The 1950s Willys concept elevator car were intend to create excitement for the declining Willys corporation . They could n’t prevent the caller ’s demise in the U.S. , but they did go to unexpected winner in South America .
The Aero - Willys was n’t America ’s first postwar compact , but it was arguably the good . Besides an impeccable pedigree - engineer by the distinguished Clyde Paton , formerly of Packard ; styled by the inventive Phil Wright , creator of the beautiful 1933 Pierce Silver Arrow – the Aero was roomier than Nash ’s pioneering Rambler , faster than the Henry J , as solid as Hudson ’s Jet , and better - wait than any of them .
With all this , the debut 1952 Aeros sell quite well . Then Kaiser Motors Corporation bought Willys - Overland , and the Aero went to the same wall as the Kaiser . The writing on that wall was unmingled : a dwindling , demoralized principal soundbox ; a doubtful public fearful of being stuck with orphan ; an undeserved report for pitiable reliability . Thus did Willys build its final U.S. railcar for 1955 ( as did Kaiser ) .
Like other neglect automakers , Willys go out behind many plan for next mannequin . Happily , these have live in photographs and written records . They ’ve advise that American buyer miss out on some of Willys ’s best ideas .
The first was an Aero station Plough that would have give in for 1955 had Willys remained independent for 1956 as first protrude by Kaiser . And it would have been a hardtop black Maria without B - posts , not a pillared pseudo - hardtop like Chevy ’s new - for-1955 Nomad .
deoxycytidine monophosphate - mail were gracefully twist , while the roof extended slightly past a roll - down tailgate window framed by slim D - pillars . Styling below the beltline was pure stock Aero . Had it come off , Willys would have dumbfound General Motors – though maybe not American Motors – to hardtop station wagon , but the notion plain went no further than a unmarried 3/8 - scale Lucius DuBignon Clay model .
Slated to debut a bit later was an ultra - sleek Aero - based hardtop , a likely replacement for the original Eagle / Bermuda . Only one example of this figure has been found . It shows missile - like front wing with profoundly " frenched " headlamp , plus a down hood , lots of glass , and a well - formed overall shape . This car would have been as sensational in its twenty-four hour period as Studebaker ’s 1953 " Loewy coupes , " but it was a long - shot with no real hope .
The Willys were redesigned so as to create inflammation and boost sale . Continue on to the next page to learn more about the fresh intention .
For more on concept cars and the production models they forecast, check out:
Redesigning the Aero-Willys Concept Cars
After purchasing Willys , Kaiser focused on redesign the Aero - Willys concept car in 1953 .
Two designers calculate prominently in Willys ’s last days as a auto manufacturer : former Kaiser - Frazer designer Buzz Grisinger and the redoubtable Howard A. " Dutch " Darrin . After completing design work on the 1954 Kaiser , Grisinger left K - F to form a partnership consulting firm with Rhys Miller . They submitted an entry for the Continental Mark II labor , and then in 1953 twist their attention to redesign the Aero - Willys .
The two work in a separate , or " hush-hush , " expanse in K - F ’s Willow Run , Michigan , plant , away from other Willys proposals : Grisinger did most of the front - last workplace , Miller the rear close .
A major proposed facelift on the existing Willys bodyshell resulted , but using all - new sheetmetal front and rear . A mere side mold just below the beltline sweep unbroken from hooded headlamps to the rearward buffer , where it crowned inset taillights .
The hood was both downsloped and conspicuously domed to play a forwards - tilt , mesh - fill grille wearing a large three - pointed " spinner " ; the grille talk down to a slim full - breadth lower subdivision sporting a secret parking lamp at each end .
A svelte wraparound bumper finish an supporting players that intermix looks from Studebakers retiring and time to come : the 1950 - 1951 " bullet nose " and Raymond Loewy ’s 1956 Hawk .
Another Aero facelift was craft by Dutch Darrin , then working as a freelancer . fundamentally it traverse the Henry J with his 1954 Kaiser - Darrin fun railway car – belike on determination .
Acquiring Willys had made the Aero an intramural competitor to Kaiser ’s own covenant , so Dutch may have been endeavor to fit in the two ( though fast - falling sales prompted Kaiser to give up on the Henry J after 1954 ) .
Here , it was the rearward end that owed something to contemporary Studebakers , with a deck slope down between enlongated fenders carry upright taillamps above a prominent bumper . Up front was a plate - work " rosebud " grille not unlike that of the short - lived sport car , while the Henry J was echoed in front roulette wheel wells surround by exchangeable elliptical " speed lines . "
Intriguingly , Darrin nestle an exhaust interface in each end of the rear bumper , as on menstruum Cadillacs . This propose that a V-8 or at least a hotter Aero six was being contemplated . But though Kaiser had operate on a V-8 , it never managed to offer up one in its own motorcar or any Willys . A pity , for a V-8 would probably have turned the already sprightly Aero into quite a bomb .
Even though a smashing effort was put forth to keep the company successful , Aero - Willys stop production in the U.S. , and found young life in Brazil . carry on on to the next page to see photos and memorise more .
The End of Aero-Willys in the U.S.
Early 1955 was the end of Aero - Willys in the U.S. Kaiser decided to stop output . However , the company come up renewed life in Brazil .
Given the industriousness ’s then - common three - class lede metre for getting new designs output - ready , both Darrin and Grisinger likely aim their facelifts for 1956 , certainly no in the beginning than 1955 .
Neither restyle would have been especially expensive or hard to tool around . But in the end , there was no reason to tug ahead with anything . In early 1955 , Kaiser decide to give up construction cars in the U.S. and to draw its circumstances with Jeep vehicle , which even then were spinning money as they do today .
But just as Kaiser found renewed life in Argentina ( as the Carabela ) , the Aero - Willys found haven of its own – in Brazil . Built by another Kaiser subsidiary , Willys do Brasil , it carried on through 1962 as a cleaned - up 1955 four - door sedan with Willys ’s old low - compression F - school principal six ( to beseem Brazil ’s very broken - octane petrol ) and a beef up structure ( to cope with the country ’s poorer route ) .
For 1963 , famed Milwaukee - based house decorator Brooks Stevens lend oneself fine-looking new straight - rig extinct panels , and the gondola proceed with few other changes all the way through 1972 , first as the Aero - Willys 2600 , then the Willys Itamaraty , and in conclusion as the Ford Itamaraty ( Dearborn having get Willys do Brasil via American Motors in 1967 ) .
That ’s eloquent testimony to the Aero ’s sound original innovation . A disgrace it was n’t further evolve – or more appreciated – in its aboriginal land .
