EXCLUSIVE: 1960 Willys Pickup Project
Update 4/8/2019 – We have dropped the price on this Willys Pickup to $3K. There’s been lots of interest but no one who has called has actually shown up! Perhaps the lower price will entice more action by buyers to check out the Willys in person and take this one home.
As some of you likely know, I am helping to clear out a large collection of salvage and project vehicles from a private owner. You can read more about the collection here. As we move ahead with the process, I’ll be listing some of the more interesting cars individually, which will also help readers see more info about specific vehicles they may be interested in. Be sure to read the original post about the collection. This listing is for a 1960 Willys pickup project that isn’t currently running but was running when parked.
What Makes it Special? I’m sure the patina police will crucify me, but it’s hard to deny this thing isn’t oozing with reminders of its bushwhacking past. The suspension or body has clearly been lifted a bit over stock, and it just looks like the kind of rig you should get running, clean up the interior, and leave the rest as-is.
Body Condition: Obviously, if you want perfect paint, you should just keep walking. But the body isn’t all that rusty, with mostly surface rust to contend with and some rot-through in the rear fenders and the sides of the bed. The floors and frame are believed to be solid. This is the last year of the split windshield design as well.
Mechanical Condition: The Willys is not currently running and the seller confirms the brakes will need work. The original motor was lost years ago and the current powerplant is a Buick six-cylinder transplanted in from a 1980s model. The seller does not know more about than this, but it does still turn freely and was running when parked.
This Willys will require a fair amount of work to restore, but you could also just sort the mechanical bits and drive it Mad Max style. With summer offroading season coming, doesn’t everyone need a truck to play on the trails with? And when winter comes, bolt a plow on the front end to make some money with your 4×4 project, with no concerns for damaging the weathered paint. Give me a yell if you’d like to check it out in person.
- Price: $4,000
- Location: Northwest Georgia
- Mileage: TMU
- Title Status: Bill of sale only
Do you have a low mileage survivor parked in your garage, shed or barn? Does it need a new home? Please consider listing it here on Barn Finds!
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Comments
If I was younger and ambitious I would probably take on a project like this because I hate to see old trucks waste away. I would get all mechanicals sorted out and make a nice interior not fancy but nice and then do the body in to a driver not a show vehicle because I would use it as intended.
The engine should be the 226 Continental flathead six. I believe it saw many uses into the 70’s in forklifts, air compressors, etc.
I have owned and worked on many vintage Jeeps and Continental engines in equipment and marine application. Jeeps built there own flathead (F head, overhead valve and cam) engines until the 60’s with the exception of the Perkins diesel applications. The designes are similar but the parts do not interchange (like a Chev and Ford V8) (maby a carb?) I have even had factory Jeep engine powered generators and pumps. The Continental engines are much higher quality with heavier forged components, larger and more numerous bearing surfaces and better oiling systems. Contential made and sold many engines for different vehicles and industries and Jeep sold there’s as industrial engines as well but not as commonly as either Hercules (another industrial engine manufacturer). Or Continental. The Contintal engines normally had 4 or 5 main bearings and the Jeeps had 3 or 4. I like these old trucks, there cab narrowness and tall center grill remind me of an old Kenworth semi. You Can easily roll down the passenger window from the driver’s seat. We still have many operating on ranches here in the west. They use gears to accomplish what we do with power today. Slow and steady.
I just found a reference to a “super” engine being from Continental……….so my post may only apply to some later 6 cyl engines. I will have to study it further. Even the Toranado OHC engines were made by Jeep (Willy’s) but the V6 used in some civilian products was sourced from GM.
It’s just begging for a snowplow for a home driveway, nothing commercial. It would be a hell of a fun winter toy up here in Wisconsin
Hello Dirtymax. I have to agree. I live in Wisco and own a 1960 Willys Utility wagon. 4 by 4. So much fun in the summer and winter. The old girl will climb a tree. I wish we would get more snow like in the old days though. Plus the heater kicks tail! Take care Bud, Mike.
Hi Mike, I know you know, but to others, I too was a”FFW” owner( flat-fendered Willys) I had a’54 wagon with a 307 SBC, very poorly done, using an adapter plate, and retaining the Willys from bell housing back. Then, I found my ’51 pickup, same color as this, the guy only plowed his driveway with it, until the 6 cylinder threw a rod. It had 19K miles and a perfect body. I paid $500 bucks for it, and he kept the plow. That was in the mid-80’s. I put everything from the wagon into the pickup,and was my DD for a couple years.It was a fun truck, but the gearing was too tall, and the V8 hollered at speed. The V8 was really too much for it. A hole shot would have torn it right out of there. I think the best motor was the “Dauntless V6”. The Tornado OHC 6 was a good motor too, but pretty rare these days.
any pix of the frame and body mounts… need good bones on ANY vehicle but moreso on the 4wd!… hope the seller can help out on that!
Kudos for pulling it out to see …
Now done under neath shots and you will be putting cash in your purse😏
Hey Dave, tell me more about the Jeep- Perkins marriage, didn’t know about those. Got a Jeep same as this one,yep old ranch truck,and a couple still good engines in M.F. combines,just thinking about a swap. Thanks
Whoever buys this might want to wander over to http://www.OldWillysForum.com. Great group of Willys fans over there. Really helped me out with my ‘64 Wagon (with the stock 230 OHC Tornado).
Hi scramboleer, that site was amazing for helping me on my wagon! And I have to thank you for all you add to the site! I really like your work on the old photos best. Take care, Mike.
Thanks Mike. All the credit goes to Pete the founder and all the Wilys folks on the forum who make it so great.
Here’s the thread on vintage Willys photos for anyone here who may be interested: https://www.oldwillysforum.com/forum/index.php?threads/vintage-willys-pictures.2634/
I agree Dan, I guess we owe it to Pete, the self proclaimed cat herder for starting things off! LOL!
This one checks all the boxes for me:
1. Ugly.
2. Underpowered.
3. Piece of crap.
Hard pass.
(Oh, and it’s pronounced “Willis,” not “Willies.”)
Thanks for your informative contribution, Ken. Please, keep the useful posts coming!
Thanks to my informative contribution, you now know how to pronounce Willys correctly. Did you know the man who started the company was named John North Willys, and that the “y” stand in for an “i”?
If you don’t want to hear opinions that differ from your own, you shouldn’t allow comments.
While Ken is a bit blunt, he’s talking reality here.They allow comments, but not necessarily what they want to hear sometimes. Seems like an awful lot of “updates” with slashed prices lately. The line, “perhaps the lower price will entice more action”,,,you think? I don’t mean to be rude, and it’s an undaunting task to do what Jeff is doing, and I applaud him for that, I couldn’t deal with the BS’ers not showing up, and being the optimist Jeff is, like most optimists, still holds out hope. Our world is better because of people like Jeff,,HOWEVER, at some point, even the most stout optimist has to admit, except for a few exceptions, collections like this, with vehicles almost too far gone, will never be sold, and this Willy’s is pretty toast. All these “updates”, and little interest, tells me, I think we’re beginning to see the beginning of the end, and all the optimists in the world won’t change it.
This Willys is exactly the same color and all that I learned to drive in on our ranch in southern Kansas. I started driving it when I was four. My granddad and I would go out to cake cattle, he would get it going, I would steer while he hopped out sat on the back of the tailgate and manhandled 100 lb sacks of cake, when he was done he would yell, and I would switch off the engine. The gearing was so low in first, that it would come to a halt pretty fast, which was a good thing since I almost took it off down a fairly steep embankment one time. That would have been in the mid-fifties. By the time I was ten I was driving two ton wheat trucks and silage trucks.