Willys story threads through much of 20th Century

Quotes

“The Willys 77, conceptually, came from the (Willys) Whippet of 1927, and shared the engine from the Whippet. The Whippet was somewhere between the Model T and Model A in specification (think of a proto-Model A without quite the looks and an inferior engine), and was initially quite popular, as it filled the need for a combination of size, capability, and economy that the Model A later occupied so well. Ford had actually stopped car production for a period of months between the end of the ‘T’ and the start of the ‘A’. Willys got to fill that void with nice, cheap cars to sell. . . .

I know this is a bit into the weeds, but the Willys story threads all through the first two-thirds of twentieth-century industrial America. When our host cites the Wagoneer as a most influential element of American autodom, he actually scratches just the surface of an interesting (to me, anyway) subject. Did you know that Walter Chrysler left a leadership post at Willys to successfully start his own company, after a high-profile shareholder battle with J.N. Willys that he lost? (OK, I’ll stop now…).”

— Dutch 1960, Curbside Classic (2021)

RE:SOURCES

Also see ‘1933-42 Willys offered a better template for an import beater’

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