Projects What is your take on a fibreglass 1941 willys?

I don't know if Outlaw is still in business, but they made a very good Willys glass body.

 

I'd rather have 'glass than not have at all. Wanted one since I was 8. This was $27,500 all done. You can't buy a bare steel body for that. 301 w/Jahns pistons and a 4 speed. Good enough for 5 pages in R&C.

 

I too got the bug when I watched the movie hot rod.I have chased these cars for 30 years.I saved and saved to buy what I have since I run my own business.I was,about to give up and buy glass but couldnt bring myself to doing it after devoting thirty years to the chase.my take is save your money buy a real steel car and build engine and interior later. you will thank yourself in long run.once again just my thought.

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I can see your point but on the other hand I think a glass one would suite me and a lot of people better. I live, eat, and build cars but at the end of the day I have other things that I want to spend my money on. I have wanted one since I was a kid and now being almost forty I think mostlikely I will never own a steel one because of price and the other things that I have involved myself in. So fibreglass probably is the realistic option for me. When it comes time to build one I will for sure throuw a build thread up. Thanks for the input and advice
Jay

 

Here's one piece of advice that a lot of people overlook:
Make sure if you have a tilt front end,that you tell anyone who works on or has access to the car,that the doors must be COMPLETELY closed before opening or closing the front end....
My Dad's Willys was at a shop getting a bit of upholstery work done,and the guy put a gawdawful big crescent shaped gouge in the partially open drivers side door when he closed the tilt front end after showing some gawkers his interior handiwork and not fully closing the door.
It sounds stupid,but it's an easy thing to do,especially if you're doing wiring or something,and you have to constantly be in and out of the car,or if you're in a rush to get to the staging lanes at the track after a jet swap or something...

Scott



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Outlaw in Penn makes a killer body, quality like no others, check them out, great people to do business with

 

Build it and Enjoy it! and DON"T let anyone rain on your parade. 1 Glass Willys to have and enjoy is worth more than 2 Steel Willys out of your reach. John

 

Wicarnut two steel willys out of reach are still real vintage steel willys while fiberglass new willys are being made by about 10 different company over the years therefore the parts all vary.goodluck

Posted In the USA.

 

Been there done that with a 40 Willys P/U that had a glass front end and cab from Willys In The Woods Oneida, Tn. (not sure if they are still in business) and a steel bed. No complaints about the quality or fit of the glass. It was a neat little truck but just too small. Used the rear seat out of a Ford Escort station wagon for the front seat. Short wheel base and bumps came quick. Had a Mustang ll and an S-10 rear.

 

Outlaw bodies are inaccurate and you can spot them a mile off. They were the first people to f**k up the rear fenders and tail pan and to peak the front fenders too sharply. The dash also is usually a dead giveaway on a 'glass body - nothing like the originals - which varied through the years. Note the rounded three piece tail pan on real Willys. If you are going to go for a glass body why not get as authentic looking a body as possible - not somebody's idea of 'new and improved'. Once Outlaw got in the act everybody and his brother bought an Outlaw body and pulled a plug off it so the f**ked up tail pan and peaked front fenders virus became a pandemic and suddenly there was a sea of inaccurate bodies from anyone who had a 55 gal drum of resin and some fiberglass mat. Some of the more accurate bodies are Hillside Street Rods (Harry Philips of Willys Unlimited originally made the this body by pulling a mold off an original Willys coupe, even going so far as to mold in rain gutters) and Willys Works. Ida automotive and Cutting Edge also had accurate bodies. Be aware of the differences between the 1937-1940 bodies and the 1941/42 style bodies if an authentic look is your bag.....

Outlaw:




Willys:

 

These threads kill me.
Always gonna be haters.
I've had a real 32 & the steel reproduction 32 pictured in my avatar.
For driving purposes- the repro hands down was the better car. Better built, quieter & 0 rust.
Was it a nuts on copy of the original? No & who gives a fuck. I drove the shit out of it. I have 2 buddies who own glass 32 3 windows. I'm betting they are having more fun driving around in their "inaccurate" cars than most of you.

I also own a real steel 41 Willys. Problem for a few here is it's chopped. It has race history- an ex A/Gas car to be exact. That car ran a 7.60 index. I always wanted a Willys & this one became available from a friend who lost interest in it about 3/4 way into the rebuild. He had stupid money in this car & got tired of the blank checks every month. It was a rust free 41 Willys, what's not to like? Truth be told- I was looking for glass because steel ones in nice shape were stupid expensive. Bought this one right because it wasn't done.

Most of the glass haters- excluding one- don't even own a fucking Willys- glass or steel.
Put up or STFU.
Some of you remind me of the anal muscle car guys w/ their number's matching, slightly oversprayed, paint stick cars. We all know how popular they are.

I will say this- if I was building an accurate down to the crease steel 41 Willys & wanted it perfect in every way- Weasel would be my go to guy.
For now- I'll stick to my ex race car that has history- is all steel, 0 rust, suicide door, lift off steel front end, chopped 41 Willys w/ a 1000 hp 1:1 blown 392 Hemi.
That's how the fuck I roll.

If a 41 Willys is your dream car & glass is what you can afford- fuck the haters & do it! They aren't writing the check, you are. If you are waiting for the HAMB approval, you probably won't get it. But if I see you in your glass car, I'll stop & give you a big thumbs up!

 

I guess I am missing the dead give away problem with the back of my cars.

Scott

 

Just kidding!!
Just for acceptance and giggles I am going to add the original body lines to the 40 willys gasser we are building now, (If my customer will let me).



Scott

 

The question was " What is your take on a fiberglass 1941 willys"

The OP ends the post with " What is your opinion on this one fellas? "

If you are too fragile to hear different opinions from your own, you may have come to the wrong Forum.

 

Quote:"To drift a little... Is the Corvette the only originally glass HAMB friendly car?"

'63 & '64 Stude Avanti. & '65 Avanti by Newman&Altman(sp?)

Marcus...

 

Hey- I'm not the glass hater.
Re-read the thread.

To answer the OP-
My "take" is buy what you can afford & have fun.
That was my point.

I have no issues if you want to delete my previous response.

 

Neither am I.

I use glass a lot on my race cars.

A buddy of mine has a Hot Rod that is based on a older Glass body, that one is cool to me too.
Because its old.

And I think guys like Mr 32 and Langly are hero's for building the quality cars they are building, on the other side of the Atlantic.

But saying that not owning a Willys disqualifies you from having an opinion doesn't make sense to me.

I own a '28 Roadster and a '32 Coupe.
The same couple of drums of resin used for a Willys could be used to make something that looks like either one of those.
( or a boat...)


I still cant get over that ad for the $4000 Sedan...

Just think of all the cool things you could do with that.

Build it as is ( a 4Dr ), change it into a phantom 2Dr ( using Coupe doors ), or a Sedan Delivery.

It would be infinitely cooler than another Glass Coupe, and probably less money too...

 

Heres another one of my Plastic Fantastics, This body is in green gelcoat with silver, gold and a touch of blue metallic, This is how the body comes out of my mold, with the exception of cleaning up the mold seams little to no bodywork is needed, I have over the last 35 years restored, built and painted many muscle cars, hotrods and everyday cars, I understand what the real steel stuff guy's comments are geared towards, But at the end of the day I make my living with probably one of the largest collections of Nostalgia type molds in the U.S. And myself and our five employees are Grateful for the vast amount of customer business we have been able to do over the last several years, With 2013 being our best,
Glass Cars and Steel Cars , I own both and always will, and in my opinion all of them are cool.

Scott

 

I seen your body's Scott, and they are excellent!

Your team does an awesome job.

 

I'm with you GasserKid.

I freaking love the Willys coupe and the only way I'll get into one is 'glass.

To me, that's okay.

I'm not building one in the foreseeable future, but if I was planning on it a glass body would be fine.

 

Herein lies the problem with this whole thread. Don't ask what the HAMB thinks-it's your car. If what you can afford is 'glas, then build it and drive it. Only if you could afford either one should you then question which to have. And, since maybe 1% of HAMBers would ever see your car, it still doesn't matter what the collective thinks.

I guess you could be a purist and insist on steel, but by the time you have cut away the rust and patched it all, what percentage is "real" anyway? It sure would be interesting to see how many real steel guys-especially those with later builds when the prices went wild-really,actually drive their cars versus the 'glas guys out having fun.

The only bottom line that counts is what and when do you want your car? You could wait/save for 25 years, then have a family or health crisis and have to spend your nest egg. Or, maybe you just die unfulfilled.

I say wait if you're an elitist, build if you're a hot rodder. JMTC anyway.

 

Just be happy you have a choice of steel or glass! Many people want cars that are hard to find, or too expensive, and don't have a fiberglass clone option. If I really wanted a Willys coupe, I'd buy a glass body also. Steel is too expensive for my budget.

 

Didn't most of the Big name cars, SWC, Big John, KS, Coonrod, and a thousand more have mostly fiberglass cars ? the only thing steel was the main body. I guess they were all Kit cars?? If a Glass car would have been as plentifull back then as now, they all would have built them !! How many on here have accually built a car out of a piece of Shit, rusted out, Fucking pile of shit, burning barrel, cut up thing that maybe was a car at one time? it aint NO fun! how nice it would be to start with a brand new body that just needs a little sanding and paint! not 6 mo. of replacing every panel on it. Race cars should be glass anyway,according to Donnie Baker, It should be State Law!! Chris

 

In my opinion... Anything thats fiberglass... Thats not suppossed to be is just a fake POS...

 

Everyone's got an opinion. I'm glad you don't get to make the rules. Please post pictures of the cars steel cars you've rescued from the scrap heap. At some point, that steel body you repaired isn't "real" either. Unless, of course, you're using real steel patches from the same time period,hopefully from NOS sources. Otherwise, I'd contest that your Chinese steel patched up body is a "fake POS",too.

 

Check out my website... I use lead in most cases instead of a plastic filler... Cant do that with a glass body. And even if you start with a rusted out pos you still have something that has history to it... By the way I also have a full sheet metal fab shop and make most of my patches. Including making a nose for a 51 stude, fenders for a '39 ford deluxe, a full door for a '56 t bird, and currently making some running boards for a 40 chevy...
Have also just saved a 64 chevy truck from the crusher, and in about a month made a nice driver out of it, If you want any further info than let me know.

www.summersshowandgo.com

 

I haven't been here long but I think most guys here are friendly, I haven't got my ball busted yet and I drive a fiberglass Total 23 T "errr is that HAMB friendly"

 

I admire your work and ability-but you're missing the point. No matter what filler or sheet metal you are adding to an original steel body, it's no longer original, it's modified. No way around that. At some point, in fact, it's less original (real) than modifed. A 'glas body is, until modifed, original, too, just different.

It really is great you can make all those parts you've listed-I cannot do any of that. But, unless you're last name is Studebaker,you just made a non-original nose for that '51 and it's no longer "real steel".

I'll just go back to the main point being made in this thread-original is fine, but 'glas is fine too. Apples and oranges,maybe, buy the OP is going to have to decide if he's going to lust after an original or build and drive a recreation.

 

my question to anyone who knows, whats it like to title a glass car, especially in the nazi state of California?

 

Why are people so hung up on the coupes? You can have an all steel sedan for a lot less than a 'glass coupe and it's a real Willys - not a blow up doll trying to pose as the real deal. I have seen willys out there for $3 to $4k and that gives you everything you need to start - no need to buy an aftermarket chassis, no need to buy all the parts you need to complete a glass coupe - grille, headlight rings, tail lights, glass, regulators, stainless trim etc., no title/registration hassles. I paid $6k for the last De Luxe 1940 sedan I bought as a complete roller with all the trim and goodies on it - oh yeah and it had a title too....