The clock stands still: 1920 Overland 4 in front of the old bank in Harris, Iowa.
(first posted 2/2/2017) Bill knocked at the shop’s entrance and his brother opened the overhead door. “Here it is” said Scott. Bill followed up with a quick introduction because Scott and I never met before. Scott must be one of those guys who feel amputated unless they have a tool in their hand.
He pulled a spark plug out of the Overland 4. It must run rich because the plug appeared a bit sooty. I walked around the car and took some shots while he cleaned and installed the plug. We then walked to the counter and paged through the owner’s manual. I photographed it from cover to cover. Scott checked the tire pressure and then he placed the key in my hand. The key resembles a bullet. He mentioned that Willys introduced this anti-theft device.
We walked around the car and Scott and Bill pointed out its design features and issues that need addressing. The pull-out regulators for ignition advance and air-fuel trim are missing. The pull for the choke is present.
Oil level indicator
There is an oil level gauge under the hood. The choke is jury-rigged with some electrical wire. Coming to the front they point out that the lights don’t work.
The bumper is the original 4mph bumper they joked. The mounts are spring loaded and if you open one bolt the bumper will whip around and bust your shins.
The front suspension is a straight axle held by half length semi-elliptical leaf springs that angle from tip of the frame back to the wheels. It looks different and more sophisticated than Henry’s Model T set up. Yet I wonder if it provides any real advantages. I think this set up may produce bump steer. The front wheels have no brakes. There are oil cups at the steering linkages.
Under the right side hood we have a look at the ignition parts and the starter. “We need to do some research on the spark advance” they say. We move on to the rear.
The special wheel hub wrench in action.
Scott showed me how the wheels are mounted with a central nut. A special wrench is used that pulls back a locking pin before the nut can be moved.
Detail of the undercarriage.
The rear hubs carry band brakes that are operated with rods. It is a solid construction. “The brakes are really weak” they repeated a few times for good measure.
The rear suspension is a mirror image of the front suspension with the springs extending from the end of the frame forward to the rear wheels. It looks very neat and I can imagine it impressed car shoppers of the time.
The lights don’t work but Scott shows concern for safety by putting a red flip-flop sandal over the left tail light housing to make shift for the missing lens.
Battery and tools are located under the front bench.
Scott put the hoods down and secured them. He returned the front seat that was removed to access the battery and tools. Then he motioned me to get in. He sat behind the wheel and checked his pockets for the key.
The patented ignition key.
“Are you looking for this?” I said. He took it with a nod and inserted it. This closes the ignition circuit.
Left to right: clutch, accelerator, lights, foot brake, hand brake, shift lever. The starter button does not show. It is hidden by the seat cushion.
He pulled the choke and with the heel of his right foot he stepped on the starter button that is mounted on the floor, back towards the seat. After a few cranks the engine came to live. It sounded like any other low revving, low compression (by modern standards) 4 stroke 4 cylinder engine. This is a quiet running engine. We had to raise our voices not too much to continue our conversation, inside the shop no less.
Scott and Bill
With a firm grip and push Scott selected first gear and moved into the driveway. Bill closed the shop’s door and hopped in the rear. Scott turned right onto the street. The gears whined ever higher in pitch as the car collected momentum. A shift into second gear required a coordinated step on the clutch pedal followed by a determined tug back on the lever. He stopped at the intersection and took a left turn to go south out of town.
I admired the view as a passenger. We were passing fields with perfectly straight rows of recently sprouted corn stalks that may be 4 inches high. Legroom was tight in the front. Visibility was fantastic. The wind through the open windows created the most noise and made conversation more difficult. Scott had it in third gear and the car went nicely at around 40 mph, I guess. The speedometer was neither accurate nor precise: it was all over the place.
Scott turned right into the cemetery and stopped for a photo op. He demonstrated how the windows operate. That’s a two-handed procedure. Not too practical, even back then. But it looks classy. Even the cloth covered door catches look classy.
Driver change. Again, I was told how weak the brakes are and that I need to hold on to the steering wheel. The wooden wheel had a nice oval cross section with the flat part on top. It felt comfortable. Scott sat next to me and made sure it was in neutral. He quickly checked that every available adjustment was set and asked me to hit the starter button on the floor. It sprang to life immediately and we took off.
I took two laps on the cemetery road to get a feel for the car. Indeed you needed a strong hold on the steering wheel. You have to return the steering to center by muscle. The steering was very direct. It took less than a turn from stop to stop. The suspension was comfortable. There was less body roll than I expected. Maybe that is the advantage provided by the angled half length semi-elliptical springs. I felt no trace of bump steer. The narrow tires and the gravel road might hide that well. I do agree that the brakes are weak. Actually, they suck. You have to step on them early and hard. In hope of a boost by divine intervention you may also utter a prayer. I exaggerate here, but I wouldn’t want to get into a tight spot for sure.
Since acceleration is hardly better than braking it is advisable to have no oncoming vehicle in sight when entering the road. First and second gear produced some clatter but third gear was quiet. The transmission is certainly a candidate for overhaul. The engine however felt very tight and free of abnormal mechanical noises. The carburetor and the spark advance need attention, but that’s it. Any sludge build up will probably wash out with frequent oil changes using today’s oils. The owner’s manual recommends flushing the engine with kerosene at every oil change.
I drove back into the town and took a loop around a block. Scott instructed me to park in front of the bank. The guys chatted with some locals then checked out their father’s old business building adjacent to the bank.
As they emerged a few minutes later and crossed the road they looked like robbers on the get-away.
Now Bill took the wheel and gave me a tour of the town. The brothers discussed local happenings all along. Clearly, the back was the place to be. The bench was plush and comfortable, there was ample room for the legs and the view out was perfect.
It was easy to imagine how granddad took his clients into the fields, stopping now and then to answer questions or drawing their attention to the fertile soil.
Bill returned the Overland 4 to the shop, then we went to Scott’s home for a beverage. Scott’s lovely wife Roseanne joint in the conversation. The story of the car is this: In 1920 Scott and Bill’s granddad bought this Overland 4 as a kit and had it shipped by rail from Toledo, Ohio to Harris, Iowa. The local do-it-all mechanic, fabricator and smith was hired to assemble it. Granddad wanted a nice car, nicer than a Model T, to chauffeur his real estate clients to the farms that were for sale. Unfortunately about a year later he became ill and died. The family kept the car under roof and used it only occasionally. Their dad tried his hand at the car’s maintenance but “a mechanic he was not!” as Bill expressed it. One time he managed to put water into the crankcase rather than the cooling system. He also brushed black paint on some body panels. Yet the car is in remarkably original state.
The Overland 4 fell into Scott’s stewardship because he stayed in Harris and built up his electric installation business. Other family lives too far away and are not interested in the car. There was some thought of selling it but then he feels the car is part of Harris’ history and it belongs here where it has always been.
I hope it stays home with Scott and the Harris community. Furthermore I hope Scott and his friends will find ways to make it a safe to drive classic that can be seen curbside more often.
I like to express my gratitude to the Robertson family for their hospitality and for allowing me this wonderful ride in their 1920 Willys Overland 4. What a treat it was!
Wolfgang, Great write up and great photos.
Love the operator pedals, especially with the brake pedal to the right of the gas [button]. I’ll bet that layout was something one must ALWAYS keep in mind when driving this beauty in modern times (and work hard to forget as soon as one gets into their current ride).
A hands off, no-wipe and put-back-in oil level checker. Neat – as long as it is accurate.
Thank you for this enjoyable and informative article.
Wolfgang, it was a delight to ride along with you in the Willys. Quite remarkable to see an almost 100 year old car in original condition, and then get to see you drive it too. And you did very well! That ultra-fast steering with only one turn is a trip; I knew some of the very early cars had that, but hadn’t expected to see that in 1920. But then Model T only had 1 and a third turns lock-to-lock, so I guess this was still common into the 20s. No wonder that steering wheel is so fat, for a good grip.
Thanks for a great trip back in time.
I suppose that the steering evolved from a tiller to the wheel for a two-handed grip as the weight of the cars increased. From there ever increasing weight, speed and width of tires required more steering force, hence more turns of the wheel.
I wonder if part of the evolution in steering ratio was not just as vehicle weight increased, but also needed for the drivers to adapt. I imagine larger boats and ships had wheels, but I suspect that most drivers in the teens and twenties only had experience with reins on horseback or with a team pulling a carriage or wagon, or bicycles, and maybe a few had also driven earlier cars with tillers. So while we take a multi-turn wheel for granted (though I assume the younger CC’ers haven’t experienced six turns lock-to-lock of early ’60’s Detroit unassisted steering) it was probably a novelty for many when this Willys was new. Thanks for a great story and insights … I’m not sure I’ve driven anything older than about 1956, so 2 wheel brakes and the Willys’s clutch/throttle/brake positioning would take a lot of trial and even more error for me to master.
Awesome!
Wolfgang, you have wonderfully captured the allure of these old, old cars. Even the sound of the gear whining in your video is intoxicating.
You were in ideal territory for exploring this old Willys-Overland. No doubt the smile on your face remained for a very long time.
“Is this Heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa!” In the Spring. Thanks, Wolfgang, for taking us along on your ride. I can breathe that cool, clean air from here-so refreshingly different from our current rolling cocoons. Some of those farms were likely tilled by equipment purchased at my Great Uncle Frank’s implement shop in Lake Park; likely some of those farmers also whetted their whistles at my Great Aunt Katie’s bar in Milford. Wonderful times spent up there visiting and fishing as a child. Bill and Scott must have some fun driving their old Willys around Lake Okiboji in the the summertime.
What a small world, Iowahawk! Scott, Bill and Roseanne will be delighted to see this post!
On the day of the drive we stopped by at Okoboji Classic Cars in Milford and drove a few laps of Watkins Glen on their simulator. Hoping it is still in operation, next time we will have to “warm up” at Aunt Katie’s bar.
Oh. I’m afraid that Great Aunt Katie is long gone-too bad, she was a real lady, outlived two husbands (that’s how she got the bar), and when she was diagnosed with cancer and had to drive to Iowa City every month for treatment, she just got a list of other people in the area in the same situation and formed a car pool, made some new friends. You would have loved her. But there are other bars there. You can probably get a good tenderloin sandwich, too. All the best!
It’s kind of weird that early automobiles had such tidy handling and yet a couple decades later we were all driving tippy, wallowing boats. As you said Wolfgang more weight, better tires, and generally greater steering force caused the need for looser steering but you would think after power steering became relatively common we could have tightened the steering back up, if I believe what I read even sporty cars (in the U.S. anyway) until the late 70’s/early 80’s were kind of scary to drive due to the total lack of feedback or response in the steering.
Man, I’m jealous! Thanks for sharing.
I love this. Its amazing, and just right to see an old car in mostly original condition, not over-restored, and showing all blemishes proudly. Its great that its still in use.
Finally, its nice that it’s not a Ford. The T is wonderful but almost ubiquitous, so its a pleasure to see something else.
15 years ago my neighbor has a 1923 Overland rumble seat coupe as a basket case resto project. There’s many similarities to this car. 10 years of research and parts-hunting lead him to believe he had the only ’23 Overland coupe in existance.
Great story about a great car. Scott’s Harold Lloyd eyeglasses look so right behind the wheel of the old Willys.
Simply awesome.
Fascinating reading – thank you Wolfgang!
Your mention of those spring steel bumpers made me smile. It reminded me of a story my grandfather (born in 1900) told me about learning to drive. He was driving in his older brother’s Model T, and hadn’t mastered aiming the car yet. He drove directly into a bridge abutment and hit it head on, at ‘speed’ (probably 10 or 15 mph). Granddad’s brother was thrown forward into the windshield frame and broke his nose! The bumper absorbed the shock be compressing and flinging the car backwards through the air…when it landed it got traction and ran forward into the abutment again, smacking my great-uncle’s nose into the windshield again!
My granfather said it was quite a while before he got another driving lesson….
I was laughing out loud when I read this!
Very neat story. Nice to see a really old car like this still running and driveable. It strikes me as being very small in the front seat, look how close these guys are! I wonder how this Willys would have compared to the industry “standard” the Model T in terms of engineering and how it drove.
*VERY* nice and the video makes this article top notch .
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Good to see the Family kept, I hope they keep it forever .
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I’da thought driving it out on the open Country Roads would be more fun/better but then I like how 1920’s vehicles drive .
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The stiff steering is on purpose, remember : mostly rutted dirt roads / highways back then and bump steer was really a dangerous problem .
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The ‘ Push & Pray ‘ brakes were never overly good but taking the time to properly adjust the linkages to the *exact* 90° @ application plus using woven linings makes it easy to modulate them and lock up as necessary .
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Any brake that can’t be locked up is _UNSAFE_ new or old .
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I looked at a ’27 Willy’s Roadster for $2,500 a few years back ~ the entire car is slightly built and willowy .
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Not my cuppa tea, I preferred my ‘A’ Model Fords .
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I love this car .
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FWIW, spring steel bumpers *work* ~ I smacked into the back of one of my ‘A’ Model Fords once, going about 25 ~ 30 in my ’46 Chevy pickup ~ the ‘A’ bounced me back out the driveway and back into the street in an instant, no damage to either bumper .
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-Nate
Thanks for the pointers on the brakes, Nate! Getting the brakes right is going to be key for this car. Scott will tackle one issue at a time at his leisure.
It seems the spring steel bumpers did a bang up job in protecting the cars and banging up the passengers.
You’re most welcome .
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Vehicles like these were _designed_ to weep, seep and drip lubricants a lot so 99 % of the time the gearbox is low and the steering box is dry .
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It’s critical to never, _EVER_ put grease into any steering gearbox ! . I mostly use EP gear oil and top it up as necessary, in daily driver’s about once a month, for Hobby Vehicles whenever they’re dragged out for the weekend or whatever .
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Adding a rare earth magnet ($5 a package of small disc ones @ Harbor Freight) to the nose of both drain and filler plugs in the tranny, rear end, steering box etc. will collect SWARF and sharply reduce wear .
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Making these oldies run is really quite simple once you learn their ins and outs, they want & need fairly constant attention .
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I don’t recommend flushing, I use Diesel rated oils and HOT change them often, the first couple changes @ 50 miles will amaze you with all the old dirt and Paraffin gunk then they’ll remain pretty clear between changes .
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OIL IS THE CHEAPEST MECHANIC =8-) .
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-Nate
Great fun, thank you.
Very good write up Wolfgang. I love that original interior! Dodge Brothers used a similar ‘automatic dip stick’ in their cars of this era. I’m slowly restoring a 1925 DB touring car that was too rusted to drive as-is. The rear wheels only braking does take some getting used to for sure. When I got them properly adjusted, it was possible to lock up the wheels but the Dodge has large drums (14 in) with external contracting brakes. Is first gear on the Willy’s a super low stump puller?
Mike, I really came to appreciate and like the Dodge Brothers’ cars when the Dodge Club had their annual meet here in town a few years back. The Dodge steering wheels too have an oval cross section, however the long sides are on the sides. Holding it I found it also ergonomically pleasing. I hope you will write about your 1925 now and then.
First gear in the Overland is rather low but I wouldn’t call it a stump puller. Probably good enough to pull itself out of the mud and over a hill.
Wolfgang, this was really a remarkable tour. Between your writing, pictures and video, I not only feel like I was along for the ride, not just now, but I can picture along with Bill and Scott’s grandfather nearly a century ago as he drove along the same roads in the same car.
Simply driving such a survivor must have been a rare enough treat, let alone surrounded by the history and authenticity that surrounded it.
Thanks!
What a delightful article! Reminds me of when I was 16 and got to ride in the cockpit of a Boeing 707. I rode in the by then defunct navigators seat, my uncle was flight engineer. Once in a lifetime experience… try that in todays post 9/11 world
If I recall a lot of folks would attach a “necker” knob on the steering wheel to help drive it.
I think the Willys was night and day compared with a Model T of the same era. The T was very crude which is why despite being cheaper then a Chevy or Willys kept losing market share to them as people(especially in the era of easy credit(aka the 1920’s)) were willing to pony up more money to get a Chevy or Willys or other models.
Nice car, though I was born in 1977, the 1920’s as an era fascinates me.
We have to remember that this was a 1920 car, and that there was no ‘right’ way of designing a car back then. Cars were still a recent invention – for many people, this may well have been their first car.
Take the central accelerator pedal: some Morris models kept this layout well into the thirties, and I’m sure they weren’t the last. The angled quarter-elliptic suspension looks odd to modern eyes, but they seem to work quite well. No doubt there is a reason why this layout didn’t become persist. The window mechanism seems bizarre for a car, but is reminiscent of a period railway carriage. When this was designed, the car was just coming out of the experimental stage,
Thanks you ever so much Wolfgang for taking us along.
RE: Vehicle Design :
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The next Victor W. Paige book you see in a Flea market, pay the $5 (often less) and _read_ it as there certainly WAS a proper way to design Automobiles and he wrotemany volumes about it .
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-Nate
Great car, great pics, great piece.
Thanks for inviting us into an experience few are able to have, that of a functional nearly century old car in a remarkable state of preservation. Personally, I have ridden in a 1927 Whippet and a 1930 Franklin; this car sounds exactly the same as those, probably drives and rides similarly.
Love this! It is amazing how much development took place between this car of 1920 and the Ford Model A I once owned (intro in 1928). I used to think that the brakes on my A sucked, but it at least had them on all four wheels. I have always wondered just how ineffective the external contracting design was in wet weather, but I suppose that the drums will throw water off rather than letting it roll around the inside of a drum.
This car was built during the time Walter Chrysler was running Willys. A nasty post-WWI recession brought the company to its knees, and the bankers hired him for a rescue job. Chrysler had left Buick after being unable to coexist with Billy Durant, and was paid an obscene amount of money for the Willys gig ($1 million a year for 2 years). He left in 1921 after being unable to get control of a majority stake and soon took over Maxwell, which shortly thereafter became the Chrysler Corporation. So there is a much earlier connection between Chrysler and Jeep than most people realize. 🙂
A little while ago Bill and I were talking about this article. He and his family really enjoyed your appreciative and knowledgeable comments. And so do I.
Iowahawk: Bill knew your Great Uncle Frank’s son. Frank Jr. went to the same high school one year behind Bill.
-Nate: your advise will be put to good use!
Now I like to ask you for a favor: as you know the car needs a few parts to be complete, namely two of the three pull controls on the dash and the small mounting panel for these controls, the spark advance mechanism under the hood and the left tail light lens. If you happen to come across these parts or period correct parts please post about it here. Even photos would help so we know better what to look for. Thanks in advance!
What a great article! Thank you. I must watch this video when I’m at home.
Wolfgang
Your 1920’s car post inspired me to wear my 1926 Illinois Square Cut Corner wrist watch. Illinois was a company that was known for making well made pocket watches. They branched into making wrist watches also in the 1920’s before being bought by Hamilton in the late 1920’s and sadly being a casualty of the Great Depression.
I could actually see the original owner of this car wearing a watch like this while driving this car.
Like this 1920 Willys, my 1926 Illinois watch is a bit worn and battered but still runs well for a 90 year old watch thanks to a recent service.
That’s a beauty ! .
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I bet the dial numbers are hand painted radium….
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I have a couple rectangular watches but none this nice/old .
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-Nate
The dial numbers still have the Radium on them but the hands were relumed by my watchmaker(who I bought the watch from) because the lume was gone off the hands( must have become brittle and fell off over the last 90 years)
It is a neat piece of history. Who knows, perhaps it was owned by a famous person? Perhaps it was sold in Chicago(a possibility since the Illinois plant was in Springfield Illinois) and a member of the Capone mob bought it in order to use to time a beer delivery run from a illegal brewery? Perhaps this watch(and owner) survived the 1926 Miami Hurricane?
I love cars but also love collecting watches due to the history of them.
Awesome, thanks for the ride, The oldest car Ive driven was a 28 Ford pickup with the same pedal arrangement, the view out is great compared to modern cars my old Hillman is like that glass all round it makes a nice change.
Thank you so much for making this information & PHOTOs & video available. I’m into family genealogy and this site so helped to get a FEEL for the 1920s.
All the individual motor companies that were absorbed by the giants is fascinating.
My grandparents had a Gardner, which was absorbed by Chevrolet. If “wishes were fishes” I’d wish for an intimate connection to the Gardner like this is for the 1920 Willys Overland 4.
My Father had the Willy-Overland automobile dealership in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1920. Bemidji is in Northern Minnesota. The cars were shipped there on railroad cars.
I’m sure shipping was a problem so that business was short lived.
I have a black rad shell for a 1919 or 1920 Model 4 in beautiful condition. The future owner should contact me with a fair and honest offer. Ken Buhler(250)762-2610