Teens Willloughby Sedan

[29 Chandler]

I am looking for more information on Willoughby bodies from the teens. There is a lot of information about this body builder on coachbuilt.com, but that is one of the only sources I have found so far. We recently acquired what we believe is a Chandler Willoughby sedan from 1914. From what I understand this was the only year that Chandler contracted with Willoughby for their closed car body, the next year they purchased from Springfield. I am looking for pictures of any other Willoughby sedan bodies from the period to help me positively identify the body. In it's current state their are no maker's tags anywhere that I can find. I have found and number stamped into one of the floor boards and was very fortunate to find a paper body number tag hidden all there years behind one of the rear wooden supports. It has the the body number written on it in pencil and what looks like the date of manufacture above the body number. The date is legible for the month and day, but not the year, that part of the paper tag is gone. The date corresponds to a weekday in 1914 so I feel pretty good about the year.

Thanks in advance for any information that adds any more to the history of this body.

[1937hd45]

Could you post a photo? Sedan bodies from this era are not seen that often. Bob

[29 Chandler]

So here are some photos of the sedan. The black and white photo is about what it might have looked like in 1914, the body is very similar. The next photo is our car sitting on the 1920 Chandler frame that it has now in 1921. The color photo is of the car today.

Back in the 20's the car was reportedly used as a traveling car for a Starrett salesman here on the west coast. That might explain the disc wheels and the addition of a second gas tank in the cowl.

[29 Chandler]

Here is a picture of what the closed cars looked like for Chandler in 1915, a very different look.

I think this is a Springfield body on the sedan.

[Guest cben09]

I have found a helpful trick on looking at body and other ID

Take photo with disk camera,,,,AT vareious color setings,,

There are color immages we cant see with nakid eye,,that the

"film" can see,,,this was not possible with old film of course,,

Cheers,,,Ben

[29 Chandler]

For those interested I found a good article on the origins of the sedan body style on the Hemmings site:

http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2010/08/01/hmn_feature13.html

My sedan looks very similar to the 1913 Studebaker sedan shown in this article except that the three door hinges that are very prominent on my body are absent on the Stude.