Turk Willys/ Tuzla pickups

The Tuzla Jeep factory was built in 1954 by Turk Willys Overland Ltd.  They produced the Gladiator as well as the earlier style pickup produced by Willys. Unfortunately I have no pictures of these, but I do have 3 pictures of the Gladiator that was produced in Tuzla during the 1960s. These were very hard to find, so I hope that you enjoy them. Thanks to Derek Redmond and the CJ3B page for information about the Tuzla Jeep Factory.

This picture is also on the military page. It is a Tuzla Jeep Gladiator produced for the Turkish Army. There are many detail differences from the North American Gladiator, such as the grille, which appears to look much like that of a CJ, the entire front end, the body molding along the sides, the single mirror on the driver's side, the lack of a roof or a cab for that matter, and the split screen windshield. Also note the grille guard. If you look closely, you can see that the logo over the grille is almost exactly like that of Kaiser-Jeep corp. Also, in The Observers Military Vehicles Directory From 1945 By the late Bart H. Vanderveen, it mentions a Dual Rear Wheel version being built. Most mechanical components of this vehicle were identical to its North American counterpart. For more detailed technical information, go to the military page. You can see a larger photo of this truck here.

This is probably the most important thing that I've found in the entire time that I've been making this website. It is an actual original ad for the Tuzla Jeep Gladiator. Bizarrely it contradicts the first picture by having bodywork completely identical to its North American counterpart. However, like the other Gladiator pictured, it has all North American drive components, which you can see next to the picture of the truck itself if you look close enough. This is an ad from the first year of production, because "yeni" means "new" in Turkish. This advertisement translates to:

amazing

superior..

                                               for work, farming, endurance, and comfort

                     New Gladiator 'Jeep'

                 pick-up truck

The rest of the ad is too hard to translate because I cannot read the small type. It is too blurry. This ad was found on a Turkish auction site similar to Ebay but any hope of buying it was lost because I own no Turkish money :(

I can assume that this is the prototype for the Tuzla Jeep Gladiator. This was part of the program instituted by Kaiser to assemble the Gladiator, as well as the CJ5 and CJ6, overseas that was called Xport Low Investment. There are various plans on the walls surrounding the vehicle. According to Jeep Prototypes and Concept Vehicles Photo Archive, there was also a wagoneer version of this truck. Whether it was put into production or not I do not know, but it would probably look similar to this. This vehicle might also have been exported into other countries besides Turkey, but I cannot find any note of them.

This is a J20 in Turkey that I recently found on the internet. Its owner found it in a junkyard and modified it with light bar, grille guard, and wheels from what looks like a Dodge. However, I do not know whether it is a true Turk Willys or just something that was imported from America. Either way, it is still quite a nice looking vehicle.

This is a 1952 Tuzla-assembled WIllys truck. Note the lack of brightwork on the vehicle, as well as the homemade additions to the bed.

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