I haven't posted a thread in a long time here, but I wanted to share this one with you guys. Backstory - In 1995 I graduated college and moved to Northern Rhode Island. I told a friend of mine that I wanted to build a Henry J. He gave me a lead on one in a town adjacent to Providence, RI. When I went there, I found out the car was an Aero Willys (Not a Henry J). The owner told me the car had an LS6 engine in it, but the numbers didn't make 100% sense to me. I didn't have enough money, but when I did, I went back to buy it only to find out that it was sold the week prior. I later saw the car at some cruise meets and kept tabs on it. I followed that car for 20 years until I finally bought it! The car was basically un-touched from when I first saw it 20 years prior, but she really needed some work for peace of mind and safety. After I bought the car and started rebuilding her, I found out some really neat things. The motor was in fact NOT an LS6, but an L88 427 BBC. It was a CE block (crate exchange as GM called it then). A friend of mine and I fabricated a "frame" for the uni-body car and installed a roll cage tying it into the frame. I removed the old 1957 Chevy posi rear-end with welded spider gears and replaced it with a ford 9" with a Detroit locker. I replaced the toasted Buick switch pitch ****** with a rebuilt TH400 slush box I had and continued to use the "Hurst auto-stick 1" that was in the car with this ******. Basically, I did the whole car over front to back with brakes, new wiring, new rubber, some new gl***, new chrome, etc. etc.... During the whole build process, I was impressed how the original builder did things and the quality of his work for back in the day. I in fact kept the parallel leaf springs in the car with his welds and the '56 steering column, although I rebuilt it and chromed the axle that was in the car and re-did bushings, paint, and new hardware. Some things just needed to be changed in terms of safety. I wanted to race the car and I knew certain things would never p*** tech. Towards the end of the restoration, I sought out the seller I tried to buy the car from in 1995. I talked with him for a long time on the phone and made plans to meet him one day for breakfast to get some history of the car and some pictures he had. I also planned on giving him a stack of photos of the restoration. Our meeting revealed some great pictures he had of the car from the '70's. He told me a fellow named "Dale" built the car and that he worked at Pierce Chevrolet in Pawtucket, RI and bought the engine there. I then figured out the ownership from Dale to him, from him to the fellow that bought the car the week before me in 1995 (I'm friendly with he and his son now and see them at local shows), to a buyer in between that owned the car for a couple of months that bought the car to re-sell, to me.... I was pretty happy with that. I thought it was pretty cool to know the history and I thought it was important for the car. THAT WAS 2021. This year, a month or so ago, the seller that owned the car from 1974 -1995 called me and told me he found the original ***le for the car. He sent me a copy of the ***le. The car apparently was from Connecticut! I sat on the ***le for a week and then looked up the name on the internet of the owner that owned the car in the late 60's. His name was Vernon "Dud" Oakes. He was a member of the Bristol Drag-N-Run club. He and his brother were pretty popular drag racers of the era in the '60's during the CT Dragway fame with multiple features in car magazines. His brother was the "Iron Fireman" that raced a '39 chevy and club member, **** Doyle raced the 'Lil Hearst (a famous little '35 Chevy sedan delivery in these parts). I had learned all this from reading his obituary. I learned that he had sadly p***ed in 2024 at the age of 92. I thought to myself that he may have been the guy that built the car not this fellow "Dale" that I could never track down (It is believed he moved west in the mid '70's). A week went by and on a lark, I googled his son's name that was written in the obituary. I was a little hesitant but reached out to him including a copy of the ***le and a picture of the car in its current state on social media. I had no idea if he was related or not, but it seemed that way with proximity of the area. About an hour later he wrote back to me with pictures of the car that his father in fact built!!!!! I couldn't believe it! The history of the car changed entirely with a few keystrokes! "Dud" Oakes worked at Loehmann Chevrolet in Waterbury, CT and did in-fact buy the L88 motor there and installed it in the Willys. He was a very talented mechanic that was mostly known for his red Anglia he raced at CT Dragway and other area strips. He bought the Willys from a friend of his named Iggy. Iggy owned a '33 Willys and owned the '52 Aero that he sold to Vernon in stock trim for $50.00. Vernon never completed the car. He sold it to a fellow in Terryville, CT in 1972 that painted the car and dyed the interior black. The car then went to a used car lot in Providence, RI in 1973 and was bought by this fellow "Dale" - the guy we (the last 3-4 owners) thought built the car! Damn! The power of the internet! I can't believe it! Maybe I'm a little too excited about this but, I think it's so cool. When I bought the car, these 14" Americans were on it. I'm happy to find out who radiused the rear wheel wells too....It's just great "moving some stones" and finding out the real story behind the car. I just love my Aero Willys. I drive it, race it, and even got married in it in 2020. I don't think many folks can say they got married in an Aero Willys. For years when I went through the "S" curves in Pawtucket, RI on I-95, I'd think of that Willys I tried buying.....30 years later I own the car, and plan on keeping her for the rest of my days. Picture of Willys Acquired from Vernon's son after front axle installed, '57 rear installed, and 427 engine set in car. Picture Acquired from Vernon's son of original Radiused wheel wells with new 14"x8" American 5 spokes. Picture Acquired by Vernon's son, Stephen - here is Stephen and his father, Vernon "Dud" Oakes with the Anglia he campaigned at CT Dragway. Picture Acquired by Vernon's son of the Impala Vernon's brother (Al Oakes) drove for Loehmann Chevrolet. Vernon's Anglia is adjacent prior to the red paint job. Picture I acquired from previous owner from 1974-1995. This is he (Dave) in car in ***berland, RI in 1974. Note the wheels, radiused wheel wells, and home-made traction bars - all from Vernon Oakes. Previous owner from 1974-1995 with car before driving to wedding in 1977. How the car looked in 1983 - basically exactly as I bought her in 2015- same wheels and tires. State Vanity license plate long gone. Me, restoring car in 2018. Rebuilt L88 installed in Aero Willys Aero in burn-out box, getting ready - car runs mid 12's with street gears and 2400 stall T.C. Picture of Aero as it looks today in my driveway. My Aero Willys next to my friend Jim's Willys in 2023. Both black, big block cars --- pre-war and post war Willys. Scan of wedding gift given to us, drawn by Trosley from day we were married during "pandemic wedding", 2020.
""He sold it to a fellow in Terryville, CT in 1972 that painted the car and dyed the interior black."" I new of Iggy, he had a lot of stuff at swap meets, my friend bought a '40 Ford Sedan from him. I swear your Aero is the car I saw in early 70's in the Terryville/Newington CT area a couple times but I never could flag him down. Black, radiused wheel wells and axle. Some things just stick in the mind forever..
I remember a while back you responded to a thread I put together when I was asking for some history on this....that never made sense to me until now with the story I was first told about a guy building it in Pawtucket, RI.....I bet this was the car....It makes all the sense in the world, and there are not many of these around --- especially with the radiused wheel wells.
WOW! What a great story! I love a great story about the history of any particular car. Thumbs-up to you for doing the detective work and filling in the blank pages in your Willys' story. So very cool.
It great that you finally put all of the pieces together. It's really cool when you can find history and stories dating back to when a car was built.
I think the white car beside the Loehmann Chevrolet is an Austin A40 Devon, definately not a Ford Anglia..
Boy, it really appears so....The son of the builder sent me these photos and told me it was the anglia. The more I look at it however, I think you are right.
Thanks so much for giving us this detailed story and your dogged detective work. It means a lot to me as the first car I overhauled was a '53 Aero Ace two-door hardtop with a borg-warner overdrive and 161-cubic inch F-head engine. I just loved that car and had hopes that my parents would let me have it to drive when I turned 16, but it was not to be.
They really are roomy cars too...I'm surprised more weren't hot rodded like the Henry J's. kaiser owned both name plates at this time too. Neat seeing that old Aero!
That's a great story about your Willys. Very lucky that you were able to find pictures and information on it.
Thanks Scott. I was gonna "bore you" telling you all about it this coming weekend, but the post saved me from doing that! Talk with you soon.
I used to see an Aero at the Cordova, IL strip, it was a dark maroon and stunningly built and detailed. I was on the crew of a booked in car and never seemed to find the time to go and talk to the owner when we raced there. @1929rats your rebuild has done the car well deserved justice. I always thought more never got rodded because their production numbers were relatively small.
In the mid 60's there was a Willys Aero that I saw when delivering newspapers, knew it was a drag car because of the pie crust slicks, the only thing I remember about it.
Thank you Fordors (and everyone else who has posted) for the compliments. It's funny, I often wondered the same. I have only seen other Aero Willys race cars / street rods since the introduction of the internet, and in most cases I have talked with the owners. I can only think of one that was printed in Hotrod Magazine in August of 1968. I only stumbled onto that, years after I bought my Aero. One reason why I don't/didn't think you see many of them was because of the uni-body construction. When I first bought my Aero, I was blown away how it stayed together for so many years with the big block engine. Like I said, the car had a '57 posi unit with 411's but it was hanging on the original trunnion! We took some square stock and fabricated the frame for this car along with a removable cross member for the ******. We installed the roll cage and tied it into the fabricated frame. We also went through the front the fender wells to the frame. This way, if you lift the aero up, the front doesn't sag with engine. I also hung a four link off the frame with the 9" ---- this made the most sense to me to do during the build... Anyway, that's why I don't think many of them were used....a lot easier to use a 55 chevy with a frame.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Tri-Chevys, in fact one of my favorite cars is the ‘56 150 series Tudor sedan, but the Aero cars also have the rare and exclusive factor going for them when rodded.
I used to own a stock 53 Willys Aero Wing. I didn't have the vision at the time but I wish I had it now. Damn it. Of course I had a 39 Willys coupe project in the garage that I let go of too so there is that for my hindsight. Jeez I'm dumb
To add to 327/365's post...On October 5th, I specifically went to the CMA restorations car show in Rumford, RI to meet up with my friend Dave. Dave owned my Aero Willys from 1974 - 1995. In 1995 I learned about the car and wanted to buy it, but it took me 20 years to eventually get her (as I earlier wrote above)! That Sunday was the first time Dave saw the car in 30 years! It was awesome and a real treat for me to show all the work done on the car and have Dave enjoy it as well. The icing on the cake was winning best of show! Wow! I didn't see that coming and there were some really gorgeous cars there. I'd like to meet the original builder's son later this month, but we'll see if weather and schedules work out. It's kind of cool coming full circle with the Aero. Picture of Dave and I at show with Aero Willys. Picture of Dave in Aero (very similar to the B&W picture of him up above at the old A&W in ***berland, RI). Now, I'm not a trophy *****...but, of all days to receive a trophy, I couldn't have asked for a better day with Dave - witness to it. It was simply excellent. It's always nice to be noticed for the work you put into your car, but this was extra special under the cir***stances. It took me about 3 hours round trip to get to this destination, but it was well worth it in every way. A great reunion. Dave called me a couple of days afterward to describe his emotions and thanks. It's been very rewarding do***enting the Aero.
My wife's friend works at the RM here on the Cape and they pull the cool plates and put them aside when I had put my '34 truck on the road she hooked me up with 33zz66 which I have on my Tacoma for the time being.
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