- The Willys Overland
The Willys Overland is the most exquisite one ! This car was made in 1909 by the same company that became famous for making Willys Jeeps in the ll World War till the mid sixties. This particular car is a Single Owner Family car till date and is now with the third generation, Owned by North Indian Family the Sood's from Chennai. The great grand son found it in a old factory barn buried half under the mud & junk, condition not even worth recognising what car it could be and sent it to Tutu Dhawan in June of 2005 for re-building, a Internationally known car builder and restorer. He took six years to rebuild this car almost from nothing, with only photographs to help him rebuild the car now available from the net. The most unique part of this car is that it can start and run without a battery. The engine has a magneto and the Wing and the Tail Lamps work on 'Kerosene'. "One of the Oldest car , Willys Overland 1909, that we have re-built from almost nothing, came as scrap packed in gunny bags from Chennai, almost 5 years back has been delivered to its Respectful owner today 15thDec2011. This has been a single Owner car ever since and came to us ----- supposedly as a 'Ford "T" Model' but later while we were working on the scrap we found a Overland Casting mark on the Engine block, hence, did a research and found it was actually a 1909 Willys Overland with a 4 Cylinder Magneto Fired Ignition 14HP engine, a single lubrication system between the Engine & Gear box. The Best part is that this Engine "DOES NOT HAVE A OIL PUMP" and runs on "SPLASH LUBRICATION" philosophy and has a common Lubrication between the Engine & the Gear box including the Clutch Assembly. This has Mechanical Brakes and Clutch, a non-syncro gearbox and does not even have a Water Pump (Convection Cooling) --- that was nothing unusual in that era cars but the entire front & rear suspension is lubricated through 'OIL DRIP CANNESTERS' mounted on each of the King Pins & Tierod Ends, plus Knuckles etc.--------- These are some of the High Lights of the car besides the difference between the Drivers Cabin( All Wooden Compartment and no carpet---Please Note) & the Plush/ Carpeted, please don't not forget to notice the Little Foot Rests in front for the "Lord's Footwear". Besides this it has Kerosene Fired Front & rear Lamps and was that time one of the best type of automobiles available for the "Rich & the Famous". This car did not require a Battery to start & could either be 'Crank or Push Started' and then the 'Night Journey' could be done with the "Kero Lamps" in Front & Rear. In any cars in those days Labour was even more, in Abundance and one could hire a Flag Boy who would actually Run The Entire Route of the Lordship with a red Flag & a Whistle in Front of the entire Journey."
