Recently took possession of this little 39 Willys pickup . I found it here on the HAMB. my son and I plan to build a mild g***er style build out of it. I want it to kind of match my Anglia . I'm even thinking about the same paint scheme . We are pretty excited about it. 39's are our favorites .
Gotta be a rare find.....Just being an unmolested Willys from that era and further being a pickup......Congrats! Ray
Thanks guys, it has a mustang II under it, nicely installed . so I may use that, but I may switch to a straight axle, then a narrowed 9" with ladder bars and coilovers. it's set up for sbc, but I'm thinking about a 351 Cleveland with a 4 spd, or an FE. first I need to finish my 46 Ford coupe.
I totally love that design....it sure to be a real head-turner!....and a rare model on top of that....very, very cool!!!
Nice find, cool truck. Willys never built that truck, the 39 pickups came with 37-38 style front clips but I also like the 39 front end. I've seen a few with the 39 nose.
I thought I had read that somewhere . it is actually a 41 with the 39 clip. my son is thinking of putting that front clip on a gl*** coupe body, then I may put a 37-8 or 40 41 front on this. just not sure yet.
Yes...fsteddie is right, Willys never produced a pickup in 1939 with that front clip. I had heard that from Wayne Artega quite a while back, as he ran a '39 pickup with an engine in the rear for wheelstanding. Also heard that from the owner of the Hairy Canary, a 39 drag truck from British Columbia. As I looked into it more, many years ago, in 1939 it seems Willys was in the transition to juice brakes from cable brakes, but not ready for production, so in early '39 they put out the Model 48, which was a continuation of the '38 model. When they were ready, the Model '39 was introduced with that new front end, as they transitioned from the round style to the more pointed style of the '40-'41's. Another mystery to me was that I have seen several examples of the Model 39 hood with just Overland on it, and several with Willys-Overland. I don't know for sure but my theory on that is the Overland was a respected, but forgotten model from the '20's when they made larger cars, but people didn't connect it to Willys (Remember the company was called Willys Overland Motors Inc., back then,) so perhaps a change was made to include the name Willys Overland to make the connection...food for thought. The front clip does look good on any Willys body (37-41).
id like to find a real 37/38 front clip. i found some fenders on here, but no hood. i may just save up for a 4pc gl*** 41 front clip.
Trailer Ed None of that stuff is easy to find any more but the 37-38 proved to be the least desirable, but it was also Willys biggest production number (about 65 thousand in 1938), so there is a greater chance of finding them than the others. I may have a hood up in the rafters at a buddies house...will have to check. g-willys ps...what's wrong with the '39 front clip...that is the lowest production model for Willys, and you already have one.
My son wants to put the 39 front on a gl*** coupe body . But I may just use what I have. the 39 front is pretty cool .
trailer -Ed Ill ask my buddie if that '38 hood is still in the rafters, in case you change your mind...by the way the white coupe in my avitar is a '39...the one in the background is a'36 sedan. g-willys
Willys partnered back up with Overland for 1939-1940, and as a marketing ploy, the 39 models were all called Overlands, not Willys. Although they were still Willys. The pickups only came with the 38 style nose however when the 37-8 leftovers were gone, they made the 39 style nose with bolt on headlight pods that still had the round headlights. Since the ploy didn't work well in marketing, 1940 was released as Willys- Overland Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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