Projects I found a '40 Willys Coupe.. a dream come true!

I've been into cars my entire life (I blame my dad) but more specifically, drag racing and drag racing history has been my real interest and passion. My dad built a 426 max wedge powered Austin Healey back in the 60's, and has hot rodded cars and drag raced his entire life. My dad and I recently built my 1961 Falcon, and last year was my first year of actually drag racing it. I've had the absolute time of my life learning how to race and it only makes me appreciate drag racing and drag racing history all the more. I truly love it.

I chose to build a round body (60-63) Falcon and I'm absolutely over the moon with how it turned out. Its pretty badass, I'm not going to lie. In addition to the Falcons and the other early 60's Fords (427 powered Ford Thunderbolts & 406 tri-power Galaxies), I've also loved the 62-65 Superstock Mopars (the legendary 413 max wedge and 426 Hemi powered Dodge 330 Ramcharger, Savoys, A990 Coronets and Belvederes). I've appreciated and lusted after the early Super Duty Pontiac swiss cheese cars (Tempests, 421 Catalinas), all of the radical hemi powered altereds, the Fiat Topolino, Austin Bantam, Chevrolet Z-11, the Cobra Jet powered Mustangs, '68 Hurst L023 Hemi Darts, ZL-1 Camaros, and more. There is one car, however, that has always stood out amongst the drag racing royalty, and that's a Willys coupe. A real deal, steel Willys coupe has always been the ultimate car for me. A unicorn that I'd always dreamt of one day finding. My dream car. I honestly thought it was destined to remain just that, a dream.

Well.. I was actually able to get my dream car yesterday. Something I truly never expected to happen, but did!! A '40 Willys coupe that has been hidden away inside of a little shed, on the side of a local mountain, 26 miles away from my house, for the last 40 years. The gentleman I purchased it from originally found it in a farmer's field in Aberdeen South Dakota back in the late 1960's when he was only 17 years old. He had built a Willys model car when he was younger and so when he saw the roofline of the car, buried in weeds, he immediately knew what it was. He negotiated with the farmer to buy it for the princely sum of $15.00 at the time (he still has the original bill of sale). He said the farmer tried to pursuade him into looking at one of the other "much better" cars that were also lying in his field.

That 17 year old kid is now in his 70's, and he's been the caretaker of this Willys coupe for the past 54 years. He trailered it all the way from from North Dakota to the Spokane, WA region back in the early 80's, and its been hidden away on the side of a local mountain for nearly 40 years now. He told me that during his moving trip over to the Northwest, whenever he would stop at a gas station to fuel up he would usually come walking out of the station to find a small group of men surrounding the Willys on his trailer, looking at it and trying to get him to sell it.

It was understandably hard for him to say goodbye to it as my dad and a friend helped load it onto our trailer. I totally get it. He's been its caretaker for 54 years and its quite possible that no one will ever own it for that length of time ever again. He later said we both knew that it would always be his car, and that I was just adopting it. I agreed. I hope to get it built and eventually drive it back up the mountain so I can pick him up and take him for a ride. That would be pretty special for the both of us and I hope that I can make it happen.

I have it all built in my head already, and some of the details are likely to change, but one thing is for sure, it's 80+ year old patina will remain when it's all "finished" and I'm banging gears in it down the road. I can't wait!!

PS: As you can see, the car has a 1939 Willys-Overland front-end (aka: the shark nose). I surmise that someone back in the 50's or 60's wanted this cars '40 front end for their Willys, and so they switched out their '39 front clip in exchange for my cars front end. This '39 front clip has been together with this car since the 60's when it was first discovered by the person I just bought it from. Its front cross member still has its serial tag affixed to it though, and confirms that it's body and frame is a '40. I'm planning on building the car with the '39 front clip. The '39 Willys-Overland shark nose front end is unique, and I think this particular one has a long history with this car and will continue to be a part of this car's story.

 

That would make a cool custom

 

Phenomenal! Congrats on a fantastic find!

ironandsteele.com​

 

Congrats on the Willys... that Falcon is pretty bad ass

 

A 427 hi riser would look at home in that.

 

Nice gasser material so cool !

 

Congrats, really cool car

 

Wow, hard to believe that there are still some out there. Congratulations!!

 

Daaaaaaaammmmnnnnn!

 

The car looks like it's in great shape, compared to most of the untouched Willys' that I've seen in the past. Do you know what the original owner had hoped to do with it? And what exactly are your plans? I kinda like the shark nose on these.

 

Wonderful find, and great backstory, too.

 

Overload... overload...
Sensory overload...
The car is too cool...
The view is too beautiful...
The sunshine is too sunshiny...
Overload...

 

Great find. I wish you good luck with your project. My only suggestion would be to install an alcohol fueled Hemi. He he.

 

Congrats! That is just too cool.

With a run of luck like that, I’d grab a lottery ticket as well. lol

I am glad to see another one found and on the way back to ripping down the street and/or track again.

 

I too have given up on owning a Willy’s after lusting them for 50yrs.
I’m happy for you. Great find.
I’m sure the owner had intentions of racing it. And I’m sure he’d want it to look like the others on the track. I’d suggest you give him a call and ask what paint colors he’d paint it. Good Luck. But you’ve already found some of that.

 

Great find! Wanna trade?

 

I`m jelly, my dream car too, although I`d prefer a 41, I`d jump on that 40 in a heartbeat.

 

SCORE! congrats!

 

I turned 60 years old in March. Like Petejoe, I have lusted after Willys coupes for over 50 years - 52 years to be exact. When I was 8 years old I saw the model of the Stone, Woods, and Cook '41 Willys that my dad had built sitting on a shelf in his office. That lit the fire in me and drag coupes and gassers have affected my thinking of what a real hot rod is and is supposed to look like ever since.

I have given up on the dream of ever owning one, but posts like yours casey, keep the fire lit and burning brightly. Good luck with your build. I look forward to seeing more from you as your build begins.

Your Falcon looks good too. I have a '60 Falcon myself.

 

How did you find it? Lets hear the whole story.

 

Cool find!

 

That's gotta be the coolest falcon I'm yet to see...

 

You must be livin right. Congrats

 

Awesome, happy for ya. You know it needs 1 of only 2 engine choices. Olds or Hemi, yes?

 

I was just given the pleasure of actually laying hands on this car. It is very solid and an excellent candidate for a gasser build. A little to nice for my taste, jk… Thanks for stopping by and letting me Look at your treasure.

 

Just WOW! Congrats!!! Great story and amazing find!

 

Jim Sibley would have it running and driving by now. Congrats. Nice falcon, looks pretty hungry.