193ci L-Head Inline 6-Cylinder Engine
Single Downdraft Carburetor
65bhp at 3,400rpm
3-Speed Manual Transmission
4-Wheel Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension
4-Wheel mechanical Drum Brakes

*Rarely seen Willys Roadster
*Nicely preserved, older restoration
*Powered by the Silver Streak six
*First year for the synchronized transmission in Willys's lineup
*A lovely AACA tour car

THE WILLYS SIX

The original Overland car was developed in the early 1900s by the Standard Wheel Company of Terre Haut, Indiana, which had already changed hands once before John North Willys, a New York auto dealer and major Overland customer, arrived to rescue it from oblivion in 1907. Building four-cylinder cars only from 1910, the revitalised company went from strength to strength, production increasing steadily until by the start of WWI only Ford could claim a higher output.

Although the Overland had gone in 1926, Willys would expand to offer a line-up of cars ranging from the four-cylinder Whippet to the Willys-Knight with its sleeve-valve sixes. '31 saw the end of the Whippet and by '32 the lineup had been consolidated between L-head straight sixes and eights running up to sleeve-valve Willys-Knight sixes at the top of the model range with a range of body styles offering just about every variety of two- and four-door models in both open and closed styles.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

The Series 6-90, known as the Silver Streak, was Willys's long wheelbase model with a 113" span between the wheels and offering 11 different body styles—more than any other model in the Willys lineup. This '32 Rumble Seat Roadster retailed for $545 new and featured a new synchronized Warner-Gear transmission. Powered by Willys's "100,000 Mile Silver Streak Motor" that was advertised to meet "every test of quality and thrift", it ranked among the most reasonably priced six-pot powered roadsters available.

This car's early history is unknown, but records show it was in Suffulk County, New York in the early 1980s and was sold on November 16, 1981 to one Roy E. Minor of Harford County, New York. Mr. Minor would eventually sell the car to Henry Snyder from whose estate it would pass to the Heritage Museum. Restored at some point, likely more than 20 years ago, the car still shows well today in its handsome black and navy color scheme over black interior with contrasting yellow wheels.

A lovely little machine that would be welcome at any local car show or AACA tour, this rare Willys is ready to rumble into the next owner's garage.