Hot Rods Willys we have known !

Back to the 50s wonderful weekend!

 

That's a nice start.

 

Pounding on mine last Friday.

 

From my son's wedding album.

 

Here's a Willys roadster outside my local seaside restaurant in 1939. The restaurant is still there however not the Willy's. It would have been fairly new and a GM Holden's body.

 

Very cool pic Mgtstumpy, but that looks like a touring & they were Flood bodies.

 

Thanks, my eyes aren't the best these days. I've never seen a touring however roadsters yes. Peter EAMES years ago was the Willy's guru down here, he'd definitely be the go to man
37 with 41 clip

 

Running board says 38. JW

 

Also of note is that the US 40's didn't' have running boards (except wagon) and the Ausie 40 above used the 39 Overland running board.JW

 

Just wondering if Peter Eames is still around...anybody know more about him? g-willys

 

I have heard that this car is now fully restored, and could be at the Meltdown exhibit. My friend Jon Hageness had it for quite a while, but let it go a while back to a mutual friend John Zechbauer, who is very committed to bringing these Willys back to near perfection as the drag cars they were. Al Tschida also ran this car for a year or two.
g-willys

 

Hey M,
I was walking around the Price Transfer Automobilia Willys wing and this two door convertible was sitting in a row of restored Willys. There were coupes, trucks, sedans and behind them were the drag racing Willys coupes. All of these Willys cars and trucks are part of this huge collection on the Westcoast. Kudos to Price Transfer for keeping the Americana theme cars alive and well.

Their restoration shop guys are really good at bringing the old cars back to life. Each one is able to take a cruise out of the museum at any time. Sometimes they can be seen at the local So Cal rod runs and charity events.

Jnaki

It was an honor to be allowed to wander around taking photos and drooling at the pristine cars in the whole Automobilia Museum, especially the Willys wing. One day, it will reopen with more new stuff, but since it is currently closed to the public, enjoy the photos.

This two door convertible was “one of a kind,” that was on display.

 

I just stumbled onto this Willys site down under, lots of builds, coupe utilities, coupes, roadsters et al





Sports Tourer Body by Flood

37 Willys Roadster

 

The green 37 Ute is way cool. JW

 

Hello,

This 1941 Willys sedan in the gas coupe and sedan class at Riverside Raceway in 1959 was ripping it up all day. The name of the owner/driver goes unknown to this day. (if you have any verified information on this Willys sedan…there is a reward for you… Southern California in 1959. A lot of the racers at this meet came from the east, just to race the top west coast racers…so…)

red primer sedan

At the time of the filming (Dec.1959), we had already made plans for our 40 Willys gas coupe and this sedan was inspiring. It is too bad there is no sound at this time. But, it did go fast and the shifts were slamming! It reminded me of Junior Thompson, (the sound from his Studebaker sedan could easily be placed into this Willys movie I took in 1959). But, the Thompson family has no idea who was the builder or driver of this early 4 door Willys sedan .

Jnaki

With new eyes and historical knowledge, does anyone have an idea? It is not the record holding, Weddle and Peters Willys C/Gas sedan. They were at the same meet and their sedan was painted an Army green. It, too, ripped all day in the C/Gas class.


Weddle/Peters C/Gas Willys sedan

 

@jnaki , could that have been the 41 sedan sponsored by a Sandblasting company car early on?

 

Hey Jason,
I am not sure that was the Safeway Sandblasting Willys. Safeway Sandblasting is the only "sandblasting" name I remember in this part of drag racing at Lions or So Cal. This one at Riverside in 1959 had a poster on the door, but it was hard to stop and read any information. (Even with frame by frame editing.)

Someone has to remember it. Junior Thompson's family was heavily involved in the Gas Coupe and Sedan class, but they did not know who that was in the movie.

I even contacted someone that knew of the record setting Weddle/Peters Willys Sedan and they had no idea about that primered 4 door Willys in my movie from 1959.

Junji

 

@jnaki This is the one that I was thinking of.

 

Hi Jason,
OK, now the thing is when was that photo taken of the orange, Culver Sandblasting 4 door Willys? The red primer 4 door Willys movie was taken in late December, just before Christmas. Also, the Culver Sandblasting has exhaust cut outs in the fenders.

So, it could be, if the Culver photo was taken later than 1960, but who would cut out exhaust holes in the fenders? Not street legal for the gas coupe and sedan class as far as the rule from back in those days.

Actually, upon further research, the Culver Sandblasting looks like an Altered Sedan from the 1961 Winternationals.


Back in those days, some altereds were mistaken for gas coupes or sedans. (VICE VERSA) When our 40 Willys C/Gas Coupe blew up the clutch/flywheel, & scattershield in 1960, it was listed as "...a C/Altered Coupe that scattered its clutch all over the dragstrip..." in the Drag News. So much for accurate news reporting.

Junji,
Thanks for submitting your sedan photo...they did look similar, though.

 

Found a decent picture of the first Willys I built, after getting back into cars in the late 70's I built it as a stocker.
rebuilt the 4-cyl, gave it a street rod paint job, and interior...fun around town...not on the freeways however...couldn't keep up with todays traffic. It was cable brakes to start with, but converted it to juice brakes from a later willys.
G-Willys

 

Here's a couple new Willys in the neighborhood with in the last year. The Pickup is actually a 1939, Model 48, which looked like the 38. but were a fill in before the shark nose model '39 came out a few months later.... g-willys

 

Some of the Willys that we own or have owned over the years plus an all steel 1936 sedan delivery

 

That ex Gasser with the peeling paint is starting to show the original iridescent Bronze color, my 37 Sedan was the same color. JW

 

Hi Bill, Jerry here.

Sent from my Chromebook 11 Model 3180 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app