I suspect that one reason Willys-Overland did not pursue adding a woody wagon to its Model-77 line up was its impending bankruptcy in later 1933.
The company would emerge from its financial disaster as in 1936 and the 77 would continue on selling as the cheapest car of the time for about $500.
The Model 77 sat on a smallish 100-inch wheelbase and was powered by a 48 horsepower four-cylinder engine. When the sedan body translated into a
four-door station wagon some design clashes occurred. It surely is a cute-looking wagon but the way the doors needed to be engineered, it started
taking on some weirdness. Take a look at this aftermarket build which has a drivers door that is about a half the size of a regular car door.
This body could well have been the work of station wagon body builders U.S. Body & Forging or Mufflinburg or?. U.S. Body & Forging would later
build the bodies for the 1940 Willys wagons.
Interestingly, it features three rows of seats and roll down rear canvas, surly making it one cold and uncomfortable drive in the winter.
This wagon body may have worked much better if it had been a two-door as it must have been a difficult entry and exit in this configuration,
if the driver actually used the drivers door. I suspect that the owner would have quickly found that entry from the passengers side was much
easier to achieve in this compact size wagon. This wagon was part of a custom order for the Gardner Merrick Survey Service. Another idea
were cuteness did not prove practical in service!
classicwoodys 