Kariega Man’s R900 000 Willys Jeep

The Jeep® Willys became iconic almost the moment they started production in the middle of World War II becoming indispensable for the military and then singlehandedly introducing the concept of Sports Utility Vehicles decades before the concept became fashionable.

One South African fan spent his entire life yearning to have his own Willys. Vincent Koekemoer loves the vehicle so much that his wife almost divorced him when she had to count out the money in cash for his second one.

It cost him R21 000 and it was lying in bits on a farm in Patensie in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. The Kariega (Uitenhage)-based building surveyor had managed to find his first Willys in Cape Town, fulfilling a desire that burned within him for more than 40 years ever since he’d first fallen in love with the idea of owning one.

“When I was growing up, I used to go to auctions all over the Eastern Cape,” he remembers. “The military were selling their old Willys. I couldn’t afford them but as it was no one would even give me a chance to bid.”

Eventually Koekemoer just gave up, matriculated from Muir College, went off to what was then PE Tech, got conscripted and then went to work in construction. The bug had bitten deep though. He started looking again, this time in the Eastern Cape’s Weekend Post, scouring the classifieds motoring swop column. Each time he found a Willys he would be disappointed. They would have been gutted or modified, rebuilt in fibre glass and the original engines replaced by others. Eventually he stopped looking.

One evening, about five years ago, he and a friend got chatting over a drink. The conversation got round to cars, specifically Willys. This time Koekemoer didn’t go to the newspapers, he started scouring the internet on sites like Gumtree and OLX.

There was a hit in Cape Town, so he got his brother and sister-in-law to look. He bought the Willys, but it was in bad condition, with the wrong engine. It had been modified.

Then came the Willys in Patensie. It was in bits, but the parts were original.

Three years and about R60 000 later, his first restoration was finished. Every part was original. He had loosened, cleaned, greased and tightened every nut and bolt. If he couldn’t get the parts sent to him from America, he’d make them himself.

“I grew up on a farm, I’m very hands on, I do metal work, woodwork, you name it.”

He started taking his restored Willys to local fairs, starting with the George Old Car Show hosted by the Southern Cape Old Car Club. In February, on his third trip to George, someone offered him R900 000 for it. He has no intention of selling, yet. Instead, he’s now picked up another two Willys, after a farmer from nearby Kirkwood phoned him to tell him he had two wrecks on his farm and asked if he could restore one of them.

“I said ‘yes’ on condition I could restore the second one and keep that one,” he says.

Koekemoer’s fame has spread far and wide; he’s met Willys lovers from as far as Swakopmund in Namibia, Colesberg in the Northern Cape, Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay.

“The best part of owning a Willys,” he says, “is the friends you meet.”

Restoring it is one thing, Koekemoer is also a buff on the vehicle’s history. “These Willys are the civilian models,” he says. “My first one, the green one is a 1947 model and my second is a 1953. The first Willys were built in 1941. There were three companies that tendered: Bantam, Willys Overland and Ford. Bantam won the tender but it was too big so Ford and Willys built them for the US Military. Ford insisted all the bolts had the letter F on them.”

By the end of World War II, between them Willy’s and Ford would have built half a million of these vehicles.

“After the war Willys continued making the vehicles for the civilian market, the chassis and the body remained the same, but the lights were different and they added a tailgate, as well as a PTO (Power Take Off) to allow farmers to pull ploughs and run farming implements.”

Their vehicles carry the name Willy’s and the Jeep brand’s – a name that lives onto today and continues despite the sale of Willys Overland to Henry J Kaiser and from there to American Motors Corporation (AMC). AMC was acquired by Chrysler, which itself ultimately would become part of Stellantis following the amalgamation between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot (PSA), three years ago.

“The Jeep brand is a very important part of the Stellantis offering,” says Jeep head of brand Janus van Rensburg.

“We are incredibly proud of the marque’s DNA. The Jeep brand has evolved from an essential mode of transportation in a time of war to a complete line-up of SUVs delivering legendary off-road capability with luxury interiors and advanced technology.

“The Jeep brand today is a passport to an aspirational lifestyle of freedom and adventure that creates the same level of passion and enthusiasm in today’s Jeep vehicle owners as the Willys does for Vincent. We are in awe of what he has achieved, translating his passion into an incredible living testimony to our brand’s heritage – a great example of how our customers create their Jeep experiences; we just make the cars.”