Here is a couple right from them. Unless this is a later car owned by them or a different front clip I would say no.
Same car changed over to a fiberglass front end. Wayne came to a Willys get together we had in 2009. Well Thursday and Friday were great but I ended up in the hospital Saturday morning suffering my 2nd heart attack. Wayne signed a great photo to me with a get well on it. Unfortunately a few weeks later Wayne also had a heart attack and didn't make it. His daughter Christine still has the '39 coupe as after racing ended Wayne put the steel '39 nose back on and made it a street car.
This Willys Sedan was belonged to Wayne Arteaga and below is the 39 Willys Overland that I am wondering if it is the same one that I quoted.
The more that I think about it the more that I wonder if it might have been the Jack Merkle Willys before it was lettered.
Elgringo71 I doubt that this is Merkle's car...it would have to more severely modified than it shows here. Merkle had a very high radius on his rear fenders, and his exhaust rolled under the runningboards. Also, Jack had a fiberglass '39nose on his (one of 2 that were ever made) Owner now (Ron Norman, had to hunt for the original glass nose...it was on a coupe in California at Sears Point in about 2005). And finally Wayne Arteaga was a commercial photographer during his life time( I have several pictures from him when he was alive) and in the lower left corner is the same insignia (W. Arteaga Photo) that I have on mine. Incidentally, got to know Wayne in his last few years...what a great guy. Also met and talked with Jack Merkle at the Meltdown races, and he was extremely nice also. g-willys
Elgringo, Cool old photo. My guess would be it is a very early photo of this car. Charlie Hill's Filthy Forty.
@OldRacer, Looking at the lettering I think that you are probably right. Here are some more pictures of the Filthy Forty. This was one of my dads favorite cars.
@Gwillys, I have seen a picture of the Jack Merkle 39 Coupe early on before lettering and it looked a lot like that. It was one of the pictures from the Jack Merkle collection and it said photo by Jack Merkle on the bottom or something like that. Unfortunately I can't find the picture now. I am also a big fan of the 39 Overlands. They have a one of a kind look and there is no mistaking them for another car. The only problem is that they were low production and they are tough to find and even tougher to find parts for. Try to find headlight parts for a 39 Overland if you want a difficult task.
If you need '39 headlight glass, I have some extra. The rest of the headlight stuff is hard to find...I have a mint collector piece that I found at Hershey many years ago. (not for sale)...it is more of a collectors item, and too nice for my streetrod. I'll post a picture tomorrow. g-willys P.S. Take a look at the bottom left of your picture for the Orteaga trademark.
elgringo71...here are a couple photos of an nos '39 Willys headlight system...note the original Willys factory harness. g-willys
@g-willys, you were extremely lucky to have found that. I have never even seen pictures of another one like that. Also I sent you a PM.
My best guess in this one is Gordon Selkirk but it's hard to tell much about it. I believe that it has Moon Discs on the front.
Here are some shots of an early coupe that I have never seen and it's a strong runner too. Thanks @rfraze
@rfraze Talked to Joe Airoso and he bought his coupe in 1959 and began to build it and said that Bert Looney and KS Pittman were already running Willys Coupes and he was watching for news on them in Drag News. I don't know what year this picture was taken but it definitely was an early car.
posted by swi66 in the vintage thread. Don't know anything about it but the cars in the pits look like 50's and early 60's models
Charlie 's car used to lift the front runners in all 4 gears, with the 283. Like Charlie used to say, It might not look good ,but it RUNS good.
Intrigued by this car - it has a really early look to it, but pics ive seen of it all look to be from past few decades. I thought i had an old pic of it but can't now find anything. Is it an original build thats survived? Does anyone have more info?
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