That is The ED Smith car from Vancouver,Wa, that I mentioned earlier. It was Pontiac powered, and became the Chuck Tiller B-Gasser later on. I have been at Bonneville Speedweek, or I would have chimed in earlier.
Thanks for the information Marty and I hope that you had a fantastic time at Bonneville and got to see Danny Thompson make his runs.
Does anyone know anything about this one? It says Balanced by Beezley Memphis Tenn. on his shirt and that also matches the sticker on the windshield.
OTE="elgringo71, post: 11659016, member: 126056"] View attachment 3302300 View attachment 3302295 View attachment 3302298 View attachment 3302296 [/QUOTE] Don Don't know where jimbo17 got his info from but Ron Norman owns 5 WILLYS Grove Boys, behind it is the Beeline, Jack Merkel '33, Jack Merkel '39, Airoso Bros. which is behind the black Merkel '39. No K.S. Pittman and not the Stone Woods & Cook car. Mike Cook owns the Swindler "A"and the other is in the estate of Mike Wales. Actually Ron does own a sixth WILLYS but its a modern day build that he races
Yes, I agree with you on the cars that Ron owns with one point for clarification, the Airoso Brothers car is a replica done with Joe Airoso's permission. Ron seems to have a nose for finding Willys Coupes with history and keeping them original as raced or returning them to what they were. Don Don't know where jimbo17 got his info from but Ron Norman owns 5 WILLYS View attachment 3302536 Grove Boys, behind it is the Beeline, Jack Merkel '33, Jack Merkel '39, Airoso Bros. which is behind the black Merkel '39. No K.S. Pittman and not the Stone Woods & Cook car. Mike Cook owns the Swindler "A"and the other is in the estate of Mike Wales. Actually Ron does own a sixth WILLYS but its a modern day build that he races[/QUOTE]
No, you didn't need candy paint and chrome to win a trophy...Jack Bible with his A/G Winternationals trophy...I think that Waldo Hirshfield was also involved in this car...when asked about the color, Hirshfield called it "candy apple dirt." Here is a little more on it http://www.hotrod.com/articles/the-golden-age-of-drag-racing-part-2/ I'm thinking that these may be the same car later on.
I found some information from the West Coast Swing. It looks like I Confused Bert Lollar and Bert Looney both from Tulsa Oklahoma and both with Willys Coupe gassers.
The picture says 64 but I have one of this car from 62 Joe Black driving Aurora 7 421 pontiac powered at Westhampton. Pat
Hey EG, Where did you get that photo? Way in the background, it looks like the apartment homes across the field from Lions. The Willys says B/Gas and is in some form of primer. (in 1960, we were in B/Gas before we dropped down to C/Gas) Also, I can see a 671 supercharger with something on top that looks like Strombergs. That is waaay to close to be a coincidence... is it our Willys in the pits at Lions? We towed it to Lions behind our 58 Impala and changed the rear tires to the Bruce slicks when we got there. The front looks like a white wall tire, but it could be the spare out of our Impala leaning on the Willys. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW... Thanks, Jnaki
I found the picture on the Internet and it has the same picture in hotrod deluxe in 2011 with a comment about the most expensive Cadillac sold in 1958 and the man selling slicks at the track out of the back of it. Now I can't find the picture with the comments from the magazine but I will keep looking.
EG, Cheater slicks were a hot commodity at Lions from 58-60. They were on a lot of the fast, stock cars because they had grooves and could be street tires. They were not good for the street, but had better traction on the strip because of the wide flat surface like regular slicks. We had a set for the Impala, but got rid of them later. Hope you can find the article... Thanks, Jnaki
See the post above. Here is some information on Moxley Slicks Look at the width on some of these tires
EG, Thanks for the link and attachment. You have access to a lot of photos, so do others, so i am optimistic after 56 years. My search for photos of our 1940 willys coupe goes on. We were at Lions in 1960 too many times from April to August for someone not to have taken photos. Actually, these days, primered cars are the "in thing" with the new "frost paint" or "frozen paint" schemes. We must have been one of the only 40 Willys that had red primer, no logos, black wheels, etc. If the Willys did not have the explosion/accident, it would have been painted and set up for a run at the Nationals later that year. These photos that pop up give me hope that someone does have other photos that show the car. I will ask Greg Sharp what he knows about the photo and person. Thank you, Jnaki
EG, We had Bruce slicks for the 40 Willys and Inglewood Cheater slicks for the 58 Impala. Most cars at the time had Firestone tires stock from the factory, so we had them recapped by Inglewood. We just ordered the Bruce slicks from Reath's Shop in Long Beach. The neat thing was, since we had a Chevy rear axle set up for the 40 Willys, the bolt pattern was the same for both the Willys and the Impala. Yes, we used the Bruce slicks on the Impala at the drags and on the street when appropriate. They were very good and it was a lot of fun. The exception was if you stayed out too late and the coastal mist coated the streets. Then, it was 10-15 mph all of the way home with an egg shell touch on the brake pedal. Just like Cinderella, we had a misty, midnight curfew. Thanks, Jnaki
Jnaki, One other option if it doesn't work out with Greg Sharp would be to find a Hamb member with that Hot Rod Deluxe magazine or maybe buy it on eBay. Hopefully this would help know what track or what year the picture was taken and that might help you pinpoint it. It is possible that the man with the Cadillac traveled to Lyons and also sold tires there. I am enjoying your stories, comments and videos and hope that you find pictures of the Willys.
The Jalopy Journal
