Chalmers / Chalmers-Detroit

US, 1908 – 1924

Chalmers Motor Car Co, Detroit, Mich.

The Chalmers was one of the most popular automobiles made in the United States for more than a decade. The Chalmers was the successor to the Thomas-Detroit which was built by a company which had been founded in 1906 by E.R. Thomas (builder of the Thomas car in Buffalo, N.Y.), Roy D. Chapin and Howard Earle Coffin; the two latter had previously served at Oldsmobile. The Thomas-Detroit of which some 500 were sold during the first year of production, was marketed through the parent firm in Buffalo which manufactured a larger line of cars under the Thomas emblem. The Thomas-Detroit was a medium priced four-cylinder car which had been designed by Coffin. In 1907, Hugh Chalmers, vice president of the National Cash Register Co and a noted salesman, entered the firm. Shortly after, he bought a half of E.R. Thomas’ stock and became president of the company which became the Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company. The Thomas-Detroit became the Chalmers-Detroit in 1908 and in 1910, the Chalmers. Open and closed Chalmers models in two lines comprised the Chalmers four-cylinder cars, with self-starters appearing in 1912. Chalmers (as Chalmers-Detroit) had distinguished itself in road races as early as 1908 when W.R. Burns won the Motor Parkway Sweekstakes at Jericho, N.Y., averaging 48.7mph in the six-lap 140.76 mile run.

In 1913, the Chalmers brought out its first 6-cylinder model, as well as the four and apart from small mechanical and design changes, continued both until 1914. The Chalmers four was dropped from the 1915 line, however, and sixes were to be used exclusively in Chalmers until the ending of manufacture. By 1915, some 20.000 Chalmers cars per year were coming off the Chalmers production line and would even exceed that figure before the advent of World War 1. In 1917, an L-head motor replaced the earlier overhead-valve type and on August 4th, Chalmers again headed racing news when Joe Dawson won the 24-hour stock Car Endurance Run at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y. Sales flagged following the end of the war and Hugh Chalmers, always the salesman, and with the realization that a competitor, Maxwell, wasn’t faring well either, arranged to lease his Chalmers plants to Maxwell, using his salesmanship to promote the two concerns and getting the benefit of Maxwell tooling and manufacturing equipment. By the early 1920s, however, many makes of cars were in financial difficulties due to over-expansion and recession, and Walter P. Chrysler was called in to try and reorganize Maxwell. Chrysler was at this time planning his own corporation and in 1922 Chalmers was taken over by Maxwell which had become a Chrysler subsidiary. The last Chalmer cars for sale were equipped with Lockheed hydraulic brakes but 1923 was the last year of Chalmers production with some 9000 units leaving the factories. The Maxwell survived until 1925 when it became the Chrysler Four.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; KM
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Overland

US, 1903 – 1963

(1) Standard Wheel Co, Terre Haute, Indiana, 1903 – 1905

(2) Overland Co, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1905 – 1907

(3) Willys-Overland Co, Toledo, Ohio, 1908 – 1963

The makes Willys, Overland and Willys-Knight are inseparable, if only ecause of their confusing nomenclature. The original product of the Standard Wheel Co, as Overland cars were originally called,  was a tiller-steered single-cylinder runabout with solid tyres which differed from most of its contemporaries in having its engine mounted in front under a real bonnet. This Overland car sold for $595. This Overland car had grown up by 1905 into a wheel-steered 1.3-litre twin, still with planetary transmission, and the company changed its style and moved to Indianapolis. Financial difficulties In 1907 brought John North Willys, and Elmira, N.Y. automobile dealer into the picture, and under his ownership a $1.250 4-cylinder Overland cars was produced, this having a pedal-controlled planetary transmission in the Ford manner, separately-cast cylinders, and a transaxle. There were two sixe-cylinder Overland cars in 1909, an Overland car at $2.000, and the 45hp Willys costing $250 more. Both the Willys name and multi-cylinder engines disappeared in 1910, and production of 4-cylinder Overland cars was concentrated in the old Pope factory at Toledo. During these years Willys continued to distribute the Marion, for which he had held an agency in the Elmira days. High-tension magneto ignition was used on the 1912 Overland cars, which included a 3.2-litre 2-speed Overland Model 58 at $850, a 3-speed version (Model 59 Overland car) with conventional gearbox at $900, and two bigger 4 Overland cars at $1.200 and $1.500 respectively. By 1914 Overland cars had moved into the ranks of the best-sellers with the 79 series Overland car at $950, a 4-litre car which helped to sell 80.000 Overland cars that year. 1915 saw a sv Overland 6 at $1.145, with the group moving up into second place behind Ford in the sales race. Willys-Knight, still a young make, was placed eighteenth: and in 1916 a second Willys 6, with 5-litre engine, joined the range, to remain there for three seasons. Willys-Knight had a V8 on a 10ft 5in wheelbase for $1.950 in 1917, but in 1919 4s Overland cars only were being made, the chassis L-head Overland car having made its appearance at the low price of $495. The 4-cylinder Willys-Knight had 3.3-litre engines and sold around the $1.400 mark.

In 1920 Willys Overland Crossley Ltd was formed in England with works at Stockport: this was a subsidiary of Crossley Motors Ltd, and assembled Overland cars for the British market. It originated nothing save in 1924 version of the Overland car powered by a 1.802cc Morris-Oxford engine. Overland cars continued to sell well in America, the Overland Model-92 ‘Redbird’ appearing in 1923 and helping to push the year’s sales up to 196.000 Overland cars. Sixes were back in the Overland carprogramme for 1925, the Overland car being a straightforward 3.3-litre sv machine selling for $895, while Willys-Knight’s Model-66 had a 60bhp 3.9-litre unit and front wheel brakes, and cost $1.845. It supplanted the sleeve-valve 4s the following year, and 1926 also saw the first of Overland cars 2.2-litre 4-cylinder ‘Whippet’ series, priced at $625: these Overland cars repeated the success of the 1919 type. ‘Whippets’ had front wheel brakes in 1927, in which year a companion 2.4-litre 6 Overland car was listed, as well as a smaller and cheaper Model-70 Willys-Knight. This could be bought for only $1.145 in 1928 – a record year both for the group and for the Knight-engined machines, which found 55.000 customers. Other Willys-Overland car products during this period were the Stearns-Knight and Falcon-Knight. The Whippet Overland car was restyled for 1929. The Whippet was now a Willys rather than an Overland car, and in 1931 the 4-cylinder cars were dropped. Sales also slumped, and the sleeve-valve Willys-Knights were allowed to die out with the 87bhp Model-66E of 1932. From 1933 to 1936 the Overland car company struggled through a receivership, making only a 2.2-litre sv 4, the Overland Model 77, with some pretensions to aerodynamic shape and a low price of $445, but this Overland car was brought up to date in 1937 with new styling and synchromesh. The Overland car acquired hydraulic brakes in 1939, reverting briefly to the name of Overland cars: both name and styling of the Overland car were different again by 1941, when the Overland car went under the designation ‘Willys-Americar’, with roomier bodywork, hypoid final drive, and a list price of $705.

During World War 2, Willys-Overland cars, along with Ford, were responsible for series production of the famous 4x4 Bantam inspired ‘Jeep’, and Willy-Overland cars continued its manufacture to civilian account after the War, licences being sold to Hotchkiss in France and Mitsubishi in Japan among others. 

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com