The Winslow mail., 1925-06-12
Trend of Motor Cars
Toward Permanent
Longtime Service
By JOHN N. WILLYS,
President Willys-Overland Co.,
Toledo. Ohio.

Toledo, Ohio.
Trend in motor car body and me-
chanical design throughout the in
dustry in late years has been to-
ward longevity. Motor experts state
that the average life of cars now
produced is eight years. Manufac-
turers feature the fact in their adj
vertising and sales data that their
cars will stand up for eight to ten
years with reasonable care.
The day of the so-called zone
year car" has long since passed.
Your far-sighted manufacturer is
working with the thought in min6
of giving the public a car that will
not only stand up satisfactorily as
long as the gloss of newness is
upon it, but will serve the owner
for a good many seasons and
good many thousands of miles.
Our sales and service depart
ments have innumerable records of
cars which have been in use for
this length of time. We have a
WHY'S Knight engine which has
travelled more than 100000 miles in
police and fire service in Toledo
and is now being used in truck.
Out in California there is a WHY'S
Knight coupe which has passed
through the hands of three owners
and has travelled more than 150,
900 miles without once having the
cylinder head removed A taXicab
operator in Chicago drove a WHY'S
Knight cab more than $4,000 miles
to the complete satisfaction OF
their owners.
Only just the other day we re-
ceived word from driver Of an
Overland car of the year 1908 who
had just given his 17-year-old We
hicle a fresh coat of paint. Last
year this car carried him from
Wichita, Kan, to Pixies Peak and
back again.
Motor car design has become
more and more standardized. In
the earlier days of the industry
experiment and development sue
ceeded each other at such rapid
pace that new models were brought
out every few months to take care
of these Gradually this system was
altered so that it became the vogue
to bring out a new model each
year. Some manufacturers still
adhere to this policy.
But the greater number of stand
ard motor car builders today bring
out new models only when it is felt
hof nbo IF c1Inh radical
nature or so numerous as to war
rant designation of the car by a
new model number or letter.
For instance, Willys-Overland
products for the last six years have
been we'll standardized. In 1919 we
first brought out the Overland and
Willys-Knight four-cylinder models
which have served as the basis of
our production ever since. Nat
urally. over a pe"'Od of six years
there are bound to be new devel-
opments and refinen ents. These
have been included in our product.
Body lines have been altered to
meet newer styles. improvements
in motor and chassis construction
nave JdhCu place. DSibEt1 LOI Ucl =
loon tires swept throueh the indus
try and this meant reGesigning OF
the chassis ITO take care of this
equipment.
But fundamentally there has beer
little change The wheelbase.
spring suspension and general de
sign of the two cars is much the
S me.
WHY'S Overland experience is
analogous to that of the majority
of established autom Ob;le builders.
Take a 1910 model OF any standard
make. Compare it with 1911
model of the same make. Then
compare the models of each sue
ceeding year until 1915. Compare
1916 cars with 1919 and 1920 and
then compare the models of 1920
with 1925. Scarcely without ex
ception you will note greater
changes in appearance and mechan-
ical specifications in each year from
1910 to 1915 than you note in the
periods of 1916 to 1919 and from
1920 to 1925 A 1920 model Over
land or Willys-Knight is by no
means as out of date in appear
ance today as a 1910 model was in
1911.