Willys Gasser build pics....from the 60's

Great thread!

 

Great stuff.........

 

All time favorite car. I would shit can my R code Galaxie Body, for a Willys, and put my SOHC in one of those!

 

More cool pics from back in the day - Thanks Kev...these are gold. I love the one at the gas station, and the rear shot of the car in primer......

This car has had quite the journey and it is great that there are photos along the way. I'm looking forward to the GNRS and we are planning on bringing the car to show in the vintage drag building. I made a phone call last week hoping to reach the original builder and racer, Dave McDannel. Sure enough, the phone number was still good after 19 years as he still lives in the same house! He was pretty excited to talk about the car and we are planning a reunion with him to see the car and catch up about his recollections, pictures, etc. Thanks again Kev - I appreciate the old photos!

 

More coolness........

 

More from Kev.......

 

Added kidney beans on Firestone bias plys for the front and 16x10 Magnesium Torq-thrusts with polished outers on M&H Racemasters

 

Hey Brad, those pix sure brings back a lot of memories! Painting in my driveway in front of my old house... those days will never happen again without my neighbors turning my butt in. Kev & I sure had fun! Vic

 

Incredible car and incredible history! Thanks
for sharing the story and for posting all
those GREAT pics!

Mart3406
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Hi Vic - I knew you would get a kick out of these. Kev sent one last batch last night. So this was your driveway he did the painting in? Definitely don't think that would fly in most neighborhoods nowadays. Ahh..the good 'ol days.

 

Last few......

 

Damn Brad, I didn't know I had that much hair back then... That was at my old house when I was still married.. Thanks for sharing the pix - I didn't know Kev had them. Vic

 

Great shots! I think this car is another candidate for a propper, period resto.

 

thanks for posting these pics 55xgasr.....
hey. so whats that bar that runs through the frame horns for???
and kev,,,, do you regret priming it????? lol....
55xgasr was ther any of the orig orange paint left under the red primer????

 

The tubing that protrudes out sideways from the framehorns is the front end mount/tilt hinge. The reason I gave it a coat of primer was I had a slow speed crash .I spun out showing off on a freshly sealed road with pebbles, fishtailed and ended up backing into a parked car at about 10 mph.That damaged the rear of the body, no rear floor at the time so the rear caved in. Probably the most embarrasing moment of my life, I was taking a real good friend, older woman for a fun?? ride.I had just bought another coupe shell/roller to take some parts of and sell. It was alot less work to switch the rear of the body (cut through the windshield post) Than do a bunch of bodywork. The combo body was traded off with rear damage.

 

What a fun day today as Dave McDannel came over with his lovely wife and got to see his old car again in person after nearly 35 years! What a great guy that was a true drag racer from way back in the late 50's when he was stationed in Hawaii (raced a Henry J). He had some great stories to tell and remembered everything as did his wife recollecting when they bought this or that and all the races they went to over the years. He raced a CHP funny car till just a few years ago going over 200 mph well into his 60's. Kevin I have his old photos to scan from the days of the early build along with racing shots from the early 70's. Dave is a first class guy and really glad I got to meet him in person.

I got a few more details done on the car - almost ready for the GNRS next weekend. I was able to find most of the old decals that were on the car and had to recreate a couple that were non-existent. The Pete Jackson Dual Idler was impossible to find. I even called them personally and they haven't made decals for over 20 years.

Come check out the car in bld. 9 and we'll be at the SOLO Speed Shop booth there along with Don Waldron and Rods West.

 

i love the pics of the car beeing painted in the drive way ...great

 

Yeah, the primer was getting pretty shitty looking and Vic aquired a few gallons of red oxide military primer. So we scuffed it up and masked everything and shot a coat of new primer. Well this miltary primer dried shiny and now I had a shiney brown paint job. Looked terrible! So after it dried out came the scuffing pads and we went over the whole car dulling it down to semi gloss. Alot of fun memories with this car. Note, plenty of ventilation and dust mask, gotta be safe you know!

 

i wonder where the other body is now....
and what are those seats out of????

 

The light weight seats were swap meet items, I took them out and kept them (long gone now). I have no idea what the other seats came out of.

 

Bitchin Kev....and you gotta love the days of painting cars in the driveway.

 

NICE brings back great memories

 

This instantly just became one of my all time favorite cars. I think it's all you could ask for in the looks department.

 

thanks for the memories.................

 

What a ride this has been! A couple weeks ago we met up with the original builder/owner/driver Dave McDannel and had a great reunion. I feel fortunate that he lent me his old photo album to scan and document and add to the large photo binder that has followed this car from Dave, Kiwi Kev, Eric, and now Bill and I. In addition to scanning these new unseen photos of the car and build, Dave gave me these priceless gems of audio he recorded from inside the car during it's heyday of racing. These date in the early to mid 70's as he used a simple tape recorder he strapped to the seat during runs down Lions, Irwindale, and Riverside to name a few. For now here's a little slideshow I put together.

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After talking with Dave McDannel and going through all the pics, I'll try and tell the story as he recalled to me. Some of this is repeated from Kiwi Kev's original posts here from back in '06, so bear with me.

The beginning: Dave McDannel spotted this 1938 Willys coupe in a guys yard in Sacramento, CA - 1964 or so. The old man had a sign bolted to the car advertising his parking lot where Sac. county fairgoers would park their cars for $5. After trying to buy the car and having no success, he suggested a trade for a 1953 Plymouth coupe - that way the old man could still advertise with his sign. Dave purchased the Plymouth, got it running and made the trade, getting out of there before the old geezer could change his mind. This is what it looked like when he brought home.

 

Once Dave got the car home he started tearing into it. Progress was slow at first, but with the help of his good friend Ed Koenig, and Neal Kling things started to take shape.

 

Best soundrack for a video that I have ever heard!

 

awesome thread!

 

What a great thread. Thanks to all for the pictures!