The Willys Aero was an early unibody design. The '52 Aero Lark was also available with 4 cylinder (Jeep engine) for export only. When Kaiser-Willys stopped US production in 1955, the tooling was sent to South America. Thanks, Jay, for featuring this rare automobile. Merry Christmas!
You bet Willys offered for engines but by 1954 there was only two for the ace.. they made a lot of versions of this car that didn’t make it to 1954 like the falcon
American Bantam submitted the winning design for the Jeep, but they lacked the production capacity tp make as many as the US military required and ended up building trailers for Jeeps, instead. The majority of production was shouldered by Ford and Willys. Willys' entry for the competition was overweight, but their "Go-Devil" was so good that it became standard for the Jeep. Both Ford and Willys jeeps had slightly differing bodywork, and neither used the grill the Bantam proptotype had, though I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the three, apart from the Bantam's distinctive grille.
I always liked the fact that in 1987, AMC Jeep Dealers name was changed by Chrysler to Jeep Eagle. The Eagle Car name had a heritage in Jeep back to the Aero Eagle. I never saw or heard anyone ever mention this in any historic account of Willys or AMC Jeep Eagle.......but there you go.
The hood ornament is almost bigger than the whole car. That's actually a really nice car overall. A surprising amount of room inside of it and actually the fit and finished looks better than I was expecting it to. I don't know if I would want to drive that or ride in it on a cross country trip but certainly for daily driving around town and occasional weekend to see grandma it's absolutely fine.
This was like a white unicorn these cars you only read about. Very rarely see them but I was really impressed at how comfortable the interior was. The seats were nice
Had a '52 Aero Ace in the '80s. Never put it on the road, but had fun driving it around my college campus and working on it. Very cool car for sure. Very solid feel with big 15" wheels on such a (relatively) small car. After these were discontinued in '55, they were produced in Brazil with the same body style, then with a different outer body shell into the '60s!
Bantam made the first Jeep but the government doubted the company could build it in sufficient numbers but was given a contract for a Jeep pulled trailer. Later Ford was also brought in to build the Jeep. By the way, the Willys 6 cylinder engine was not a flathead. It was an F head, intake valves in the head, exhaust in the block. The larger 226 was a flathead, designed by continental but also built, under license, by Kaiser which named it, "Supersonic."
The 226 engine was actually a bored and less expensive version of the pre-war Graham engine. Graham designed it but had Continental manufacture it for them. That's how it became a Continental engine.
I'd like to have almost any car in that great condition, what a great job they did. great review of the whole era. that right hand drive thru me off though, might say it gave me the Willies!!
When I was a baby, my parents had Willys wagon. Classic orange. I should have this car. I was born in 1954 and I'm pretty much one of a kind . 💁🏼♂️ 😂😂😂
Another really good video. Most folks would not know these actually existed. Shows how competitive the auto market was in the 1950s, with many manufacturers out there. I like any video you do as it pertains to Packards, particularly those from the 1930s and early 1940s. What is a shame is that Packard competed with Cadillac and Lincoln (and less so Chrysler), and those brands survived and Packard did not. A prime example of where a superior product does not prevail.
Thank you glad you dig this video =) i’ve been looking for some 50s white whales I’m going to two great shows I’m going to the show the old car show in Detroit Greenfield Village I’m really stoked it’s going to be everything before 1932 I really want to see if there’s a Ruxton up there super rare car.. and Hershey of course I really hope to see the Nash Healeys there as well as kaiser Darren but I can’t hit all the good cars this year because there won’t be anything good look forward to next year lol but looking for the other there stuff and paper the common stuff in.. it will probably be that way until for the next few months anyway.. love the 30s and 50s And you better believe they’ll be Packards I’m a huge Packard fan still have two Packard in the pipeline 1924 six 1937 Henney flower car Tonight‘s episode is 1929 Windsor white prince hopefully I’ll get it done
After he left the White House in 1953, Harry Truman and Bess drove themselves home to Missouri in one of these. By themselves. No escort, no helicopters, no throngs of adoring citizens; stopped to get gas and use the restroom like anyone else. Very interesting car, with headroom for a hat!
I'm from Brazil, my father bought a 1965 Aero Willys that already had a new body. Engineers at Willys Overland mixed styles from the roof of a Ford Thunderbird to the rear of a Pontiac. It was a robust car with a Jeep engine, the only problem was the rear engine seal that insisted on leaking oil.
I had a 1953 Aero in the 60's. It was a great little car. Always started no matter the weather. I lived on the north shore of Lake Ontario and parked outside. Some winters I had to de-ice the entire car before I could get in and drive. It was a very rare car and I wish I had kept it as an investment. It made me proud.
Thanks Jay. I've a soft spot for Willys cars. In Australia, we pronounce it Willies as you did, but the usual US pronunciation is Willis. The engine is an F head, with exhaust valves in the block and inlet valves in the head. Odd that your source material didn't mention this. It was a method used by Willys to upgrade their flatheads without developing a whole new motor. There are good engineering reasons for F heads too - Rolls Royce developed quite a few. Cheers.
Thank you I watched a couple videos on pronunciation and I thought I was doing it right but evidently the courts still out it’s almost like the Hatfields and McCoys who wins lol.. i’m bad at pronouncing stuff as it is this episode was almost like entrapment
I am an American over the age of 60 (ugh) and for most of my life everyone pronounced it "Willies". Sometime in the 2000 decade car magazines and videos started correcting everyone that it should be pronounced "Willis". Never knew where that came from.
It came from Willys, itself. john North Willys pronounced his name, "Willis". Seeing the name in print instead of hearing it led to the change of pronunciation. Check out this commercial. m.th-cam.com/video/RzkJtrM_bqs/w-d-xo.html
The engine with overhead exhaust and flathead intake valves is called an 'F' head, Willys used this head type for quite a while, good torque and reasonable fuel mileage,
Interesting to see this as I've never seen one before on any other channel. One of the best presented cars you've shown. Fun to hear your reaction to no steering wheel when you opened the door. Thanks so much for featuring this unique vehicle.
Glad you dig this episode next year we Are going to go hard and heavy on the orphan cars feature some cars that are on the path but the orphan cars are so cool because of glimpse into what the independence were doing I think it’s very interesting that the independence offered more than one body style if they went out of business faster than the big three
@@What.its.like. - The saddest victim of “the big 3” was AMC … But their legacy lives on in Jeep. Back in the 70’s, the “big 3” threw all the had at Jeep, and they couldn’t even come close.
I was reading the ad evidently this car came from South Africa that was the market that it was in here’s the link to the original ad they sold the car faster I could make a video for it www.classicautomall.com/vehicles/3020/1954-willys-aero-ace-deluxe-sedan
I joined you Jay when you had just a few videos up. Almost from the start. And I liked the way you presented the cars and the history. My kind of channel. Here’s to great things in 2023
That’s awesome, so you’ve seen this channel grow from (I have to apologize some of those earlier videos were really hard to watch.. very dry) =) it’s come a long way in a short time
You should be VERY PROUD! I had just noticed how many SUBS you accumulated so quickly and some TH-camRS take Many years to get 1000 Subs. Humble, funny, informative and Quality are all reasons you still have me. At age 60 now I remember a lot of these cars and trucks. I would of thought I Died and gone to heaven when I was in my early 20’s if all this information was available and working in a place like you work. I own a Breakfast spot up here near Boston area. But my first love is The Artistic Old Car designs. I should of been born where there is no winter weather. ;)
Hey Jay, not only is this Willys Aero a very interesting & unique vehicle but it's also very rare!!! Thanks for sharing your review of this fantastic automobile!!! 🎄⛄🤶
Jay, thanks for doing this car. I saw one a few years back at a downtown car show in La Mesa, California. I’d never seen one before or since. Take car buddy. Cheers
@@What.its.like. the SUV model I have seen several when I was a kid around our little town in Northern California. The one I saw in La Mesa stumped me. The group of sixty year olds I was with kept asking me what car is that? Ok, how about that one, etc.
I remember the Willys was sold at the Sears store here in Knoxville, Tennessee. I don't recall which model(s) were sold. They had a showroom at the store where it was displayed.
The Willys Aero was a compact (108-inch) wheelbase car competing with the larger (115-inch) wheelbase Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth. For the same price a new car buyer at that time got a bigger and flashier car than the Willys Aero. Most families then could only afford a single car. Later in the 1960s more American families could afford two cars, with the wife and mother having a smaller compact car. Also, that was the time more women had jobs that paid well enough to afford a new compact car.
@@SpockvsMcCoy - I grew up in a small east coast city, and Ramblers were all over the place. Studebakers, too. The local Yellow Cab company used Studebakers; they seemed to be tough cars.
Ford Motor Company made a version of the Jeep for WWII which was a play on words for "General Purpose". Eisenhower said that the Jeep vehicle helped the U.S. win WWII. Willys-Overland manufactured about 55% of those Jeeps and FoMoCo manufactured the remainder.
“The quirkiest tale claims that Jeep was named after a minor character from the Popeye cartoons, a magical and slippery creature named Eugene the Jeep.”
The givaway that this car would have right-hand drive is the yellow "AA" badge on the front bumper. That stands for "The Automobile Association", a British automobile club that is a rival to "RAC", the Royal Automobile Club.
Jay, what a treat! I've never seen a Willys in person. This was great. It's much bigger than I imagined (really helped having it parked next to that '70 Pontiac. I'd seen old advertisements of the Willys and, of course, seen it in books. I think it's a nice looking car. I wonder why it didn't catch on. I guess at that time, everybody wanted bigger. A fun little bit of history. So Willys got the Jeep design from the American Bantam company. American Bantam also produced a compact car ... back in the 1930s. When I was a kid (in the 1970s) the Oldsmobile dealer in my town had a back lot with a fence around it. Inside that back lot were a bunch of old cars, including one American Bantam. It was black. It looked just like any other 1930s sedan ... except in miniature. Seriously, it looked like a toy car. I used to beg my dad to buy it for me whenever we passed the Oldsmobile lot. I never got to see inside it ... but I image it would be a tight fit for a fella as tall as you. Keep an eye out for one. It would make another great story and then you could tie it's history to Willys. Merry Christmas!!!
Glad you digged this episode i’ve been looking for an American bantam to do I saw a couple at the Gilmore auto museum but didn’t do those I thought they were a lot smaller than what they actually are they’re about the same size as a Crosley.. but you can bet your butt if I find one we are going to do that next year for sure
Austin/Bantom were the original parents of the JEEP. In the early 1930s, the Infantry Board at Fort Benning had become interested in the British Army's use of the tiny Austin 7 car in a reconnaissance role, and in 1933 obtained a car from the American Austin Car Company in Pennsylvania which built them under license. Meanwhile, American Austin had gone bankrupt, and its assets were purchased by a new company which became American Bantam.
My dad had a Willy's for his work car when I was about 15 yo, I'm 78 yo now. We had a 1956 ford station wagon for the family car. The Willy's was in pretty good shape. My dad and his friend Leo did a repaint in Leo's garage and it looked pretty good. My dad had a nick name of horse trader, funny because you never knew what he would come home from work driving. I learned how to drive on all those old cars. I wish I had all of them now they would be worth $$$$$$.
This car as well as the Willy's wagon was made under the Ford Brazil brand . The aero was made as the Ford Brazil Itamaraty and the Willy's wagon was sold as the Ford Brazil Rural, the weird thing is in Argentina Kaiser was known as the IKA Torino and it was basically a Rambler. You should check out what the American companies were building from the 60s into the 80s
My dad owned a 1954 Willys Jeep 2d station wagon. It was a 1950's SUV. It had the F head six motor with three on the tree shifter & over drive. This motor was not very powerful. We once had to go up a grade in reverse (with 6 passengers). My dad later installed a 327 Chevy V8. That solved the low power issues.
That car is in perfect condition. Fantastic restoration. I wonder if it had vinyl interior originally? In that period of time I think almost every vehicle had cloth interior. It’s a simplistic design, but still a clean design. From the information I can find a typical family had an income of about $3900/year. I think cars like Willys were aimed at people at the budget end of the economy. Too bad smaller companies such as Willys couldn’t continue or band together, sharing dealerships. Nice video.
This car was like looking at a brand new one like I said in the video I’ve only seen one other one but it was a newer one from Brazil mid60s model.. at Hershey. I can’t believe that Murray built the bodies for both the Willys arrow and Hudson jet and the Hudson jet outsold willys almost 2 to one
Probably, but for the same amount of money, you could buy a bigger Ford or Chevy. That was a huge problem, as people tend to think a smaller car should be a cheaper car.
Though most of us pronounced Willys as you have, but proper pronunciation is Willis. You might consider the Willys Jeepster as the first post-WWII passenger vehicle. It was a 2WD vehicle with car suspension. Probably akin to the open grand touring cars. The Jeepster didn't become an off-road 4WD Ute until Kaiser resurrected it decades later. It was American Bantam which came up with the concept for the GPW Jeep. Because the company didn't have the capability to meet the production which the U.S. military needed, the contract was given to Willys. Even Willys couldn't produce enough so Ford made carbon copy Jeeps, with all parts interchangeable. The easiest way to identify a Ford Jeep is to look at the engine's headbolts. They will have an "F" on the heads.
Interesting car, beautifully restored. The odd little detail of the lower section of the taillight really grabbed my attention. The bean counters would have nixed charming idiosyncrasies like that today. Your subscribers are multiplying by the day, which is so well deserved! Here's wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho and Too-da-loo!
Thank you so much merry Christmas to you and your family =) there’s a lot more cool cars coming this week and the week after well until the foreseeable future really this is going to be home of the orphan cars =)
no heat exchange in this one, may have been made for a warm climate market. Most of the 1954 cars had the 226 engine. I had a 1955 and was able to find parts in Brazil for a restoration
I believe this car was in South Africa most of his life I think that was the story on it which would make total sense it’s incredible to see it because they just they are very rarely ever seen. It’s cool you can still get parts warm that’s really cool aspect
Jay, I really enjoy watching your videos and seeing a new generation appreciate cars from so long ago. Like you, I pronounced the car's name "Willies" for my whole life, though some aficionados had told me it was wrong ("Willis" sounded kind of uppity!). Seeing vintage commercials on TH-cam as below cleared it up. Most likely the name was pronounced wrong because people in those days got much of their information from print rather than electronic media, and came up with "sensible"pronunciations. Oddly, the company referred to the car as the "Aero Willys", not the "Willys Aero"! And, lastly , the appearance of an overhead valve train on a "flat head" denotes what is called an "F-Head" engine. It has intake valves in the head and exhaust valves in the block, so it's kind of a hybrid valve train. "Flathead", aka "L-Head" engines have all their valves in the block, side by side, and no mechanicals in the head, which is a relatively flat cover over the combustion chambers. m.th-cam.com/video/RzkJtrM_bqs/w-d-xo.html
I have seen a few of these and their cousin the Kaiser Henry J. Willys (Willis) were interested in making an economy car. Ward Canady didn't care for the Jeep except the money it made. By the time it hit the market the company was sold shortly afterward to Kaiser. At the same time the old Willys cars made by John North Willys were becoming popular as modified hot rods and race cars. The original Jeep purchased by the DOD was made by Bantam. Willys and Ford brought poor examples. Ford didn't care but both companies engineers were able to go over the Bantam design and make modification to their own vehicles. Still Ford wasn't interested. Willys like Bantam were on the ropes after the Depression so both needed the contract. Willys won the contract because they had the second largest production facility. Ford did make them as well during the war. Batam made trailers and folded after the war.
That's an F head engine, the intake valves are in the cylinder head, and the exhaust valves are in the block. The easiest way to tell an F head engine is to look for the exhaust manifold located on the cylinder block, with a over head valve cover. Jeep used an F head 134 CID 4 cylinder up until 1971 in their CJ5.
Glad to see that people are aware that the Bantam company designed the original Jeep, it's too bad that our government screwed Bantam right out of business
That is an attractive little car. I’ve never even ridden in one. They were quite rare where I came from. I did have some experience with those F-head engines, but it was in Jeeps. The F-head 4, ironically called the Hurricane, was slow as hell, but I bet this little car with the 6-cylinder would move out smartly.
@@What.its.like. - Yes … I’m familiar with the engine. The OHV design for the intake offered better performance than the L-head (flathead). I’m no fan of the flathead. When I was a young man, there were plenty of them running around, and I didn’t like any of them. I had a ‘49 Olds that would smoke pretty much any flathead on the road. Flatheads are great - FOR LAWN MOWERS. The performance advantage of OHV engines was long-known even as US car manufactures were still producing flatheads. Remember, the first Offy engine at Indy was in ‘33, and it first won in ‘35. Now that was a sweet piece of engineering!!
I wanna know why they don’t bring back the flat head and turbo charge it think about it that is the best application for a turbo charger it’s low compression, naturally have low compression.. That would be sick and I don’t think anything would sound like one I saw a guy build one on TH-cam he built a turbocharged flathead and it sounded absolutely glorious =)
@@What.its.like. - Not a good idea. The shape of the combustion chamber of a flathead would lend itself to detonation (post-ignition uncontrolled spontaneous combustion) under high boost pressures. Detonation is an engine-killer. I.E., burned pistons and broken ring lands. As I said, flatheads are best used for lawn mower engines - Briggs & Stratton …
@@sking2173 But, a flathead is low profile and cheap to manufacture. Not important considerations in the better cars, but for low-priced cars, I think they should make a comeback. Having 4 valves per cylinder, variable valve timing, twin overhead cams, ultra high compression, and impossible complexity, and outrageously high production costs in a low-priced car is ridiculous.
American Bantam. I see someone has already posted that. Too bad the Willy's was discontinued in America. Of course it continued in Argentina for many more years, as was the Kaiser Manhattan/Carabella. It's still baffles me Jeep could outlast Studebaker, Packard, Nash, Hudson. Odd RHD in America, and never seen a outside suction mirror. No Druthers? I'd take a Rambler over this or a Hudson Jet. You must be wealthy to travel around doing all these videos. Lucky tho for us. Consider the 37/38 Studebaker Coupe Express PU. Two of the most beautiful Pickups ever made. The 38 with the fender mounted headlights.
Idk it’s almost like the Hatfields and McCoys who was right.. argument can be made for both sides.. I suck at pronouncing things as it is so this was kind of like an entrapment episode.. lol
@@billolsen4360 - The more famous Willis was one of the two young black kids that Conrad Bain adopted on the sitcom “Different Strokes”. Remember? “Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?!”
Another great video. Although Kaiser did not "buy" Willys early on, they did buy engines from Willys for the HENRY J. Perhaps their lashup was meant to be! John North Willys pronounced his name as it was pronounced in the British Isles whence his family came. That is Will - iss. Etymologically it appears to be related to the name Willis and pronounced the same way. It is not properly pronounced Will-eez and it has never had an apostrophe in its spelling.
No WYR choices? Like it or not, my choice for an early fifties compact American car would be the Aero-Willys over the Rambler (Nash or Hudson versions, Ramblers had torque tube drive, not a fan) or the Hudson Jet, but I'd take a Jet over the the Henry J by Kaiser.
I’m about to purchase a 1954 Willy’s Aero Lark Deluxe which appears to be in A1 condition but I’m no car expert! What should I be looking for before I sign on the dotted line? Thank you
Look for body rust make sure all trim is there, engine runs good Pull dip stick make sure it’s just oil and not milky or anything like that be sure to test drive it. The thing with old cars Classic Cars if you don’t drive them the brakes will act up that’s the first thing to generally go with the brakes, wheel cylinders don’t release right if parked for a long time. Be sure to check under the doors for rust in drain holes. Gaskets, around the doors do all the windows go up and down, do all the features work, lights backup lights if it has them wipers..
Thanks so much! This is where it gets difficult, I’ve only seen in in pictures and FaceTime!! The car is 6 hours from me so he’s offered to trailer it to my house for $1000, when he arrives I can decide but the $1000 is non refundable and I understand that. During FaceTime it looks amazing and started beautifully. Your honest opinion would really be appreciated.
Call around that area and see if they have a car inspector.. it’s a real thing you can pay him $100 and then you’re not out $1000 or whatever it would cost for him to trailer the car up if the inspector says it’s cool by the car.. car inspector vary depending on location but still cheaper and you’ll save 12 hours of his time. I hope this helps.. Please be sure to follow up and tell me how it ends make a new comment I’d love to know how this turns out =)
That 161 cubic inch 6, is a very unique engine only to Willys, it was called an F head. The exhaust valves were in the block like a Flathead with overhead valves for the intake. It was a combination of side valve and overhead valve design. It was not a good idea. The biggest reason the car didn't sell, was that it was too small of a car for the price. It was priced higher than a Chevrolet but much smaller. In the 1950s that was a no no. Rambler was the only successful compact that ever existed before 1960.
Rover made F head engines too, in four and six cylinder models, for the Land Rover and their passenger cars. In the US, Hudson made an F head in the twenties. Rover, Rolls Royce, Hudson all were considered expensive, high quality cars. I don't know why they chose the F head design, or why others did not take it up.
Thanks Jay, this is the meat and potatoes, away from the bigger guys with all the money. Wow, they were the second-largest manufacturer after Ford? I never had an inkling.
@What it’s like Jay- it would be very interesting to do one on the Knight sleeve valve engine, since it was used by a few manufacturers, (Willys, Stearns, and one other that I'm not remembering). I'm old, I'm allowed.
I’ve gotten the privilege to see a couple of them this year but I never got the opportunity to shoot a couple for the channel they’re very interesting cars
14:18 It's not a flathead, it's an F-head. The *inlet* valve is above and seals against the head like an OHV engine, but the *exhaust* valve is below and seals against the engine-block like a flathead engine. Some call it an IOE engine (intake over exhaust). While that's technically correct the same term (IOE) is used *far more commonly* for engines in which the intake & exhaust *manifolds* are both located on the same side of an engine. Therefore I prefer the term F-head to avoid this confusion. An engine with the intake manifold on one side & the exhaust manifold on the opposite side is said to have a *cross-flow* cylinder head because the gasses flow completely *across the head* in one side & out the other, which is more efficient than both coming-in AND exiting on the same side as the flow of the gasses must be reversed.
Willys big problem was cost. Their car cost practically as much as a Ford or Chev, which were much bigger cars. But they could not get costs down until they sold a lot more cars, and they had a hard job selling cars because they did not have enough dealers. According to owners and dealers they were a good car but never stood a chance. The picture was entirely different in south America. There, they were not competing with Detroit giants. 10,000 cars a year was big business and all cars were more expensive than in the US. So the Willys sold well and developed a good reputation over the years.
Ford made Jeep's also, Henry's Jeep's had almost all components stamped with the Ford name stamped on said components due to the fact that many Willys parts were shoddy.
I’ve heard it pronounced both ways.. I watch some TV programs before I put this one together and all of them pronounced it that way so I figured that was the way that it was supposed to be pronounced..
My father in law had a managerial position at Willy’s Overland in Toledo Ohio in the fifties/sixties, does anybody remember Robert de Boer (Dutch heritage)?
14:16 Not a flat-head, it's an "F" head. A flat-head had both intake and exhast valves in the engine block in an "L" configuration, but the F-head placed the intake valve in the cylinder head with a push-rod while leaving the exhaust valve in the engine block. One could cite the lower cost of the F-head configuration over an OHV head, but Rolls-Royce used F-head engines for a time as well, and Studebaker considered the F-head design when updating the Lark six-cylinder engine, finally settling on OHV.
We don’t get to drive all the cars mostly due to insurance reasons but I did work at the Classic Car dealership last summer and I found out that you could have two of the same car same in every single way.. but they will not drive the same because everything wears out differently
Awesome =) made or titled Duesenberg made all of their cars in 1929 but it took them 10 years to sell them all.. maybe this was that. I know these are rare no matter what year
It would be awkward driving this car in the U.S. with right hand drive. Years ago I rented & drove a right hand drive Ford Cortina in the UK, where of course that was appropriate.
I used to drive a right-drive ‘49 Jaguar Mark V in the US almost daily and found it to be no problem at all. Of course, at that point, I had only driven in countries with right traffic. The only real downside was one had to be more cautious when overtaking on two-lane roads because it was often difficult to see around the car you were passing. I do think it would have been initially harder for me to drive a left-drive car in a left-traffic country (like the UK or Japan).
I think American Bantom finished their version first. And cheapest. But the U.S. Military picked the Willys. Ford did make a lot when asked by the Military. I don't know if American Bantam did.
If you have ever seen the movie It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, you might see the Willys Jeep Wagon. It was driven by Terry-Thomas who was playing the part of a collector of Desert cactus.
Willys isn't pronounced like, "this old house at night is giving me the willies". It's pronounced like the old tv show Different stokes when Gary Coleman would say , "Whatcha talkin' bout Willis" .
What did you think about the car did you like it did you guys not like it were the seats redone because these were the softest most comfortable seats of any economy car that I’ve ever been in..
@@What.its.like. It was. An amazing car and we loved it. We travelled over 100000 miles with the car and other than normal services it cost us nothing else.
......John North Willys bought Overland from Standard Wheel Company in 1908 and renamed the company Willys-Overland Motors in 1912. His name was pronounced "WILLIS" not "WILLEES." All of my life ( I'm 66) until about 5 years ago, I only ever heard the name pronounced "WILLEES". Not a big deal, but most people are offended when others mis-pronounce their name.
Not only that, but “Willis” is a man’s name, while a willy (pronounced wil-ē) is a penis … And who wants to be called a penis unless big is used in conjunction with it ?!
@@What.its.like. I failed to also mention that the video was very well done, and I thought the car was really attractive, even though I was previously unaware it even existed. I believe I presented myself rudely, and I apologise ... Cheers 🙂 ...
Don't Back Down - The Beach Boys
Yeah buddy you got it =)
The Willys Aero was an early unibody design. The '52 Aero Lark was also available with 4 cylinder (Jeep engine) for export only. When Kaiser-Willys stopped US production in 1955, the tooling was sent to South America. Thanks, Jay, for featuring this rare automobile. Merry Christmas!
You bet Willys offered for engines but by 1954 there was only two for the ace.. they made a lot of versions of this car that didn’t make it to 1954 like the falcon
I've heard of Studebaker Lark, didn't know Willys used that name too.
@@larryjacobsen4079 Yes, the Lark was Willys Aero's base model. In fact, the '52 models only came in a 2-door sedan. A 4-door sedan debuted in '53.
American Bantam submitted the winning design for the Jeep, but they lacked the production capacity tp make as many as the US military required and ended up building trailers for Jeeps, instead. The majority of production was shouldered by Ford and Willys. Willys' entry for the competition was overweight, but their "Go-Devil" was so good that it became standard for the Jeep. Both Ford and Willys jeeps had slightly differing bodywork, and neither used the grill the Bantam proptotype had, though I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the three, apart from the Bantam's distinctive grille.
American bantam is the one I was thinking of.. =)
I always liked the fact that in 1987, AMC Jeep Dealers name was changed by Chrysler to Jeep Eagle. The Eagle Car name had a heritage in Jeep back to the Aero Eagle. I never saw or heard anyone ever mention this in any historic account of Willys or AMC Jeep Eagle.......but there you go.
Great information thank you so much for sharing that awesome trivia
The hood ornament is almost bigger than the whole car. That's actually a really nice car overall. A surprising amount of room inside of it and actually the fit and finished looks better than I was expecting it to.
I don't know if I would want to drive that or ride in it on a cross country trip but certainly for daily driving around town and occasional weekend to see grandma it's absolutely fine.
This was like a white unicorn these cars you only read about. Very rarely see them but I was really impressed at how comfortable the interior was. The seats were nice
Had a '52 Aero Ace in the '80s. Never put it on the road, but had fun driving it around my college campus and working on it. Very cool car for sure.
Very solid feel with big 15" wheels on such a (relatively) small car.
After these were discontinued in '55, they were produced in Brazil with the same body style, then with a different outer body shell into the '60s!
Your car sounds pretty cool =)
Bantam made the first Jeep but the government doubted the company could build it in sufficient numbers but was given a contract for a Jeep pulled trailer. Later Ford was also brought in to build the Jeep. By the way, the Willys 6 cylinder engine was not a flathead. It was an F head, intake valves in the head, exhaust in the block. The larger 226 was a flathead, designed by continental but also built, under license, by Kaiser which named it, "Supersonic."
The Willys "Go Devil" engine was a FOUR Cylinder engine, making some 60 SAE Gross Hp, versus the 40-45 Hp competitors.
The cheapest version of these cars did use a flathead version of the Willys 161 6 cyl. At least in 1952, the first year of these cars.
The 226 engine was actually a bored and less expensive version of the pre-war Graham engine. Graham designed it but had Continental manufacture it for them. That's how it became a Continental engine.
I'd like to have almost any car in that great condition, what a great job they did. great review of the whole era. that right hand drive thru me off though, might say it gave me the Willies!!
Glad you dig this episode.. willys white whale
When I was a baby, my parents had Willys wagon. Classic orange.
I should have this car. I was born in 1954 and I'm pretty much one of a kind . 💁🏼♂️
😂😂😂
Awesome story =) i’ve been looking for one of the wagons to do they’re pretty cool
Another really good video. Most folks would not know these actually existed. Shows how competitive the auto market was in the 1950s, with many manufacturers out there.
I like any video you do as it pertains to Packards, particularly those from the 1930s and early 1940s. What is a shame is that Packard competed with Cadillac and Lincoln (and less so Chrysler), and those brands survived and Packard did not. A prime example of where a superior product does not prevail.
Thank you glad you dig this video =) i’ve been looking for some 50s white whales
I’m going to two great shows I’m going to the show the old car show in Detroit Greenfield Village I’m really stoked it’s going to be everything before 1932 I really want to see if there’s a Ruxton up there super rare car.. and Hershey of course I really hope to see the Nash Healeys there as well as kaiser Darren but I can’t hit all the good cars this year because there won’t be anything good look forward to next year lol but looking for the other there stuff and paper the common stuff in.. it will probably be that way until for the next few months anyway.. love the 30s and 50s
And you better believe they’ll be Packards I’m a huge Packard fan still have two Packard in the pipeline
1924 six
1937 Henney flower car
Tonight‘s episode is 1929 Windsor white prince hopefully I’ll get it done
After he left the White House in 1953, Harry Truman and Bess drove themselves home to Missouri in one of these. By themselves. No escort, no helicopters, no throngs of adoring citizens; stopped to get gas and use the restroom like anyone else.
Very interesting car, with headroom for a hat!
Thank you so much for sharing that story.. =)
My error; it was a Hudson Jet (same company made both bodies iirc); similar car.
Apologies.
I thought the Trumans drove home in a 53 New Yorker.
I'm from Brazil, my father bought a 1965 Aero Willys that already had a new body. Engineers at Willys Overland mixed styles from the roof of a Ford Thunderbird to the rear of a Pontiac. It was a robust car with a Jeep engine, the only problem was the rear engine seal that insisted on leaking oil.
Thank you so much for sharing that added information =)
I had a 1953 Aero in the 60's. It was a great little car. Always started no matter the weather. I lived on the north shore of Lake Ontario and parked outside. Some winters I had to de-ice the entire car before I could get in and drive. It was a very rare car and I wish I had kept it as an investment. It made me proud.
Nice review Jay. Thanks for showing around this Willys Aero.
Glad you liked this episode =)
The engine is a F head, intake valves in the head, exhaust valves in the block. Same engine was used in some of the Jeep Trucks.
yes it was also used in the henry j
Thanks Jay. I've a soft spot for Willys cars. In Australia, we pronounce it Willies as you did, but the usual US pronunciation is Willis. The engine is an F head, with exhaust valves in the block and inlet valves in the head. Odd that your source material didn't mention this. It was a method used by Willys to upgrade their flatheads without developing a whole new motor. There are good engineering reasons for F heads too - Rolls Royce developed quite a few. Cheers.
Good information on a very interesting car.
Thank you I watched a couple videos on pronunciation and I thought I was doing it right but evidently the courts still out it’s almost like the Hatfields and McCoys who wins lol.. i’m bad at pronouncing stuff as it is this episode was almost like entrapment
I am an American over the age of 60 (ugh) and for most of my life everyone pronounced it "Willies". Sometime in the 2000 decade car magazines and videos started correcting everyone that it should be pronounced "Willis". Never knew where that came from.
It came from Willys, itself. john North Willys pronounced his name, "Willis". Seeing the name in print instead of hearing it led to the change of pronunciation. Check out this commercial.
m.th-cam.com/video/RzkJtrM_bqs/w-d-xo.html
@@barrykochverts4149 Thanks for that!
Merry Christmas.
I don't recall ever actually seeing one of these on the road as a kid.
This is only the second one I’ve ever seen I saw one other one at Hershey but it was a newer model
The engine with overhead exhaust and flathead intake valves is called an 'F' head, Willys used this head type for quite a while, good torque and reasonable fuel mileage,
Thank you for that correction =)
Interesting to see this as I've never seen one before on any other channel. One of the best presented cars you've shown. Fun to hear your reaction to no steering wheel when you opened the door. Thanks so much for featuring this unique vehicle.
Glad you dig this episode next year we Are going to go hard and heavy on the orphan cars feature some cars that are on the path but the orphan cars are so cool because of glimpse into what the independence were doing I think it’s very interesting that the independence offered more than one body style if they went out of business faster than the big three
@@What.its.like. - The saddest victim of “the big 3” was AMC … But their legacy lives on in Jeep.
Back in the 70’s, the “big 3” threw all the had at Jeep, and they couldn’t even come close.
I really like the fact that it had a roll down windows in the back AND opening vent windows.
Why was it right hand drive I wonder?
I was reading the ad evidently this car came from South Africa that was the market that it was in here’s the link to the original ad they sold the car faster I could make a video for it
www.classicautomall.com/vehicles/3020/1954-willys-aero-ace-deluxe-sedan
I joined you Jay when you had just a few videos up. Almost from the start. And I liked the way you presented the cars and the history. My kind of channel. Here’s to great things in 2023
That’s awesome, so you’ve seen this channel grow from (I have to apologize some of those earlier videos were really hard to watch.. very dry) =) it’s come a long way in a short time
You should be VERY PROUD! I had just noticed how many SUBS you accumulated so quickly and some TH-camRS take Many years to get 1000 Subs. Humble, funny, informative and Quality are all reasons you still have me. At age 60 now I remember a lot of these cars and trucks. I would of thought I Died and gone to heaven when I was in my early 20’s if all this information was available and working in a place like you work. I own a Breakfast spot up here near Boston area. But my first love is The Artistic Old Car designs. I should of been born where there is no winter weather. ;)
Thank you so much it means a lot can’t wait to see what’s in store next year.. =)
I’ve never been to Boston but if I go I’ll check your place out
Hey Jay, not only is this Willys Aero a very interesting & unique vehicle but it's also very rare!!! Thanks for sharing your review of this fantastic automobile!!! 🎄⛄🤶
Yeah for sure =) thank you for watching
I like the high pitched toodaloo at the end.
Haha that’s our thing
Unusual car. Right hand drive too.......... Never remember seeing one of these!
What’s crazy is the Hudson jet is essentially the same car but the Hudson jets sold so much better..
Original owner was probably a rural mail carrier.
@@billolsen4360 made for sale in South Africa 🇿🇦.
The engine is an F-head, not a flat head . The intake valves are in the head, the exhaust valves in the block.
Thank you so much for the correction
Jay, thanks for doing this car. I saw one a few years back at a downtown car show in La Mesa, California. I’d never seen one before or since. Take car buddy. Cheers
I’ve only saw one other one and that was at Hershey..
@@What.its.like. the SUV model I have seen several when I was a kid around our little town in Northern California.
The one I saw in La Mesa stumped me. The group of sixty year olds I was with kept asking me what car is that? Ok, how about that one, etc.
Belíssimo design...foi esse primeiro aero que veio para o Brasil em 1960.
I remember the Willys was sold at the Sears store here in Knoxville, Tennessee. I don't recall which model(s) were sold. They had a showroom at the store where it was displayed.
Awesome information I never knew sears sold willys =)
@@What.its.like. He may be thinking of the Sears Allstate, a rebadged Henry J sold by Sears in 1952 and 53.
The Willys Aero was a compact (108-inch) wheelbase car competing with the larger (115-inch) wheelbase Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth. For the same price a new car buyer at that time got a bigger and flashier car than the Willys Aero. Most families then could only afford a single car. Later in the 1960s more American families could afford two cars, with the wife and mother having a smaller compact car. Also, that was the time more women had jobs that paid well enough to afford a new compact car.
=) I thought because it was essentially the same as a Hudson jet it would be considered a compact car because the Hudson jet was considered that
@@What.its.like. Rambler dominated the compact car market at that time, as little of it that existed.
@@SpockvsMcCoy - I grew up in a small east coast city, and Ramblers were all over the place. Studebakers, too. The local Yellow Cab company used Studebakers; they seemed to be tough cars.
Ford Motor Company made a version of the Jeep for WWII which was a play on words for "General Purpose". Eisenhower said that the Jeep vehicle helped the U.S. win WWII. Willys-Overland manufactured about 55% of those Jeeps and FoMoCo manufactured the remainder.
First one was American bantam =) they were made in Butler PA that’s up the road from where I’m from
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bantam
“The quirkiest tale claims that Jeep was named after a minor character from the Popeye cartoons, a magical and slippery creature named Eugene the Jeep.”
The givaway that this car would have right-hand drive is the yellow "AA" badge on the front bumper. That stands for "The Automobile Association", a British automobile club that is a rival to "RAC", the Royal Automobile Club.
Jay, what a treat! I've never seen a Willys in person. This was great. It's much bigger than I imagined (really helped having it parked next to that '70 Pontiac. I'd seen old advertisements of the Willys and, of course, seen it in books. I think it's a nice looking car. I wonder why it didn't catch on. I guess at that time, everybody wanted bigger.
A fun little bit of history. So Willys got the Jeep design from the American Bantam company. American Bantam also produced a compact car ... back in the 1930s. When I was a kid (in the 1970s) the Oldsmobile dealer in my town had a back lot with a fence around it. Inside that back lot were a bunch of old cars, including one American Bantam. It was black. It looked just like any other 1930s sedan ... except in miniature. Seriously, it looked like a toy car. I used to beg my dad to buy it for me whenever we passed the Oldsmobile lot. I never got to see inside it ... but I image it would be a tight fit for a fella as tall as you. Keep an eye out for one. It would make another great story and then you could tie it's history to Willys. Merry Christmas!!!
Glad you digged this episode i’ve been looking for an American bantam to do I saw a couple at the Gilmore auto museum but didn’t do those I thought they were a lot smaller than what they actually are they’re about the same size as a Crosley.. but you can bet your butt if I find one we are going to do that next year for sure
Austin/Bantom were the original parents of the JEEP. In the early 1930s, the Infantry Board at Fort Benning had become interested in the British Army's use of the tiny Austin 7 car in a reconnaissance role, and in 1933 obtained a car from the American Austin Car Company in Pennsylvania which built them under license. Meanwhile, American Austin had gone bankrupt, and its assets were purchased by a new company which became American Bantam.
=)
My dad had a Willy's for his work car when I was about 15 yo, I'm 78 yo now. We had a 1956 ford station wagon for the family car. The Willy's was in pretty good shape. My dad and his friend Leo did a repaint in Leo's garage and it looked pretty good. My dad had a nick name of horse trader, funny because you never knew what he would come home from work driving. I learned how to drive on all those old cars. I wish I had all of them now they would be worth $$$$$$.
Great story thank you for sharing that awesome memory with us =)
This car as well as the Willy's wagon was made under the Ford Brazil brand . The aero was made as the Ford Brazil Itamaraty and the Willy's wagon was sold as the Ford Brazil Rural, the weird thing is in Argentina Kaiser was known as the IKA Torino and it was basically a Rambler. You should check out what the American companies were building from the 60s into the 80s
My dad owned a 1954 Willys Jeep 2d station wagon. It was a 1950's SUV. It had the F head six motor with three on the tree shifter & over drive. This motor was not very powerful. We once had to go up a grade in reverse (with 6 passengers). My dad later installed a 327 Chevy V8. That solved the low power issues.
327 v8 will move that along nicely =)
That car is in perfect condition. Fantastic restoration. I wonder if it had vinyl interior originally? In that period of time I think almost every vehicle had cloth interior. It’s a simplistic design, but still a clean design. From the information I can find a typical family had an income of about $3900/year. I think cars like Willys were aimed at people at the budget end of the economy. Too bad smaller companies such as Willys couldn’t continue or band together, sharing dealerships. Nice video.
This car was like looking at a brand new one like I said in the video I’ve only seen one other one but it was a newer one from Brazil mid60s model.. at Hershey. I can’t believe that Murray built the bodies for both the Willys arrow and Hudson jet and the Hudson jet outsold willys almost 2 to one
The “simplistic design” is what I think makes the car so attractive.
Probably, but for the same amount of money, you could buy a bigger Ford or Chevy. That was a huge problem, as people tend to think a smaller car should be a cheaper car.
I think it is a great looking design! It does bare resemblance to the '49 Ford for sure! The interior looks amazing and comfortable! 🤩
Glad I wasn’t the only one who sees it
Though most of us pronounced Willys as you have, but proper pronunciation is Willis.
You might consider the Willys Jeepster as the first post-WWII passenger vehicle. It was a 2WD vehicle with car suspension. Probably akin to the open grand touring cars. The Jeepster didn't become an off-road 4WD Ute until Kaiser resurrected it decades later.
It was American Bantam which came up with the concept for the GPW Jeep. Because the company didn't have the capability to meet the production which the U.S. military needed, the contract was given to Willys. Even Willys couldn't produce enough so Ford made carbon copy Jeeps, with all parts interchangeable. The easiest way to identify a Ford Jeep is to look at the engine's headbolts. They will have an "F" on the heads.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this information =)
The Willys Aero was replaced by the Bermuda in 1955. That was the last year Willys sold passenger cars on the North American market.
Awesome I forgot about the Bermuda, but they sold the aero in foreign markets until the 70s
Only the hardtop was called Bermuda in 55. 4 door sedan was Custom. They were pretty much the same car as the 54, just a new grille and new side trim.
Cool to see these covered but so many inaccuracies in the information.
Like? This is a car community there’s so much miss information about a lot of classic cars. But we try
Thanks for making this video. The brand is pronounced Will-is.
Thank you for the correction =)
Interesting car, beautifully restored. The odd little detail of the lower section of the taillight really grabbed my attention. The bean counters would have nixed charming idiosyncrasies like that today. Your subscribers are multiplying by the day, which is so well deserved! Here's wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho and Too-da-loo!
Thank you so much merry Christmas to you and your family =) there’s a lot more cool cars coming this week and the week after well until the foreseeable future really this is going to be home of the orphan cars =)
He getting more subscribers because he’s scoping out fascinating cars …
Unique. That must've been sold in the UK.
South Africa ... Bloemfontein City from the licence plate .
@@derrickrees8895 I see.
no heat exchange in this one, may have been made for a warm climate market. Most of the 1954 cars had the 226 engine. I had a 1955 and was able to find parts in Brazil for a restoration
I believe this car was in South Africa most of his life I think that was the story on it which would make total sense it’s incredible to see it because they just they are very rarely ever seen.
It’s cool you can still get parts warm that’s really cool aspect
Jay, I really enjoy watching your videos and seeing a new generation appreciate cars from so long ago. Like you, I pronounced the car's name "Willies" for my whole life, though some aficionados had told me it was wrong ("Willis" sounded kind of uppity!). Seeing vintage commercials on TH-cam as below cleared it up. Most likely the name was pronounced wrong because people in those days got much of their information from print rather than electronic media, and came up with "sensible"pronunciations. Oddly, the company referred to the car as the "Aero Willys", not the "Willys Aero"! And, lastly , the appearance of an overhead valve train on a "flat head" denotes what is called an "F-Head" engine. It has intake valves in the head and exhaust valves in the block, so it's kind of a hybrid valve train. "Flathead", aka "L-Head" engines have all their valves in the block, side by side, and no mechanicals in the head, which is a relatively flat cover over the combustion chambers.
m.th-cam.com/video/RzkJtrM_bqs/w-d-xo.html
Thank you so much for sharing all of that information and insight as well as corrections =)
I have seen a few of these and their cousin the Kaiser Henry J. Willys (Willis) were interested in making an economy car. Ward Canady didn't care for the Jeep except the money it made. By the time it hit the market the company was sold shortly afterward to Kaiser. At the same time the old Willys cars made by John North Willys were becoming popular as modified hot rods and race cars. The original Jeep purchased by the DOD was made by Bantam. Willys and Ford brought poor examples. Ford didn't care but both companies engineers were able to go over the Bantam design and make modification to their own vehicles. Still Ford wasn't interested. Willys like Bantam were on the ropes after the Depression so both needed the contract. Willys won the contract because they had the second largest production facility. Ford did make them as well during the war. Batam made trailers and folded after the war.
Thank you so much for sharing that story as well as insight and information =)
That's an F head engine, the intake valves are in the cylinder head, and the exhaust valves are in the block. The easiest way to tell an F head engine is to look for the exhaust manifold located on the cylinder block, with a over head valve cover. Jeep used an F head 134 CID 4 cylinder up until 1971 in their CJ5.
Thank you so much for that correction =)
Glad to see that people are aware that the Bantam company designed the original Jeep, it's too bad that our government screwed Bantam right out of business
Yeah it’s sad.. I’ve been looking for a Bantam to do they are hard to find now and have never saw a bantam jeep
Excellent
That is an attractive little car. I’ve never even ridden in one. They were quite rare where I came from. I did have some experience with those F-head engines, but it was in Jeeps. The F-head 4, ironically called the Hurricane, was slow as hell, but I bet this little car with the 6-cylinder would move out smartly.
Did you see the ohv they literally added it the an existing flat head engine design
@@What.its.like. - Yes … I’m familiar with the engine. The OHV design for the intake offered better performance than the L-head (flathead).
I’m no fan of the flathead. When I was a young man, there were plenty of them running around, and I didn’t like any of them. I had a ‘49 Olds that would smoke pretty much any flathead on the road.
Flatheads are great - FOR LAWN MOWERS.
The performance advantage of OHV engines was long-known even as US car manufactures were still producing flatheads. Remember, the first Offy engine at Indy was in ‘33, and it first won in ‘35. Now that was a sweet piece of engineering!!
I wanna know why they don’t bring back the flat head and turbo charge it think about it that is the best application for a turbo charger it’s low compression, naturally have low compression.. That would be sick and I don’t think anything would sound like one I saw a guy build one on TH-cam he built a turbocharged flathead and it sounded absolutely glorious =)
@@What.its.like. - Not a good idea. The shape of the combustion chamber of a flathead would lend itself to detonation (post-ignition uncontrolled spontaneous combustion) under high boost pressures. Detonation is an engine-killer. I.E., burned pistons and broken ring lands.
As I said, flatheads are best used for lawn mower engines - Briggs & Stratton …
@@sking2173 But, a flathead is low profile and cheap to manufacture. Not important considerations in the better cars, but for low-priced cars, I think they should make a comeback. Having 4 valves per cylinder, variable valve timing, twin overhead cams, ultra high compression, and impossible complexity, and outrageously high production costs in a low-priced car is ridiculous.
American Bantam. I see someone has already posted that. Too bad the Willy's was discontinued in America. Of course it continued in Argentina for many more years, as was the Kaiser Manhattan/Carabella. It's still baffles me Jeep could outlast Studebaker, Packard, Nash, Hudson. Odd RHD in America, and never seen a outside suction mirror. No Druthers? I'd take a Rambler over this or a Hudson Jet. You must be wealthy to travel around doing all these videos. Lucky tho for us. Consider the 37/38 Studebaker Coupe Express PU. Two of the most beautiful Pickups ever made. The 38 with the fender mounted headlights.
It's interesting that some pronounce Willys as Will-is and others as Will-ees..I wonder which is correct?
Idk it’s almost like the Hatfields and McCoys who was right.. argument can be made for both sides.. I suck at pronouncing things as it is so this was kind of like an entrapment episode.. lol
@@What.its.like. Most people say Will-ees. Will-is was George Jefferson's inlaws.
@@What.its.like. - Just remember, never say suck and willy in the same sentence. People might get the wrong idea … 😂
@@billolsen4360 - The more famous Willis was one of the two young black kids that Conrad Bain adopted on the sitcom “Different Strokes”.
Remember? “Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?!”
Another great video. Although Kaiser did not "buy" Willys early on, they did buy engines from Willys for the HENRY J. Perhaps their lashup was meant to be!
John North Willys pronounced his name as it was pronounced in the British Isles whence his family came. That is Will - iss. Etymologically it appears to be related to the name Willis and pronounced the same way.
It is not properly pronounced Will-eez and it has never had an apostrophe in its spelling.
Thank you for that correction
Kaiser bought engines from continental motors
No WYR choices? Like it or not, my choice for an early fifties compact American car would be the Aero-Willys over the Rambler (Nash or Hudson versions, Ramblers had torque tube drive, not a fan) or the Hudson Jet, but I'd take a Jet over the the Henry J by Kaiser.
This is before the would you, rather.. that is a segment that wasn’t always there
The name was actually pronounced Will-is but the owner didn't mind the mispronunciation as long as you bought his cars
After doing this episode that is how I say it And get corrected for saying it the right way as well
I’m about to purchase a 1954 Willy’s Aero Lark Deluxe which appears to be in A1 condition but I’m no car expert! What should I be looking for before I sign on the dotted line? Thank you
Look for body rust make sure all trim is there, engine runs good
Pull dip stick make sure it’s just oil and not milky or anything like that be sure to test drive it. The thing with old cars Classic Cars if you don’t drive them the brakes will act up that’s the first thing to generally go with the brakes, wheel cylinders don’t release right if parked for a long time. Be sure to check under the doors for rust in drain holes. Gaskets, around the doors do all the windows go up and down, do all the features work, lights backup lights if it has them wipers..
Thanks so much! This is where it gets difficult, I’ve only seen in in pictures and FaceTime!! The car is 6 hours from me so he’s offered to trailer it to my house for $1000, when he arrives I can decide but the $1000 is non refundable and I understand that. During FaceTime it looks amazing and started beautifully. Your honest opinion would really be appreciated.
Call around that area and see if they have a car inspector.. it’s a real thing you can pay him $100 and then you’re not out $1000 or whatever it would cost for him to trailer the car up if the inspector says it’s cool by the car.. car inspector vary depending on location but still cheaper and you’ll save 12 hours of his time. I hope this helps..
Please be sure to follow up and tell me how it ends make a new comment I’d love to know how this turns out =)
Thanks so much for your advice, it is really appreciated and yes I will definitely let you know how it goes!😊👍
I think it was American Bantam who put the first Jeep on wheels.
Yep =) butler pa
That 161 cubic inch 6, is a very unique engine only to Willys, it was called an F head. The exhaust valves were in the block like a Flathead with overhead valves for the intake. It was a combination of side valve and overhead valve design. It was not a good idea.
The biggest reason the car didn't sell, was that it was too small of a car for the price. It was priced higher than a Chevrolet but much smaller. In the 1950s that was a no no. Rambler was the only successful compact that ever existed before 1960.
Thank you so much for that correction and insight
Love ramblers
Pretty sure American-Bantam made the first 'jeep'.
That’s the one =)
14:17 it is an F-head engine, with overhead intake valves and side exhaust valves. It is not unlike the configuration of some Rolls-Royce sixes.
Thank you for that correction
Rover made F head engines too, in four and six cylinder models, for the Land Rover and their passenger cars. In the US, Hudson made an F head in the twenties. Rover, Rolls Royce, Hudson all were considered expensive, high quality cars. I don't know why they chose the F head design, or why others did not take it up.
Thanks Jay, this is the meat and potatoes, away from the bigger guys with all the money. Wow, they were the second-largest manufacturer after Ford? I never had an inkling.
Maybe next year we could do a couple willys knights =) they made some cool cars in the 20s and 30s
@What it’s like Jay- it would be very interesting to do one on the Knight sleeve valve engine, since it was used by a few manufacturers, (Willys, Stearns, and one other that I'm not remembering). I'm old, I'm allowed.
I’ve gotten the privilege to see a couple of them this year but I never got the opportunity to shoot a couple for the channel they’re very interesting cars
@@What.its.like. They sure are. That Kaiser fella was quite the millionaire.
14:18 It's not a flathead, it's an F-head. The *inlet* valve is above and seals against the head like an OHV engine, but the *exhaust* valve is below and seals against the engine-block like a flathead engine. Some call it an IOE engine (intake over exhaust). While that's technically correct the same term (IOE) is used *far more commonly* for engines in which the intake & exhaust *manifolds* are both located on the same side of an engine. Therefore I prefer the term F-head to avoid this confusion.
An engine with the intake manifold on one side & the exhaust manifold on the opposite side is said to have a *cross-flow* cylinder head because the gasses flow completely *across the head* in one side & out the other, which is more efficient than both coming-in AND exiting on the same side as the flow of the gasses must be reversed.
Thank you so much for that correction
This is the only time I've seen one of these. Did they always have the driver on the right-hand side? Was this shipped in from England?
This one was from South Africa I’ve only saw one other aero it was a newer 60s model and that was at Hershey
This car is in uncommonly new like condition. Did you try to put the camera in the drawer? Thanks.
It wouldn’t fit in the drawer
Willys big problem was cost. Their car cost practically as much as a Ford or Chev, which were much bigger cars. But they could not get costs down until they sold a lot more cars, and they had a hard job selling cars because they did not have enough dealers. According to owners and dealers they were a good car but never stood a chance.
The picture was entirely different in south America. There, they were not competing with Detroit giants. 10,000 cars a year was big business and all cars were more expensive than in the US. So the Willys sold well and developed a good reputation over the years.
Great insight I will ad Willys had better seats than ford or Chevy those seats were so plushy
Cool! 😊
The Willeez pronunciation is an abomination. John Willys pronounced his name Willis, as should we.
Ford made Jeep's also, Henry's Jeep's had almost all components stamped with the Ford name stamped on said components due to the fact that many Willys parts were shoddy.
They are so much more handsome than the Hudson Jet. Can't figure out how the Jet outsold them.
More Dealerships.
I’m not sure what engine was in the Hudson maybe it was better..
@@What.its.like. Could be!
@@danielulz1640 Makes sense.
I think Ford made the first Jeeps.Willys is pronounced Will- is.
I’ve heard it pronounced both ways.. I watch some TV programs before I put this one together and all of them pronounced it that way so I figured that was the way that it was supposed to be pronounced..
My Uncle Ben worked for Walter Chrysler and knew John North Willys and he pronounced it Willies.
Bantom made the first jeep prototype. The government gave the contract to Ford and Willis.
My father in law had a managerial position at Willy’s Overland in Toledo Ohio in the fifties/sixties, does anybody remember Robert de Boer (Dutch heritage)?
Jeep was originally designed and built by American Bantam.
Yep =)
I don't know about this American model, but the Brazilian model had the same front doors inverted placed as rear doors
Interesting
The first (Jeep) was the Bantam blitz buggy
You got it man I’m pretty sure bantam was the first one
@@What.its.like. It was. They where the first ones to finish a proto type an take it to the government for testing.
14:16 Not a flat-head, it's an "F" head.
A flat-head had both intake and exhast valves in the engine block in an "L" configuration, but the F-head placed the intake valve in the cylinder head with a push-rod while leaving the exhaust valve in the engine block.
One could cite the lower cost of the F-head configuration over an OHV head, but Rolls-Royce used F-head engines for a time as well, and Studebaker considered the F-head design when updating the Lark six-cylinder engine, finally settling on OHV.
Thank you so much for that correction I didn’t know what an F head was back then
Doggone! You're watching at THIS hour of the morning?
I’m on eastern time.. I have to keep up with the comments lol
The motor appears to be an "F" head instead of a flathead.
Thank you for that correction
Bantam made the original jeep prototype, they couldn't make the numbers the military needed.
Well i subscribed, but not for long if you do not drive them, cars are dynamic not static.
We don’t get to drive all the cars mostly due to insurance reasons but I did work at the Classic Car dealership last summer and I found out that you could have two of the same car same in every single way.. but they will not drive the same because everything wears out differently
Add a neon and ya git perfection
Jay they made a willys aero in 1955, i have one
Awesome =) made or titled Duesenberg made all of their cars in 1929 but it took them 10 years to sell them all.. maybe this was that. I know these are rare no matter what year
Wasn't it the Butler car company for Butler Pa.
Yeah that’s right up the road from me and there is a sign where the factory was saying birth place of the jeep
It would be awkward driving this car in the U.S. with right hand drive. Years ago I rented & drove a right hand drive Ford Cortina in the UK, where of course that was appropriate.
It would be very interesting I think it would be super interesting shifting gears in a right hand drive car
I used to drive a right-drive ‘49 Jaguar Mark V in the US almost daily and found it to be no problem at all. Of course, at that point, I had only driven in countries with right traffic. The only real downside was one had to be more cautious when overtaking on two-lane roads because it was often difficult to see around the car you were passing.
I do think it would have been initially harder for me to drive a left-drive car in a left-traffic country (like the UK or Japan).
I'd guess that it was over 40 years since you drove that Cortina!
I always wondered is the gearbox flipped as in 1st gear where 5 gear is or 1st is where 1st is it would be like shifting backwards..
@@What.its.like. - No, still standard shift pattern where 1st is left and up. Trust me, it is easy to get used to driving a right-drive car.
South African car from the plate ... Bloemfontein City .
That’s were this car was from South Africa
I think American Bantom finished their version first. And cheapest. But the U.S. Military picked the Willys. Ford did make a lot when asked by the Military. I don't know if American Bantam did.
One of the last cars that Studebaker made was called the Lark. In the early 60s
I think Bantam made some hydraulic excavation machines and cranes.
If you have ever seen the movie It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, you might see the Willys Jeep Wagon. It was driven by Terry-Thomas who was playing the part of a collector of Desert cactus.
Yeah I believe American bantam was the very first they were made in Butler PA that’s up the road from where I live
Yeah that’s weird maybe lark was the kiss of death
What about the Jeepster?
Going to do one this spring/summer we just have to figure out when our schedules jibe one is coming =)
it would help if you mentioned how tall you are.
6 foot 2 I do try to mention that sorry if I didn’t in this episode =)
Willys isn't pronounced like, "this old house at night is giving me the willies". It's pronounced like the old tv show Different stokes when Gary Coleman would say , "Whatcha talkin' bout Willis" .
Thank you for the correction =)
Bantom made the first jeep.
bantam designed and built the first jeep. but they did not have the capacity to build them en mass
=) yep
PLEASE Don't Pronounce Willys like 'Willees' -- Founder John North Willys ALWAYS Said "WILLIS" -- Like Bruce Willis !!
We owned a 1955 Willys aerospace
What did you think about the car did you like it did you guys not like it were the seats redone because these were the softest most comfortable seats of any economy car that I’ve ever been in..
@@What.its.like. It was. An amazing car and we loved it. We travelled over 100000 miles with the car and other than normal services it cost us nothing else.
I must also note that we lived in South Africa at that time.
That’s awesome that it was a good car =)
Was it Bantam?
Yep =)
Love your channel but prefer you voicing over the video rather than your walk around.
Thank you I’ll work on that it’s weird talking about the cars when people are present
I hope you know the there was a 55 model of these.
Bermuda Was the last car but then made the aero again so technically the aero is still the last car they made
@@What.its.like. Different point of view I guess.
American Bantam, first jeep
Yep =)
Ford and Austin Bantam
......John North Willys bought Overland from Standard Wheel Company in 1908 and renamed the company Willys-Overland Motors in 1912.
His name was pronounced "WILLIS" not "WILLEES." All of my life ( I'm 66) until about 5 years ago, I only ever heard the name pronounced "WILLEES". Not a big deal, but most people are offended when others mis-pronounce their name.
Thank you for those corrections =)
Not only that, but “Willis” is a man’s name, while a willy (pronounced wil-ē) is a penis … And who wants to be called a penis unless big is used in conjunction with it ?!
American bantam out of pa invented the jeep.
Yep =)
Pronounced "Williss", not "Willeez" ...
Thank you for the correction =)
@@What.its.like. I failed to also mention that the video was very well done, and I thought the car was really attractive, even though I was previously unaware it even existed. I believe I presented myself rudely, and I apologise ... Cheers 🙂 ...
It’s all good =)
American bantam made the first Jeep
That’s who I was told Butler PA is right Up the road from me and there’s a sign there saying birthplace of the Jeep