Willys-Overland shot to the top of the sales charts, briefly, with the sporty Whippet of 1926-31.

John North Willys with 1928 Whippet

Willys-Overland was one of the early successes of the U.S. auto industry. Founded by John North Willys (above), who took over the Overland Automobile Company of Indianapolis, added his own name, and moved it to Toledo in 1909, the company was second only to Ford in sales and production from 1913 to 1918, but then had a few stumbles.  From his regular tours of Europe, Willys believed that smaller, lighter cars in the European style could win over American buyers, too..Acting on that conviction, On June 26, 1926 Willys-Overland introduced the Whippet.

The company’s aggressive advertizing campaign de-emphasized Willys-Overland and emphasized the Whippet brand, selling the idea that here was a new and different kind of car. Willys envisioned “Whippet-class” as a new category of American automotbile. Developed by W-O chief engineer A.J. Baker, the Whippet Model 96 offered a tidy 100.6-inch wheelbase, four-wheel brakes, and a four-cylinder, 134.2-cubic inch engine with 30 horsepower. Styling was a mix of American and European, with a decidedly Fiat-like radtator shell.

1927 Whippet Six 

Smaller than a Ford or a Chevy but offering newer styling, more standard equipment, and an attractive price, the Whippet was an immediate hit. One nifty feature was Finger-Tip Control, which placed starting, lighting, and horn in a single knob in the steering wheel hub. Capitalizing on the brisk sales, in January of 1927 Willys-Overland introduced a Whippet Six, the Model 93A, not a new car but a development of the previous Overland Model 93. Willys-Overland sales rocketed up to 315,000 cars in 1928,.trailing only the giants Ford and Chevrolet.

1929 Whippet Six Roadster 

The success didn’t stick. From third in sales in 1928, Willys-Overland plunged to the bottom of the top 10 by 1930. Ford had introduced the Model A, Chevrolet now had a six, and Willys, a major Republican donor, had left the company to become Herbert Hoover’s ambassador to Poland. In 1931 the company abandoned the Whippet brand, marketing its products under the Willys and Willys-Knight names.

It’s said that Willys, a sales and motivational wizard, not so much a production man, failed to realize the potential profits the Whippet could have generated. Walter P. Chrysler had studied buying Willys-Overland but found its manufacturing costs too high and acquired Dodge Brothers instead. By 1932, the automaker was bankrupt and nearly liquidated. Willys, who had sold off his common stock but retained his preferred shares, resigned from the Hoover administration, boarded the fast SS Europa in June, and steamed back to Toledo in an attempt to rescue it. The company would survive the Great Depression, just barely.

There was one element of the Whippet, however, that proved to have remarkable staying power: the 134.2 cubic-inch engine. Continually updated for the Willys 77, Willys 37, and Willys Americar with features including full-pressure lubrication and a downdraft carburetor, by 1941 the little inline four was producing 61 horsepower. Now called the Go-Devil, the engine powered the Willys Jeep all through World War II. In 1950 the Go-Devil was converted from an L-head to an F-head, renamed the Hurricane, and in that form it remained in production through 1971.

1928 Whippet Cabriolet