Groveland Twp.- In some small way John Dargel rescued a dog.
‘It was pretty sad when I found the Whippet in a field near Holly in the fall of 2013,? said Dargel, a township resident and retired auto-body specialist. ‘Honestly, I felt bad for the old car.?
What Dargel rescued was a product of the Toledo-based Willys-Overland company called a Whippet’named after the dog which is small and fast. Production began in late 1926. The success of the Willys-Overland Company in 1928 vaulted the automaker to third place behind Ford and Chevrolet in sales that year.
‘There were at least 160 car companies in the 1920s,? he added. ‘The economy was booming but the Great Depression came along and many of the companies were gone by 1931.?
Dargel worked most of the winter on the Whippet.
‘The car had sat in a field for many years’it was in a million pieces, the owner just gave up on the restoration. There could be only about 10 of the Whippet coupes left in the world. They just made very few.?
The restoration included some guesswork.
‘One of the biggest challenges of rebuilding the car was replacing the wooden floor,? he said. ‘I was able to obtain the original blueprints of the floor boards. I was about to fabricate replacements out of oak and ash. Some of the wood is 2 inches thick and supported with mortise and tenon joints. The car was ahead of its time for the late 1920s’mechanical brakes on all four wheels, a fuel gauge located on the left end of the rear-mounted gasoline tank which holds about 11 gallons of gas and travels about 60 mph.?
‘The Whippet coupe also had door locks also rather unique in the late 1920s,? he said. ‘The car was priced at about $400 in the 1920s’very affordable to compete with the Ford and Chevrolet at about $1,000 at the time.?
The Whippet is powered by a four-cylinder flathead engine producing about 30 horsepower with a three speed transmission, he added.