History Earliest Willys Racecars

i know this is a thread about willy's but what is that 32! ardun powered, lift off roadster body?? gotta be well known car i'm guessing??

 

Teixeira Brothers have long been known for immaculately finished, fast race cars. Their B/Gas, ’41 Willys carries stock Willys front cap trim, headlights and a custom grille with Chevy power inside.

 

Hydro- therapy willys



Hall Chevrolet

 

Can anybody identify this Willys? These are a couple of screen shots taken from my Santa Ana Orange county Airport 1952-59 disk . Sorry about the very poor quality but it's old 8mm film. It looks to have red wheels and blue or primer black paint. It's hard to make out the number on the door. 2001 G maybe?

 

Unknown at Aquasco

Note rear axle

 

Rear Axle: Halibrand Championship Quickchange with 3/4 Ton Ford Truck Floater axles.
Here is the same car today.

 

Good stuff from the man himself. I recognize it in that trim LOL.

 

I have always wanted to ask an owner what made you chose the Halibrand Quickchange (or any Quickchange)? Was it because of the ability to quickly change gear ratios, lighter, stronger or what reason influenced your decision?

 

I ran the Halibrand Champ because we wanted the flexibility of changing ratios, and the truck ring and pinion stood up to the beating it took drag racing. I ran El Mirage, 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile drag race tracks. 10 minute gear changes were nice.

 

Dean Lowe pretty much said it all. The 3/4 ton Ford truck ring and pinion was strong (broke the rear once in four years), you could change ratios quickly, and most importantly in my case the ratios I used were 6.28, 6.42, and 6.58. Not available any other way. We didn't tell anyone about the ratios!! Also the rear axles could be removed for flat towing.

 

Damn, those are 1/8 mile gears! Lowest I ever ran was 5.46 which was about 7400 in the lights.

 

Dean
Haha, yes I even ran a 7.17 in the 1/8 mile one time. I think my car was quite a bit heavier than yours and the engine may have been smaller in 63-64. The quickchange ring and pinion was a 4.86 to begin with and needless to say it was very hard on parts doing it like that. Usually it was about 8600 in the lights!

 

Thanks for the information about the quickchanges @OldRacer and @Dean Lowe. I had no idea that such a variety of gears were available for them and that they were that strong and also an advantage for towing.

 

Seen this one from Harlingen, TX?

 

It definitely has the look. I wish that I knew where it was now. Very cool

 

My QC had the 4.11 ring and pinion. Car weighed 2430 at legal weight with the 301" motor.

 

Interesting comparison Dean. In D/Gas my car weighed between 3082 and 3255 depending on engine (268" or 283").
In C/Gas it weighed 2971 to 3160 again depending on engine size (283", 288", or 301"). At one point it had over 700 lbs of ballast behind the rear axle. Obviously different applications, but the benefits of the quickchange were still the same. Definitely made for a fun ride!!

 

Great information!BTW,How long are those ladder bars,What kind of springs,may I ask?

 

rodi, The ladder bars are 70" long. The springs (front and rear) are original Willys leaf springs beefed up. Please keep in mind this car was built 55 years ago by a bunch of teenagers...not much serious science involved. We were just trying to get traction on un-prepared race tracks with hard rubber tires. The goal was to get a little lift/weight transfer and get 100% of the weight on the rear wheels. Thanks for your interest...

 

Thank you for the reply!I think though,with all the success you've had throughout the years,you were a little more than your normal teenager..

 

Schutties Racing team



Vitamin C



John Carter & Lou Ky

 

Don't know these folks but by the looks of the photos and cars in the pits they had to be pretty early.



Airoso Bros



Littleman's Fury







Sour Grapes

 

This is the Artega & Hellmouth car # 130 A/GS out of St. Louis. That's Wayne Artega with the hat on and John Hellmouth squatting down in front of him. Don't know who the rest of the guys are. Wayne passed in 2009 but his daughter Christine still has the coupe. Wayne had turned it into a street car years ago but it still exists, same color and has a small 130 A/GS on the quarters behind the doors

 

This one is my friends brothers Al and Don. Don doing the thinking man pose with the glasses and Al standing next to him with the facial hair. Some of you may have seen them at events all across the country. They built the '33 WILLYS coupe Kracklin Rose and Al owns and they both restored the rear engine Mr. C dragster and cackle it at NHRA and other events like the Meltdown Drags

 

This was posted by @SIX GUN in the Six Cylinder drag car thread. It looks like the car ran a slant six in G/Gas.

 

It looks like the one @elgringo71 posted.

 

Trying to track some more history on my willys owned and raced by Tom Favarito purchased from Steven Bradford in 1963


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Hopefully you can find some more history on your coupe @Fordson. That's a cool one.
@Speed Gems those do look a lot like the same coupe and the scoops look the same.

I haven't posted anything on this thread in a while because I had run out of early stuff but thanks to a Jim and Rob I have a little more.

I don't know much about this one but it looks early. I would guess that it's a Texas car due to the lettering on the car beside it. Can anyone make out what it says on the door of the Willys?

 

Here is another picture of the Paladin Special

 

This one first ran in 1960 with a Chain Drive Blower and was the local rival of the Airoso Brothers Willys Coupe from nearby.



Here is more information on it
http://www.timingtower.com/dan-semchucks-1940-willys-coupe/