Technical Willys That DIDN'T run a Hemi

Everybody knows about the popularity of the Hemi in drag racing but what were some of the Willys gassers that DIDN'T run a hemi? I think the Thompson and Poole car had a Ardun in it, the Bing's speed shop car had a flathead in it, the Grist Bros. coupe had a 430 MEL in it, Big John ran a 283 before he switched to a hemi and Ronnie Nunes was the lone Oldsmoble Rocket hold out. Who am i missing?

 

Stone, Woods & Cook- Olds. Gary

 

Quite a few Ford FE's ended up in Willy's. Both wedge head and Cammer versions.

Any one got a name to go with this '33?

 

If I remember right,Ohio George ran a Cadillac in his.

 

Yes, Before he ran a 375" S.B.C and the Ford cammer he ran a blown Cadillac.

 

There were two around here. Both with 427 Chevy's. One stick...one 727 auto.

 

Hill & Zartman

 

I don't know about his '39 Willys but in about '65 Jack Merkel ran a 364" SBC.

 

Ohio George with the Cammer

 

Mike Stienberg's 430 MEL powered Willy's (Anyone got pics of the engine?)

 

Mallicott Brothers

 

MALCO willys SOHC.

 

Not sure of the partnership/engines timeline but the Lewis/Harry/Coonrod Willys truck had blown flatty and Olds power.

 

Originally posted by Marty Strode in the Great Oregon Racers thread...
And additional thanks to HAMB member Willysrule.

While at the Portland Transmission spring gathering yesterday, I ran into my old friend John Anderson, who I have been pestering for some photos of his old Willys drag car, for a few years now. He presented me with these great shots of the car, showing the changes during it's racing career. John filled me in on the timeline, so I hope I am pretty close.
In around '61-'62 John and his friend Chet Thomas built this 36 Willys sedan, they first used an injected 389"-421" Pontiacengine. Their main competition at the time, was Ed Smith from the Slo-Poks of Vancouver, who also used Pontiac power in his 41 Willys coupe. They had quite a battle in A/G, one would win one week, and the other the next. Sometime around '64-65, Ed had moved on to something else, John and Chet switched to an injected small block chevy, in the Willys. Around '67 they took on a third partner in the form of Jim Barnard, who had been racing a AA/FD with an early model Chrysler Hemi. Along the way, the boys hired the "multi-talented" Phil Schaffer, to chop the top 5", and lay the windshield back 2", along with painting it a beautiful, candy green and installing a "quilted" stainless steel top insert, and lettering as well. The trio ran the car through '69 or '70, the car ran in AA/FA, and with Chet at the wheel, it ran in the 7's at 190mph. A few of us, are still kicking ourselves for not buying it minus engine and trans, for $1200.00 back in the 70's. Sadly it was dissembledand the parts were used on 2 different cars, with far different themes, than the old "Assassin".

 

The Malco Willys ran a blown SOHC.

 

Blasphemy. Everyone know that pre-war Willys came from the factory with a 331/354/392 hemi, a modified GM Hydramatic tranny, a narrowed Olds rear, fiberglass tilt front end, Halibrand mag wheels, and Corvair steering gear.

 

That's funny because i thought they came with a 303/324/394 Olds Rocket engine first and everybody just put in the 331/354/392 Hemi later.

 

No! Fibreglass??!! That's not "traditional"...

 

As stated before, Charlie Hills Filthy 40. Injected 283 SBC.

 

My high school buddy, Joe Lassalette, teamed with "Big" Stan Johnson on this '40. Running Stan's injected 339 SBC they won C/Gas at the '65 Winternationals, and the '65 March Meet.

 

There was a Southern Calif '41 Willys in the early '60s, ran a flathead. HRM did a 2 page feature on it...
the owner/builder was Ollie something, can't recall. Car ran some 'impossible' E.T., don't want to try and guess what it was...I wore that mag out showing it to Chevy 'disbelievers'...

 

I like seeing the "big" CID small block Chevy references. What was the popular way of getting there, was it bore and sleeve or stroked cranks? I'm sure some were both, no? In my youth I heard bench racing about an engine that a guy called "4 X 4" in reference to his bore and stroke to a small block Chev. I remember thinking how "small" 4 inch bores were not having visual reference yet.

 

Even Mazmanian's car had a blown small block (out of Bones' Corvette) before the hemi and the candy red paint. In the early days of the gassers the hemis were in the minority.

Roo

 

I think all 265's and some 283's could be bored out .125 to make a 301 and stroker cranks were popular too. in fact one 4x4 combonation was a 283 bored and stroked out to 402 cubic inches.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/402-cubic-inches-from-a-283.1004739/

 

How do you get a 339 SBC?

 

4.075 bore with a 3.25 stroke ?????

Roo

 

I'm not sure of the dimensions, but Stan did run a stroked C-T crank. The best engine we ran in my RPU was a 1/8 over 283. It easily out reved the stroker motors.

 

Roo, Gene Altizer ran one of these in 1961 in A/Gas with a four speed. There were no 4" bore 327 blocks yet. His was a 283" block .125 overbore (4.00") with a 3.375 stroker crank. 339 cu. in. Sorry...not a Willys but a cool old race car!

 

My dad's 40 built to gas class rules in the 60s from a stock body that he paid $200 for and flat towed from North Dakota to Texas. He built it with his brother and ran a 327 with a Rochester Fuel Injection and a Muncie 4 speed and shifted it at 7200 RPM

 

I am not sure how to verify this, but I'll bet that most Willys gassers had engines that resembled this:
This one is exactly as described by Dean a few posts back. 283 plus .125= 301 cu. in.
The handful of blown cars got all the ink, but there were hundreds of Willys all over the country that ran in the middle gas classes mostly with SBC's.