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<\/a><\/p>\nIt’s seems fitting that David marks his 50th state with a jeep, because he grew up around them. He was less than a year old in 1966 when he made his first\u00a0trip over the Naches Pass in Washington State, riding on his mother’s lap.\u00a0In 1969, his parents were charter members of the Wandering Willys Jeep Club. Many years of jeeping and club events followed.<\/p>\n In the early 1980s, when David turned sixteen, he took over the family’s 1962 CJ-5 as his primary vehicle. It would take another seventeen years before David bought another jeep project. There were several\u00a0reasons behind his purchase of a jeep in early 2007, a story he explains in his book\u00a0Finding Virginia<\/a>. As David scoured Craigslists in late 2007 for parts for his newest project, he realized that finding vintage jeep parts was more difficult than he’d expected. That led to the formation of eWillys.com<\/a> at the start of 2008, a site to teach people about vintage jeeps, their history, and list jeeps and parts for sale.<\/p>\n Since its inception, eWillys<\/a> has grown to a total of\u00a040,000 posts\u2014making it a unique jeep archive\u2014with\u00a0a\u00a0world-wide readership. As a result of its popularity, David and his wife Ann have toured the United States in their 2012 Grand Cherokee (named Henry), meeting readers, exploring odd places, and reporting on their journeys (example trips:\u00a0Southwest Tour<\/a>, Texas Tour<\/a>, East Coast Tour<\/a>) . They’ve explored rough, rocky trails in southern Utah, driven through traffic in New York City, fought “pirates” in a National Park<\/a>, and\u00a0gone\u00a0back to the age of dinosaurs at Borrego Springs.<\/p>\n Apart from eWillys, David has also\u00a0authored three books<\/a>\u00a0in the past five years. He’s got several more books planned.<\/p>\n HISTORY OF DJ-3As:<\/strong><\/p>\n Consumers didn’t find the DJ-3A all that attractive,\u00a0but businesses and governments valued its\u00a0low operating costs and bought them in fleets. For example, pharmacies purchased\u00a0them to deliver drugs, while the post offices used\u00a0them to deliver mail.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
\nAt age 19, he built a custom flat fender jeep designed for jeeping and racing that was also streetable. He kept that jeep until 1990 when college and a move to Wisconsin made it impractical.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>The little known two-wheel drive DJ-3A was launched in 1956 by\u00a0Willys Motors as an inexpensive vehicle for consumers and businesses. There were four models and three different body types produced initially. The Convertible model David & Ann own, distinguished by the lack of tailgate and the angular soft top, was considered the “lowest priced sports car in the world” according to the company’s advertising at the time.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>