The 1940 Willys Americar is an iconic pre-war American car produced by Willys-Overland Motors. It was a compact and affordable vehicle, known for its good performance. The Americar’s design featured classic styling with rounded lines and a distinctive grille. Originally built as an economical car, it later became a popular base for hot rod customization due to its lightweight frame and adaptability for modifications.

Setting the stage, here is a 1939 Willys Overland design that was given a major facelift for the 1940 model year.

A 1940 Willys 440.  Running boards are gone.  Front fenders are slightly reshaped so that headlights could be smoothly blended in.  The hood prow is less aggressive and the grille ensemble has been moved forward and redesigned.

This basic ’40 coupe has less chromework on the front of the hood than the sedan in the previous image.

Here is a 1941 Americar 4-door sedan that is essentially the same as the year before.  The 1940 facelift included a modest bustle-back and a six-window passenger compartment.  As the plight of the model shows, the back seating area is cramped on a car of this comparatively small (for the USA) size.

1941 Americar Coupe.  This model year Willys can be identified by its grille lacking a large center bar.

Americars for 1942 were little changed.  The grille got a new center bar (compare to 1940) and running boards reappeared.

The Americar Coupe for 1942.

Willys cars were on the way out, being replaced by Jeep production.  Shown here at Fort Holabird, Maryland is a 1941 Americar next to an early version of the Jeep.