Willys at the KFOCI convention

[WillysTom1]

   Cristina and I attended the KFOCI Convention in Kingsport Tn July 16th to the 19th and really enjoyed all of the activities that Carl and Ceph Hering had organized. Seeing the 36 KFW cars, seeing old friends, and making new friends topped the list.
  There were three Willys vehicles on display: Mike and Debbie Wilson's 1958 FC170; Don and Jan Gordon's 1955 Bermuda; a young couple (I did not get their name) drove a 1955 station wagon from Iowa and had to leave early for work. They had just bought the car two weeks before.
   David Horton, Rick Kamen, and myself contributed Willys items for the display tables in the Hospitality Room.

[MarkH]

                                                       Great photos...……. Thanks for posting!

[Gordie]

We certainly enjoyed the seldom seen Willys collectibles.  Thanks for sharing them with us!

[HJ-ETEX]

Ha! Glad to hear the Alabama Wilsons have a FC170. I have a 1963 FC170 with a Warn Overdrive and there are other Club members with FCs. Production numbers seem to be vague on these vehicles but there may have been 2 or 3 times more of the smaller and deadlier FC150s than the FC170s.
FC170s had a standard 9 foot long bed but they tended to rust away.

[r1lark]

but there may have been 2 or 3 times more of the smaller and deadlier FC150s than the FC170s.

"Deadlier FC150s" - was this related to the shorter wheelbase of the FC150? Are the shorter wheelbase FC Jeeps significantly 'squirrelier' than the longer wheelbase versions?

I've not had any exposure to these Jeeps, other than maybe seeing one at a car show. Just wanting to learn. 

[Aeroman]

Wilson's FC170 is the one restored by Ken Baker of Colorado back in the 1980's. Ken was at the meet, too.

[joefrazer]

The FC150 was nose heavy and on occasion could tip forward if heading downhill and the brakes were abruptly applied. To cure the problem a cast iron weight (200 lbs I think) was added behind the rear axle.

The FC170 didn't suffer from this problem because it was much longer and there was more weight aft of the cab.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Production counts for FC-series trucks through the 1959 model year are on the KFOCI HANDBOOK Version 5.0 cd.

[HJ-ETEX]

You have to see a FC150 in person to judge. It is essentially as as tall as it is long because it is built on the CJ3A chassis. I recall seeing factory literature about adding weights to the rear (as Jim Lape mentioned) and widening the rear spring mounts.
I believe a lot more FC150s were sold than FC170s because the Navy, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and others made fleet purchases.
The military bought several variants of the FC170 which included a double cab version with a Perkins diesel engine.