History Need pics of 39-41 Willys w/ chopped tops?

Nice! ...Prairie Willys'

-Dave

 

The Energizer, My all time favorite Willys pickup, That thing is just *****in !!! Chris

 

Well- I went & looked at the Willys today. Last time I saw the car was 2 years ago & looked good from a distance. A true 20 footer though. Never paid much attention to the build or inside the car then.
The plus is- it's a real 41 Willys.
Motor's a keeper, it's a blown Hemi.
Trans is a leaky TH400 w/ the wrong converter in it, manual valve body & worn out ratchet shifter. Brakes are Wilwood on front, drums on rear. No booster- very hard to stop & hard to hold at a light as the motor at idle wants to move car at idle.
Wheels are polished Americans & big steamroller tires out back.
Car wasn't convient to put on a lift (too many trucks in the way) but it's got a tube frame, not the stock frame. Car is also caged. Racing steering column w/ no turn signals- ugly as hell. Painless race car toggle panel set up for fan, water pump, trans cooler fan (in trunk) radiator fan, headlights, fuel pump, etc. Seats are narrow uncomfortable race buckets w/ 3" wide lap belts. Bare metal floors all pieced together w/ small welded in panels instead of 1 or 2 piece. Cage is nicely installed as it's up & hidden & follows the pillars nicely- fairly EZ to enter & exit. Has Autometer gauges mounted in a welded in sheetmetal panel- not the stock dash.
Doors are installed suicide & close & latch well. Doors have no external handles, race car interior latch handles. No door regulators or gl***. Interior is gutted & bare metal.
Windshield is definately cut down & just an OK job of it. The back windows look stock & much better.

The chop. Wow is it a chop! I'm guessing at least 4" Maybe even 5". Wish it had a headliner in it to hide the metalwork. It's brutal on the inside. The whole top is small welded pieces that are anything but flat. However, the outside looks fine. He says there's no filler- it's all lead. I'm doubting it- probably a gallon of bondo. No door bumpers, weatherstripping in doors or trunk lid. Driving down the road- car is a rattletrap & feels like it's going to have parts fall off any minute! No bumpers on car front or back.
Front sheetmetal- fenders are welded to bottom half of hood. Entire front sheetmetal is removable w/ Dzus fasteners. Takes 2 to lift the front off, it doesn't tilt. All edges of sheetmetal are renforced w/ 3/8 welded round stock. He has the hood top but never runs it to show off the hemi. Driving the car- feels like body is sitting on frame w/ no type of isolators anywhere. Motor is a KB Hemi running an elect water pump & 871 blower w/ a couple of Demon carbs. Exhaust is 3 1/2" & exits out side of car in front of rear wheels & is ungodly loud. He says motor HP is around 800 on pump gas.

Everything leaks on this car. Griffin radiator pukes while driving, Motor leaks when driving- you can smell the burned oil but exhaust is clean. Trans leaks & needs a boatload more stall speed. He never drives the car & says motor has about 1200 miles total on it.

Driving car- tends to wander down road but that could be the very wide rear tires. Very torky motor & accelerates pretty straight (I didn't break tires loose).
He says it will lift the front tires- I'd have to see it to believe it.

He has another set of seats, better suited for the car IMO. They are bare tube construction. He has the old frame. Back of frame is stock- front is 2x4 & was set up at 1 time for a straight front axle. He has a stock dash but might need to cut the cage to get it in there.
He has all the stainless & script trim & many other spare parts. Has an extra pair of headlights.

To many who like a primitive build- this would be right up their alley. When I got the call- I knew it was chopped & thought all it needed was an interior & side gl*** & some fine tuning.
I'm a perfectionist & to me- this car needs to come apart & start over from the ground up. The chop- I'm not sure I could live with it- IMO- it needs a doner roof to make it right. Where the hell would I find a roof & door tops for a decent price?
When I saw the car- I had already decided in 5 minutes, it wasn't right for me. Now I'm having 2nd thoughts. I've seen rusted out hulks go for 40-50k- this one has 0 rust.
He wants about 60k for it. I'm in my mid 60's & not sure I have another one of these big builds left in me. I have a 4 post lift & all the welding equipment I need so I'm set up right.
60k sound very steep for this car.
But it's a Willys.
Am I nuts for having second thoughts?

Here's the only pic of the car I have.

 

seems a lot to me but its a steel willys
i have seen coupes sell for 30k in drivable condition
tough call

 

Very tough call. I'd probably pull the trigger if it wasn't chopped.
Hell- I could wind up dropping 5-10k unchopping this car to make it look more "normal".

It was alot rougher than I anticipated.

That pic above is 2 1/2 years old. Pic makes it look better than it really is.

 

I know first hand how easy it is to get caught up in finding a new project, only to regret it later. If this car was closer to what you had in mind for a Willys, the 60K might not be too bad. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the tubbed look on a 41 Willys. Nunes car is an exception along with a couple others. They've got to have a real race car look for it to work with me. Not the prostreet look. It sounds to me like you'd end up putting a ton of additional money in this thing to get it how you'd be happy with it. For $60K, I'm betting you could find a Willys much closer to what you're looking for.

BTW, you mentioned it had a KB hemi. When I hear KB hemi, I think 426. I can't see much of the engine in the picture you submitted, but the intake looks like a Hot Heads unit, which would imply it's a 392 style hemi. Plus I don't see any spark plug wires coming from what would be front mounted distributor (426). The 426 is worth a lot more money than the early hemi. Just something you may want to double check.

 

Owners the one who said it was a 426 KB hemi.
Said it was a KB street hemi but when I did some research- it should be an aluminum sleeved block & this one is cast iron. All the blocks on their site are aluminum.
When I saw the car- I never asked another question about the hemi.
Maybe an older build? I don't know enough about the KB stuff to have an opinion.

 

Where is that running coupe for 30k? I'll buy it!

Bash

 

Steve, personally I`d p*** on it. There are others out there & they do turn up now & then. Just be ready. The chop is what did it for me,I love these cars & there lines! Chopping it kills the at***ude & the look for me.

 

Don't forget the Agitator!

 

the 30k car was in San Diego a while back it was craigslist it was on the hamb too
the guy said he would take 28k it was a steel working coupe

 

heres a local driven everywhere willys

 

Another pic of the Grist Bros.

 

Originally from the Eau Claire WI. area...less than 2" on the chop!

 

Bud Rothwell - Oregon
Bud and Lynette drove this car to Pueblo, Colorado and then to Denver for The G***er Championships. It was WARM between the two cities and Lynette was in charge of monitoring the temperature of the fan fuse. When it got too hot, she pulled it out and replaced it with a cooler one. All the while, their dog was keeping the elephants away. Rodding family. Cool car, well, maybe not on that day.

 

Tom Goldman

 

The Tom Goldman car has a good proportion to the chop. Almost looks like it is cut a little more in the front.

 

I'm not big on the chop tops either, but this one isn't that bad. Maybe its the fact that its the only one i've seen in person (Back to the 50's) but I still like them with the stock tops.