Wills Ste Claire for sale
The story of the Wills Sainte Claire is a lesson in how perfectionism can get in the way of profits.Wills Sainte Claire was founded in Marysville, Michigan in 1921 by Childe Harold Wills. Wills had worked at the Ford Motor Company as a metallurgist, and was responsible for the introduction of vanadium steel used on the Ford Model T. He is also credited with designing the "Ford Blue Oval" insignia that the company still uses to this day.
But Wills' ambition was not satiated by his work at Ford. He left the company with a $1.5 million severance package and used the money to build his own company, which he called Wills Sainte Claire. The name was derived from his name, plus the name of the river near his new factory. He added extra e's to Saint Clair to give it a more luxurious sound.
Production got underway in 1921, but there were delays because of Wills' insistence that molybdenum be used in the castings for extra strength and durability. By the time the first cars started rolling off the line, however, much of Wills' staff had left the company because of all the shutdowns. In 1922, the company went into receivership and was refinanced by a group of Boston bankers and reincorporated as Wills Sainte Claire Incorporated in 1923.
Despite the financial problems of the company, the Wills Sainte Claire automobiles were a hit with the public. Dubbed "The Grey Goose" by the press, they were expertly finished in soft grey and sported a silver Canada Goose ornament on the hood. Inside, Wills Sainte Claire cars rode on either a 121 in or 127 in wheel base and carried either a V8 or inline-6 cylinder overhead cam engine.
To prove the quality of his vehicles Wills himself made a record run from Detroit to New York City in just over 20 hours in 1921. In 1926, a T-6 Roadster set a transcontinental record from San Francisco to New York City in just over 83 hours.
But endurance records and favorable press could not make up for the high production costs. In 1926, the company was liquidated and the factory was eventually sold to Chrysler. Wills went to work in designing the Ruxton automobiles of the late 20s, and later worked as a consultant at Chrysler.
In all, Wills Sainte Claire was in business six years and produced 12,000 cars. According to the Wills Sainte Claire museum in Marysville, Michigan, only 86 Wills Sainte Claire automobiles are still in existence and eight of those are housed at the museum itself.
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