The Overland Company
1903-1908
- Overland started in 1903 as a division of Standard Wheel Company, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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- After an explosion at the Standard factory
in 1904, that company withdrew their support, and Claude Cox, the
founder, was able to purchase the company outright for 8000 dollars.
In 1906, John North Willys, their largest dealer(in Elmira, New York) came to the factory to check on his order of over 500 automobiles, for which he had placed a $10,000 deposit.
After finding that the hapless carbuilder had insufficient cash to even finish the orders in hand for the year, he took over the company and it rose to prominence.-
- In 1908 the firm was moved to Toledo, Ohio, after which it was known as Willys-Overland.