Willys Americar

Introduced in 1941, Willy's patriotically named 'Americar' was engineered by Barney Roos and was produced until 1942. A very ordinary compact passenger vehicle, the Americar was nevertheless very well-built. Produced under the presidency of Joseph W. Frazer and the L-head four-cylinder engine and ladder chassis were conventional. The sharp-nosed body styling was slightly owed to previous Nashes and Hudson's.

The economical lightweight Americar was competitively priced, at $634, but unfortunately, production had barely begun before Willy's introduced the 'immortal' Jeep. Three variations were introduced, the Speedway, DeLuxe, and Plainsman, each with a coupe and sedan in addition to a DeLuxe four-door woody wagon. Unfortunately production didn't resume until after the war.

The Willy's America was the last Willy's car produced until 1952. Unfortunately today body parts are quite scarce and consumers were slow to appreciate the Americar. The Americar weighed in around 2,116 lbs, had a wheelbase of 104.0 inches, and an overall length of 170.0 inches. For the 1941 model year, approximately 22,000 Americar's were produced while around 7,000 were produced for the 1942 year.

By Jessica Donaldson