The origins of AM General can be traced to 1903, when the Standard
Wheel Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, expanded its bicycle operation
to include the Overland Automotive Division to manufacture motor vehicles,
and the Overland "Runabout" was introduced.
In 1908, John North Willys purchased the Overland Automotive Company,
which by then was located in Indianapolis, Indiana. As Runabout sales
grew, production was moved in 1908 to the newly purchased Pope-Toledo
automobile manufacturing plant in Toledo, Ohio. In 1912 the Willys-Overland
Company was formed and, in addition to the Runabout, began producing
the Willys-Knight series automobile and the popular "Whippet." In 1936, as the result of a Depression-era bankruptcy reorganization,
the company became Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
In 1940 Willys-Overland Motors, Inc. entered the field of tactical
truck development with the design and manufacture of a prototype for
America's first four-wheel drive 1/4-ton utility truck. After a competitive
bidding process, Willys-Overland was granted the production contract
and began production in 1941. In all, more than 350,000 "Jeeps" were produced during the 1940's in support of the war effort.
As part of the war effort, Willys-Overland also became a supplier of
munitions and military materials, including the "Robomb",
the allied version of the German V-2 rocket, bullet cores, shells, projectiles
and parts for aircraft landing gears.
After the war, Willys-Overland began to explore peacetime uses for
the popular 4x4 Jeep vehicle. The vehicle that grew out of wartime needs
soon became an indispensable machine for peacetime uses. Responding
to the commercial applications of the Jeep, Willys-Overland established
a worldwide system of distribution and services.
With the outbreak of the Korean conflict, Willys-Overland designed
an improved version of the WW II Jeep, the M38 utility truck and its
later version the M38A1. In all, over 150,000 vehicles were produced,
including 5,000 M170 front line ambulances in which the basic body and
chassis of the M38A1 were extended to accommodate litter patients.
In 1953 the facilities, plants and other physical assets of Willys-Overland
were purchased by the Henry J. Kaiser interests and named Willys Motors,
Inc. Under Kaiser management the company continued its interests in
government military and non-military business, including the development
of the M274 weapons carrier.
In 1960 the company began its first civilian government program by
successfully winning a bid to develop and produce a 1/4-ton delivery
van for the U. S. Post Office. Over 14,000 of these 1/4-ton vehicles
were eventually produced at the Toledo plant.
