Without Wood: 1947 Willys Wagon Restomod – Sold?
(To stop the slideshow and expand the pictures, click on the current photograph below)
May 9, 2023, Update – While this “Classifind” expired recently, given the seller’s history, we suspect it may not actually be sold yet. For now, we’re labeling this ride “Sold?” However, we will keep an eye out for an updated listing. In the interim, please reach out either by email or call Rudy directly if you’d like to be informed when we come across something similar.
March 21, 2023 Update – After a nearly three-month pause following the expiration of their last lasting, the seller of this 1947 Willys Restomod posted a new Craigslist ad. This time, they lowered their asking price by another four thousand to land at $35,000, which is ten thousand less than where they started last September.
December 27, Update – While this “Classifind” expired recently, given the seller’s history, we suspect may not actually be sold yet. For now, we’re labeling this ride “Sold?” However, we will keep an eye out for an updated listing.
November 18, 2022 Update – After a several-week pause following the expiration of their last ad, the private seller of this ’47 Willys Restomod just posted a fresh Craigslist ad. The pictures, description, and already-lowered ask of $39,000 all remain the same.
October 25, 2022, Update – We just confirmed the listing for this “Classifind” expired, so with no replacement found, we’re assuming this ride is “Sold?” until we come across a replacement listing.
October 8, 2022 Update – The private seller lowered their asking price again from $42,000 to $39,000.
September 27, 2022 Update – The private seller of this interesting Willys restomod just lowered their asking price from $45,000 to $42,000.
Irony comes in many forms. When Willys launched its Brooks Stevens-designed wagon, the company did not make its own bodies and did not have the finances to build custom molds for bodywork. Brooks therefore designed bodies that could be built by sheet metal fabricators who normally made parts for household appliances and could draw sheet metal no more than six inches. After World War II, this simplified manufacturing process made the Willys wagon the first all-steel body wagon.
Is it ironic that the builder of this 1947 Willys Wagon restomod, last listed in March 2023 on Craigslist in Brentwood, California (San Francisco), painted a very convincing woodie wagon motif on their creation? In addition to a lowered four-inch chop supported by a Chrysler torsion bar front suspension, the Mopar theme continues with motivation supplied by a 413 cubic inch V8 mated to a TorqFlite automatic.
Last offered for $35,000 (the original ask was$45,000), Classic.com, the analytics and search engine for the collector car market, confirms the ask is within the current range of the one-year rolling average of this guide’s summary for Willys Wagons produced between 1947 and 1962. By clicking on the green dots in the graph below, you can navigate to each comparable car sold as a way to help you evaluate the price of the wagon featured here:
As a second data point, the Collector Car Market Review Online Tool reveals the seller’s ask is well above this guide’s #1 “Excellent” appraisal of $37,300, however that is to be expected considering the number of modifications that went into this Willys.
Willys (and later Kaiser Jeep) produced over 300,000 Willys Wagons in the U.S. from 1946 to 1964. Rather than rely on more expensive traditional techniques, Industrial Designer Brooks Stevens developed the bodies so they could be built by sheet metal fabricators who normally made parts for household appliances and could draw sheet metal no more than 6 inches. This simplicity provided the Willys Wagon with the distinction of being the first mass-produced all-steel station wagon. In addition to the standard two-wheel-drive model, adding the availability of four-wheel-drive after 1949 such as the example featured here. While Willys branded four-door examples “Utility Wagons”, two-door examples such as this one were officially called “Station Wagons.” From a styling standpoint, this 1961 example still features the two-piece windshield which would be changed out for a one-piece unit the following year.
This Willys Overland Promotional video never ceases to amaze us with how versatile their vehicles were back in the day:
This 1947 Willys Restomod is a quality older build with a proven 28,000 miles. Given the amount of work that went into this creation, the current ask of $45,000 is easily a you-can’t-recreate-it-for-this price.
Here’s the seller’s description:
“1947 Willys Woody Wagon. 4-inch chop and lowered. Chrysler 413, automatic, Chrysler torsion bar front end with power disc brakes and power steering. Currie 9-inch rear end. Custom leather interior. Faux woodie paint. Amazing how many people think it’s real wood. Much easier to maintain. So unique that it has won lots of car show awards. You won’t see another Willys wagon this customized.“
Do you have a Willys Station Wagon story you’d like to share? Comment below and let us know!
0 Comments