Projects What is your take on a fibreglass 1941 willys?

Langy has a pretty damn cool glass Willys ... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=572303&highlight=willys

 

I've seen some really cool fiberglass bodied Willys racing at the Hamb Drags. I'd say go with the fiberglass!

 

Yeah,Quain Stott has a nice Willys,,it's glass and kicks arse!

There are all types of glass car manufactures,,some make high quality that are dead on and unless you use a magnet you can't tell the difference,unfortunately there are manufacturers that produce a poorly made product,,you get what you pay for.

I actually had people argue about my roadster.

Build whatever you want as long as your happy. HRP

 

Whatever you do Jay,stay away from an outfit out of Ohio called Active Power.
My Dad bought his '41 Willys body from them a few years ago and when their two slack jawed hillbilly drivers showed up to deliver it they had not only damaged the body during transit,but they also damaged another car being stored in our shop when they were carelessly flinging their straps around.
We didn't notice the damage to the door of the other car til a couple weeks later when the cover was removed from the Mustang.
The absolute worst part of the whole experience though,was when we tried to fit the 1-piece front end to the body:
Turns out the body was very well made,heavy glass,steel reinforced,with very sharp,defined character lines.
The front end was NOT.
It was race weight,ultra thin,4" too wide to fit the body,none of the body lines were even close,and all very mushy and undefined.

Here is where it gets bad:
My Dad called to see if they had accidentally sent the wrong part to the wrong customer,and he ended up getting jerked around for 3 months until this shitstain finally stopped answering his phone or any emails.

This couldn't have come at a worse time,as my Dad was recovering from some pretty major heart problems at the time,and unnecessary stress was NOT what he needed.

The best part of the story is that this douchebag devoted about 40% of the space on his website to rambling on about how religious he was,and had scripture quoted all over the place.

Apparently his bible never contained any of the stuff about "thou shalt not be a lying,stealing sack of dog shit"......?

Anyway,
Make sure you talk to someone else who has bought from whatever company you decide to go with,just so you have an honest appraisal of their business practices,and the quality of their product,because one without the other is no good.

Sorry about the rant,but I get burned up every time somebody asks where my Dad got the body from....lol

Scott


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Check out Langys' build here on the Hamb, looks great to me.

 

If you go with fiberglass, at least you don't have to worry about it rusting under your primer finish.

Kind of a late 60's thing (67 or 68, I think), but some of you're top gassers were all fiberglass, weren't they? I believe they were good enough for George Montgomery.

 

Just one thought I would like to add.

Unless you just have to have it, do not go with a 1 piece flip front end. Had one on my 55 Chevy gasser. What a PITA to work around, especially working alone. If I did it again (which I might) I would either bolt together individual pieces or at least have a removable hood. An easily removable front clip is nice, but no flip. I remember that thing waving in the wind while working on the car, not to mention walking around it to get from one side of the car to the other. JMHO

 

Sure looks like a willys gasser to me

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=729572

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

Don Moyer's, Langy's and Quain's and the Big John recreation are all glass cars that I would be proud to own.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

Your car, but since you asked: I used to love the looks of the Willys but there are so many glass ones out there now...

The difference between hoods, doors, etcetera is that as long as the main body is steel you haven't diluted the rarity of the car model/brand.

Ask your woman if a fake diamond is OK with her.

 

Way back when, weren't the willys car used as racers mainly because they were dirt cheap, built chinsy ( as in light weight) and nobody wanted them? I think they are cool as hell but they are kinda Fuggly in stock form.

Look how things change.

 

I did exactly that.
Right after she ( ex wife) started talking shit about a getting a boob job.

It went like this :
Her- I've been thinking about getting a boob job. Terri just had hers done and they look great. What do you think ?

Me- cubic zirconia looks great too. I was thinking ,,, ( got cut off mid sentence)

Her - never mind !

 

If you've ever seen a stock one,you know why Willys went out of business....these cars were the worst pieces of shit ever built in stock formoor quality materials,poor engineering,just really thrown together haphazardly....they riveted in the cross members!lol!
That's what cracks me up when some of these guys get all snobby about a glass bodied car...
So,if they want to pay tens of thousands for some rusted up to the windows,over priced,not gonna leave any money in the budget to actually build it once you get it home,piece of junk that will sit stagnant in their garage cause it made them broke,they can do that.
I would rather buy a glass one that is within reach financially,spend the money I saved on a killer motor,and be out having fun while they tell me that the car I'm blasting down the road in isn't "real"...

Scott

Ps:We looked at a bunch of steel ones while shopping for a car for my Dad a few years ago,and all were rusted to bits,and priced about double what a brand new glass body was priced at.
He ended up with glass,and had lots left to spend on the 396bbc and the rest of the car,and is now having the time of his life in it




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A steel Willys is owned to preserve and enjoy like a time capsule of sorts.you become the caretaker....I say build a glass one drive the wheels off and enjoy it...Who drives a 60-$70,000 car to McDonalds or the grocery store??

 

The wife and I used to drive our new pickup trucks to work, the grocery store, etc and in rush hour daily. That's $70,000 worth iron on the road at the most risky times. So, why wouldn't I take a real steel Willys out cruisin?

 

yup, just another junk glass car that nobody would want to own

 

You are 100% Correct about the Shyster that owned Active Power, They are No Longer in Business. And have been gone at least 5 years.

Scott
ScottRods Custom

 

Kinda ironic that the race car guys don't seem to have a problem with fiberglass "gassers" and the street rod guys do.

 

Here's a few more pics of the Maz. Tribute car we built the body for, It took the owners Paint shop about 40 hrs. to get it into paint.

Scott
ScottRods Custom

 

Folks need to get back to thinking for themselves. WTF does it matter what some other guy thinks about what your car is made out of? Quit making excuses and please yourself.

 

To answer your original question, my take on fiberglass Willys is "go for it and have fun!"

 

That car looks like a million bucks Scott!
Your site is pretty impressive.Did you end up buying out that Active Power guy's tooling when he bailed out?He could have had a good thing going if he was on the level,cause they were much more traditionally oriented than most of the Willys body manufacturers.
Looks like you have more than filled the gap in the market left by their departure!

Scott


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Thanks!!

And Yes I now own there molds including the Stock body and Extended body 40/41 Truck as well as several other past companies molds and tooling.

 

Amen.

 

AMC power ! Kool car but could use some primer or paint

 

Man, if that was shorter, it would be my signature.

 

THE WHOLE POINT of glass bodies is so that more people can own a given car economically.

I'd like to own a 427 Cobra, but I wouldnt let authenticity keep me from getting a kit at 1/20th the cost of an original, that Im not afraid to use.

Youre overthinking this man. Life is short. Get the glass body you can afford and youre one up on everyone that doesnt have one.

 

The key here is NEW if your fancy $70,000 pick up gets totaled you can just run down to the local new car store and presto you have a replacement...The same cant be said about a 73 year old icon...apples and oranges my friend...

 

Someone would like to own it..me!!!

 

That is because thin wavy racing weight fiberglass is cool, but thick heavy reinforced streetrod fiberglass is not.

( to me, at least...)