Willys Overland

After purchasing the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company in 1908, John Willys changed the company's name to Willys-Overland Motor Corporation in 1912. Willys was, behind Ford Motor Company, the country's second-largest automotive manufacturer from 1912 until 1918.

The sleeve-valve engine developed by Charles Yale Knight was utilized by Willys under the Willys-Knight nameplate beginning in 1913. Midway through the 1920s, Willys also bought the Cleveland-based F.B. Stearns Corporation, continuing manufacturing of the premium Stearns-Knight automobile.

In 1917, John Willys established the Willys Corporation to serve as his holding company after purchasing the Electric Auto-Lite Company in 1914. It bought the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company in Buffalo, New York, and the Russell Motor Vehicle Company in Toronto, Ontario in 1916. It then bought New Process Gear in 1917, and in 1919 it bought the Duesenberg Motors Company facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Willys Company was brought to its knees by the downturn of 1920–1921, which caused the replacement of the New Jersey factory with a new, bigger facility in Indianapolis that was also supposed to serve as the location of production for a new Willys Six at an adjacent site. Walter P. was employed by the bankers.
The Willys Six, a vehicle that was thought to be an engineering catastrophe, was the first to die when Chrysler was brought in to clean up the mess. The Chrysler Six is a new vehicle that was developed by three auto engineers working for Chrysler: Owen Skelton, Carl Breer, and Fred Zeder (after dubbed The Three Musketeers).

Several Willys Company assets were sold at auction to acquire the money required to pay off obligations. William C. Durant, who was constructing a new, third empire at the time, purchased the Elizabeth factory and the Chrysler Six prototype. As the Chrysler Six prototype underwent significant revisions to become the 1923 Flint, the facility produced Durant's inexpensive Star.

The Chrysler Six was eventually introduced in January 1924 after Walter Chrysler and the three engineers who had been working on it had went on to Maxwell-Chalmers. (The Maxwell automobile firm changed its name to the Chrysler Corporation in 1925.)


Willys-Overland Motors: Replacement for Jeep Bodies And ...
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