Willys trucks

Willys was an American car maker based in Toledo, Ohio. Its history began in 1908, when John North Willys bought the Overland car division of the Standard Wheel Company; in 1912 the business was renamed the Willys–Overland Motor Company. From 1926 to 1931 it also sold the Whippet line of small cars.

Willys is best known for the Second World War jeep. Production of the Willys MB began in November 1941, with Ford and American Bantam also building jeeps for the United States Army. After the war the company turned the design into civilian vehicles: the CJ-2A, followed in 1946 by the Jeep Utility Wagon. In 1953 Kaiser Motors bought the company and renamed it Willys Motor Company, and the same year Willys began operations in Brazil, where it held about 30% of the market in 1960–1966. In 1963 the company became Kaiser-Jeep Corporation, and the Willys name disappeared from American cars. See also Jeep and AMC.