When International Harvester made a hasty jump into the light truck market for 1933, it took a convenient shortcut: The farm equipment maker ordered complete trucks from Willys-Overland.

As the U.S. economy sank into the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the nation’s manufacturing industry nearly collapsed. Automakers were hit especially hard as production tumbled from a prewar high of 5 million units in 1929 to only 1.3 million in 1932, a 74 percent decline.

Many carmakers were facting bankruptcy, including Toledo-based Willys-Overland, which very nearly went into liquidation. Agricultural manufacturers were in no better shape, but International Harvester saw an opportunity in the crisis. Its large network of farm implement dealers was ideally positioned to sell pickup trucks. However, the company lacked the time and resources to develop its own product, while the unstable economy made planning difficult. Moving fast, International made arrangements with an equally desperate partner, Willys-Overland.

With a few modifications, the Willys-Overland C-113 half-ton truck (above) became the International Harvester D-1. A spinoff of the Willys 6-90 passenger car, the C-113 ran on a simple ladder-frame chassis with a 113-in wheelbase and semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear. The chassis, cab, fenders, dash, and running gear of the International D-1 were identical to its Willys counterpart. The only distinguishing exterior features of the D-1, produced entirely at Willys-Overland’s plant on Central Avenue in Toledo, were a restyled radiator shell and International Harvester emblems on the sides of the hood.

One important upgrade for the D-1 was in the engine. Instead of the 193 cubic-inch L-head six used in the C-113, the I-H version received the 213 cubic-inch six that was originally intended for the Willys 99 passenger car, which had been cancelled shortly before production due to the company’s financial troubles. (See our feature on the ill-fated Willys 99 here.) This engine would eventually be acquired by International Harvester, where it was produced as the Green Diamond six for several decades.

I-H marketed the D-1 in both pickup and panel delivery versions at the absurdly low price of $360, and it appears that the ad-hoc arrangement worked out reasonably well for both companies.  While the production figures are sketchy, it seems that around 12,200 units were produced in 1933—a good portion of Willys-Overland’s output that year.  Another 700 or so were built for the 1934 season before production was wound up in Toledo, as by then International had its own light truck line in production, the C-1.