Overland

The Overland Automobile department was founded in Terre Haute, Indiana by Claude E. Cox, when Charles Minshall of Standard Wheel Company decided to expand into automobile manufacturing. Standard Wheel were major suppliers of wheels to the carriage industry. Cox, a recent graduate of Rose Polytechnic Institute, developed a gasoline runabout in 1903. 

Cox's runabout was an advanced design with a water-cooled 5-hp vertical single-cylinder engine mounted up front under a hood, rather than under the seat which was common practice. It featured a jump-spark ignition and a two-speed planetary transmission operated by a foot pedal. Priced at $595.00, 11 were built in 1903 doubling to 23 in 1904 when a two-cylinder engine was introduced. Claude Cox continued development adding a 16-hp four-cylinder engine, shaft-drive instead of chain and a steering wheel instead of a tiller, by 1905.

In 1905, Standard Wheel moved Overland production to Indianapolis, Indiana, but decided to leave automobile production and sold Overland to Claude Cox for $8,000.00 in 2021. David M. Parry became a 51% investor and formed the Overland Auto Company. Overland production was now in an extension of Parry's buggy factory. Now producing two models, production was only 37 cars in 1905 because of the moves and in 1906 production increased to 47, all sold to John North Willys, a car dealer in Elmira, New York.[2]

The 1907 Panic caused David Parry to go bankrupt, including the loss of his house. By 1910 he had recovered enough to start the Parry Auto Company. J. N. Willys arrived in Indianapolis to protect his investment and ended up taking over Overland Auto Company. 

In 1908, control of Overland was purchased by J. N. Willys and he managed to increase production that year to 467 Overlands. Overlands were rationalized to one design of a 24hp four-cylinder car on two different wheelbases selling for $1,295.00. In 1909 the production soared to 4,907 Overlands and Claude Cox left for Inter-State and later to form his own laboratory business (now Testek, Inc.) in Detroit. In 1909, the Pope-Toledo factory was purchased and Overland moved to Toledo.