The Jeep brand is really an ill-fated brand. From the Willis era to the current Fiat Chrysler era, this brand has been handed over many times. In the process of handover, many derivative models were also born. For example, the Jeep GALA we are going to talk about today. And this model is a derivative product launched from the Willis era to the Kaiser era.
In 1953, Willys, which was in crisis, was bought by rich man Henry Kaiser for 60 million US dollars, and the company name was changed from Willys-Overland to Willys-Motor. Shortly after taking over the company, Kaiser was considering commercializing Willis’ products. In 1955, Willys officially launched the DJ-3A model, which is also an epoch-making product in the history of Willys. In this generation of models, Willys first prepared a fully enclosed body with a hard top. As an option, the soft top option is also retained. At the same time, the van version of the DJ-3A has also become a transport vehicle for the US Federal Postal Service. Compared with the CJ3A, the DJ3A cancels the four-wheel drive system and only retains the two-wheel drive form. In terms of power, it is equipped with an L-134 engine, which is matched with a three-speed manual transmission.
By 1959, Willys created a personalized model named Gala Surrey based on the DJ3A, which is the one we see now, and the drive form is still rear-wheel drive. In terms of market positioning, Willis Gala Surrey takes the beach leisure area as its main positioning, so it took the lead in canceling the hard top in terms of styling, and returned to the open body design.
At the same time, in order to meet the effect of leisure and vacation, Willys Gala Surrey also adopted a variety of colors in terms of body color matching. At that time, it provided sky blue, pink and light green colors. At the same time, the roof and interior fabrics were white stripes and The same color of the body constitutes a zebra design. Between 1959 and 1964, Willys Gala Surrey produced more than 1,000 new cars. The fully restored Willys Gala Surrey we are talking about today is a product of that period.
From the appearance point of view, the overall shape of Willis Gala Surrey presents a strong beach atmosphere. The body is embellished with sky blue and white color schemes. The interior of the wheel fenders are all white color, and the tires also use white rubber tires in accordance with the tradition of the time, and the wheel hubs are supplemented by chrome-plated decorative covers for embellishment. So on the whole, the shape of this Willys Gala Surrey is very casual.
In the interior of the vehicle, the simple design is still retained, and the blue color scheme is also extended to the interior of the vehicle, including the steering wheel, instrumentation and other positions that use the blue color of the front of the car. Like CJ3A, the rear row of Willys Gala Surrey also adopts opposed seats, and an additional transverse seat is added. The front and rear bumpers are also chrome-plated, and a considerable size is reserved between the front bumper and the front of the car. On the top of the hood, solid wood is used as the hood protection block.
After completing the maintenance, Willys Gala Surrey showed the appearance of the year again. This contemporary design works very well against the brand-new body. At Sotheby’s auction house, this Willys Gala Surrey is expected to be auctioned for 35,000 US dollars, or about 243,000 yuan.
