Features 1937 to 1942 Willys Picture Thread

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All Gas Coupe and Sedan drag race 1964

Hey EG,

I did not get an action shot of the Braskett-Corwin Willys Coupe, sorry. (They are listed as #9 671 supercharged Chevy) But, here is the massive list of the “best of the best” that attended this once in a lifetime meet at Lions Dragstrip. By 1964, Lions Dragstrip was known as being in Long Beach. But in reality, the border is right on the edge of the property and is officially in Wilmington.

So, most of the reports from this time period in the Drag News is labeled Wilmington, not Long Beach. (for us older guys that grew up in Long Beach, next door, it will always be Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach.) And for those that insist that it be called “the beach”…there is no beach in Wilmington, only a harbor.

Jnaki

I am amazed that my old films match some of the written class races and developments back in 1964. It felt the same, being in the middle of the action, but changes had already been made to the dragstrip and the cars. We could see the writing on the wall and in the Drag News papers. This write up was one of the last good reports on what we all enjoyed reading everywhere about Gas Coupes and Sedans.


silver dollar pickup pits


stone woods cook black Willys Coupe


Ks Pittman vs Big John Mazmanian


C&O Willys truck vs Airoso Bros

As part of the C&O Stick Hydro family (they installed one the first Stick Hydros in our 58 Impala ) we loved watching the C&O truck's showing at this meet. Actually, anything that had a C&O sticker and sponsorship, like the Braskett and Corwin Willys Coupe looked cool. A Willys Coupe done well...

 

A new update to an old story:
I bought this Willys Coupe in 1962 for $25.00. It was in a field in Southern Maryland, it did not run, and the transmission was missing. It was 25 years old at the time and it's useful life was basically over!! Almost!!

Update:
58 YEARS LATER......The same car has just recently been delivered to the MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SPEED in Lincoln, Nebraska. It will serve as the "centerpiece" in the S&S Racing Team exhibit covering all the team members, cars and accomplishments from 1961-1972.

 

El, I think but can't be sure that the red car behind Jacks Willys is "Bobby Laganas B & L Automotive" Plymouth coupe. I'm going to ask on the Dover site.

Pat

 

Just confirmed it is the late "Bobby Lagana" Plymouth gasser. This was the car that had the bus battery mounted on a bracket way above the trunk.

Pat

 

Congratulations, Dave. A well-deserved position!

 

That is a great honor. Congratulations

 

Hello,

Here is a different look on the same All Gas Coupe and Sedan Drag Race that was held at Lions in 1964. It was big time on the Westcoast. There were a few misinformation facts, but at least it got some coverage.

From a book on match racing:

Match Race Mayhem: Drag Racing's Grudges, Rivalries and Big-Money Showdowns
By Doug Boyce
On December 13, Lions held the Supercharged Gas Coupe Meet, a first of its kind match-bash orgy with the winner taking home $1000 prize. The bash drew the nation’s top cars. Stone, Woods & Cook, brought both of their A/GS and B/GS Willys; K.S. Pittman was there, the new Bones & Dubach 1933 Willys, as well as Junior Thompson, Big John Mazmanian, the Mallicoat Brothers, Atts Ono, and the B/GS, MGM- C&O Hydro Pickup, among others. The winner of A/GS took home $400 plus round money; the winner of B/GS earned $250 plus round money.

The first round runoffs saw plenty of carnage. The Stone, Woods & Cook B/GS coupe cooked a piston; the Mallicoats, running a little rich, tossed a rod; and K.S. for whatever reason, was forced to run without water. In A/GS round two, Stone, Woods & Cook (who were the only ones to break the 10s with a 9.98) should have faced Dick Harryman in Big John’s car, a race the fans were practically begging for, while K.S. was to solo. But, due to a mixup, or disagreement between teams, Harryman ended up facing K.S. or should I say was supposed to.

Harryman rolled up to the line and, when he dropped the Willys in gear, crossed it. The car stalled and was pushed back across the line where a few attempts were made to fire it again, without priming it. Fired or not, it was a foul start and he lost. Once the Willys was up running, it was decided the pair would go for fun.

Well, in the mix up, K.S. left on a solo and about 50 feet out, snapped a spider gear. Of course, a melee ensued, but, when the dust settled and cooler heads prevailed, Harryman soloed to a pushrod-bending 11 flat.
KS PITTMAN 33 VS BJM 41 Willys Coupe 1964

Jnaki

Locally, the buzz was very high in those circles. The SWC camp just came off of a match race against the Northwest’s fabled, Wilbur-Massey Ford modified sedan, in the event the day before, on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, they competed in the All Gas Coupe and Sedan drag meet.


“Coming down from Davenport, Washington to race Stone-Woods-Cook tonight was Wilbur-Massey’s little DFMC. It’s a sanitary early Ford sedan with a 267 inch Chevy on fuel. The block is of the 1958 vintage. Home strip is Deer Park, Washington. The best time for the car is 9.80-150.00. The driver is Vern Masse, 28 and single. He makes his home in Spokane, Washington and has been around the sport some 10 years. The mechanic is Don Wilbur, 24 and single who makes his home in Davenport, Washington. The best the boys could get out of the car this evening was a 10.60-144.00. They had mixed feelings about Southern California. But both said the racing plants out here are boss.”
?

 

I believe this car was bought by a guy name Jim from the Hudson Valley NY. He has had it up at the Dover Dragstrip Reunion several times.

Pat

 

SWC BLACK WILLYS AND RETURN

Hello,
Sorry, I forgot to include the film of the SWC Black Willys Coupe in the last part of the story.

It is/was hard to run a match race against some powerful race cars and then compete in the gas coupe meet the following day on the same drag strip.

Jnaki


Note: If anyone notices, by this time period, the original Orange tower is now painted a bright yellow in color.

 

Swade any info on this 41? It looks familiar, certainly a beautiful car.

Pat

 

posted by swi66 in the vintage thread

Golddigger

 

Sorry I don't, I saved it about 4 yrs ago and just ran across the photo while looking for something else, figured I'd post it here while still fresh in the brain bucket.

 

Isn't that Elverne Pfiefer's old car, or a recreation of it?

 

You got it 427. I looked it up and it is on a site called hotrodcraft.com "1937 to 1942 Willys only" I don't belong to it so couldn't get on it any further.

Pat

 

Congratulations, Oldracer
That is a great looking car with a lot of history. I am glad that Got new life and is now back to the way that it used to be and will be on display.

 

@jnaki

That Ford that belonged to Wilbur- Massey looks like a Ford Model A Victoria. I would guess a 1931. It was pretty impressive for having a 267 cubic inch engine.

I would have loved to have seen a competitive race between. KS Pittman and Big John Mazmanian. I bet that the crowd was very disappointed that it didn’t happen.

The Black Widow SWC car looked very impressive too. They had lots of heavy hitters there that day. Thanks for sharing the video and the research from Drag News. It’s easy to share pictures but there is very little video from those days and not much background information or comments from those that were there. Solid Gold my friend

 

@1934coupe

Is this the Bee Line Coupe early on? It looks like it says Bee Line on the hood and it kind of looks like a picture of a Bee on the trunk lid.

 

Yes it is El. It is early on around 63-63. that's the way I remember it at Dover when we ran there. I don't recall ever seeing it when it was red. That was until we were parked next to it at the Dover reunion at Marcus dairy around 2005. Then it got sold to Ron Norman who restored it completely and just recently sold it to a collector.

Pat