Had a revamp of my 39 Willys, ran as a Gasser for 2yrs and fancied a change so over the winter decided on a change, really loving the new look and drives so koooool.
As a young man, Willys was the pinnacle hot rod for me. However, I was unaware of the sharknose style till I was in my '20s. Now that's the one I want! Very aggressive looking.
Glad you like it. It is your car and you can do whatever you want to your car. I don't like the slammed look , but it is not my car. Enjoy.
I have owned just about every front end style Willys over the years, but not the '39 Shark nose. Then in about 1992 ,I built a coupe (finishd it in '96)with the sharknose fron clip...that is the one I kept the longest...and still have it. My first coupe was a '40, and I like that look to, but I decided to try the '39 look and here it is 20 + yeas later. Had the '38 and '41-'42 front endsa as well...I know also have a '36 which is done, and my only early Willys...believe it or not ,they are much smaller than the '37-'42 cars. g-willys
Nice! Really like that 39 nose when the car is laying low. Drug my 39 sedan home about 3 years ago, it had been involved in a rear end collision, guess who did the rear ending! Someday but not for awhile I may put a 39 front back on it. Black lowrider sedan is out of B.C., cool and fast car. car. Cheers, John
Like the new look.. And steel too.. If you painted it, everyone would think it's fiberglass, so bare metal lets everyone know "it's real"....
Hey Scrap metal 48, when I bought the Willys it was covered in bondo from head to toe as they used it to take a fibre glass Mold it took me and my wife Maria weeks to get it all off so just shot a few coats of lacquer over the old girl and now just love it as it is and like you say every one knows it's real cheers Wayne.
Not wanting to start any controversy...but just trying to point out some of the odd things that came out of the Willys factory over the years, and also to see if anyone has heard why Willys did it 'this way'. In my hunt for Willys parts over the years, I ran across '39 sharknose hoods that had Willys-Overland emblems on them, but also ran across hoods that had only Overland on them. I don't know which emblem came first (Overland...OR...Willys-Overland), but I have a theory, and want to see if anyone actually knows, just for my own knowledge base.
Brother Mikes 39 sedan, 350 sbc, 4spd, jag rear, Dayton wires. Rectangular tube chassis and our own IFS. 39 Willys have always had a special place in my heart. The first one I ever seen was Jack Merkels all steel B/GS car at Westhampton drag strip around 62. Picture is first time out as far as body goes all they did was wax the car and letter it. Pat
If ever I was gonna have a Willys it would have to be a 39 shark nose. I love the new low stance. I had a 4 door 39 Graham shark nose once and Terry Cook said he had to have it...was going to make a new "swoop" or some radical custom from it. He came for it and I haven't seen it since. Love me some 39 Willys!
G Willys I always wondered why they had overland on them and none of the others from 37 thru 42 did, mine has only got a badge on left side of hood is this the same on US cars as mine came out of South Africa.? Thanks Ricky I'm loving it too now, hoping to do a road trip to classic Lemans in France in it in July.
g-willys I'm not positive because Willys did some odd things but I've seen 39's with the one "Overland" script on the hood and the later 4wd Jeep wagons with the "Willys Overland" on them. What's your theory? Pat
1934 coupe...My theory is this...during the 30's Willys was headed in a somewhat downward spiral that was a continuation of their fall from a car company that produced a somewhat luxury car of its day in the twenties with the Willys Knight, the Whippet, and the Overland (Willys Overland). My dad remembers those cars as fancy, and not very affordable by most people in the Twenties and Thirties. The model 39 was an upgrade from previous years, with the introdution of juice brakes, a bit more horsepower, and of course the move from the rounded front clip to the more pointed cars to come in "39, '40, '41, etc. I think there was a delay, because of those upgrades in '39, and to keep the dealers happy and in business the Model 48 was necessary to give them a little more time to get the Overland ready. My thought is that they felt Overland had the prestige from the past, and would help sales, but when it didn't significantly happen they added WILLYS to the emblem to reassure the public that these were cars built by Willys, as a more reasonable priced vehicle than were the Overlands of the late 20's. Unless someone out there knows for sure, I think the only way to support my theory is if the serial numbers of the cars with Willys-Overland were later than those with just Overland. Also there had to be some re-tooling to do this (remaking the emblem & the mounting holes in the hood for the longer emblem). That coupled with the timeline for the '39 perhaps led to fewer model '39's due to the fact that they were well into the '39 production cycle, and getting ready for the changes for 1940, which ended up being the first Willys with a column shift for their deluxe model. How's that for a thousand words to explain something that was perhaps insignificant. lol...g-willys Here's another mystery for you to chew on...take a closer look at the emblem pictures, and see if you notice a difference in how they were produced...I never caught it until they were all gathered together for the picture.
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