These three Kaiser-Willys ads demonstrate a national campaign ad offering to dealers who wanted to share the news that Kaiser and Willys vehicles were being sold under the same brand. Though the purchase was announced in the spring of 1953, the ad campaign was introduced until the fall of 1953 after the sale was completed (See the June 1953 ad at bottom that introduces a new dealer, but doesn’t mention Kaiser).
The imagery and order of the blocks is interesting. Though Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland’s assets, for the extensive network of Willys dealers the experience was the opposite; they were adding Kaiser products to their Willys sales portfolios. I expect this explains why the Kaiser block is pictured being added to the Willys block rather than the other way around.
This ad was published on November 05, 1953, in The Times out of Shreveport, Louisiana, by Dixie Kaiser-Willys.
This ad was published on October 08, 1953, in the Birmingham News, out of Birmingham, Alabama, by the Roy Bridges & Co., Inc.
This ad was published on November 15, 1953, in the Great Falls Tribune, out of Montana, by Robinson Motor Co.
A June 5, 1953, full-page ad out of California introduced Haley Motors, a new “Willys” dealer. Though the merger had been announced, it wasn’t finalized until the fall of 1953; this likely explains why there was no mention of Kaiser in this ad.
