Willys Made Its Presence Known At the Pumpkin Run Nationals

 In 1908 John North Willys purchased Overland Automotive from the Standard Wheel Company and four years later re-named it Willys Overland. Hugely successful, it was second only to Ford in auto sales through 1918. Willys (who pronounced his name Willis), went on something of a buying spree, expanding his firm by acquiring various other components. Unfortunately this spread the company thin and when there was a depression in 1920-21, the bank stepped in to sort it out by appointing Walter P. Chrysler (yes, the very same) to pick up the pieces. Chrysler sold off various pieces of the company and event seemingly hijacked an unreleased design and, along with the three engineers behind it, moved to Maxwell-Chalmers which would ultimately become the Chrysler Corporation.

Willys-Overland survived and by the mid 1920s were producing some very popular smaller cars. The came the Great Depression which sent the firm once again into receivership. The company struggled to survive and found their ultimate savior in the form of a government contract at the beginning of World War II. The military needed a general purpose vehicle that would be small, lightweight and durable. Willys-Overland was one of two to bid. In 1941 the Willys MB went into production. It got the nickname Jeep from the GP in general purpose. By the end of the war Willys, Ford and American Bantam produced nearly 360,000 Jeeps.

Following the war Willys realized that car sales were slipping and so they put more emphasis on truck and Jeep based products. In 1953 Kaiser Motors took control of Willys-Overland and changed the name to the Willys Motor company, consolidating production of both companies to the Willys plant in Toledo. While there was some success in the 1950s for the Willys Aero, it was the Jeep that was keeping the company afloat.

Willys limped along until 1970 when it was taken over by American Motors. AMC wanted it primarily for the Jeep but unfortunately had financial troubles of their own. They were bailed out by the French auto maker Renault in 1979 who then sold all of AMC to Chrysler in 1987. All of these sales were primarily designed to take advantage of the success of the Jeep which remains an American staple. A number of Willys cars, trucks and Jeeps were on hand at this past season's Pumpkin Run Nationals. It's good to see this historic marquee isn't forgotten.