Willys for sale
Willys was a Toledo, Ohio-based classic for sale automaker that helped turn the Jeep into a household name in the 20th century.The founder, John Willys, bought out the financially struggling Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company in 1908. The new company, Willys-Overland Company, rose quickly to become one of the largest classic for sale automakers of the time, second only to Ford. Through the 1920s, the company made a number of inspired models, including Willis-Knight, Willis-Overland, the Overland, and the Whippet. All were considered high quality, and only slightly higher priced than the Ford Model T.
Despite good sales, Willys' financial advisors pressed him to bring in auto executive William Chrysler to reorganize the company in 1920. Chrysler brought Willys into the black, making a name for himself and eventually moving on to start his own automobile company. Willys, however, returned to near bankruptcy in the early 1930s largely due to the Great Depression. It was at that point that Willys offered the classic for sale Willys 77, a small four cylinder four door sedan that was very economical, with a base price of $540. The Willys 77 was the only model sold by the company up until World War II.
It was indeed World War II that propelled Willys to its eventual legacy. While other classic for sale automakers signed on to make aircraft parts for the war effort, Willys, Ford and American Bantam were contracted to make sturdy four-wheel drive vehicles for the U.S. military. The prototype was designed by Bantam. More than a half million of the Willys MBs, better known as the classic for sale Jeep, had been produced by the end of World War II. It is believed the word "Jeep" is derived from GP, or General Purpose.
Willys eventually obtained trademark rights to the classic for sale Jeep name and began marketing the vehicle for civilian use after the war. The market version was a stripped down military vehicle at first but later modifications made it more appealing to the public. The CJ-2A was the first four-wheel drive vehicle offered to the public and became popular with farmers who found it useful for travel along undeveloped back roads.
Willys did not resume production of regular automobiles until 1952, when it unveiled the compact Willys Aero, originally a six-cylinder, two-door sedan. Over the next decade, the Aero was modified and sold as the Lark, Wing, Falcon, Ace and Eagle. Kaiser Motors purchased Willys-Overland in 1953 and ended automobile production altogether in the late 50s, choosing to concentrate solely on the very successful classic for sale Jeep line. Kaiser changed the Willys name to Kaiser-Jeep Corporation in 1963, and at that point the Willys classic for sale brand disappeared.
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