Midwest gasser guys, need info on this old willys gasser from Iowa!!!

Looking Good
Keep us posted with updates.

 

Good to see your still at it Vince, Steel nose is a nice touch, Tim Jones

 

thanks fellas will do, I found a few pics of the car, with the steel front end that was on it, i would like to buy it back for the car, but it is not for sale at the moment, which i understand.

 

Today got the old torches out and cut the bolts holding the front clip together, all 15 of them
It came off a lot easier than I expected, seeing its been on there for 70 yrs.
Igot the center section off and set it on the gasser to mock it up and the cool thing is that the bolt holes are all still on the frame, so i threw a few bolts in and here we go!!

It fits really good, a little tweaking here and there we will be good to go, I will keep most of the inner fender wells, but will have to trim them up for the headers.

Question?? ""Willys guys"" I need to remove the dash in the parts car,i see the welds on the sides and the braces but it looks like its one piece with the front window seam, ive never removed one and i dont want to hack it up??

 

go man go, looking good so far

 

Hey Vince, your car is coming along great. On the dash where it curves into the top door hinge there are 5-6 welds, and then the braces, but on the top you have to drill out the spot welds if you want to save both peices.

Good luck, Walt

 

Swade thanks, its coming along, now that I'm fired up to work on it again!

thanks Walt, I am going out there today to blaze the torches,I could not see the spot welds, I will have to wire wheel it to see better.

 

I found a guy at the Licoln, NE swap meet a few years ago selling Sioux City Dragway t-shirts. I bought a couple and then he told me he a tons of photos. Mainly Willys gassers from back then. He burned a bunch onto a CD for me. I will need to find them. If I do I will definately post a link like BigDad did to my Sioux City Photos that my father took. If I forget someone pm me a reminder.

 

I found them and here is the link. Sorry, I didnt see your car.
http://s1168.photobucket.com/upload/albums/SweptLineSpeedShop/?location=Sioux+City+Dragway

 

Thanks for posting the pics 1ofnone, even if the willys is not in there, old drag pics are always cool..
after peeling away some paint, this car was canary yellow then also dark green, if that jars anyone's memory's??
when i last talked to vicki Hennings, she said they bought the car in Davenport or Des moines Iowa, couldnt remember the mans name in the mid 1970s with a 396 chevy and a four speed sitting high in the front end.

thanks again for all the fellow HAMBers help and interest in this old Willys!!

 

heres a few pics from today, bolted the fenders on today to see how it would all fit.

 

Lookin Good!

 

that looks super-fine

 

short update, haven't done to much in the last couple months, working 6 days a week and raising two young ones.
So heres were im at, I was having a problem with my welder, and was not happy with the way the welds turned out, so i cut out the roll bar
Now plan "b" a local friend with a shop is going to do it, i talked to him today, he wont be able to start to after the new year so, now i have time to finally pull the rear end out install the new 3rd member, put new seals and axle bearings.
Ive been collecting alot of parts and have just about everything for the car, so i will be posting more pics as i go soon.

 

started messing around with the steering today, its going to need a total make over.
I don't even know how they ran this thing at the track, the gear box is mounted a foot back from the org. mounting holes were the frame starts to kick out so its on an angle.
The spindle was heated and bent up to deal with the 15 degree caster, im trying to save as much of the old stuff as possible, but might change the whole setup and put a stock willys axle under it????

 

Glad to see some progress on the old girl. Haven't been here to check on things in awhile.
Went back and read your updates. Interesting that you say you found dark green paint somewhere. I never had sanded any of the blue down to see what was under there. I'm going to post a photo, not sure where online I found it but I marked it as 1970 Souix City.

The roll bar either isn't there or isn't mounted as far back in the picture and the steering looks like it is in the stock location. It COULD have been our car before an engine setback and the flat aluminum firewall. Don't know if you got the one I took out. Boy was it flimsy.

I have a drilled 1940 axle with four bolt spindles- you can have- but the spring pads have been cut off. I also have a '58 Fairlane grille- you can have- if you want to go with that look instead of the aluminum block off.

Dan

 

The picture of the green car posted by Cougardan looks the the Lutz and Lundberg Willys from Minnesota. They later had a yellow Anglia called "Claustraphobia" and a 66/67 Olds 442 altered wheelbase car.

 

Dan:
the green paint looks like the same color as the pictures posted, on top of the green paint was bright yellow,then blue that would be cool if it was the same car??

delray: looks like the same car Dan posted just lettered up, Minnesota is close to Iowa right?

 

The Lutz & Lundberg car was also owned and run by Al Tschida, with a partner named Gordie Straka, same color...not sure but will check to see if it was before Lutz & Lundberg, or after. Still see Al from time to time. Car became a local street rod after that, and is currently over in a small town on the other side of Eau Claire Wisconsin. It now has a must II front instead of the straight axle. Owner says it can be for sale. Body is nice and very solid. Al continued to run Willys for a number of years with a early coupe followed by a '40 coupe, and another 40 in the mid sixties, before doing a funny car. Both coupes are still around...one in Duluth area, and the other in the twin city area. The one in the Duluth area was the '64 winner in its class at Indy. By the way, the un-lettered one does have the rear fenders cut the way Al's was, when it ran around here...could be the car!!!
g-willys

 

Just checking in Vince , Tim Jones

 

37willysgasser - I thought we had a lead on the history of your gasser given the traces of green paint but G-willy's post indicates that the Lutz and Lundberg car currently exists in Wisconsin. Don't give up on your search!

 

g-willys: thanks for the info! it would be cool if that was the car but sounds like not.

Tim: good to here from you, thanks again for your help!

delray57: its all good, the thrill of the chase... I know someone out there knows something, any folks from Davenport in the 1970s remember the car??, Arlen Hennings told me it had a 396 chevy with a four speed stick, front axle was bent it was beat on as a dragcar. it raced at cornhusker, scribner, kearney, thundervalley SD, + more

 

37 willys gasser
....
the green paint looks like the same color as the pictures posted, on top of the green paint was bright yellow,then blue that would be cool if it was the same car??

The Lutz car, now in Wisconsin did have bright yellow paint during its life as a street rod (even made the cover of Street Scene way back when), but I don't recall that it had blue, but I will ask the current owner. Car is in primer now, as he started a couple of other projects before finishing it...that's why I think he would sell. The way the rear fenders are cut is similar to the sedan in the thread...who knows, it could be before it was lettered. Was a strong runner for both race crews (Lutz @ Lundberg, and Straka-Tschida). Was also on the cover of Mid America Willys magazine in the '90's.
g-willys

 

g-willys heres the gasser gossip pic you were talking about, this car is what got me into the 41-42 sedans!

 

37 Willysgasser,
That's the one!!! Maybe someone can find the yellow version that was on a cover of Street Scene about 20-25 years back! I thought I had it, but can't find it. I did put your picture and the one Cougar Dan posted in side by side tabs, and something showed up that makes me think they are the same. If you look at both you will see that they both have that chrome-like fender welting that has been around through the years...coincidental ??? perhaps, but they do look like the same car .
g-willys

 

Here is a photo of the Tschida-Straka version of the car. Note that the car number ( 5.14 ) remains the same but the nose appears to be swapped out from the Lutz and Lundberg version.

 

g-willys: that chrome fender welting was on my sedan also, there are alot of similarity's between my car and theres.

delray57: great pic, looks almost like the same hood scoop thats on my car??

also iwas going through my papers on the car, it was bought by Hennings in Davenport Iowa, not Des moines, it was part of the Missouri Valley Timing association , and raced also at Ames & Davenport dragstrips, so any Davenport people out there with any info??

 

delray57,
Al Tschida was a fan of the fiberglass front clips, and his coupes had them also...the street rod version of the sedan had steel up front, so maybe he kept the pictured clip for his coupe. There is a story that Al found a coupe about 20 miles from the Twin Cities, and when he went and got it he took the steel front clip off and just took the rest of the coupe for his race car. Several years later another local guy was looking for a steel front end and Al told him about taking that one off and leaving it in the field. The story goes that the guy went up there, and the front clip was still there years later.
g-willys

 

I'm thinking they aren't the same car. That butt ugly hood scoop was mounted on the steel front end that came with the car- not the fiberglass one in the racing photo. Also, the front springs looked highly arched and the front axle looks forged with a drop. The blue one showed up with stock springs and a straight tube axle. In one of the photos, the pipe rear bumper looks shiny like chrome. The one on the blue car was kind of crude and I don't remember end caps. I wish it were the greens one but it's unlikely.

 

Quick update: had my cage guy over the other night, got a ballpark on what its gonna cost, but before i can get it over to his shop i have to get the steering mounted up, ( have the nice donor from the parts car) and get the seat were it needs to be for the main hoop.
so im trying to leave the car as much as it was, so it looks like the seat will be by the back doors, not much i can due with the engine set back so far.

also just picked up an old willys gasser front axle set up from a fellow HAMBer (docauto) thanks man!! should be here next week.
thats it for now!