Willys (Willys-Overland) Willys-Knight History
Catalog record
This is a brief catalog introduction with limited source documentation. A licensed, identity-checked lead photograph has not yet been added for this page. Detailed year, configuration and ownership coverage must be identified separately; this page is not a complete vehicle catalog.
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Model history available. Detailed year guides are not published for this model.
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After John North Willys licensed Charles Yale Knight's sleeve-valve engine, the Willys-Knight debuted in 1914 as the company's upmarket line. The sleeve-valve design ran quietly and smoothly, with no poppet valves or valve springs, and Willys-Overland advertised it as 'the only engine that improves with use' — a claim that was largely true, as carbon deposits on the sleeves actually raised compression.
Early Willys-Knights were fours (a sleeve-valve V8 was offered briefly 1917–1919); from 1925 the line was built around inline sixes. The best-known was the Great Six, sold 1925–1933 in a series of Model 66 variants, culminating in the 1933 66E Great Six.
Willys-Knight averaged around 50,000 cars a year through the 1920s and was by far the most successful American sleeve-valve marque. The Depression and Willys-Overland's 1933 reorganization ended the line — the 1933 Willys-Knight 66E was the last sleeve-valve car built in America.
Body styles
- Touring
- Roadster
- Sedan
- Coupe
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