I found some old negatives that I've been scanning on my new Canon Negative Scanner. One is of a Willys coupe that our car club from Hermosa Beach, CA bought and raced at Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington, CA. It did not have an engine when we acquired it and we raced it with a flathead. Not very competitive but fun to drive with the engine set back and center steering. These photos were taken with my 49 Fleetline in front of it and my friend Woody's chopped Merc in front of my car. Does anyone have any photos of this car when A & M was racing it?
I wish that I had some information for you. Do you know what year it was bought and what years it was run before the club bought it? Also do you know what motor and transmission it ran previously? Also was that a push bar on the back? Also did it have a fiberglass nose? It looks like it did in the picture. This one had a similar name but I don't know if it's the same car. It definitely looks later judging by the build style.
I think the club bought it in 57 or 58. I don't think it had an engine when we got it but we put in a flathead and ran it at Lions Drag Strip. I checked with my friend Woody and he doesn't remember either. I was married in 1959 so that was the end of my car club days until almost 40 years later. It did have a push bar on the driver's side.
Hello, Did it always have center steering or did it once run in the lower gasser classes as a white Willys with whitewall rear tires? This is 1959-60 Lions Jnaki I have looked through all of my files for A and M and came up empty from 58-60 at Lions.
It had center steering and an aluminum firewall with the engine set back. It probably would have run in an Altered class because of the setback. The car in the video has headlights, a scoop on the hood, taillights and a license plate and appears to be street legal. I think the Willys we had was modified too much to be put back to street legal. I do remember seeing that Chevy coupe race at Lions. I'm still looking and have some feelers out for more info. Will update this thread if I get anything new to post.
Thanks for update. That was very early for a Willys to be running the dragstrip. I also posted it in the Earliest Willys Racecars thread. Hopefully someone will have some pictures or information on it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/earliest-willys-racecars.1024775/page-10#post-11673956
The car club I belonged to was the Magoos from Hermosa Beach, CA. I think we primered it to cover up the A & M and then I painted Magoos on the deck lid. Neither Woody or myself can remember who it was sold to or where it went. I'll keep looking to see if I have any negatives with it making a run at Lions.
Hey BN, In discovering the name of the red 32 Altered Coupe racing at Lions in 59-60, I came across this Altered Willys. It was racing in the same C/A Altered class at Lions in my old drag racing films as the 32. The Willys is still unknown, to this day, as to the owner and driver or what motor it ran. It must have been a small flathead or 6 cylinder to be in the lower C/A Altered Class. Would this Willys Altered be the one you are looking for? Jnaki Sorry, I do not have any other racing movies of the Altered Willys. elgringo71 (HAMB) has the most comprehensive grouping of old Willys photos around. We are all still searching for our own 1940 Willys Coupe that we ran in the B/G and C/G Class in 1960. If you have any old photos from that time period, please check them out to see if we aren't in the background or racing at Lions. This old film was inside of a longer drag racing/60s video recorded by RRUSS (HAMB) over several months and locations. It is our primer painted Willys running in B/G before we added welded steel plates in the trunk, over the rear axle, to get into the C/G class weight/HP requirements. The plates made the Willys a little more solid, had less flex and was a permanent installation. That installation of extra weight put us in the lower C/G class. (even with a 671 supercharger on a 292 SBC)
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