History 1933 - 1936 Willys, picture thread

El. do you know anything about the 2 yellow Willys.?

Pat

 

Pat,
It’s the first time that I have seen pictures of the Jess Belton Jr. car and I have seen pictures of te Varacelli car before but don’t know anything about either one of them

 

El and Pat,
If I remember correctly the Jess Belton Jr. car was originally the Owens, Seevers and Wiesner car. After Jess Belton Jr. it belonged to @steveo3377. Don't know who Steve sold it to.

 

@1933_willys_77 , thanks for the information. I had no idea it was that Coupe.

 

The reason I asked about the yellow car is because I was looking for Jack Merkel steel 33 Willys, stock chassis, narrowed Olds/Pont. rear What I know is that Jack ran it for only one year I think 65 with the SBC out of his 39 Willys. He then built the all glass 33 Willys with a BBC. The SBC got put in Eddie Sanzo's all glass 33 Willys (a twin of Jack's 33). Jacks car got sold to Bob Grimm who went out to California and raced it as a S/G car. I don't know the exact time period but maybe sometime around 68-70. I was in Vietnam and lost contact with a lot of these guys. I spoke to Jack some 5 years ago and he said they did an engine for Bob Grimm and his son years before, he couldn't remember when. I believe the car is still around and some one must know of it.

Pat

 

Jess Belton coupe, I owned from 93-97

 

Early Kalinowski & Trautz build pics.

 

@steveo3377, You have owned some outstanding Willys Coupes over the years. How many do you think you have owned? I really like that Jess Belton Jr. car. Those are some great vintage shots. The Kowalski and Troutz coupe came out nice too. I always enjoy those build pictures.

 

I used to sell headlight rings for the '33 Willys. It looks like Jess Belton may have a set I made. Although they look round they are really oval shaped.

 

They were just polished aluminum flat stock with blacked out centers,,,, definitely home fabbed.

 

Was lucky enough over the years to find/own 6 of them over the years including a minty 10k mile original paint stocker,,,, could not keep them all but lucky to still have 2,,,, the Kalinowski and Trautz coupe in my avatar since 91 and Franny Hetherman A/G 77 I chased since about 1980/81.I blame the sickness on George Montgomery,,,, built model of his coupe countless times when I was a kiddo.

 

@steveo3377, you were very fortunate to be able to find and buy that many over the years. With many of us we have to sell a car to buy another one and sometimes we make a little money and try to buy a better one. Model 77 Coupes are much rarer than the 37-42 Coupes and are tough to find. That is crazy that you had a low mile stocker. They are very seldom seen these days. You did well to hold on to 2 of them. Imagine trying to buy 2 of them today. George Montgomery had more wins at National Events than any other gasser that I know of. It was a very fast, famous and beautiful coupe. I would like to see some more pictures of them and hear some stories if there is anything that you would like to share.

 

I see - probably not mine then. Mine had rolled flanges to contain a 1/8" piece of Lexan made on hammerform dies.

 

Yes very lucky and very persistent,,,, those cars are a real battle to buy,,,,, some of the builder cars I let go because of how expensive they are to build. Ideally we are just caretakers saving stuff for the next guy. I am actually surprised at how many coupes survived,,,,, lots got really wasted during gasser wars days when they were disposable..

 

I have those steel fenders^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pat

 

I was also lucky back then to be able to buy and sell stuff to keep better cars as you try and climb the ladder in the hobby,,,, that’s very tough to do now with the internet over information hi way wide open,,,,, prices are really all over the place on all vintage stuff.

 

What headlight assembly did George use??

 

Steve I thought it was Jeep.

Pat

 

Could be VW. At any rate they will point to the moon unless they are contained in a tilted can to aim at the roadway if the car is to be used on the street.

 

Frenchtown they are not VW I had VW on my 36 PU, the bezel is thinner. The later VW were better but Georges car was earlier than that.

Pat

 

Obviously an early "Hamber" ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pat