C. H. Wills and Company

C. Harold Wills (1878-1940) began working as a draftsman for Henry Ford in 1902. When the Ford Motor Company was organized in 1903, Wills was its chief engineer and metallurgist. He designed every Ford car until he resigned in 1919. Deciding to manufacture his own car, Wills selected Marysville, a hamlet of 200 on the banks of the St. Clair River, as the site for C. H. Wills & Company. In 1921 the first overhead-cam, V-8 Wills Sainte Claire was produced. Remembered for its Flying Gray Goose radiator emblem, it utilized strong, lightweight molybdenum steel and was the first car to have back-up lights. Hydraulic brakes, balloon tires and a six-cylinder engine were added before the factory closed in 1926, having produced 14,000 cars. The property was purchased by the Chrysler Corporation in 1935.