Best-looking compact of the ‘50s meets one of the coolest V8s of the ‘50s? I approve! -Dave
nice Willys Aero very cool love the OldsZ mill had a chance to by a Willys 2 door Aero from the farmer should of Rochie nice Areo as well cool
Very cool car ! My Shirtsleeve uncle had one of these and at age 14 I learned to drive it on the country roads. Keeo going with this .
I dig the rockets on the intake. I thought it was a nice touch. I think the whole project is bitchen. I love those Aeros. There has always been a soft spot in my head for those. Neighbor's daughter, I was in Jr High, she was a junior in High School, it was out back,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,wadda summer!
One of the first hot rods I saw at a drag strip. I think it was Helena Al, sbc, orange, and the inside was painted with trunk paint. Blew this 17 yr olds' mind in 1956. I think it belonged to a country singer,Sonny Charles. could be wrong.
Leave the rocket on, put a silhouette of a naked woman riding it...now everybody will like it. Cool car, love everything about it.
Man! I dig Willys and I dig Olds... what a cool combo. Your car is sweet!! I couldn't tell from the pictures how early your Olds mill is. Is that a 303 or maybe a 324?
Guys thanks for the kind words, The short block is a 394 with 371 heads as the deck ht. didn't matter as the intake is home made. The rocket would have been much more attractive with a naked lady on board.
A 394 huh? The 1st car I ever wrecked was drag racing a Starfire with a 394 on the streets Man that baby would get up and walk the dog! I mean that 394 would literally torch the hides Good choice for your Aero... it won't have any trouble staying in front of traffic Hope I didn't make myself sound irresponsible. I was just a kid and of course I would never race on the streets now days
This is a father and son project, he did most of the welding and he's the one who found the car. The car came to PA from out west, it was virtually rust free. The guy brought it back to restore but found out the cost of restoration far exceeded the value of an old Aero. It started out as a somewhat simple reasonable project. I have a complete 327 365 from a 64 Vette that I intended on dropping in. My son said everyone runs a Chevy lets do an Olds with a stick. His grandfather, my dad, loved his Oldsmobiles infact he had a 63 Starfire I took my drivers test in. Cheap and easy went out the window with the Olds. It has been alot of fun though and well worth it in the long run. [I THINK ?]
Very cool. I always thought they looked like a henry "j" and a 50's ford had a baby. There is one of these out in the country that I have been watching for years, it was an old drag car and has been there since the early 80's.
Do you have any pictures of the drag car? If your thinking of buying watch for rust as these are very susceptable to rusting and are unibody. Take a look at a 52-55 Ford Taunas; they look like a Willys Aero had a baby. One would make a really neat gasser.
Nope, but I will see if I can get some current and early 80's pictures of it. The car was one of my Dad's buddies, It was blue with shag blue carpet a small block ford ,4 speed and a tri-5 chevy rear. The reason I know what the rear was is because the last time it ran it broke an axle at Byron Dragway Byron Ill. That was the first and last time it ever ran slicks. He brought the car home put a new axle in it, painted it red and sold it as a roller, it's sat ever since.
Aerorocket and Rochie, Wondering, since these Willys are unibody, are you runnining sub-frame connectors underneath or what?Any pics would be great. Brother-in-law has one to build , but we're scratching our heads over the the unibody frame. You both have neat projects, love the motors!
My son posted the pictures as I do not have a clue how this is done. The next time he comes around I will have him do this for you. We did install a 1.25X3" subframe attached directly to the unibody extending from the front wheel area to the rear wheel area. we also added cross members at the rear trans. mount and at the bellhousing area. The floor must come out to do this properly. The front mount for the rear spring was also totally revamped and tied to the new subframe. We also did some beefing up under the hood at the shock towers etc. He posted some early pictures in another post. The thread is 'Any Willys Aeros out there" post number#18.
Thanks Aerorocket, much appreciated. I'd noticed the beefed up shock towers. I'll search for the previous posts.
Cool car and a motivational thread. I'm going to check on an Aero that i saw recently w/o the front clip. The Olds engine should really wake that unit UP! Cool beans.
Nice, that's going to be FUN! I like your dash board. Mine has a couple of extra holes in it from previous owners, so it's not even close to that pretty. Nice mill, too.
When I was in high school someone had a Aero with a 283 in it. It was cool then and there even cooler now.