Help determining if my jeep willys is a Filipino copy or an original (shell)

Hi Guys,

I bought what looks like a Jeep Wills that has been converted to run on Toyota (Delta Motors) parts in The Philippines (PH). When I bought it I was told the previous owner (who is a very old guy who owns four medium sized office buildings in the main city) imported the shell and had the chassis and drivechain made here.

Now this sounds like a story except that here in PH a lot of old Jeeps were imported here just for that reason due to the overwhelming popularity of the Jeeps here after the war (they were the only cars left and a status symbol as only US officers and the very wealthy originally had access to them. They continued to be popular here into the 70's and later as local made versions were made cheaply and thus very popular - still today you see the stretch "Jeepneys" serving as public transport and companies like this one still make parts and complete replica shells https://www.mdjuan.com.ph/

I was talking to a guy who imported some Jeeps from Japan recently and he said there was a law that you had to remove the original chassis now (don't know why) and get one built locally, maybe I misunderstood the reasons but he was replacing the chassis, possibly to make it a left hand side drive as it's currently right hand). I do not know how to check if this is true or how long it has been in place. I'll be asking at the registration office when my car registration comes up.

So after looking through this site at all the models and members photos I've come to the conclusion that my shell is either a DJ-3A or a local made copy and I'd like to ask some help in figuring out which it is.

I've come to the DJ-3A (or copy) conclusion thus far as it has the same grill as the M38/CJ-3A/DJ-3A has the same single pane windscreen and the square pipe windscreen supports as well as the central air vent below the windscreen. However I do not have a drivers side gasoline intake, mine is a tank fitted underneath the car at the back and there do not seem to be signs of welding on the drivers side. The rear has a swing door as well for ease of access/loading though this was a popular modification for Jeeps here when used as family cars. As a side note my car is legally registered to carry up to five people, even though it only has the two seats. The hood is not original and I was told that when I bought it.

The registration papers I have date back to 1983 in it's current configuration.

Could anyone tell me what I might be able to look for or photos I could provide to try to figure out if this really was a willys or just a nice looking local copy?

Any help would be appreciated, thankyou in advance.

Welcome FilipinoWillys!!
Your Jeep is Very clean and appears to be a M38 or a CJ-3A.
There are a few guys that monitor this site (gmwillys,Larrbeard &bmorgil) that will be able to narrow it done for you as soon as they see a challenge :)

Thankyou, I am looking forward to finding out what is really is. I do suspect it is a copy though a copy still has value here as it still represents Filipino history and has a lot of nostalgic value, the locals make very little distinction between an original and an old copy. Every single time I take it for a drive someone comments on it, sometimes a really old guy will salute with a big grin when I drive past and one really old lady put her hand on her chest with an audible "Oh my!" (bringing back some naughty youthful memories?) best yet was driving through Subic, an old US Naval base and EVERYONE stops to look. Then again like everywhere there are those here in their big modern SUV's with fake mud decals and motivational slogans plastered across the back that slow to 5mph to go over gravel who look down upon an old car.

My Filipina girlfirend refers to it colloquially as a "MacArthur Jeep" and thus it's importance in the history of The Philippines.

As to clean, yes, the body was in very good shape when I bought it ($1200), the rear tray has been replaced but nothing else I can see, some surface rust where the paint has worn off on the "doorways" but otherwise the shell was structurally good, the rest of hte car has been a fully rebuild, took me over a year but with toyota parts, even 35 year old Toyota parts, it's been much cheaper and easier than a full Willys. I'll write a report and do some better photos in a couple of weeks as I still need to pull the rear axle and rebuild that then take the vinyl roof to the upholsterer and modify and strengthen that a little as the fitting changed when we fitted a roll bar (the roads are very dangerous here as are the drivers who can literally fail all tests and still "buy" their license, thought it best to be safe).

Just hoping that I can be pleasantly surprised at owning a 70 year old car.

If you look on my page,

https://willysjeepforum.kaiserwillys...w-to-the-Forum

I started 3.5 years ago with a 52 M-38 on a total restore that turned into a real project that I just finished a couple weeks ago.
I bought one of the complete body’s made over there (MD Juan) from a company here in Ohio that fixes the fitment flaws and turned mine into a CJ-3A.
And yes is does feel pretty good to be driving something you’ve brought back to life and it’s older than you are!!!!

We are going to need gmwillys to sort it out completely. It could be a 3A or 2A with a 3A windshield. The parking lights would have given away the grill style but they have been replaced. The Top has a M38 style mount on the side. The Tail Lights are M38. The Tailgate is neither 3A or 2A. It might be a M38 style. The DJ Jeep was equipped with a P.T.O. as well as a few other farm type components.

That sure is a very clean Jeep! Take some pictures of the underside and some close ups of the body and the dash. We should be able to tell you more. Does it have a V.I.N. plate? Take a close up of that. The V.I.N. tells a story also.

No VIN as the chassis is locally made and the engine is Toyota 12R so no useful number there either, dash is replaced (pic attached) with a glove box welded shut on the left there (has a swing door in the engine bay though), and yes the lights have been replaced several times by the looks of the number of holes. The tail lights have no signs of additional work throughout the years.

I'll pop under the car tomorrow (we're 12 hours ahead of New York time here) and take a bunch of photos in sunlight and post them up. Also attached is a view of hte tail gate open.

And yes it looks very clean, until you get up close :) But the body condition lends to my belief that it is a local made 35 year old copy, still hoping though.

Any suggestions on what I should take photos of?

PS The water bottles behind the drivers seat were a temporary stop as in to stop the seat falling backwards - repalced the seats now with second hand leather SUV seats as when I went to recover the seats we found them to be 1/2 rust and 1/2 steel, the new seats needed new mounting brackets which took far longer than I anticipated (as usual) but at least I have seats that adjust and placed where I like them rather than being spot welded in place. And the red and white round things in the last pic are biscuit box lids cut to cover what seem to have been speaker holes.

This one is a tough one to determine exactly where it originated. The first thought is that the body is an MD Juan reproduction, built in the Philippines. I didn't see concrete proof either way from the pictures. After looking into Jeepneys a while back, there are some great builders there in the Philippines that will turn a Jeep into a stretch bus.
The rear door looks that it was fashioned from a U.S. DJ mail Jeep.

Some additional photos of features to see if this helps determination at all?

And additional photos, it was raining all day yesterday, thus the delay.

There used to be 30+ manufacturers here but only a handful left and only MDJuan and maybe one other that still do Willys shells/parts, they used to use imported shells, local made copies and of course the Jeepney/Owner Type Jeeps that resemble Willys but are totally different. Mine is from a manufacturer long gone before the Internet age so no information is available on them.