Art & Inspiration Black walls or white walls; 40 willys coupe

Took these slicks over to my buddy's house the other day and talked him into mounting one with the white wall out, just for shits-n-grins. Anyway, I thought it gives it a different vibe. What do you guys think?....Don't be shy, but be nice!

 

No Whitewalls for Gassers!! Black walls=wicked ,mean and nasty!!Whitewalls look great on period customs , '50's hot rods and original '30's- '50's cars and trucks.


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X2

 

I vote for black - but, have seen pics from back in the day with gassers running whitewalls - mainly in the East

 

Paul, PLEASE, NO WHITE WALLS (even tho its not my decision, or business)
I mounted my Radirs with white walls on backside and blacked them out.
I also cleaned off front side lettering except size > I did paint size to hi- lite it >optional.
Sold car > wheels/tires still in basement.
Joe

 

As has amply been shown here on the HAMB countless times, and in countless photographs, whitewall slicks were used on gassers with some regularity.

paul55,

Having said that, I'm leaning toward the blackwalls, although on your car the whitewall does look pretty good. The best part is that it's you car and if you want to run the whitewalls you don't have to answer to anybody. By the way your Willys looks AWESOME! Enjoy your car whatever you decide.

 

Pretend you are in the year 1959. You wouldn't be asking. You would just get whitewalls!!!

 

Car actually belongs to a good friend. I told him to try it just to see how it would look, knowing that they were used in the late 50's to early 60's. I thought it gave the car that "earlier" vibe. He's leaning back towards the black walls, but he said he would let the HAMB decide.

 

I say black walls on a Willys Gasser. Yes they did have whitewalls, but with the pie crust slicks black is where its at.

 

Here's a few that I had in mind, when I convinced him to try a different look.

 

Always loved your Willys!

 

I like both. Late 50's to early '60's whitewall. Later than say '63 then blackwall all the way. How is the interior? Kinda "nice" go whitewall, all business then blackwall it is! Also lighter cars look good with the WW and darker scars look good with the BW.

 

Hello,

Is this a trick question? If the look is going to be 50’s to early 60’s, then a lot of the gassers had white walls. Remember, this was supposed to be a street car class when it originally started. So, pop off the hubcaps and go racing with your street cars with whitewall tires. But, as the cars got more powerful, they started to go in the opposite direction to a pure bred race car with just enough stuff to call it a street gas coupe or sedan. Could those cars drive around the neighborhood or on long drives up the coast? That was not happening if you still wanted to be a trophy winner in your class. It used to be drive to the drags and race with your street car. Now, in the mid 60’s it was starting to be tow your gas coupe to the drags and race.

So, this is what I observed while filming in 1958 to 60. Some cars that looked and qualified for the gas coupes and sedan class, but were towed or trailered to the drags. What happened to those that drove to the dragstrip and wanted to race? Well, they became dinosaurs unless it was specifically a “Wednesday night grudge races” night at the local strip.

Jnaki

When we built our C/Gas 40 Willys, it was going to be a pure race car used at the street drags first and then at the drags. We wanted to be one of the top dogs (if not “the” dog) at the local drive in and Cherry Ave. drags. But, being set up as it was, we could only drive it 6 miles out and 6 back with our small racing Moon gas tank. The Willys was streetable, but it was not an everyday driver to work or school. That would have been something, driving our 40 Willys with the 671 SBC to high school. But that did not happen, as the school was 8 miles away…

The theme of black on black went with the backyard vision of a gas coupe. Sorry, no whitewalls.

sample movies from 1958 to early 60:
Pittman/Edwards Willys coupe: A/Gas record holder

Doug Cook 37 Chevy: B/Gas record holder


Our 40 Willys at Lions in B/Gas: not close in B/Gas, but very close in C/Gas to the record

thanks, again: rruss...

 

If you go black , you'll never go back.

 

Hello,

Yes, black on black started then and even today, black on black has spread to most all vehicles, including drug lords and FBI as well as the small, cute, soccer mom in her super large, road hog of an SUV.

But, this is a great example of street cars with whitewalls. It is also a great example of real street cars in the gas coupe class vs a race car for the street class. There was a big difference. But, the challenge was there to go against the top guys in A,B, and C/Gas for the win and records. Not many succeeded.

Jnaki
Think it is fair? Junior Thompson vs street cars B/Gas coupes and sedans class:

 

I'm for black walls on competition cars. Sure, back in the day some guys ran white walls, but that doesn't mean it looked good...always felt like they went to get tires for either axle and the tire store was fresh outa black wall tires...take white walls or stay home that Saturday night.

 

No one really runs white walls on drag cars anymore be different go with the white walls


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blackwalls just look right but I recall seeing a few cars back in the day with whitewalls,but IMHO they don't look too good. HRP

 

...I like em both ways, a lot of my favorite gassers ran whitewall...note the Moody's Garage 55 next to the 37 in background,...

 

Hey Paul,
Sorry for inserting those non Willys gas coupes from 1959-60. I wanted people to see that originally, street cars just took off their hubcaps and ran in the gas coupe class. Then it exploded to...whatever.
Back on topic:
Here is a Willys Coupe in the altered coupe class with black walls and painted rims. Back then, it was run with whatever you could afford and had handy in the garage that fit.

My brother and I liked Halibrands, but could not afford them, so we stuck to black rims on blackwalls. But, we did save our money and had a set of Halibrands on order before our accident. For us, backyard builders, money did limit what we could get and use.
Jnaki
That altered Willys coupe in action:


If anyone knows who the driver/owner of the light purple, altered Willys was back then, please PM me, so I can identify it for my films.
Thank you...

 

I prefer black walls on a hotrod, but they used to run white walls at the strip. if you are shooting to late '60s it would be black walls but late '50s or early'60sit was either or.

 

If you want to be traditional per late 50`s early 60`s white walls were permitted. If you want to be traditional in 2017 standards, Blackwalls. The meaning of traditional changes as time passes. As most people see it. So I vote whitewalls.

 

jnaki, thanks for all the comments, info, and cool videos!

 

I would like to add to my earlier opinion post on black vrs. White debate. Yes it is true and photos prove that Whitewalls were occasionally used on Gassers in the early sixties but the question is why. Was it a fashioned statement? I think not except possibly the SWC Willys due to its white tuck and roll interior and its numerous car show entry's . And this was 1962 and the '50's style was still active in the early '60's. So back to the point of why And after pondering this question for the last 17 years since the resurgence of the Gasser here is my guess. Real Gassers were built and driven by gear head racers and were interested in racing not fashion trends. If they needed front tires at the last minute they borrowed the wheels and whitewall tires to get to t


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Nertz on the whitewalls!
KK

 

Oops ...touched and sent too soon!
Get to To the track. Then someone shoots a photo for a magazine and suddenly A few folks now think that was the way it was. This is just speculation on my part and maybe a few cars purposely put Whitewalls on to emulate Stone Woods and Cook. It's possible ... what I do know for fact is here in Southern Calif from 1963 forward anyone running Whitewalls on a street/strip Gasser would get laughed at and ridiculed for running around in antiquated Whitewalls. Some may disagree but we all have DIFFERENT opinions and facts AND thanks to the HAMB we all get to exchange thoughts and share opinions..


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Sweet Gasser,Black walls all the way

 

EITHER - OR!!

 

IMO, it's NOT a question of whether white walls were used or not. It's a question of how do they LOOK on a specific vehicle. Also, IMO, looking at the color scheme of this car and the pie crust slicks, artistically, black walls look better for THIS car.

Boredom and "playing around" has ruined the look of quite a lot of cars. People get bored and start changing stuff or adding on just to have something to do. Like the "Ricer" guys in the accessory aisle of Auto Zone. Believe it or not, but sometimes a car REALLY is DONE. Put the white walls in storage and go drive the thing.

 

I vote for Wide Whitewalls.


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