There's nothing wrong with that Volvo'd Willys. There are far too many other crimes against hot rodding, but that one ISN'T one of them. I still LOVE Lynn Parks' black one. Has anyone seen it out in the wild yet?
Traditional "customs" aren't necessarily made from luxury cars. It's actually a matter of taking what you have/can get, and making it into a luxury car. Horsepower be damned, the idea was style. Styles change, so if you want to talk traditional, you have to talk about the timeframe. If you look in the old Hot Rod mags, you'll find all kinds of stuff that has been updated, chromed, fancy interiors, lowered, skirts, etc. This is opposed to traditional "hot rods" which is a matter of taking whatever you have/can get and lightening it up, increasing the horsepower, and making it into a race car. Engine swaps were done to get a more modern engine, and/or higher HP motor in it. All that said, my uncles had a custom Henry J in the late '40s early '50s in PA. I've only seen two photos a long time ago. It had a continental kit, fender skirts, was lowered, had fancy front hupcaps, and some interior upgrades. Putin' perfume on that pig. To get back to the thread, there was a custom Willys here in TN in June at the Moonshine Rod Run. I believe the color was Pearl white or pearl champaign, had skirts and lowered out back. Maybe even extended fenders. Very unusual. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera that day, so no pix.
I thought about doing a model like this. I mocked it up once, but built it like the black car. If you sit back and look at the tail of the coupe in custom stance, I think it takes the appearance of a Zephyr or a 36 Ford 3w taildragger. It's definitely a different twist if it's built like a custom.
From the March, 2010 issue of Rod & Custom http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/hotnews/1005rc_1941_willys_custom/index.html
As soon as I started reading this thread this car came to mind. Built in the UK over 10 years ago. It's a UK-produced glass body built on a Mazda Pick-up frame, that's all I know about it, haven't seen it for years. L.P.
I have done that one, original rendering is in Steve Stanfords collection. Check out cutting lines too:
Years ago a guy I met told me a story about his father having owned a Willys distributorship when these were new. Seems the old gent had emigrated from Germany about 1920 and was a wagon builder by trade. Well he works hard and is successful and decides to get an auto dealership. So he signs on with Willys about the time that they were making the above type cars. He was really dissapointed that he couldn't get a station wagon style so he thinks about it says 'I can do that'. Well he goes all out building a really strong body made of oak. Real durable. One problem.... The 4 cylinder could barely get the wagon to move ! Can you say 'pissed'? True story.
I guess this 1941 Willys Tail dragger built by Jason Graham was inspired by Janne Kutja's artwork. It came out pretty nice.. although I feel a front and rear bumper would have really finished it. Street Rodder magazine photos from the Detroit Autorama. And for those who have a facebook account check out how it was built HERE. .
That is cool Rik but I totally agree that bumpers would have made this car a little less street roddy.
I'm trying to locate this car currently............. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=783199 Anyone have any info?
This was about my favorite car in Detroit. I had never seen a custom Willys before and now I want one.
Here are a couple pics of the Willy's chop top we build known as the Kingpin,it has a two inch chop in the roof, we offer it with a stock style hood or the raked version, Scott