History Willys guys - check this out!

I just acquired a set of original B&W photos from 1942, showing what appears to be a then brand new Willys custom convertible or roadster - I cannot see if it has wind up windows. The car has a 1941 blade type Americar rear bumper, but the grille is a 1942. Note the Appleton spotlights, fender mounted running lights, grille guard, accessory bumper guards and foglights, which may indicate that this was a custom conversion rather than a factory special order. Although Willys had previously made a roadster in 1940 for FDR, open models were never listed in any of the Willys promotional info for 1940, 1941 or 1942.

The Willys belonged to Art Lancett and was registered in Ohio on 1942 plates in the photos. Does anyone have any further info?

 

Sweeeeeeet!!!! I don't recall ever seeing a drop-top version before. Nice.

 

Very cool car.....
Whats he doin to that fender in the third picture

 

Contact Ron Ladley The Willys Man in Pa. He's the last surviving Willys
dealer.He would know.

 

looks great

 

Cute as it could be.

But what did they do with the factory blown injected 392?

 

how come the wheel wells aren't radiused? VERY nice car

 

buy the look of the A pillars in the last pix it looks like its got roll up windows



cool looking car

 

I have seen roadsters in Australia, maybe it was a holden built body or something.
I have seen one in an early issue of cruisin magazine (an Aussie mag) that was flat black and was running an early corvette style grill. sorry no pics, matbe another aussie Hamber could help.

 

he is "Thinking of You" .. seriously .. thats whatis says.

 

Wow!!!!!

 

There is another real 41` Willys convertable in Warm Springs GA. It was a gift to FDR from the Willys Co. There are pictures and history at the FDR library in Hyde Park NY.

Been there seen that.
Pat (Willys guy)

 

ya would think that being 1942 it woulda been a "black-out" car....since civillian cars were far and few between at that time......this car was in the USA right????

 

I've seen the willis in Warm Springs. Ole FDR liked open cars. The 39 ford conv.sedan that has been in a lot of pics was under the servants quarters when I was there. It had hand controls and it is a 3 speed manual.

 

Wait a minute "Were's the blown hemi the big slicks nose bleed stance". I just cant beleive some one would take all the cool stock parts off and make it look like that????? What were they thinking.....

 

The FDR Willys roadster in the "Little White House" is actually a 1940 and was made by Willys Overland for FDR. It is a coupe with the top cut off and blank off caps welded over the doors, around the rear cab section and on the windshield header to make it a roadster. It's windshield area looks like the closed cars. This is a 1942 car (Model 442) and the windshield header treatment is very different to the FDR roadster and the closed Willys of the era.

Although Holden's made the earlier Model 77 roadsters 1933-1936, I believe the later Aussie roadsters were made only in 1937 and 1938 by T.J. Richards, although a couple have had later front sheet metal added on and are coachbuilt (wood framed) - I have an original Aussie brochure from Stokoe Motors in Vic. One of these roadsters, fitted with a 1941 nose was sold in the 1980s by Peter Eames and shipped to the U.S. It was later used as the basis for the mold taken for the Heritage fiberglass convertible. This one in the photos is not a T.J. Richards body, but a U.S. bodied car.

 

The fender lights look very similar to the style on pre and post war Hudson Commodores. The Army barracks in the background are exactly like the ones in was in at Ft. Dix, NJ in 1964. They were built in WWI and were being demolished in the mid-60's by torching them. It only took 3 minuted for them to burn to the ground!

 

Do a search." Rarest car made into a gasser" You'll get your answer.

 

Must be the young kids. Takin all them factory parts off and makin what was a fine car look all different. Looks to be a good job of filling the hole in the hood.

 

Top left is an Aussie bodied 37 roadster. Same windshield?.

 

Really tough to tell if the windshield is the same - it certainly looks very similar, but note the cowl mounted wipers, which is correct for 1941/42 U.S. bodied cars.

The 'CB antenna' with the foxtail was obviously an early prototype!

 

An ad from 1992....

 

I just called that number and there's nobody home, DAM

 

For those of you who are into Willys history, here are a couple of photos of the 1940 De Luxe Willys 440 Roadster, custom made by Willys Overland for FDR as a 58th birthday present, from his family. This is very different from the B&W photos I originally posted. Note that it has running boards, which were optional on 1940 passenger car models - presumably to aid FDR in entering the car, which I believe was fitted with hand controls.

 

Aussie 40 Willys roadster, mildy rooded with GMH 4 banger. Bodies were built by Flood, and have heaps of wood internally, so combined with ragtop made them very prone to rot. As I said in the other thread, I believe there's only abour 5 of these left in Australia now.

Differences to US models include cutaway doors, fold down windscreen etc.

Cheers, Glen.

 

Glen

That Flood bodied tourer in your photos is, as you say, a rare and unique car, but it is not a roadster. It's a 'tourer' in Aussie parlance or a 'phaeton' in yankspeak.

A tourer/phaeton seats four or more in open air, a roadster or convertible seats two main passengers - with or without a rumble/dickey seat. T.J. Richards also made a tourer at the same time (1937-1938) as they made the roadster.

 

A Willys roadster just dont do it for me...

 

Anybody reading this thread would probably be interested in the Conv that got turned into a gasser:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326347

 

Great pictures, sure looks like an Aussie body to me. Interesting that it has a 42 grille bar but 41 bumpers. I would say its a roadster since one picture looks like a snap tonneau covering the complete interior. Very cool car for sure, thanks for sharing.

 

In 1942 Australia was well into WW II and civilian car production was almost none. The car in my photos is LHD, has cowl mounted wipers, gas filler through the fender - all hallmarks of 1941/42 U.S. production - and I very much doubt that it is Australian bodied. Can you imagine that Australia would export a LHD car to the U.S. after the U.S. had joined WW II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor? I strongly doubt it.

My guess is that it is a customized US built car. I have seen a Sharknose Graham convertible that was similarly customized but was not one of the three factory convertibles - in fact I have many photos of it.