Willy Help!!!

[Busdriver 6209]

I'm having problems identifying different Willys. Can somebody help? I'm talking about the Jeep type. There seem to be several different chassis and possibly bodies as well. Can someone shed some light?

[Saito2 6686]

While I'm far from an expert on the subject, there was the original short wheelbase Wild Willy, Willys M38 Jeep. Somewhere during the original's run Tamiya made modifications to it, bringing out the long wheelbase version also a Willys M38 Jeep. They were not denoted on the box as being different. It was all part or the original's run. Tamiya did include an updated manual for the changes.

Many years later, Tamiya brought out the Wild Willy 2. The chassis was completely different, now called WR02. The body was similar, but modified in places. The most notable difference was the grill's vertical slots were replaced with horizontal ones which make it appear more akin to the M151 Ford Mutt than the old Willy Jeep. 

While the Willy figure has popped up in various places since then, his likeness and actual name were used on the old Willys Wheeler, a Honda City Turbo wheelie car that used the same basic chassis as the original Wild Willy. 

After the Wild Willy 2 came out, IIRC, Tamiya may have brought back the Wheeler body with instructions on how to create a "modern" Willys Wheeler based on the WW2 WR02 chassis.

Of course, eventually, Tamiya brought back the whole WR02 based Willy's Wheeler as a kit, only now called just the Honda City Turbo, without the Willys Wheeler name.

BTW, there are some good articles on Tamiyabase detailing the many differences. Additionaly somewhere here on Tamiyaclub, there is a vintage leaflet showing the changes Tamiya made back in the day to make the original WW into the long wheelbase variant.

[Saito2 6686]

To go further, there were more variants on the WR02 chassis. The Suzuki Jimny and VW Type 2 both came on the basic WR02 chassis.

There was a WR02 "G" types which were tractors: the Farm King, Tumbling Bull and the weird "bear driving a tractor" Kumamon version.

Technically, the new comical range of buggies "WR02CB" are variants as well, though in addition to different wheels and tires, these variants also feature slightly longer suspension arms as well. 

 

[waterbok 1282]

Don't forget the first GF01, Willy and his flatbed Toyota FJ

[Juggular 4964]

This is the original Wild Willy from 1982.  The toy figures are incredibly life-like, I must say.  

(It's also known as M38, Willys M38, Wild Willy1 or WW1).

It's based on Willys M38 -- World War 2 era jeep with sand paddle tires. 

It's relatively harder to get a hold of, but you can still get it if you are patient. 

2WD with front single wishbones, and rigid real axle on trailing arms.  Because the gearbox is on one side of the axle, the rear has uneven articulation.  But it's bouncy and fun to drive.  

 

Wild Willy 2 came out in 1999.  

It uses almost-new WR02 chassis (2WD).  

Wild Willy 2 has horizontal radiator grills, looking more like Ford MUTT that was used during 1960s until 80's.    

But in reality, aside from the grills, it's the same shell.  

Tamiya just gave it 3 ribs on the hood/bonnet and different mounting holes. It's the same old Willy driving it too.  

WR02 uses the same basic design and layout of WT01 Wild Dagger, which was also released earlier in 1999.  

Wild Dagger uses 2 motors. 

(Seeing as how they were both released in 1999, I'm thinking both were designed at the same time?)

Tamiya made a short-wheelbase 4WD too. 

That's GF01. 

Instead of using 2 motors, GF01 uses just 1 motor.  

 

Fast forward another 20 years, Comical Grasshopper/Hornet is 2WD (WR02). 

Comical Avante is 4WD (GF01).  

 

Tamiya didn't stop there.  They added 2 more wheels to make G6-01. 

(I'm holding my breath for G8-01)  

Blackholesun explains more on the WW2 family. 

https://blackholesun.fr/index.php/en/36-en/my-models/off-road/big-wheels/142-tamiya-58242-wild-willy-2-wr-02

 

[waterbok 1282]

GF01 4wd FJ Willy

[Shodog 1835]

How easy is it to mount a Willy 2 body to a GF01 chassis?

[TheMidnight Pumpkin 260]

56 minutes ago, Shodog said:

How easy is it to mount a Willy 2 body to a GF01 chassis?

that's what I'm doing, a WW2 body on a GF01, and the FJ on the WR02, cause I WANT a 4x4 WW2!!!  :-)

the GF01 will be here this week...