The Willys-Overland Motor Company

The Willys-Overland Motor Company holds a place in automotive history as the inventor of the Jeep. Learn how this company grew to produce Jeeps for the military and civilians during the 20th century.

Origins

The company began as the Overland Automobile Company, founded by Claude Cox in 1903; five years later, John North Willy's bought the company and changed its name to the Willys-Overland Motor Company in 1912. Over the years, it grew by acquiring many smaller car companies, such as the Electric Auto-Lite Company, the F.B. Stearns Company and the Russell Motor Car Company. The recession of 1920 devastated the company; its bankers hired Walter P. Chrysler to solve the company’s financial problems. Eventually, the company was forced to sell its assets to pay its debts. Chrysler left in 1924 to start his own company out of the ashes of the Maxwell Car Company.

The birth of the Jeep

Meanwhile, the company suffered mightily during the Great Depression; it was forced to end production on many of its major brands, such as the Stearns-Knight and the Whippet. In 1938, the War Department needed someone who could build a lightweight truck. New chief executive Joseph W. Frazer hired Barney Roos as chief engineer, and their research resulted in a powerful yet lightweight truck, the Willys MB. When the USA entered World War II, Willys-Overland, Ford and American Bantam shared production of these cars, which eventually earned a name that made them icons: Jeep.

When the war ended, the company did not resume production of passenger cars and concentrated solely on Jeeps. In 1953, Kaiser Motors purchased the company and renamed it the Willys Motor Company, which was then deemed the Kaiser-Jeep in 1963. Subsequently, it was sold to American Motors in 1970, which was itself sold to Chrysler in 1987. The greatest legacy of the Willy's-Overland Motor Company, the Jeep, is still in production today.