History 1933 - 1936 Willys, picture thread

Dogcatcher







Foley's Fooler

 

A

 

Yep. the way to easily tell if it is a '33/34 body or a 35/36 body is the door handles. Also, if it is steel, the gas filler is a tell tale. '33/34 door handles are swoopy, curvy style, whereas 35/36 have stubby hotdog shaped ones. Also if the car has stock steel rear panels, the 33/34 gas filler is located in the spare tire panel whereas the 35/36 is in the body panel between the fender and spare tire panel. All pickup and sedan delivery gassers are 35/36 since they didn't make those body styles in early years. Most "33" gassers are actually '36 cars since the company was in receivership in 33/34/35 and made few cars, cranked up production in the last year.
Production Numbers
1933 - 12,819
1934 - 13,234
1935 - 10,644
1936 - 72,295
Assume 95% of them got crushed in junk yards, that left only about 5,000 of them for us to find in garages, out rusting in fields.
Incidentally they were $325 for the standard model, $375 for the deluxe with different colors on body and fenders.

Ohio George's car was a 33/34


SWC's Dark Horse which later became the Altizer Finders Kibler Traveler was a 35/36.




"33 Willys (see gas filler)


35/36

 

The Stone Woods Cook & Finders Dark Horse 33 was a glass car. As you said, it became the Traveler, but it was glass.

 

Forget the door handles, they can be changed. 1933-34 Willys have a glove box in the dash, 1935-36 do not. 1933-34 have a flip out windshield, 1935-36 have a windshield frame that is attached by screws from the outside. I won't go into other details as far as early 1935 verses late 1935-36, as a lot of the cars were built using what was left available from the previous years production. This was common for the time, as Ford did the same thing.

 

Malco



Prock & Howell







Hamberie & Mitchell


Jack Merkel






Bucksnort?

 

Hmmm . . . I think the body was steel but it definitely had a lot of 'glass parts. Article says, "The four inch chopped top tends to heighten the ferocious look of the stock '33 Willys Coupe. Cal-Automotive furnished the numerous fiberglass parts such as: front and rear fenders, hood, grille, doors, and deck lid." Car Craft note says, ". . . ."Traveler", a fiberglass-furnished Willys coupe . . .". It definitely ran a stock frame.

 

Absolutely true, back then it was 'run what you brung', guys put together cars out of whatever they could find. However since the '35/36 version amounted to 76% of the total production of Model 77s, '33s and '34s were only 12% of the total respectively, it is much more likely than not, most '33 Willys were really the later models. Incidentally cracked 2 windshields in my '36 by nicking them with the rim screws because the glass was cut just a tiny bit too big by the glass shop!

 

I have an unmolested 35 sedan and it has a glove box in the dash, the 36 has the different dash and fixed wind shield. JW

 

Here's some more from Craigslist. None of it mine, just saw it and thought it'd be of interest.

https://appleton.craigslist.org/pts/6027287451.html

 

Great thread! I was wondering pretty much the same question in my thread.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/why-the-willys.1048892/

 

Jack Merkel's car at the 2014 Meltdown Drags.

 

I didn't see this one posted yet.

 

I think the production numbers are off a little in this article but i figured i'd post it anyway. It's from the April '17 issue of Hot Rod.

 

Wow, every year i look through the coverage of this great event on here and this is the first time I've seen a photo that I'm actually in. Well almost, I'm all the way on the left cut in half. That's a good friends rig and I'm guessing this pic is from when we cackled the dragster.

 

Hmm... I thought i croped the half guy out of that picture. I guess now i'm glad i didn't. It may have been when Bones was sitting in Mr. C's dragster just before i got Isky's autograph.

 

Bones.

 

UOTE="Speed Gems, post: 11940117, member: 191851"]Hmm... I thought i croped the half guy out of that picture. I guess now i'm glad i didn't. It may have been when Bones was sitting in Mr. C's dragster just before i got Isky's autograph.[/QUOTE]
That's what I was thinking, or possibly when Cassandra was sitting in it if you were there at that time also. Unofficially, Bones and Isky may be back again this year but you didn't hear it from me. I was at Bones house in Oct after Bakersfield weekend

 

A few pictures i took in Arizona a couple of years ago.

 

It is 100% modern 'glass car but definitely has the look, correct engine. Here it is @ Bakersfield CHRR in 2010. Was probably brand new then as I recall it had trouble making passes down the track.

 

Del Wiesner built this as a tribute to his original car he raced in the 60's . I was at the Thompson, Ohio Gasser reunion the year he picked up the body and chassis. His original car became the yellow coupe of Jess Belton if I remember right. It came up for sale about the same time period but Del said it was to much money as he'd start all over anyway.

 

I was at that event too! Got a business card from the guy making the aluminum repros of the Halibrand Gasser front wheels, bought a pair when I got home.

 

Mike Mitchel




Malco Gasser

 

1934 Willys sedan, if she only knew that many years later it would be a gasser.

Pat

 

Written on the back it says picking blackberries in Oklahoma.

 

Ambition



Bones Dubach Pisano



Jack Coonrod & Harry's Kamakazi Koup




Jack Coonrod's Jack the Bear




Jack Merkel



Early Merkel



K S Pittman



S&S Racing team with K S Pitman in small letters




vs Big John

 

The late "Rapid" Roger Garten is shown in the top photo working on the Altizer-Kibler A/GS which he later bought and campaigned in the so-cal gasser wars of the late '60's. Roger moved on to AA/FA driving the Tocco &Harper altered and then into fuel funny car with Mike Tocco and the "Warhorse" F/C. After taking quite a few years off he returned with Tocco and the"Warhorse" nostaglia F/C only to lose his life in a tragic racing accident at Bakersfield.

 

Do you or anyone else for that matter know where the WILLYS went after Garten moved on? Never really heard anything about it after the wild Garten & Braskett paint job. Heard a rumor about it at Thompson, Ohio Gasser reunion about 15 years ago someone knew where it was.

 

Looking at the front spring shackles (dog bones) they had no room for spring movement during braking, or down travel from a wheelie. Must have been a hair raiser in the shut down area!