1929 Willys-Knight 4-Door Sedan Model 66B 🇺🇸

The “Great Six”, also known as Model 66 was introduced in January 1925 as the flagship series, offered a level of sophistication, sportiness, style and standard equipment unmatched by most other cars of the day. The Model 66B was introduced in 1929 and sported a 255 cubic inch straight six sleeve-valve engine with a 82 horsepower output and a 120 inch wheelbase. Among the features, variable-ratio steering, rubber engine mounts, hydraulic shock absorbers and Bijur central lubrication were the most notable.

This 1929 66B four-door sedan was bought by the Nicola Bulgari Car Collection in 2016, from the first owner’s son who quit driving her at the age of 90. The car is in completely original condition down to the paint and interior. In the rear ashtray assembly, there even was an original pack of matches given by the selling dealer in Pittsburgh, PA, to the new owner when he took delivery of the car. Just the hood top had been repainted, as paint had been burned off by the heat generated by the exhaust crossover, a common problem for Willys-Knight vehicles.

Company
Willys Overland

Wheelbase
120in

Interior trim
Tan cloth

Brakes
front and rear drums

Make
Willys Knight

Length
193in

Engine
inline 6 - 255cid

Tires
31x6

Model
66B

Width
71in

Carburetor
1 Tillotson

Original Price
$1,795

Body style
4-door Sedan

Weight
3934lbs

Horsepower
87hp @ 3200rpm

Production
3,934

Model year
1929

Exterior paint
Two-Green

Transmission
Synchro-shift 3-speed manual

The history of this car involves the story of two very strong personalities, John North Willys and Charles Yale Knight. John Willys brought the Overland Co. up from absolutely nothing to America’s second biggest seller, right behind the Ford Model T. Charles Knight was a mechanical gearhead who happened to be the financial editor of the Minneapolis Tribune, and later founder of the Dairy Produce, a magazine based in Chicago aimed at Midwestern farmers. With his interest in machinery, and needing to visit his rural readers, Knight decided to buy an automobile, choosing a three-wheeled single cylinder 1901 Knox. But the engine’s valve clatter annoyed him, so he traded it for a two cylinder 1903 Searchmont, which was even noisier. Both cars used popper valves, like most engines were using back then and still today. Even worse than the noise, the valves didn’t seal properly, heads warped and burned, springs broke, and carbon formed on the valve faces. Essentially, they needed a lot of maintenance and they were extremely noisy, infuriating Knight. He spent a lot of time at the U.S. Patent Office studying other types of valves with the goal of making cars quieter. After rejecting most of the patented designs, he began to investigate the feasibility of a pair of metal sleeves that moved between the piston and the block in time with the four-stroke combustion cycle. As the valve slots registered with similar slots in the block, the fuel/air mixture entered the cylinder from one side and spent gases exited on the other. Charles Knight, after patenting his design, convinced Chicago business-man Bernard Kilbourne of the greatness of his invention, and got from him $150,000 to help him design and develop a car that would showcase the greatness of his idea. The car went into very limited production in 1906 as the “Silent Knight”, a fitting name as the engine was whisper-quiet, with no noise coming from the valve-train. Another benefit was the complete lack of maintenance needed by the engine, in contrast to the standard popper valves. The only real drawback of the new engine was the manufacturing cost, which was much higher than the other power plants.

Though Knight knew he had something special, he also knew from writing about finance that inventors rarely make money from their inventions. For this reason, he decided to sell his engine to automakers rather than building a car by himself. He approached all the American automakers, but the results were disappointing, as nobody was interested. He also tried the European market, and finally Daimler Motor Company in Great Britain decided to purchase the patent to use the new engine. It was a great success, and several other European marques adopted the Knight engine with the stipulation that the Knight name would be added to the brand denomination. By now, even in the States the virtues of this engine were widespread, and several brands adopted it. John Willys had heard about the engine, and had a taste of it during a trip to England, where he rented a Daimler that was equipped with one. He was impressed, and when he heard that the Edward-Knight marque was in financial trouble, he decided to purchase it to secure the rights to the sleeve-valve-engine.

In 1914 the company was renamed Willys-Knight, and soon became the best-selling sleeve-valve engine manufacturer in the world. During its 19 years lifespan, Willys-Knight sold approximately 330,000 cars, until they were phased out in 1933. Conventional valve engines had become much better, with hydraulic lifters quieting them down, and improved metallurgy giving valve, springs and seat inserts tremendous longevity.

While Willys-Overland had always been building low-priced cars, Willys-Knight catered to the medium-high price portion of the market. Their cars were known for good performance and reliability, low engine noise, great comfort, and beautiful styling, signed by Amos Northrup. Unfortunately, the great depression of 1928 killed all the medium priced cars, and the Willys-Knight was no exception.