Customs VERY RARE 1955 WILLYS BERMUDA FIND

Not bad.

 

Is it done yet ?

 

GIVE ME A FEW DAYS! Lol.

 

What do you think? Lol.

 

Great score and ***led too!
I'd be tempted to see if I could first get it running.

As for a Custom, I say it's begging for 55 Chevy or 53 Cadillac taillights.
The front fenders have a generic 49-51 Ford shape to them and would look good with 56 Olds or hooded 55 Chevy doors. The Willys is a smallish car. If it's the right width, a 56 Opel grille/bumper is a nice looking unit.

 

In high school a friend of mine had a Willys Aero 2 door that his dad put a 283 SBC in it. We had a blast with that car. It was a real sleeper.

 

I am thinking a ground up mild custom, with a Kaiser supercharger kit for the original flat 6.

 

After seeing the 4 lug drums on my Bermuda, I don't know how they would stop a SBC very well!

 

Very cool car for a great price. Knew the Aero model but never heard of a Bermuda.

Hennie

 

$300 for that @29StudeDude you must be one of those guys who could icecream to Eskimos

 

I found ond with a 383 Mopar a couple years ago, and my Uncle has one in San Jose, but the back gl*** is broken. I have thought about trying to get it, but now have another Henry J coming my way.
They are still out there. Cool find.

 

An 8 inch Ford Maverick rear end is the correct width, you just need to add angled pads to bolt to the springs...

R-

 

What about the front? I suppose there isn't a disc brake, 5 lug conversion out there without installing a Mustang II front end, etc?

 

"I suppose there isn't a disc brake, 5 lug conversion out there without installing a Mustang II front end, etc?"
Probably not, even at 1/800/buy-part. .

However, AMC used bolt-on spindles for a very long time. 50's ->70's, iirc. Came in 2 or 3 drum brake versions, 2 disc versions(solid & vented rotor). You could get a whole ***embly & adapt it to the Willys spindle. However, you need to cut off the spindle stub from its' plate, so make sure there is enough room for the amc spindle-stub to bolt on. A trick in the late 60's->early70's was to make a dropping plate that fit some oem spindle back. It would be as tall as the drop you wanted, & then the amc spindle would bolt to that. It would have to incorporate enough area to properly position the calipers used. This would also work if there wasn't enough room on the orig spindle-back to directly bolt on the amc spindle-stub. & since there are better calipers out there now, you wouldn't even need the amc caliper brackets, & should be able to use a drum brake spindle, along w/the bearing hub only. Although I'd guess it'd need some small mods to fit rotors. I do not know what, if any, difference there is 'twixt the various drum & disc spindle-stubs. Someone else on here probably does, as there are a few amc-fiends on this board. .

It sounds like the mill is in good shape. They were good mills, just not fire-breathing. But they take to supercharging/turbos just fine - & that really wakes them up. Kaiser (when they owned Jeep) made an OHC head that fit that block(originally designed for military use). Head was Alum(I think), hemi, roller-rockers, etc. Was put in the large Jeep pu(J-10, J-15) most sold non-military iirc, eventually went to Argentina. But they are around here in the states. Would make a really interesting mill & great in-the-famliy conversation piece.

Glad to see you are saving it.
& I agree, stock - it's different from most others out there already, so external n interior mods aren't really needed to make it stand out.

Marcus...

 

This car is very unique. I'd leave it stock. You'll be better off in the long run. Disc brakes would be a nice upgrade.

 

I know of two in southern New England, a real nice one in western CT and an ok one in the Holyoke MA area. I am finishing my Woodill Wildfire/Dodge Special and I am using an Willys Aero steering set up and a Kaiser/Willys Dana 23 rear axle (from a Henry J).

 

I plan on leaving it stock if I can find replacement brake parts. The drums will work fine if all new with the Flathead 6. A factory Kaiser supercharger setup would be all I would need for a unique engine! I want to lower it all around with lower profile tires, put all the trim I have back on, and paint it a light blue metallic hue, with all white guts, wide whites, and the flipper caps shown in the mock-up photo. I will shave things off like the wipers, trunk and door locks, hood spear, radio, and go through it mechanically.

 

After using a three-legged puller, and hammering on the rear drums, they finally came off. I never want to go through that again, so I found a Ford Maverick rear end, and will be going to get that for an eventual install! I am also interested in installing the AMC type front spindles, and converting to discs.

After getting under this car, I have also noticed it has holes in the rockers,, rear frame (by the bumper brackets and leaf spring mount areas), in the frame rails behind the front tires, and the body door gaps change when you jack it up from one end or the other! I am sure this is due to the floor and frame holes. The only part that can be easily patched and is soild, is the trunk floor. This makes me question if I shouldn't go G***er, straight front axle, or gut the floors, and do the new frame, V-8, etc. route? Lol.

 

I love your plans of customizing and the Kaiser Supercharger (I actually had one of those setups years ago, really neat with the belt-clutch deal).

As for the rust areas, personally, I would just repair what's rusted out, and maybe add some front-to-back reinforcements once it's all square.

Get it on stands or blocks or whatever so it's secure and so you have good gaps, then start cutting sections out and welding them in one at a time. It's only steel and it's very repairable. Get that out of the way before any further work. Repairing what's there is still going to be easier and faster than putting it on a whole new frame.

Whatever you do, I'm glad you got it and are building it instead of it just wasting away where it was.

 

That really is a cool little ride

 

Forgot to mention, the AMC spindle deal was featured, I think - IIRC, in Street Rodder, ~ '75-'77. Got the article somewhere, just don't know where. FWIW.
Marcus...

 

Then you might not be able to use it as often, if it's a g***er.

 

That would nice to have a copy of!

 

Just scored these 1961 English Ford tail lights off eBay. They should look custom yet kinda stock on the Bermuda.

 

I just picked up a '94 GMC Sonoma 10 Bolt rear end for $30! So the rear is taken care of. The same guy has a straight axle front end, complete with steering, brakes, and leaf springs from what he thinks is a '40's Chevy truck for $100. The measurements say it will fit the Bermuda, so I guess that's a sign it should be a G***er style car? Lol.

 

Every Willys I've ever seen that wasn't a Jeep was a G***er! It's meant to be.

 

They were a hot performer in their day. The 226 cu in 120HP motor was adopted after Kaiser bought the Willys company, they were meant to have a 161 cu in motor. The larger motor was basically the power of a flathead Ford V8 in a car the weight of a Rambler.

 

Those tail lights are cool!Interesting how the round reflectors are canted at an angle!

 

Here’s one we just did at my work. It’s owned by one of the guys that works here. Big block, turbo 400 and a trans brake.