Those numbers seem modest by current standards, now that supercars like the Mercedes AMG Project One boast engines capable of 1,000 horsepower. At the time, however, Ford was getting the same 60 horsepower from the massive L-head V8 engine of the 1940 Ford Deluxe that Roos got from his little four-cylinder. The new Willys engine first appeared in some of the automaker’s 1939 models and was carried over into its 1940 and 1941 sedans and pickup trucks. The Go-Devil was the obvious choice for the MB Quad that served as WIllys’ entry into the Army’s bidding competition in 1940.
Willys used the Go-Devil engine in military Jeeps from 1941 through 1952 and in its civilian CJ models from their introduction in 1945 until 1954. After the war, Willys gave its Go-Devil an improved cooling system and replaced the interlocking crankshaft and camshaft gear arrangement with a timing chain. The cylinder head was also redesigned, and these changes were folded into the design of the F-head Hurricane engine which replaced the Go-Devil in later 1950s CJ models.
[Featured image by John Lloyd via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC-By 2.0 ]
