1926 Wills Sainte Claire Model W-6 Roadster

C. Harold Wills began his automotive career with Henry Ford. Serving as the company's chief designer and metallurgist, he pioneered the use of vanadium steel, a key element in the success of the Model T. Wills left Ford in 1919 with a 1.5 million severance package and set out to make his own car. He built his plant on the shores of the St. Clair River in the small town of Marysville. No expense was spared in the design of his new car. Production was slow and methodical as Wills would frequently stop the assembly line to implement improvements. Approximately 12,000 cars were built between 1921 & 1926; about 80 survive.

It is not known who originally owned this Wills Sainte Claire. What is known is that at some point a man by the name of William Long owned the car. It is believed that William sold the Wills to Seith Pancoast in 1941 and it was immediately put in a garage in need of a lot of work. The car remained in this garage until after Seth's death, circa 1972, around which time Russell B. Hunsberger's father began talking with Elsa Pancoast about acquiring the car. It was not until July 6, 1976, that she finally sold the car for $8000. In 1976, two tires were replaced and the bumpers were 'stripped' and 'polished chrome.'

In the fall of 1977, the car was taken to Henry's Antique Car Shop where a complete restoration took place. The shop had the car from October 1977 until January 1978. The total cost of the work was $23,275.02.

The car became the property of Russell Hunsberger (who has compiled the history of the car) about two years prior to his father's death in February 1996. Since then, the car has continued to be driven and shown.

in 1999, the car was sent to the 'W.W. Motor Cars' restoration shop in Broadway, Virginia where it was completely restored from the frame-up in a six-month period. The cost of this restoration was about $62,000. One major hurdle was changing the chrome back to nickel. The post-restoration debut was at Winchester, VA where it earned its first junior. The following year it earned its senior at the Hershey Fall Meet. In 2002 it got its first Grand National at Newbern N.C. During this period the Wills earned five Preservation awards.