It was 1953. When they bought it, they changed the Willys-Overland Inc. name to
Willys Motors Inc.. They operated it that way until 1964 when they decided to
get rid of the Willys name and started to phase in the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation name.
>Another point in question (at least for me): Did American Motors have a General
>Products Division prior to their acquisition of Willys -Overland Motors? Seems to
>me they did. If so, Am General has no claim to be descended from Willys.
AMC bought Kaiser-Jeep Corporation, not Willys-Overland Motors. To shed some
more interesting light is the South Bend plant was the old Studebaker plant that
Kaiser bought in 1964. I always assumed the General Products Division (or whatever
it was called at the time) was created after that purchase. So I guess you could say
AM General was derived directly from the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation (who's own history
is linked to the original Willys-Overland Motors Inc.)
Todd Paisley
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