Editor’s note: David Krumboltz’s regular column is on hiatus until further notice due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In its place, we’re running some of Dave’s favorite past columns. This one originally ran in November 2018.

One hundred forty-five years ago an American auto pioneer was born in New York state. He was a go-getter from the get-go. From his childhood days, he bought and sold items and made money.  By the time he was 18, he was in the bicycle business and was so successful he bought the entire production from two bicycle manufacturers. Many of us are familiar with the Willys Jeep, but there is quite a history behind the name of John North Willys (pronounced Will-is) before the first Jeep was ever planned. While he was an early pioneer in the car business, his name is not nearly as well-known as others like Henry Ford or Walter P. Chrysler.

Willys was on a business trip to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1899 when he saw his first car. He was mesmerized. He noticed the tremendous interest people showed seeing a horseless carriage drive down the street. Thinking ahead, Willys recognized the potential and decided the car would replace the bicycle, horse and railroad.  He started selling Pierce cars in 1900 and Rambler, made by Thomas Jeffery, in 1902. By 1907 he had acquired control of the Overland Company and in 1909, the same year the Model T Ford was introduced, Willys produced the Overland Model 38. Overland became second only to Ford from 1910 to 1926, the end of the Model T Ford production.

Indiana businessman Charles Knight, born five years before Willys, published a Midwest farm journal called “Dairy Produce.” Knight bought an early Knox automobile in 1901 for his business. It was a single-cylinder, air-cooled, three-wheel machine with noisy valves which irritated him. He thought he could build a better, quieter engine based on his experience he had with sleeve valve engines at his father’s sawmill. And he did. With the financial backing of L. B. Kilbourne, a four-cylinder, 40 HP engine was built and installed in what he called the “Silent Knight” touring car for the 1906 Chicago Auto Show priced at $3,500 (almost $100,000 in today’s dollars).

In 1913, John Willys met Charles Knight. The “sleeve valve” engine eliminated lifters, push rods, valves, valve springs and rocker arms. It was a superior engine, very quiet and durable, but more expensive to build. A license was acquired to build the sleeve valve engine and the Willys-Knight was born. Other companies, including Mercedes, used the Knight sleeve valve engine design until 1933.

Pleasant Hill resident and retired police officer Jack Harper acquired this 1928 Willys-Knight in 2001. It was literally a barn find with some surprises. “There were wasp nests and yellow-jacket nests everywhere. In the engine compartment, in the horn, the headliner, everywhere. It took me a while to get rid of all those.” He paid $4,000 and it didn’t run. But Harper is a patient man, and he knew it would be difficult to acquire parts for this car. “I was willing to go anywhere in the United States to get a (second) car, as there are not very many of them left. I searched on the internet for five years and I found another car, same year, same model, same make and I bought it. It was in Fort Bragg. It had sat in a field in Santa Rosa for 35 years.” Harper had a high school friend who rebuilt the engine from the second car and installed it in the first. It took about a year and a half. Harper kept the original engine, for spare parts.

The 1928 Willys-Knight was a mid-priced car when new, competing with cars like Buick. List price in 1928 was about $2,000 or about $28,500 in today’s dollars. “That was about twice the price of a Ford,” Harper stated, “and they were 21,000 of this particular model made in 1928.”

The 45 HP, 109-inch wheelbase car is equipped with a three-speed, floor mounted shift that requires double clutching to change gears. The car has mechanical brakes and wooden spoke wheels. “I spent about 50 hours sanding each wheel,” Harper said. He drives this car about three times a week, has installed a new clutch, and a twelve-volt electrical system including an alternator for better starting. The brake light switch didn’t work and he couldn’t find a new one. “I found the original old switch from my stockpile of old car parts, soaked in vinegar for about a week, took it apart and put it back together and it works perfectly.”

The owner estimates the current market value between $15,000 and $20,000. “It would be worth more if it were completely restored.” Right now, it is a work in process. The fenders and running boards have been repainted but the green body paint is original, 90 years old, as is the interior.

“This car has consumed my life,” says Harper. “It’s every day, every night I’m out here putting it together. But this is the most fun I have ever had with a car.”

Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.