Willys Overland Knight Registry

Willys History

    The history of Willys as a vehicle name goes back to 1909 when J.N. Willys first put his name to a vehicle.  J.N. Willys had saved the Overland company from bankruptcy just 2 years before and had set up the headquarters for Willys-Overland (as it was now called) in Toledo.  The company's founder, Claude Cox, left in 1909 to follow a career in photography and J.N. Willys wanted only the most prestigious vehicles to bear his name.  The high priced vehicle is hard to sell, so it wasn't a huge sales success, but J.N. Willys tried again in 1914 - this time with a Knight Engine and so began a long series of Willys Knight vehicles.  However, the Willys name would not be exclusively linked with Knight because the 1917 - 1919 period saw the poppet valved Willys 6 introduced - perhaps to boost sales during WW1.

    Just as there was an Overland 6 to accompany the better selling Overland 4, so too was the Whippet 6 the big brother of the Whippet 4.  However, there is always a danger that the reputation of a 6 will be dragged down to the comparative "commonness" of a 4 and not realise full sales potential, so the Whippet 98A was moved "up" to a Willys 98B designation for 1930.  Whether this had the effect of dragging "down" the 8 cylinder Willys 8-80 is hard to tell, but certainly Willys Overland were wondering whether to back the sleeve valved Willys Knight or the more conventional poppet valved Willys during the 1930 - 1933 depression years.
    In the end it was the more expensive Knight line that had to go and Willys Overland had to limp through the 1933 to 1936 period with just a single vehicle line.  This wasn't a luxury vehicle, but the humble Willys 77 which was really the Whippet replacement.  As J.N. Willys had left at this time, the reservation of the Willys name for only the finest vehicles seemed to fade as the company clutched at straws to survive the aftermath of the depression.

    In Feb 1936, Federal Judge George P. Hahn granted the order freeing the company from its bankruptcy status and new development could once again take place.  Restyling and synchromesh brought the Willys 77 up to date for 1937 as the Willys Model 37.  1938 brought the Willys Model 38, yet 1939 saw it designated a Model 48.  The Model 39 designation, surprisingly enough, was saved for the Overland name which made a brief comeback for 1939.  This car featured hydraulic brakes, 2 inch longer wheelbase (now 102 inches) and 13 more horsepower (now 61 bhp @ 3600 rpm) and was more expensive than the Willys - another break with logic since consumers might remember the Overland name as being used on the cheaper vehicles.

1941 saw the release of the patriotically named Willys Americar.  Most remembered of all Willys Overland products was of course the famous 4 x 4 Bantam inspired Jeep built during World War 2, when more than 350,000 MA and MB models were produced, with Ford supplying their version also.

The following information extracted from the W.O.K.R. Roster (with permission) can help with identification.    Serial Numbers prefixed with a C indicate Canadian origin.
Note how all the Willys vehicles from the Willys 77 to the Jeep used the same basic 4 cylinder 3 1/8 x 4 3/8 bore and stroke motor originally designed for the Whippet in 1926 and how the HorsePower just kept on creeping up from the original 30 bhp Whippet figure !
 
 

Willys Models & Serial Numbers

Year Model Serial No's Introduction
Date
Nominal
Price(US$)
Cyl Bore x Stroke B.H.P. Wheelbase
1909 Willys 6 n/a n/a $2250
6
4 x 4 1/2 45 116
1917 Willys 6 (88-6) 1 - 2501 Late 1916 $1325
6
3 1/2 x 5 1/4 45 125
1917 Willys 6 (89) 1 - 4904 Early 1917 $1365
6
3 1/2 x 5 1/4 45 120
1918 Willys 6  (89) 4905 - 10727 n/a $1365
6
3 1/2 x 5 1/4 45 120
1919 Willys 6  (89) 10728 - 12002 n/a $1365
6
3 1/2 x 5 1/4 45 120
1930 Willys 98B 131001 - 158870
C-100 to C-???
C-??? to C-2205
Mar 1930
1930
1931
$795
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 110
1930 Willys 8-80 1001 - 2901
C-100 to C-161
C-162 to C-249
Jan 1930
1930
1931
$1295
8
3 1/8 x 4 80 120
1930 Willys C101 9474 - 16903 n/a n/a
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 131
1931 Willys 97 1001 - 38678
C-100 to C-1963
C-1964 to C-2040
Dec 1930
1931
1932
$675
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 110
1931 Willys 98D 1001 - 4653
C-100 to C-???
C-??? to C-468
Dec 1930
1931
1932
$795
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 113
1931 Willys 8-80D 1001 - 2686
C-100 to C-155
Dec 1930 $995
8
3 1/8 x 4 80 121
1931 Willys C101 16904 - 18924 n/a n/a
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 131
1931 Willys C113 n/a n/a n/a
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 131(?)
1932 Willys 6-90 1001 - 14148
C-100 to C-650
Dec 1931 $695
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 113
1932 Willys 8-88 1001 - 2296
C-100 to C-250
Dec 1931 $895
8
3 1/8 x 4 80 121
1932 Willys C113 n/a n/a n/a
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 131(?)
1932 Willys C131 n/a n/a n/a
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 131(?)
1933 Willys 6-90A 14201 - 20957
C-100 to C-160
Jun 1932 $695
6
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 65 113
1933 Willys 8-88A 2401 - 3422
C-100 to C-160
Jun 1932 $895
8
3 1/8 x 4 80 121
1933 Willys 77 1001 - 13820
C-100 to C-???
Dec 1932 $445
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1934 Willys 77 13821 - 27055 Sep 1933 $450
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1935 Willys 77 27056 - 37700 Jan 1935 $415
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1936 Willys 77 37701 - 68526 Sep 1935 $415
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1937 Willys 37 1001 - 64467 Oct 1936 $559
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1938 Willys 38 65001 - 91691 Sep 1937 $573
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1939 Willys 48 91751 - 94375 Nov 1938 $555
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 48 100
1939 Overland 39 1001 - 16214 Oct 1938 $595
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 61 102
1940 Willys 440 17001 - 49341 Jul 1939 $580
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 61 102
1941 Americar 441 50001 - 80100 Sep 1940 $699
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 63 104
1941 Jeep MA 78401 - 79901
85501 - 85551
n/a n/a
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 61  80
1941 Jeep MB 100001 - 108598 n/a n/a
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 61  80
1942 Americar 442 80101 - 92020 Aug 1941 $788
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 63 104
1942 Jeep MB 108599 - 200022 n/a n/a
4
3 1/8 x 4 3/8 61  80

As the W.O.K.R. concentrates on vintage and veteran vehicles it is not really a primary objective to go into detail on post war Willys vehicles, however the following few sentences give a brief overview of the fate of the Willys name.

After the war the 63 bhp engine was used for the Jeep Station Wagon as well as the 12 cwt and 1 ton commercials.  In 1950 it was redesigned as the Hurricane engine with a F head (Overhead inlet with side exhaust valves).  It had a high, for that time, compression ratio of 7.5 to 1 and large 2 inch diameter inlet valves and put out 75 bhp @ 4000 rpm.

In 1953, Willys Overland was purchased by Henry J. Kaiser of Kaiser Frazer Corporation who merged the two companies to form the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation and Kaiser-Willys Sales Corporation.  In 1955 the company decided to abandon the passenger car market and the Willys Aero (which had first appeared in 1952) dies were shipped to South America where Willys do Brasil used them until 1963.
Kaiser-Jeep was then purchased by American Motors Corporation in 1970 and renamed Jeep Corporation and operated as two separate units - the Commercial Products Division in Toledo and the Government Products Division in South Bend.
 


Interested readers should also look through the W.O.K.R. LIBRARY  or  W.O.K.R. STARTER INDEX  for articles that relate to their specific vehicle.

Those enthusiasts who want to find out more about MA & MB Jeeps in addition to other post war Willys vehicles may wish to visit the following sites:

http://www.public.asu.edu/~grover/willys
http://www.off-road.com/4x4web/jeep/willys
http://members.tripod.com/~ben1937/kfoci.htm

These represent just a few of the many sites catering for post war Willys and is not intended to be an exhaustive list.
All links were valid as of Jun 2001

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