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Early 1950s: The W Logo

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(This is an extension of the hubcap post above, but also covers how the angular W was used in other ways)

In 1952, Willys-Overland introduced the Aero line of cars. They sported a new hubcap that featured only the W, along with a W on the front of the car and Willys script along the side.

The hubcap would be used throughout the Aero car line for the next four years.

1952-05-03-sateveningpost-aero-ad-pg78-lores

Note that this May 03, 1952, ad from the Evening post includes the Jeep logo and the new angled W logo for marketing purposes. The anglular W logo would end up on the front of Aeros, on the covers of a variety of documents as well, such as parts catalogs.

The 1952 Mechanic’s Manual below shows how the W logo was used on covers.

1952-mechanics-manual

1952 Manual with the W logo on it.

This page is from a 1952 owner’s manual; it demonstrates that the Willys-Overland Export Company had already been formed by 1952, so it was a pre-Kaiser creation.

1952-owners-manual-w

Here’s a good shot of the angular W on the grille on they 1952 Aero Ace. Note the Willys script logo along the passenger side fender.

willys-aero-w

In 1954, I’m sure just to make my life documenting hubcap history more difficult, Willys introduced a new hubcap with a circle around the W on the Willys Aero Ace. What other models may have sported this hubcap I couldn’t say:

1954-willys-aero-ace-hubcap

Also, in 1954, Willys offered a dual concentric circle hubcap, a design used later on the  Surreys (Galas) starting in 1959. However, these were all red. The one below looks like it could have been an aero cap:

red-hubcap-willys-aero

1954-aero-eagle

1954 Aero Eagle

In 1955, Willys Motors introduced the Willys Bermuda, which sported a brand new hubcap design:

1955-willys-bermuda-hubcap

The Aero cars were discontinued in 1955, with some (or all) tooling eventually shipped to Brazil. The angular W logo would mostly disappear after 1955, but a few ripples remained. For example, the plain W re-appeared on the DJ-3A hub caps starting in 1956,

willys-aero-dj3a-hubcap

Close up of an early DJ-3A hubcap.

Sometime after 1959, with the introduction of the DJ-3A Surreys (and Gala’s for export), Willys re-introduced the concentric circle W hubcap design:

willys-surrey-hubcap

I doubt that this is a complete list of Willys-related hubcaps or of the angular W, so I welcome corrections for those that know more about this than I do!

 

8 Comments on “Early 1950s: The W Logo

  1. Colin Peabody

    Dave-

    The 1955 Willys Bermuda had an even different full size hubcap than the previous Aero sedans. You might check with Glenn to see if he can send you a good photo of the hubcaps that are on his 55 Bermuda The ones I see on the internet don’t blow up well for detail and the photos I have of Glenn’s Bermuda, don’t show the caps well either.

  2. rudy

    The one’s used on the 1954 Willys Aero were painted red like the first hubcap in the picture of the three. A red background was not used on any of the Surrey’s.

  3. David Eilers Post author

    Thanks Rudy. It took some hunting, but I finally found a couple examples.

    – Dave

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