Childe Harold Wills was the skilled metallurgist responsible for much of the rock-solid characteristics of the original Model T Ford. He departed the Ford Motor Company and established a new concern in Marysville, Michigan, where, from 1921 to 1927, he produced one of America’s truly finest automobiles. The grandly titled Wills Sainte Claire was and remains renowned for its exceptional engineering, which included extensive use of molybdenum steel and various lightweight components. Early models were powered by an overhead-cam V-8 engine, inspired by Hispano-Suiza aeroengines of World War I.

These were fabulous automobiles that were extremely well-built, often very attractive, and superb on the road, with power and handling uncommon to the heavy and slow vehicles of their era. They were also, unfortunately, extraordinarily expensive for the time, which, along with wartime scrap drives, ensured that few survived. Fortunately ownership is supported by a small but highly active group of passionate enthusiasts, via the Wills Sainte Claire Auto Museum in Marysville.

The A-68 touring offered here is the second-earliest known surviving Wills Sainte Claire. It was discovered in a Marin County, California barn in 1951 by the legendary enthusiast Jack Passey. Later acquired by well-known restorer Stu Laidlaw, it was fully restored in his hands and shown at the 1980 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it received the Charles A. Chayne Memorial Trophy. Sold by Mr. Laidlaw in 1986, by 1998 it had joined the longstanding collection of Tom Lieb of Manhattan Beach, California, founder of SCAT Cranks and a passionate Wills enthusiast and historian, who over the years accumulated one of the finest stables of the company’s cars, records, and parts. Mr. Lieb maintained the Wills as one of his prized possessions for well over a decade. In the autumn of 2018, it was acquired by Clive and Janet Cussler, who similarly treasured it now for the last seven years, wearing its older but still attractive Laidlaw restoration.

One of the most significant examples of among the greatest early American classics, this is one of the few Wills to become available in recent times, and it awaits the caring hand of another great enthusiast to add to its rich history.