My UK-made Overland Model 90

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My PreWarCar

This popular US car is one of over 180 000 built between 1917 and 1919. But this specimen is a particularly rare UK-made Overland Model 90 from 1918, in oily-rag state, still with its original paint and in Poland since new.

The car was assembled in the Willys-Crossley plant (Willys Overland Crossley Plant, Crossley Road, Heaton Chapel, Stockport near Manchester) as one from the first batch of the first series of cars. After World War I the car was taken to Poland by British soldiers. Together with French troops, they maintained order in Upper Silesia where there was conflict between Poland and Germany, to which country Silesia belonged. The allies decided to hold a plebiscite. After the election in 1922, the Overland was sold to Mr. Kalisz, chief of the locomotive depot in Katowice. He used the car until 1937 and after this date put her in long term storage.

The Overland stayed with the Kalisz family until 1979 when my father bought the car. It was stored on our estate until 2018. After 18 months of hard work we were finally able to take it out on the road – although still in its original condition, as a silent witness to the recovery of Upper Silesia by Poland after World War I.

It is a very nice car to do drive and has a lot of torque. You can easily do 70 kilometres per hour and, surprisingly, the band brakes are pretty good!

Words and pictures by Maciek Peda from Poland.

Thank you very much, Maciek, for sharing the story of your 1918 Overland. We are very pleased to hear it is back on the road and being enjoyed after all these years. This video shows Maciek test driving the Overland.

Would you also like to tell other PreWarCar enthusiasts about your car? This can vary from the history to a restoration project or a drive report. Anything that could be of interest to other enthusiasts in the classic car community. You can do this by commenting below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

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