While still at Deere & Company, W.L Velie incorporated the Velie Motor Vehicle Company in 1908. While he kept his tractor lines separate from the Deere line, his automobiles were marketed through Deere’s branch houses. When he merged his companies in 1916 he formed the Velie Motor Company. The products produced by the company came to be known for their quality at a reasonable price. By 1912 the company’s stock was valued at $1.5 million and four years later it was worth $2 million. Between 1913 and 1915 the Velie factory was turning out an average of 30 cars a day. By 1920 the buggy business was phased out and automobile production peaked at 9,000. Estimates of how many motor vehicles Velie produced in the two decades the factory was in operation range between 75,000 to 300,000. Velie was not the only person in the Tri-Cities, now known as the Quad Cities, who was building automobiles. At one point in the early 20th century there were ten different makes being produced in the area. Velie was the most successful. The U.S. Navy chose the Velie engine along with seven others as the best automobile motors for adaptation to military use. Other winners included the Brewster, Duesenberg, Fiat, Hispania Suiza, Issota Franchina, Marmon and Packard. Between 1916 and 1920 the company also produced the Biltwel 12-25" tractor, which was powered by a Velie engine. Willard Velie, Jr. was named the company’s vice-president in 1927. He was the one who introduced the production of airplanes into the family business. They developed the first six-cylinder valve-in-head airplane motor in 1919. They also developed a five-cylinder radial aircraft that powered their Velie Monocoupe. In 1926 Don Luscombe of Davenport, Iowa and Frank Wallace of Bettendorf, Iowa formed the Central States Aero Company and began building monocoupe airplanes. The Velie’s started working with the company and then bought it in 1928. The result was Mono Aircraft, Inc., a subsidiary of Velie Motor Corporation. The United States Department of Commerce awarded the Velie Monocoupe its highest rating, and plans were developed to build a four seat monocoach. The plane would never be built. W.L. Velie, Sr. died in October 1928. A month later Willard Jr. stopped the production of automobiles and sold the company's interests to an Indianapolis firm.