WILLS SAINTE CLAIRE

C H Wills & Co. (1921-1922)
Wills Sainte Claire Motor Co. (1923-1927)
Marysville, Michigan

This is a Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem (1921-1922)    mjs
Size: 50mm diameter    MM: Fox

C Harold Wills was a talented engineer who had worked with Henry Ford and had promoted the development of vanadium steel, which was crucial to the design of the Model T. He had also designed the well known Ford script still in use today. He left Ford to produce the Wills Sainte Claire, which was a 67 hp V-8 automobile using molybdenum, which is even stronger than vanadium.

The first Wills Sainte Claire was delivered in March 1921 after a long period of development and was offered in several body styles. Production had stopped by the end of 1922 because C H Wills was a perfectionist and kept shutting down the plant to make improvements to the car.

Wills began again in 1923 when he organized the Wills Sainte Claire Motor Company. An in-line six-cylinder model was added to the line in 1925 partly to offer a lower priced car, as the V-8 was very expensive to produce. But production numbers were too low to achieve a profit and the company ceased production in 1927. 

Emblems

The radiator emblem chosen by Harold Wills shows a Canadian gray goose in flight. The gray goose was known for its embodiment of speed and endurance and had been admired for years by Wills, who said that they were "the wisest, freest travelers of the skies".

The first Wills Sainte Claire automobiles in 1921 carried the white, pale blue, darker blue and black enamel Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post. This Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem is rare.

There was a special tail light with a Wills St Claire decorated cover, see example shown below:

Wills St Claire tail light (1922)   conceptcarz

There was a change in the Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem in 1923, or from late 1922 for the 1923 model year, to the white, pale blue and black enamel Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem shown below. This Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem is scarce. 

This is a Wills Sainte Claire radiator emblem (1923-1927)  mjs
Size: 50mm diameter    MM: D L Auld

Emblem collectors should beware as there are reproduction Will St Claire radiator emblems with no makers mark some with plain backs and some with a single central threaded stud, see example shown below:

This is a reproduction Will St Claire radiator emblem  vintique

The following is a Will Sainte Claire hub emblem. This Wills Sainte Claire hub emblem is scarce.

This is a Wills Sainte Claire hub emblem (1921-1927)  mjs
Size: 53mm diameter   MM: None 

The following is a Wills Sainte Claire hubcap face:

This is a Wills Sainte Claire hubcap face     mjs
Size: 63mm high 63mm wide