1930 Willys Knight Model 66B

Like many early automobile manufacturers, John North Willys business career began with selling bicycles before expanding into manufacturing his own line of bicycles. He sold Overland automobiles in 1900 and acquired the company in 1907. In 1912 it was renamed Willys-Overland Motor Company.

Mr. Willys was in Europe when he met Charles Yale Knight. Knight had invented an engine with sleeve valves rather than the usual poppet valves. Although Mr. Willys was neither an engineer nor a mechanic, but he was a great salesman and recognized the potential in the sleeve valve and its quiet operation, despite its propensity to burn more oil. The poppet valves eventually won out, and since 1914 Willys-Overland produced more Knight-engined cars than virtually all other manufacturers in the world combined. Production of the Willys Knight by the Willys Overland Company lasted from 1914 to 1933.

The list of models produced by Willys-Knight included the Willys Six and the Whippet. After the acquisition of Stearns-Knight of Cleveland came the Falcon-Knight and Stearns-Knight models in 1925. In the 1930s, due to slow sales caused by the Great Depression, the Willys 77 models were introduced and all other models were dropped. The Model 77 was an economy car built to compete with the small and utilitarian American Austin. It was renamed Overland in 1939 and later became the Americar in 1941 and was produced until 1942. During World War II, Ford Motors and Willys produced the Jeep.

During the 1910s and 1920s, the Willys-Knight automobiles were positioned in the middle-market range. They enjoyed strong sales and from 1912 to 1918, Willys was the second-largest producer of automobiles in the United States. At the 1929 New York Automobile Show, Willys introduced an upscale market car that had been styled by designer Amos Northup, who was better known for styling the handsome Reo Royale. Northup gave the doors the distinctive grid work, which the New York press labeled 'Plaidside,' and the name stuck. Approximately 400 examples of the cars were built, all wearing bodywork by Griswold of Detroit, with just 13 survivors known to exist.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2019