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History Earliest Willys Racecars

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by elgringo71, Jul 2, 2016.

  1. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Thanks for your help jay t.
     
  2. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki

    hello,
    i found this in my files. the same red primer willys sedan in a race. it was loud and fast. it was the afternoon, the sun was slowly going down, so pardon the washed out effect. this car had to be someone in the top ranks of the gasser class back then. someone must know who it was...after all, it was only 58 years ago... so cal racers, those who have moved out of state? anyone?
    thanks,
    jnaki
     
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  3. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Nice Footage, hopefully someone can help identify it.
     
  4. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki

    hello,
    not a barn find, but thanks to rruss here on the hamb for his happenstance movie from lions. i think this clip is our 40 willys at lions. it is primered, black wheels, and if you look closely underneath, it has what looks like traction master bars. the puzzling thing is that it is too blurry to identify what is sticking out of the hood as the car goes by the camera. but, my first impression was injector tubes, but no willys at the time had injector tubes sticking out. so, is it our car? my brother was a howard cam fanatic. he liked the old style actions of howard cam cars...backyard style builders, etc. so, we had a full race cam and kit, flywheel, trans adapter,etc. i cannot remember if he put those huge stickers on the rear window...but there was no other primered willys with black wheels during our lions days racing days...so, you be the judge...this is as close to the real car as possible...thanks rruss...he had no other photos of the car, so the search is still on for more photos or movies. yea...we are getting somewhere....
    thank you, thank you...
    jnaki
     
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  5. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Here are some still shots from the video

    image.png image.png
    image.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2016
    loudbang likes this.
  6. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Here is a Howards cam sticker for comparison.

    image.jpeg
     
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  7. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    I don't know anything about this 40 but they replaced the grilles with a 1958 ford grille image.jpeg
     
  8. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    This one looks a lot like the one that you posted the footage of and it says B Gas like the other one and has 283 on it too.

    image.jpeg

     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2016
    Dean Lowe, loudbang and 41 coupe like this.
  9. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki

    hello e.g,
    thanks for the search, but this willys has its gas tank is sticking out of the grille area. our moon tank was the thing that exploded when the flying metal parts punctured the tank. a good thing that came out of the explosion: the lions tech committee made everyone remove all tanks out of the cab and move it to the front or rear of the car.
    thanks,
    jnaki
     
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  10. 0ldracer
    Joined: Oct 27, 2008
    Posts: 615

    0ldracer
    Member

    In posts 47 and 58 there are some photos of Charlie Hill's Filthy Forty. A couple are from 1962. Here is another really early one I just found. I cannot explain the A/Altered classification except that maybe it was missing a passenger seat or some upholstery or some required street equipment for the time. This may have been the first time out for a car that went on to much fame and fortune. YorkUS30 Dragway, Pennsylvania
    EarlyFilthy40.jpg
     
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  11. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    That is a great early picture of the Filthy Forty. I had never seen that one. I will have to show it to my dad, he always watched for it in the magazines and it was one of his favorites along with KS Pitmann and Johnny Loper. Thanks for posting it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2016
  12. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Here is Roudy Willy, it was first raced by Jim and Inez Butler from Morton Texas and then by the Charioteers Car Club in New Mexico Both Jim and Inez were great Mechanics and you can see them in some of the pictures that were taken at the Nationals at Indianapolis. There are some unique features to this one. Look at the rear window and it looks like the deck lid was moulded in solid with the body


    James (Jim) Butler AKA “Mr. Ford”
    World Champion Racing Legend

    James passed away on November 27, 2006 at the age of 84. James was
    born in Ft. Cobb Ok November 10, 1922 to Robert and Bertha Reed
    Butler. He is survived by one brother, Lewis Butler of Levelland
    Texas, two daughters, Evelyn Butler Cunningham and husband Bill
    Cunningham of Ft. Stockton Tx, Patsy Butler Harris of Fredericksburg,
    Tx, five grandchildren, David Harris of San Saba Tx, Ronald Harris
    of Brownwood Tx, Vickie Bradshaw, Beverly Ezell of Ft. Stockton Tx,
    Amy Lightner of Monahans, 13 great grandchildren, and 1 great great
    grandson. James was preceded in death by his wife Inez Hallford
    Butler; parents Robert and Bertha Butler, five brothers, Roy Dell,
    Glen, Melvin, Floyd, and Skinner; two sisters, Arlie and Vida.
    James and his wife Inez lived in Morton Tx until 1970 where they
    owned a garage and wrecking yard. James and Inez moved to Graham
    Texas in 1970, then in 1990 they moved to Lake Brownwood, and their
    final move came in 1999 to Ft. Stockton Tx.
    James had a great love for fast cars, and built and raced many hot
    rods in his lifetime. James was widely known as “Mr. Ford.” James
    and Inez began their racing career on the circle track circuit in

    1950. In the late 1950’s James began drag racing on the quarter and
    eighth mile tracks. Two of James most famous race cars were Rowdy
    Willy which won the Top Ten In The World honors in 1960. James sold
    Rowdy Willy to the Charioteer Drag Racing club in Hobbs NM and the
    driver for the Charioteers was Lee Proctor of Odessa. Rowdy was in a
    featured article in the fall 2004 edition of the Gasser magazine.
    The last hot rod was a little Falcon Ranchero powered by a 289 cubic
    inch engine. James won the World Championship at Green Valley in
    1966 with Remember Me. Bryan Teal was the only man James felt was
    worthy of driving his race cars, and was the official driver of
    Remember Me. Dickey Harrell known as “Mr. Chevrolet” drove Remember
    Me once on the eight mile track in Illinois, winning the
    championship. Both Rowdy Willy and Remember Me held many world
    records. In 1963 James built a 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint “Lil Red”
    for the Morton Ford House which was never outrun .... until James
    outrun it with his 1963 Ford Falcon 289 cubic inch rod “Remember
    Me.” The most famous winning races were when James won the
    Nationals with “Rowdy Willy” and also with his tow car, a 1958
    Ford station wagon. Two years later he won the Nationals with
    “Rowdy Willy” and also with his tow car a 1960 Ford Starliner.
    When James lost his eyesight and retired from drag racing, he
    began a new career of working on boat motors, this career lasted
    for 45 years. There was never anything he could not do when he
    had an engine to work on and tools in his hand until the day he
    passed from this earth. I’m sure daddy rode a hot rod to heaven.
    Visitation will be in Morton Tx Wednesday at the Head Memorial
    Funeral Home 309 N.E. 8th Street from 10 - 9. Graveside services
    for James Clinton Butler will be in the Enochs cemetery Thursday
    November 30 at 10:30 am.
    Pall bearers: David Harris Ethan Ezell, Ronald Harris Brandon
    Ezell, Chance Helmers, Billy Bradshaw, Tyler Lightner. Honorary
    Pall Bearers: Bryan Teal, James Swafford, Joe McCrorey, Buford
    Hemphill, Lee Proctor and Raymond Martin


    image.jpeg
    image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2016
  13. ME.GASSER
    Joined: Sep 18, 2007
    Posts: 3,627

    ME.GASSER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Great picture Dave.
     
  14. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Last edited: Jul 16, 2016
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  15. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

  16. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

  17. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    image.jpeg

    Here is the shop that it ran out of. I wish that I knew more about this one

    image.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2016
  18. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    Last edited: Jul 19, 2016
  19. Bass
    Joined: Jul 9, 2001
    Posts: 3,354

    Bass
    Member
    from Dallas, TX

    Does anyone know anything about this Willys that was posted earlier in the thread? It has a LOT in common with my '41, which I have no photos of from when it was raced.

    image.jpeg
     
  20. Speed Gems
    Joined: Jul 17, 2012
    Posts: 6,433

    Speed Gems
    Member

    Looking through some shots from @jnaki and found this green Willys sedan from Riverside 1958.

     
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  21. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    This one was owned by Al Palmatary

    image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2016
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  22. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

  23. ME.GASSER
    Joined: Sep 18, 2007
    Posts: 3,627

    ME.GASSER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

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  24. PunkAssGearhead88
    Joined: Jul 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,788

    PunkAssGearhead88
    Member
    from So Cal

    Just came across this video and thought of this thread.

     
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  25. elgringo71
    Joined: Oct 2, 2010
    Posts: 3,823

    elgringo71
    Member

    That is a great video, it has the Grist Brothers and The Airoso Brothers Willys coupes. I know that the Airoso Brothers car first raced in 1960. I also saw the Stone Woods and Cook Swindler II car and the C&O Hydro car. There were a couple of more that I didn't recognise. The Willys pickup might have been the Panella Brothers. This early footage is great because it lets us see how things really were. I am glad that some of this footage has survived.

    image.jpeg

     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2016
  26. PunkAssGearhead88
    Joined: Jul 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,788

    PunkAssGearhead88
    Member
    from So Cal

    Yes, I remember seeing two of the Willys you mentioned in the video. Figured you'd like it and it would be somewhat helpful, too bad a lot of the home videos from that era had no sound.
     
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  27. DOCTOR SATAN
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 710

    DOCTOR SATAN
    Member
    from okc

    So, does anyone have photos of al tschida's cars......
     
  28. delray57
    Joined: Oct 15, 2012
    Posts: 39

    delray57
    Member

    Here are a few of Al's cars. image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg
     
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  29. DOCTOR SATAN
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 710

    DOCTOR SATAN
    Member
    from okc

    You happen to know the years of the photos....
     
  30. DOCTOR SATAN
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 710

    DOCTOR SATAN
    Member
    from okc

    I know he ran 531# in '64.....won Indy Nats c/g
     

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