1929 Willys 3 window Hemi powered Whippet

The mods to the back look really good dude!

 

Looks cool !! nice to see some progress on such a unique rod!

 

Thanks Matt. And John, I saw your car up in Abbotsford Tradex Custom car show. It still looks fricking unbelievable. That was a great 5 days up there and I will never forget it!!. You have one badass car!!

 

Here's the 3 inches I added to the width of the tail panel from a 32 5 window.

 

nice work man get some glass in it and take it for a ride....... i know i know your not done yet.... so did you decide on a front shell or is it still up in the air

 

Not yet. As much as I like a 32 front grill, I am now feeling like they are overdone as every model A has them. I'm thinking that in the next couple months it will drive off the lift on its own power and I will see what I can create after I can get a full view of it. When I pushed it out of the garage without the engine or anything but the rolling chassis, thats when I looked at the rear trunk and saw how shitty it looked going all the way down without a tail panel. We will see when it drives out. Its only a couple bolts to change a grill so............... . I'm also thinking at this time doing a two tone satin, gloss black with a gold belt line but things like that I will definately look at really closely. Thats what I like about Hotrods, so many things you have to decide and the creativity is by far way more challenging compared to my Muscle car past.

Edit: Yes the grill is gone, thank god!!!!

 

sounds like a plan man..... after looking at that grill for a while i like it but i would modify it by getting rid of the dodge emblem but keep the crome strip down the center make some new head light mounts and continuing the grill bars down further if you can.... it looks like it might hit the front leafs but cant tell from the pic of the front grill maybe teardrop the bottom to miss them

 

Delayed for a few mor months as a 1936 Ford became my new project. Just spent the last 13 months busting ass on it. I will be changing out the rims, finishing the floor and enjoy driving the hell out of it for the summer. I have put 180 trouble free miles on it in the last 3 days!!!!!!!! The Whippet will soon be back on track. Here's a video of the latest project that made the Whippet stall a bit.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=619612

 

killer build!

 

Awesomee!

 

32' grills can't be over-done when they look as good as they do. The body looks good, but lose the headers. Keep up the work.

 

Where it had 331 written on it, did you know it was a DeSoto when you got it? Cool to see one being used!

 

Actually it was tagged with this when the other guy bought it. So I knew it was a 276. I actually know where a 331 Chrysler Hemi sitting in a 1955 Desoto is for $1500. Weird that someone did a transplant but it is tempting as its all the running gear and the car isn't half bad either. I keep telling myself. NO I DONT NEED ANOTHER PROJECT!!! NO I DONT NEED ANOTHER PROJECT!!!! NO I DONT NEED ANOTHER PROJECT!!!!

 

Kick ass build. I'm in.

PACO

 

From this.


To this.

The grill will be coming off and a 1932-33 Chevy will be modified. I have 3 of these grills so I wich slice and dice them to come up with something cool looking. I just don't want to have another 1932 Ford grill on a car. Especially a Whippet. When I bought the car, I never could have imagined the transformation so far. You have to remember before I bought the Whippet, I wasn't into Hotrods and now I am living, breathing ,sleeping driving Hotrods. I just got the 1936 Ford on the road .
I like the hands on creativeness of the builds. Not opening a book and pointing and buying a bunch of billet crap. Nothing like seeing a traditional hotrod with all old traditional parts done by the owner in his garage. I am now immersing myself in late 40s and early 50s Hotrod books that I got from my Step Dad.

This is what I am driving now. 13 months of busting ass on the 1936. This is why the Whippet has sat for a little bit. Oh and I would have prefered a mechanical fan , a flat head etc but the car came with a 351 already installed with an AOD. So there was no room for one between the engine and radiator.

 

Very nice job bringing this one back! Keep up the great work!

 

Love this project. Love the Grill Shell and lights. Think about using the DeSoto oil bath air cleaner. They are real cool!

How about some pix of the frame work and crossmembers and stuff ?

 

Yup, once the bug has bitten you will never look at other types of cars the same. It's hard to want anything else other than a Hot Rod.

 

I would rock the shit out of that firebird....68?

 

Yes its a 1968 400 factory high compression #16 72 cc heads, Tri power, 4sp, 3.42 rear posi, factory 8 track, factory cast iron long branch headers, fold down rear seat, tilt wheel, factory gauges, deluxe black interior, Thrush side pipes from the 70s, power convertible top, factory hood tach. It's traditional as they come for the early 1970s. Get rid of the side pipes and its just an old stocker, yawn!!!! LOL!!

I just got done driving 60 miles in the 1936 Ford. Windows up, front window open, cowl vent open, 80+ degrees outside, cool inside even though the car is all black, cruising at 70 and the temp of the engine.......... a balmy 150 degrees!!!!!!!!! Nice and cool!!! Now this is rockin the shit out of life!!! I love it!!!!!

 

Yup, musclecars are cool in their own right but they are NOT even close too as cool as a 20's-30's even 40's car.

 

Well I have been busy working on my cars. The Whippet had to go on a sleep until I finished or at least got my 1936 Ford on the road. Now its time to start working back on the Whippet. I had thought and thought about the look of the grill I had on the Whippet for the last 3 years and it was sort of the sore spot on my whole build. I didn't like it but....... what would fit and look good. Well last fall I bought a couple 1933 Chevy grill shells and thought they would just become wall hangers as the price was right. Then there they sat on the floor for 14 months as I worl=ked on my 36 Ford. One day a few weeks ago I looked at what I had and decided it was worth a try and make a custom grill instead of the Dodge truck grill shell I had on the car. I thought it made my car look too rat roddish and I didn't intend on it to look that way. Besides everything Im doing on my car is alot of custom stuff and not just thrown together. So I arrived at this grill. I had to slant it but I think it looks 100% better and going through all my 1950s Hotrod magazines I am seeing alot of smaller shells and dropped cars like this. So I think I have it looking pretty good. I will work on the lower part a bit more like flatten it out a bit.





http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii281/sixt8bird/The%201929%20Willys%20
Whippet/2012-12-02_18-20-02_988.jpg










This was the old grill sell that I put on. I started to hate it!!








This is the slope I put on the grill. When I tilted it the back was dropped aout 1 1/2" and looked weird so thats why I pie cut the top and folded it up to get it level to the slant .

 

Wild Cool....really cool.....great job....

 

I bet there are no other Hemi powered 3 window Whippet coupes in the world!!! LOL!!

 

Just finished bolting up the pullys all tight, finding a 1956 Imperial Generator to power steering pump coupling as the old one was brittle and fell apart so its all in. The power steering lines are all hooked up, the belts are all tightened. The steering shaft needed a heim joint to sturdy it so I installed that also. Next is terminating the brake lines and getting some brakes. Then I will fire it up and actually be able to drive it off the lift. I have worked the last 4 weekends so no time for working on the car at this time. Just too tired when I get home from work. But I am back making progress. This is what happens at night when you are tired and know you are running low on Argon and you are welding overhead without any gloves!!! Ugh!!!






Molten metal landed on my wedding ring and just melted all my skin to the bone!! It ended my night of production!!! I'm all healed up now.

 

Well I have been working on the Whippet and have the brakes, steering and clutch all working. I fabbed and welded on the gutters. Next will be adding the BLC headlights and securing the grill, shocks and radiator. The car has sat on my lift for about 4 years as I worked on it and then worked on the 1936. But its long overdue to get this car on the road.





This is my gutter that I am making for the car. I found that the spreader bars on commercial metal doors fit dimensionally perfect 1/2" wide and they are made from magnetic Stainless. I used a piece of 1/2" tubing to keep the channel from bending all around when I was contouring it to the body of the car. It worked perfect!!
















The grill in this picture looks huge but its not, its just closer to the camera. It is also centered as is the exhaust but I am not directly in front of the car.




These are old Sprite seats I believe from early 1960s I believe.

 

Very nice, I love the new grill!

 

Looking great dude! That new custom grill is awesome.

 

When I rode it off the lift, I thought it would clunk and make your old rattling noise but even when it hit the ground it was like riding on glass. I wanted to keep going but gravity only got me so far. I think the frame and body are pretty solid. I need to work on buttoning up the engine/radiator/front end and at least be able to drive it up and down the street!!! I started on this car in about the summer of 2007. Its long overdue!! I am happy with the grill now compared to that ugly truck grill as it was too over the top.

 

The new grill definately looks 20x better than the truck grill....The car is looking less and less rat rodish now.

I would build some nice lakes pipes for the HEMI and ditch the current headers, just my 2 cents.