Willys Overland Knight Registry

J.N. Willys (pronounced Willis not Willeez) is most remembered for the dynamic energy, enthusiasm, personality and salesmanship skills he showed during his leadership of Willys Overland.

Also not to be forgotten is the strong connection between J.N. Willys and the Knight Sleeve Valve engine.  After J.N. Willys met with Charles Y. Knight on his way to England and was subsequently convinced of the technical superiority of the sleeve valve engine, Willys Overland produced almost half a million Willys Knight vehicles during the 1914 - 1933 period.  Although other manufacturers used the Knight engine, none were as successful as Willys Overland  in keeping the manufacturing costs low enough on an engine which demanded high quality and close tolerance machining.

Besides the obvious link between the Willys name and that of the Willys, Willys Knight vehicles and Willys Overland company that shared the Willys name, J.N. Willys is also regarded as a savior to the company, and the thousands of Toledo and other workers, as things seemed to go best when J.N. Willys was at the helm.
In fact, J.N. Willys saved the company three times;

• Firstly, in 1907, when Claude E Cox was running the company and a severe economic depression meant no money was available to pay the workers, J.N. Willys raised the 11th hour finances necessary to keep the company going.

• Secondly, in 1918, while J.N. Willys was in England on business, a major strike lasting 6 months almost crippled the company, even though Willys Overland had been running second only to Ford for 6 years.  J.N. Willys saw the company through the difficult times when Walter P Chrysler was brought in on a two year contract to reduce operating costs and by 1923, J.N. Willys was able to announce profits of over $12 million.

• Lastly in 1932, J.N. Willys returned from Poland, where he had been serving as Ambassador, to help the company recover from the terrible depression that had begun in 1929.  After having to cut production of the Knight engined vehicles so close to his heart, J.N. Willys kept the company going with the spartan Willys 77, and was heavily involved with the reorganization plan that was shortly afterwards going to free the company from its bankruptcy status when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1935.

Although J.N. Willys favored the technically superior sleeve valve Knight vehicles to which he added his name, it was the simpler poppet valve Overland Fours, Whippets and later the Jeep that gave Willys Overland its major production volumes.