Think "Willys Gasser" and what image comes to mind? Probably the old Stone, Woods, & Cook car, or K.S. Pitman's little butt kicker, right? Well, if you haunted the Northern California drag racing scene in the early '60s that image could just as likel... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
That's cool as hell...I saw F/gas on the JJ page,and as I was waiting for the slowass dialup at home to load,I was thinking..F/gas?? Must be a little smallblock..Nope,just a little flathead,running and beating the big boys long after it wasn't supposed to...I want one just like it
Inspiring to say the least. I love stories of the underdogs taking the top spot not matter what it is. Who would have thought a hot flatty could compete with the big fellers like Hemi and nailheads as well as the small blocks that seemed untouchable at the time. Drive must have been pretty on point as well as the engine being tuned just right huh?
Gee a real Willys.I thought they had to be tubbed and with a supercharged crate motor. Actually,I'v always relished the lower classes. I felt like it was a niche to be played in.Its even more interesting when someone like this comes along and starts bumping up and really spoiling people's day.
A couple of years ago, I worked out at Tardel's for two weeks. When I say "worked," I mean WORKED! The fellas at the ranch work their asses off man... And Bing is just one of the guys busting ass - never sits, always on his feet, always working... and he is how old? 80?
That gasser has had a lot of people thinking about it for a long time...I ran into it in HRM, when the feature was new, and continued to think about HRM's completely cryptic description of the port pocket til now. Got some probable clues on that from Flatdog, who had also been thinking about the car since he ran into the feature...his take was that there was a major mystery in here, as the car was almost a second faster than the known engine tech and weight would suggest. That issue of HRM was always near the top of Flatdog's heap of brain fodder.
Santa Rosa wasn't much more than a wide spot in the road as I recall. Well bigger than Cloverdale I guess. I remember seeing that car. The Ol' Man always said it was the one to look out for. That was a ton from the Ol' Man.
Good story Mike. I bet that flatty sounded as good as it ran. Looks like he was still running a 39 box and torque tube rear end. Must've had lots of spares!
Thanks Av8, I hadn't heard of this car before. A great tale of a Hot Rod Hero and his obsolete contender.
Goose Bumps!! What a cool story and great pix. Total Bad Ass!! Good one Ryan, this is the stuff that puts smiles on my mug on a regular basis, So once again--Viva La H.A.M.B. ~Sololobo~
Anybody capable of posting HRM feature?? Was there any other coverage of this thing?? HRM put in that cryptic and intriguing note about reshaping the bowl with moten lead! And notice the part about routinely defeating higher class gassers...the same issue that drove Flatdog crazy. The thing was WAY faster than can be easily explained by any traditional guesstimates of flathead power and car weight.
Another great story.I used to come here to check the classifieds,now I read the articles first.It'll be interesting to see what kind of times his new creation will run.
He's going to be 86 soon. He's out in the yard digging through the wheel pile right now...tossing wheels left and right like they're junk mail
boy, when i logged on and saw that article i was like a little kid at christmas. thanks for sharing. hope to see the willys running around someday!
Super! I saw it race a Buick powered A/G coupe that barely beat the little flatmotor. What a screamer!!! I sure miss Half Moon Bay. My favorite strip.
Hadn't thought about this car for a long time. I've also got the magazine article around here somewhere. Sounds like it's about time that someone found/restored or reproduced Bing's old Willys! (Looks like I should have gone to the link before posting this last sentence...)
Impressive to say the least! I'd love to see a flatty run that quick. Thanks for the great write-up, Mr. Bishop. Malcolm