History Original Willys gasser need help finding pics

Now that I spent a year of just looking at it , I was wondering if any fellow HAMBers could help me out with any pictures or info you might have on this car that was run mid Atlantic states form 60ish to 1966 when it was put away after the owner passed away . The car is basically just as it was when parked in the garage back in 66 (tires of course are new ) and the car was run by a guy named Gus Pappas . Although I have gathered up bits and pieces of the cars history , I still haven't been able to find any action pics from the race track . Anyone out there got any ?

Kevin

 

You waited a year to show us?

 

.............sorry took some time to set in it really was sitting in my garage .

 

Nice. I'd be doing the same.

 

Very COOL, I'll be watching to see what history you find out on this car.

 

Only a year?!
I'd take me longer than that if that was in my garage! WOW..
NICE Willys!
Sorry, no help on the pics. Hopefully someone has something for you. I'll be watching too, i'd like to see some action shots from back in the day myself.

 

Cool!

How'd you end up with it?

Any more pics - interior - motor?

 

hah, I saw it before the rest of you guys! Good luck with the info quest Kevin.

 

I can imagine.

 

Chris Karamesines' handel used to be the Golden Greek around that same time period but it can't be his car.

 

Way to go Kevin - keep the faith!

 

too cool, goodluck on the search !!

 

That thing is outstanding....good luck with the history search!

 

Me too, like storys of the Find

 

Prolly a year of wringing your hands and giggling while jumping up and down,huh?
Cool score!

 

Send an e-mail to this guy...Dave Crane [email protected] He is an old drag racer who has his own museum and lives to talk race cars. He is a wealth of knowledge and would be happy to try to help. I think he even has a big library of old drag race magazines. He might not know what the HAMB is? What?

 

Very cool! Good luck with that Willys. If you haven't already done so, I would put it on the "Gasser Madness" site to see if anyone remembers it. Probably won't be too hard to get history on car like that. Looks like it was a pretty serious venture and a step above a lot of hobby race cars in appearance from back in that time period.

 

If I remember correctly, Gus was killed in a heavy equipment accident before the car was ever on the track. I saw the car in his garage ,in primer, not long before he was killed. I never saw that paint job. I'll ask my buddy, his memory is better than mine

 

Not sure where but I seen the car before with no lettering on the doors. Did you ad that after you bought it?

Dave.

 

Looks like they named it after George Barris

 

More specs on the current drivetrain?

 

....thank you that would be great ! If he knows of ANY pics of the car I will be glad to work something out with him . I have heard Gus was playing "chicken " with a loader .......what killed him .

I will say this , I chased the car for 7 years after it came out of the garage as the deal for the car kept going sour until one night I got the call to come and get it .....

 

.........car is a small block chevy 327 Hilborn 4 spd car .

 

You might want to post your question on www.gassermadness.com Ask Byron to host your question and pictures. Lots of folks have had good luck with the histories of their cars on that site.

 

More details please and pictures! How did you find it?, what is under the hood?

 

Hi Goldengreek,

I can tell you what I know about this car, but it will probably not be much help. The car is originally from the Southern Maryland area, south of Washington D.C. After the death of the owner that was mentioned earlier, it supposedly sat in his mother's garage for many years. About 6 or 7 years ago it ended up in Delaware. It was owned by a man named Bill Carr. I suspect that is who you got it from. It was a complete car when I saw it with a lot of old original looking parts on it.

I raced at all the tracks in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania during the period you are asking about and I never saw that car run, but that doesn't mean anything. There were a lot of drag strips in that area then. I even ran the same class part of the time.

That is a neat old car you have there....don't give up the search. Old photos show up all the time. Good Luck.

Dave Hales

 

Golden Greek, Got a little more info from my buddy.Gus lived in Wheaton,Md just outside of D.C. off university blvd. at that time the car was not finished, after he was killed his buddys finished the car and showed it at the D.C. armory show. The car was never raced. After that his mom kept in his garage as a shrine for years. I'm guessing she probably passed and the family sold the car. Gus was 18-19 when he was killed, was crushed by the bucket on a front end loader. I think he bought the body from either Jim Rhea or Mike Palmer. Gus had a brand new 65 GTO. He also had a 61-62 Ranchero with small block chevy that he raced. I'm going see some more of my buddies [old timers]this weekend and see if I can get anymore info.

Bruce

 

...thanks Bruce sent you and Dave H a PM , you seem to have the info that matches what I have been told .

 

Hi Dave,

You've seen it before in GASSER Magazine's GASSER Gossip section. It's cold here in Arizona (60+ degrees). Looking forward to seeing you at Thompson for the GASSER Reunion (June 5-7). Ken is headed to Pomona this weekend for the Grand Nationals. He's driving his '57 Nomad. First major road trip.

Ernest

 

.........and once I get more info on the car it you can run more than a picture on it in our magazine if you wish............

Kevin