For those that have forgotten Willys made cars, like Ford before they made the Jeeps that won the war:
I have rebuilt a few sleeve-valve Willys-Knight engines, when i worked at a Stearns-Knight restoration shop.
Quick Army & Civilian Jeep History Timeline
1908 John North Willys buys the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company. 1912 John North Willys renames it Willys-Overland Motor Company. 1936 Willys-Overland Motors Inc. is created after coming out of bankruptcy following the Great Depression. 1940 First prototypes jeeps are produced by Bantam, Willys, Ford. 1941 Bantam jeep production ends. 1941 Willys MB production starts. 1942 Ford GPW production starts. 1942 Bantam jeep trailer production starts. 1945 Ford GPW production ends. 1945 Willys-Overland begins producing the Civilian Jeep (CJ) line, when it introduces the CJ2A model. 1946 Willys Jeep Wagon production starts. 1946 Bantam civilian jeep trailer production starts. 1947 Willys Jeep Truck Production starts. 1948 Willys Jeepster production starts. 1949 CJ3A production starts. 1950 Willys M-38 production starts. 1952 Willys M-38A1 production starts. 1952 Willys CJ3B production starts. 1953 Bantam civilian jeep trailer production ends. Bantam goes out of business. 1953 Willys-Overland bought by Henry J. Kaiser and is renamed Willys Motors Inc. 1954 CJ5 production starts. 1960 M-151 production starts. 1963 Willys becomes Kaiser-Jeep Corporation 1965 Kaiser-Jeep discontinues production of Willys wagons & trucks, retiring the Willys name with the line. 1970 Kaiser (Kaiser-Jeep) is bought by American Motors Corp. (AMC) and becomes Jeep Corporation. 1971 Jeep Corp.'s General Products Division spins off to become AM General Corp. 1983 AM General sold to LVT Corp. 1987 AMC bought by Chrysler Corporation. 1998 Chrysler purchased by German Co. Daimler-Benz AG. becoming DaimlerChrysler Corp. (moments later, thousands of WWII US Dead rolled over in their graves).
Just got back from a local antique and street rod car show, one guy had
3-Willys a 1940, 1942 and a 1946 civilian all of them looked like they were just made. The 1940 model he purchased in 1966 from US military surplus for $500.00 he had all the paper work displayed and it only had 15K original miles on it, the other two he restored and it was impressive. He had a picture where he has a pole barn and has over 30 different Jeep models and it made me drool. He seemed to know everything about jeeps and I mean everything rather impressive.
When did the last sleeve valve auto engine come off the line?
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