hello, i found this in my files. the same red primer willys sedan in a race. it was loud and fast. it was the afternoon, the sun was slowly going down, so pardon the washed out effect. this car had to be someone in the top ranks of the gasser class back then. someone must know who it was...after all, it was only 58 years ago... so cal racers, those who have moved out of state? anyone? thanks, jnaki
hello, not a barn find, but thanks to rruss here on the hamb for his happenstance movie from lions. i think this clip is our 40 willys at lions. it is primered, black wheels, and if you look closely underneath, it has what looks like traction master bars. the puzzling thing is that it is too blurry to identify what is sticking out of the hood as the car goes by the camera. but, my first impression was injector tubes, but no willys at the time had injector tubes sticking out. so, is it our car? my brother was a howard cam fanatic. he liked the old style actions of howard cam cars...backyard style builders, etc. so, we had a full race cam and kit, flywheel, trans adapter,etc. i cannot remember if he put those huge stickers on the rear window...but there was no other primered willys with black wheels during our lions days racing days...so, you be the judge...this is as close to the real car as possible...thanks rruss...he had no other photos of the car, so the search is still on for more photos or movies. yea...we are getting somewhere.... thank you, thank you... jnaki
This one looks a lot like the one that you posted the footage of and it says B Gas like the other one and has 283 on it too.
hello e.g, thanks for the search, but this willys has its gas tank is sticking out of the grille area. our moon tank was the thing that exploded when the flying metal parts punctured the tank. a good thing that came out of the explosion: the lions tech committee made everyone remove all tanks out of the cab and move it to the front or rear of the car. thanks, jnaki
In posts 47 and 58 there are some photos of Charlie Hill's Filthy Forty. A couple are from 1962. Here is another really early one I just found. I cannot explain the A/Altered classification except that maybe it was missing a passenger seat or some upholstery or some required street equipment for the time. This may have been the first time out for a car that went on to much fame and fortune. YorkUS30 Dragway, Pennsylvania
That is a great early picture of the Filthy Forty. I had never seen that one. I will have to show it to my dad, he always watched for it in the magazines and it was one of his favorites along with KS Pitmann and Johnny Loper. Thanks for posting it.
Here is Roudy Willy, it was first raced by Jim and Inez Butler from Morton Texas and then by the Charioteers Car Club in New Mexico Both Jim and Inez were great Mechanics and you can see them in some of the pictures that were taken at the Nationals at Indianapolis. There are some unique features to this one. Look at the rear window and it looks like the deck lid was moulded in solid with the body James (Jim) Butler AKA Mr. Ford World Champion Racing Legend James passed away on November 27, 2006 at the age of 84. James was born in Ft. Cobb Ok November 10, 1922 to Robert and Bertha Reed Butler. He is survived by one brother, Lewis Butler of Levelland Texas, two daughters, Evelyn Butler Cunningham and husband Bill Cunningham of Ft. Stockton Tx, Patsy Butler Harris of Fredericksburg, Tx, five grandchildren, David Harris of San Saba Tx, Ronald Harris of Brownwood Tx, Vickie Bradshaw, Beverly Ezell of Ft. Stockton Tx, Amy Lightner of Monahans, 13 great grandchildren, and 1 great great grandson. James was preceded in death by his wife Inez Hallford Butler; parents Robert and Bertha Butler, five brothers, Roy Dell, Glen, Melvin, Floyd, and Skinner; two sisters, Arlie and Vida. James and his wife Inez lived in Morton Tx until 1970 where they owned a garage and wrecking yard. James and Inez moved to Graham Texas in 1970, then in 1990 they moved to Lake Brownwood, and their final move came in 1999 to Ft. Stockton Tx. James had a great love for fast cars, and built and raced many hot rods in his lifetime. James was widely known as Mr. Ford. James and Inez began their racing career on the circle track circuit in 1950. In the late 1950s James began drag racing on the quarter and eighth mile tracks. Two of James most famous race cars were Rowdy Willy which won the Top Ten In The World honors in 1960. James sold Rowdy Willy to the Charioteer Drag Racing club in Hobbs NM and the driver for the Charioteers was Lee Proctor of Odessa. Rowdy was in a featured article in the fall 2004 edition of the Gasser magazine. The last hot rod was a little Falcon Ranchero powered by a 289 cubic inch engine. James won the World Championship at Green Valley in 1966 with Remember Me. Bryan Teal was the only man James felt was worthy of driving his race cars, and was the official driver of Remember Me. Dickey Harrell known as Mr. Chevrolet drove Remember Me once on the eight mile track in Illinois, winning the championship. Both Rowdy Willy and Remember Me held many world records. In 1963 James built a 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint Lil Red for the Morton Ford House which was never outrun .... until James outrun it with his 1963 Ford Falcon 289 cubic inch rod Remember Me. The most famous winning races were when James won the Nationals with Rowdy Willy and also with his tow car, a 1958 Ford station wagon. Two years later he won the Nationals with Rowdy Willy and also with his tow car a 1960 Ford Starliner. When James lost his eyesight and retired from drag racing, he began a new career of working on boat motors, this career lasted for 45 years. There was never anything he could not do when he had an engine to work on and tools in his hand until the day he passed from this earth. Im sure daddy rode a hot rod to heaven. Visitation will be in Morton Tx Wednesday at the Head Memorial Funeral Home 309 N.E. 8th Street from 10 - 9. Graveside services for James Clinton Butler will be in the Enochs cemetery Thursday November 30 at 10:30 am. Pall bearers: David Harris Ethan Ezell, Ronald Harris Brandon Ezell, Chance Helmers, Billy Bradshaw, Tyler Lightner. Honorary Pall Bearers: Bryan Teal, James Swafford, Joe McCrorey, Buford Hemphill, Lee Proctor and Raymond Martin
The Sorokin, Bacilek and Pistone 36 Willys won B Competition at the first Winternationals in 1961 http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/stories/hrdp-9810-southern-california-top-fuel-movement/
Owned by Don Clarkson, the pictures were taken in August of 1958 http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/hrxp-1105-1959-worlds-weirdest-willys-coupes/
Does anyone know anything about this Willys that was posted earlier in the thread? It has a LOT in common with my '41, which I have no photos of from when it was raced.
That is a great video, it has the Grist Brothers and The Airoso Brothers Willys coupes. I know that the Airoso Brothers car first raced in 1960. I also saw the Stone Woods and Cook Swindler II car and the C&O Hydro car. There were a couple of more that I didn't recognise. The Willys pickup might have been the Panella Brothers. This early footage is great because it lets us see how things really were. I am glad that some of this footage has survived.
Yes, I remember seeing two of the Willys you mentioned in the video. Figured you'd like it and it would be somewhat helpful, too bad a lot of the home videos from that era had no sound.
The Jalopy Journal
