjoy it.
I’m with Geomechs, I think I like that pickup a little more. Although, a matching pickup AND a Sedan would be really neat to see at a show together. I like this sedan, you don’t see many of these at all.
That was my first thought also, DIS, to own both would be so cool!
Wha choo talking bout, Willys?
Great looking car at a reasonable price, if it checks out well and gets the OK, Stillwater!
The pickup truck looks like something out of a Betty Boop cartoon. I love it.
The independents were pretty much rare, even during WW2… well, except for Studebaker, Packard and Nash. I have always been a car nut with an eye out for them from my earliest days and MAY have seen, in the flesh (steel?) one each Graham, Pierce-Arrow (a friend of my G’pa owned/drove one), Willys and Cord.
Rex hit the nail on the head with the cartoon look. I thought/think this one tops the list with the shark-nose Graham right behind it. Oddly, the coffin-nose Cord always seemed “right” to me.
Well, this little venture into my ancient history was a waste of time, wasn’t it? Sorry.
It wasn’t a waste of time at all Will. I’m the same, the more unusual the better, and I love Cords and Auburn Speedsters. It’s not all that well known but Amelia Earhart had a ’36 Cord Phaeton. I don’t know if I can link it in this post but if I can it’s here:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54325727119_1885bb6537_b.jpg
I’m with you guys – the unusual apeals to me too.
That engine dates back to the mid 1920’s as used in the Whippet, the Willy’s effort to compete at the lower end of the market. At some point around 38-39 Willys hired Barney Roos, having returned from a stint with the Rootes group in England, and one of his projects was to update and improve that engine, since there was no money for an all new 6 cylinder or V-8 engine such as Chevrolet and Ford were using. That turned out to be very fortuitous for Willys as the improved version of that engine nicknamed the Go-Devil would impress the Army when they did their evaluations of Jeep prototypes from Bantam, Willys and Ford. The final production version of the Jeep used that engine virtually unchanged, though the rest of the Jeep, body and chassis-wise was most definitely an amalgam of the things the army liked from the prototypes submitted by those 3 manufacturers.
GEO: You must have one helluva picture file on your computer.. Thanks for posting all that you do!! This seller’s ad description raises more questions than answers. A long phone call would be necessary before going any further. This Willys MUST be kept in its original configuration and will make someone an excellent show car.
Thanks, Brocky. Last count I had close to 20K auto/mechanical pics, and I add to them all the time. I’ve taken some, swapped some and downloaded the rest. I love photography and writing. One day I might just succeed at one of them…
Nice!
Old Joe Brown, a local character in the 1950’s where my dad’s 120 acre farm was located. Now old Joe Brown liked to drive around the County stirring up trouble wherever he could. On one such day he drove his Will-US not Will-EES (as they were called in our neck of the woods) over to my dad’s farm. Now old Joe Briwn was drunk and could barely stand up, but he managed to climb out of the old car and approach my dad about the purchase of the car. He was out of booze and wanted to purchase more so he offered the old car to dad for the great sum of $10.00. My dad being a man of great integrity denied his offer but told him if he was still interested after he sobered up then he would buy it from him. Now old Joe Brown climbed back in the old car and began to drive away but didn’t get far before he drove the the front axel of the car into the drainage ditch along side the driveway exiting dad’s 120 farm. Stuck there, old Joe Brown just passed out and slept off his alcohol based sleep. Next day when he recovered he did not know where he was or how he got there. My siblings and myself helped lift and push the old car up out of the ditch and sent old Joe Brown merrily down the road.
God bless America
Saggy baggy if you get my meaning. Odd and unattractive to me.
I miss my 1954 Willy’s Ace Deluxe. It was black, with red and gray interior, with a automatic transmission. I spent many hours cleaning the dirt and tar from the underside, you could have eaten off of the bottom of that car. I sold it 18 years ago to a gentleman from Michigan , he used to drive car transporters and his name was William ?, can’t remeber his last name. Anyways I loved that car. Randy Rossi from Pa.
When these were built 2 and 4 door bodies were the same they just leaded the back door opening shut for a 2 door. Been documented during restorations.
Whoever buys this, PLEASE leave it original. Modified ones are so common; you never see an original one like this.
Haven’t seen one since ’71– and
then THAT was in the February issue of Rod & Custom Magazine! The car Mike Lamm
reviewed was a yellow 3- window
coupe and it looked as nice as this car does. And after 55 years,
I still wonder what became of it.
There was an old man in our town that drove one of these but
his was a coupe like the one I saw but it wasn’t as nice the coupe in the magazine. It was painted with some kind of roofing
tar and had a light bar with orange flashing lights on it! Oh sure, it looked like hell, but he was still driving it as late as 1977(?) or so. I tried to buy it from him once and all I got was a
big “hell no” for my efforts. And like a lot of older folks I knew, he
bought it new in the depression and wouldn’t part with it. And like
them, he believed that another depression was coming someday
and he was gonna be ready for it.
“Why should I buy a new car sonny, when this one works just fine?!”. It was folks like him that
we had so many old cars in our town. Seemed like anyone you knew had a story about an old person that had an old car in their
garage and up on blocks under a
tarp. I’m 72 now and I can’t tell you, or even recall off hand, just how many of those cars I’ve seen
in my lifetime. And like the ’48 Tucker I saw in ’68, this one is a rare bear indeed and should be left original for posterity’s sake. If I could find a decent shell, I’d build one on a WWII Jeep frame and build it as an early 4X4 like a
friend of Dad’s did in ’56. Never
saw the car but I heard about it.
I like your idea of an early 4×4 build!
Read the comments from previous customers. Has had car listed 33 wks. Started right about time of comments.
???????
RAR, a friend of my father’s named Carrol Hamm built his using a ’38 Willys body that he somehow mounted on a military Jeep frame he got from the Army
Surplus store in our town in 1956.
Dad told me that back then you could still get WWII surplus Jeeps for maybe $25-$50 down at Morgan’s Army Navy Store which wasn’t all that far from Bloomington Gun Shop on Main
Street in downtown Bloomington.
And both of those businesses were there even after my wife and
I moved to Florida in 1986. You went down to Morgan’s, paid with
cash, and your Jeep was shipped
to Bloomington from a dispersal
depot in either Joliet or St Louis.
And presto! your brand new never
run Jeep showed up at the store
ready to be picked up. And it was
usually Kenny’s Delivery Service that brought it to your house as they had the only truck big enough to carry the crate it came in. You opened it up, and it was
still covered in Cosmoline with all
the stuff you needed to build a running and driving Jeep. Dad said that Carroll had measured everything before he started building it. And the end result was a completely different take on the Willys automobile. And even though he didn’t know it, Carroll Hamm built the world’s
first crossover! And just to prove
the vehicle could do almost anything, they took it down to my
Uncle’s farm outside Saybrook,
hooked a plow to the rear of it, and plowed 10 acres of ground on.a bet my Uncle made that the
“Car” wouldn’t be able to do it–but
it did. My Uncle was so impressed that he bought it for $500. A lot of cash for the time.
My Uncle kept it a few years and then sold it to a doctor that used it to make house calls in that area
from 1963-1970. It was the only
car running in Saybrook during the Blizzard of ’67 when almost the whole state of Illinois was shut down due to extreme cold and blowing snow. So yeah, I’d
love to build a replica of that car
just to show what a little inspiration and ingenuity could
really do.
Hey Ken – I love that story and admire guys like Carroll who show the world that nything can be done, you just have to do it!
Fantastic for me imagining to be able to just order a brand new 40’s Jeep for a few dollars at a local store – those where the times!
Take care
Jeff
A lot of these surplus vehicles showed up all across the country for years. A lot of people branded them as skuttlebutt or urban legend but there were some that actually came through.
I remember a guy, just north of the 49th, into Canada, who bought a new Triumph TRW (British Dispatch motorcycle 500cc SV) from a shop in Winnipeg for less than $200 CAD. I saw it and saw the guy riding it from time to time.
There was a truckload of Harley 45 WLAs allegedly showed up in Great Falls a couple of years later. I know a couple of guys who took a truck down there but nothing came out of it.
My dad said that in the mid-50s there were Jeeps available (in the crate) for $271.00 USD in Billings, and knew a couple of ranchers who drove over and picked some up. Dad, was interested but more in larger trucks (M37s) which didn’t become available until the late 50s. But by that time the prices were climbing to the point where they weren’t practical.
I read an article in Easyriders some years ago, where a guy was rumaging through a surplus warehouse in either Tucson or Phoenix and found a stack of loose motorcycle parts. He made an offer and came home with enough parts to scratch-build (7) complete WLAs (including rifle scabbards), plus somewhere in the neighborhood of (10) engines and transmissions. One of the completed 45s was part of the feature.
Sure would be nice if some of that luck could brush off on the rest of us…
It is interesting you said a doctor needed a 4X4 to make house calls. The family doctor (GP) in the little, Finger Lakes area of New York, village I was born and raised in bought a brand new 1949 Jeep 4X4 station wagon for just that purpose. She had open office hours from 0800 until the waiting room was empty, then made house calls in the afternoon, then opened again at 7 PM. The emergency room was knock on her kitchen door.
Hey Brocky, just curious what town that would have been in the Finger Lakes?
Stu Preston
Yeah fellas, not only did WWII give us a huuuuge amount of surplus stuff, but it also gave us people with fertile imaginations
that thought outside the box more than enough to solve problems that were believed to be unsolvable at that time such as ways to keep your local grocery stores stocked with fruits
and vegetables during the winter
months in the eastern and Midwestern parts of the country at that time. Well, my two uncles,
John and Frank, flew C-47S during the war and when they got
back home, they had a brainstorm about how to solve that problem. They bought two
C-47s and began ferrying that stuff from the warm weather states like Florida, California, and
Texas back to the grocery stores
there in Bloomington back in the
late ’40s to the early ’50s. They had contracts with most of the grocers back then and they got
very wealthy doing it. They would
fly down here to Florida, and land in a part of the field that was already empty. Then, the fruits and veggies were brought to their
planes in war surplus 2 1/2 ton
CCKW army trucks and old half tracks. The crates were put onto
a conveyor belt that was powered
by a Jeep with a PTO on it to make the belt move them up to
the cargo doors where a man or
two would stack them inside from floor to ceiling. Once fully
loaded, they would fly back to Bloomington, land at the airport,
where the grocers would pick up
their orders and take them to their stores. And my uncle’s weren’t the only ones doing that kind of work, there were others like them. And together, these pilots built a fresh fruit and vegetables pipeline that kept the
stores in the cold part of the country well stocked during the winter months. And these guys
used almost anything that would
fly to get the job done. Some of them flew B-17s, others flew B-24s. My.uncle said that it wasn’t that uncommon to see these big
birds land in a field, load up, and
take off before you knew it. And
being 11 or 12 years old, I just couldn’t wait for him to come by and tell me some more of his adventures. By 1950, he and my
uncle Frank were millionaires and they sold that business and bought an industrial coating and
waterproofing instead. And they
kept the planes they had to haul
their gear from place to place.
And Brocky, a lot of rural doctors
bought Jeeps to better serve the
small towns and the farms around them. In fact, there was a
doctor in Gridley who bought a Dodge ambulance to make his house calls. And if you needed to
go to the hospital, he’d take you there. And yes Geo, my Mom and my aunt used to ride surplus Harley 45 WLAs to their highschool during the school year
as they were cheap to buy and cheap to keep. Mom said she did it because used car prices were
through the roof back then. She
paid $75 for her Harley when say
a ’37 Chevy might cost over $150
on a car lot back then. In short, it
was just amazing what you could
buy from the Army Navy store.
Stu and Ken,
Brooktondale, NY a suburb of Ithaca NY and Cornell University.
In Australia there is the “Flying Doctors” outfit where the doctors are also pilots and they fly light planes out to the Outback farm stations (ranches). I think they are based out of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory??
Brocky, I spent a bunch of time during the ‘70s another finger over, in Dresden and Penn Yan. Definitely a special time: muscle cars, lake roads, vineyards, lots of Brockway trucks and Penn Yan boats. .
This past August my wife and I went back up to Cortland / Homer for the Brockway weekend. 150 Brockways parked on Main Street in Homer NY