I’ve long wanted to do a history on the pre-war Willys, which were the true pioneers of compact cars, starting with the Model 77 back in 1933. There even used to be a 1940 sedan in Eugene that I’d see regularly, but then it disappeared just before I started curbsiding. Another time.
I certainly knew nothing about this extremely generous “guarantee”. Not that many cars back then even made it to 100,000 miles. And just what did it cover?
Here’s the key details below:
It’s a bit hard to read, but in a nutshell, it has a major loophole: “Second, it includes a guarantee to make good at the factory (bold italics added for emphasis) ANY DEFECTIVE PARTS ON 1940 WILLYS MODELS…”
Aha! That works well for the good citizens of Toledo, Ohio and its environs, but not so well for those any substantial distance from there. It was way too good to be true.
But then Joe Frazer was quite the salesman, and he had an uphill battle with Willys.
This is like the sedan that was in Eugene. It had a hopped up original “Go-Devil” four, as then used in the Jeep. It sounded great through its non-stock exhaust.
Good luck finding a stock coupe; these all became “gassers” on the drag strips, thanks to their light bodies and short wheelbase.
So to get something fixed under warranty, you have to go back to the factory?
Guy on the beach with 3 lovely ladies, of course he has a Woody!
And one of those lovely ladies is holding on to it!!!
I interpret the Guarantee a bit differently – that any defective parts would be replaced by new factory parts (i.e., that a dealer would ship a defective part back to the factory, and the factory would then ship out a brand-new part). It’s confusingly worded here, and in doing a brief search, I was unable to find anything that explained how this worked.
As far as I know, many other manufacturers had shorter factory guarantees (2 or 3 months perhaps) at that time, so I’m assuming that Willys took that same framework and extended the time frame. Though it’s tough to tell. I’d love to know for sure – it’s very interesting.
Regardless, this is a fine bit of salesmanship. I do wonder, though, for how long Willys kept this up. I don’t see a mention of a 100,000-mi. guarantee in Willys’ 1941 literature.
And I’m attaching a slightly easier-to-read excerpt from the ad below, in case it helps anyone:
Yes, the 90 day/4k warranty said “at the factory” too. I think the catch is that it covers only “defective parts”, but probably no labor and certainly not failures from wear.
That was the case in the UK and properly Europe as well but only 6months cover. Toyota UK will extend your warranty to 10 years now as long as the vehicle is serviced at an official franchised Toyota dealer. Hoping to recover business back from specialist dealers?. I know as chap how has never had his Hyundai I10 serviced by the dealer. I told him don’t expect any help from Hyundai for drive train problems!.
My shop did a restoration on a ’40 Willys sedan about 35 years ago, a car that was still in the hands of the original family. It still had all the factory paperwork in the glove box, including the warranty. On cleaning out the glove box in preparation of it’s removal, my tech brought the paperwork into my office to show me the 100,000 mile warranty booklet.
From what I remember, you are correct the parts were covered for DEFECTS in manufacturing, but only the ENGINE parts were warranted against defects. Warranty did not include labor costs or shipping costs back to Toledo. The warranty was between Willys and the car owner, the dealer was not involved except for performing the required services to maintain said warranty.
This warranty was a big joke around my shop, as the car was driven a little more than 40,000 miles before it was parked in a basement garage about 1955, yet it had a burned exhaust valve. We all decided if the car’s owner had actually removed the valve and sent it to Willys for replacement under the warranty, Willys would probably deny the claim, their decision likely based on the idea the valve wasn’t correctly adjusted, the air/fuel mixture was too lean, or perhaps the timing was incorrect.
The warranty required the owner to have all the listed service work performed by the selling Willys dealer, and that included engine oil changes [and chassis lubrication] every 1,000 miles. The warranty booklet had to be stamped by the dealer each time the services were performed to maintain the warranty in effect.
Bill, thanks for that information!
“See your local Willys dealer or write us for complete details.”
I wonder how many folks did that given it seems to good to be true?.
Incidentally, it looks like Diamond T trucks also offered a 100,000-mi. guarantee at around the same time. This one was good for only one year – a rather unrealistic annual mileage threshold.
I know a trucker who drove a tanker semi for collecting goat milk at the farms, the tractor did way over 200,000 km/125,000 miles a year. He wasn’t the only guy who drove that tractor, I must add…
No exception in the 24/7 – 7 days a week raw cow/goat milk collection, the biggest number I’ve read was 280,000 km/175,000 miles a year.
In the previous 12 months the trailer I tow has done 120,000kms, Ive used two trucks in front of it but thats roughly my annual mileage on this job and others have been more.
One of the few things I remember from a college statistics class was that a really high percentage of failures of a newly manufactured product occur within a short time of manufacture, with the share dropping way off the longer the product is used. Therefore, jumping from a 90 day warranty to a 6 month warranty will cost something, but extending that warranty to 3 years costs a statistically minor amount.
As an aside, that class was taught by a fairly young professor who drove a well-worn 48 DeSoto.
True story. Years ago, I went to service training school for Westerbeke marine generators, and one of the first things they pounded into your melon was that if a failure occurs, 90+% of the time it will happen in just the first few hours of operation.
You will have 3 lovely ladies guaranteed for 3 years even while smoking 3 cigarettes pack a day.
Considering what American roads were like in 1940 I’d say that anyone driving 100,000 miles in three years was highly unlikely.
My thoughts exactly. My father was a traveling salesman in the pre-Interstate Highway era, and a very busy year for him might entail 30,000 miles. And since he had places he needed to be reliably, the cars would get traded in the moment they hit 60k.
My paternal grandfather bought a new ’41 Willys Americar, and drove it for 9 years, including a family trip to Arizona in the late ’40s. I’m not aware of any other car he kept as long, and I would imagine he had to have had some faith in it to drive take a 6 year old car on a trip like that. There are many family photos posed in front of the car, but the car itself is hard to see. He replaced it with a new Hillman Minx in 1950.
Below is my father with the Americar in June of ’46.
I don’t imagine there are many unmolested Willys(es?) of this vintage any more. It’s unfortunate that so many were made into gassers.
I actually encountered a stock 1942 Americar in Phoenix about six months ago. It was a 4 door, which likely contributed to its survival. Henry J’s are another car that suffered the same fate, though I still see those in stock form once or twice a year… most are in a freshly dragged from the weeds state, but a few are runners.
As a 1942 model, it would have been rare even when it was new. Was it a blackout car?
Several years ago I saw an online ad for a stock Americar coupe in nice shape, but the seller was asking $85K.
No.
Dunno what the production numbers were, but I’m not sure I’ve encountered a 1942 Americar in any flavor, and it definitely was the first 4 door I’ve seen in the flesh.
This one was for sale too, and the ask was really steep… something like $30,000. The car was partially restored, resprayed in its original red, and mechanically sorted. Interior was kind of junky, and all of the brightwork needed to be redone. The latter makes one wish for a blackout model, as there was a lot of pitted pot metal.
Here’s an informative page on the Americar and other Willys cars of its era:
https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/another-look-at-the-1941-willys-americar/