Rear-Wheels at the Ready

In the days following WWII, many American manufacturing companies abruptly transitioned from the business of powering the Allied war machine overseas to powering a great economic expansion at home.

Willys-Overland, a struggling automaker before the war, distinguished itself in battle as the maker of the rugged quarter-ton MB jeep (which Ford also manufactured under license.) Willys emerged from the war financially in the black and continued as a defense contractor, but it also wanted to get back to building cars for the American public--especially with the postwar demand for new vehicles soaring. But Willys didn't have the capacity to stamp complex body panels, so building a car to compete with, say, the curvaceous 1949 Ford, was out of the question. Thus, its first postwar offering was a military Jeep in civvies--the now legendary CJ series.

Not to be left out of the civilian automobile market altogether, however, plucky Willys then hired designer Brooks Stevens and asked him to create a vehicle that was all new, but could draw heavily from the Jeep's parts bins, topped with a body that could be fabricated out of simple sheetmetal panels. In 1946, Willys rolled out its all-new, station wagon--its body bristling with right angles and riding high atop a two-wheel-drive chassis. (Four-wheel drive wouldn't arrive as an option until 1949). A sturdy-looking little pickup followed in May of 1947, offered with the buyer's choice of either a two-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive powertrain, and initially known simply as 2T or 4T. With its blunt front end, slat grille and flat-top front fenders, the Willys pickup's kinship to the CJ was obvious, and it shared its boxy all-steel cab with the wagon.

Like the wagon and CJ, the truck was powered by Willys's Go Devil four-cylinder L-head engine. The Go Devil used in the pickups was identical in design to the engine used in the Jeep, with only minor component differences. It was a very reliable powerplant, but with just 60hp and 105-lb.ft. of torque on tap, it needed deep gears to help it tackle heavy hauling and towing chores. Subsequently, the Spicer 41 axle in the 2T was loaded with a 5.38:1 final drive gear ratio as standard, with 6.17 gears optional. (Taller gear sets were used with more powerful engines in later trucks.) A Warner three-speed transmission was the only gearbox available and initially only offered with column shift, but that was changed to a floor shift in 1949.

Curiously the trucks' rear suspension appears identical, but Willys 4x4 trucks carried a one-ton rating, while the two-wheel drives were rated as 1/2-tons, though a one-ton two-wheel drive was reportedly also available. Up front, the two-wheel-drive trucks rode on an I-beam axle hung from leaf springs.

Willys two-wheel-drive trucks sold reasonably well, but after 1951 the company chose to focus its efforts on building only 4x4 pickups. Two-wheel-drive wagons and deliveries continued until 1965.

While Willys was tooling up for post-war pickup and station wagon production, employees of another American military contractor were changing their focus from building glider airplanes to building small pleasure boats. When the orders from Uncle Sam stopped rolling in, the staff at Allied Aviation in Dundalk, Maryland, took the knowledge they'd gained building molded-plywood gliders for the Navy and began building molded-mahogany boat hulls. The operation was shifted to Cockeysville, Maryland, where three of the former Allied Aviation employees began making lightweight molded-wood canoes and sailboats which they sold to the military. Soon, the new company, Molded Products, was building its own line of all-mahogany plywood boats for the consumer market under the Whirlwind brand name. By 1952, Whirlwind had a 13-boat lineup including 12-foot, 13-foot, 14-foot and 16-foot offerings.

So other than both being postwar business success stories, what do the histories of these seemingly dissimilar vehicles, the Willys pickup and the Whirlwind boat, have to do with one another? Not much, unless you've met Brian and Lois Smith of Northborough, Massachusetts. The Smiths have owned a 1957-vintage 14-foot Whirlwind boat powered by a period-correct Johnson outboard for many years, but recently decided they needed a truck from roughly the same era to tow it around.

"We go to Bristol, New Hampshire, for the Fourth of July and they have an Independence Day parade," Lois said. "Brian kept saying we should have a period-appropriate vehicle to tow the boat in the parade, and he found this Willys."

Brian had long been a fan of Willys vehicles and discovered this Luzon Red 1947 Willys 2T pickup for sale in Florida. He was impressed with its overall condition and even more intrigued because it was an early two-wheel drive rather than one of the more common four-wheel-drives.

"I wasn't looking for a two-wheel-drive truck," Brian said. "I was just looking for a truck in excellent condition. This was a really good find: 972 is the production number, which means it was built during the first month of production in 1947. It's in remarkable condition, with the original glass and largely original wiring; it also has an early production rubber step pad on the side that's still intact."

When the truck arrived in January 2011, its body and interior were in great shape, but the Smiths decided to perform a mechanical restoration to get the truck driving as well as it looked. Brian removed the Go Devil engine and took it to a rebuilder for an overhaul, but rebuilt the truck's Warner T-90 E three-speed transmission himself. With the engine back from the shop, he reassembled the drivetrain with a new clutch assembly and a new exhaust system, plus he added a period-correct accessory oil filter.

Today, the Willys sees fair-weather road use, making trips to local shows and events. "If the trip is within 50 miles, we drive the truck, but if it's further than that, we trailer it," Lois said.

It's happiest at speeds around 45 MPH, according to the Smiths, and having the added weight of the boat trailer in tow helps smooth out the ride. Unfortunately, when we encountered the Smiths' Willys at a summer cruise-in at Hemmings's Bennington, Vermont, headquarters, the couple's Whirlwind boat wasn't tagging along, but the immaculate truck was drawing plenty of attention from admirers on its own.

"People's eyes are really drawn to that truck," Lois said. "People come up and tell us, my father had a truck like that or my grandfather had a truck like that. It brings back good memories for people--it's been a good conversation starter."