More minor nitpicking here: the 1940 De Luxe and standard bumpers have a different curvature, the De Luxe is almost flat and the standard has a distinct Vee to it - the front bumper brackets do not interchange - I found this one out recently the hard way. The respective 1940 front bumper brackets are specific to that year only. Also a very few of the early 1940 dashes had the two round gauges fitted in the center like the 1939 Overland - not the rectangular instrument cluster more commonly seen. The 1940 and 1941 models had different door sills - the 1940 standard was plain while the De Luxe had a stainless decorative strip. The 1941s had a broader shaped decorative cladding, painted body color, which takes up the entire width/height of the sill. As always with these pre WW II Willys, results may vary....
Way more info than we wanted to know ... I don't think so, it's all interesting. I have a glass body (there I admitted it) for the money/availability reasons. To the horror of a steel coupe owner I confessed building my frame on the garage floor using a plastic model kit assembly plan as a guide. May I rot in hell but have a ball until then! Cheers.
"Way more info than we wanted to know ... I don't think so, it's all interesting." I agree 100%. Post all the facts ,figures, and details you feel like. After doing many hours of searching on the internet,I know of no other place you can find this kind of info except here on the HAMB. Thanks to all who have taken their time to add their knowledge/experience.
Here's a rare one - a '40 Willys 'Town & Country' woodie wagon! Wonder if any have survived and what years the 'Town & Country' was produced??? Mart3406 ================================
Reputedly five produced in 1940 and five of the 1941 style in 1941. This belongs to a friend and I have an original 1940 Willys woodie project....
There is an all original 1940 Willys Woodie in Hemmings Motor News right now for sale. When I was Christmas shopping yesterday I looked at the HMN on the stand, I didnt buy it so I have no more info. The car was green and in California. I think it was some Hot Rod Shop owners car?
The frame on a 41 Willys is wider & the rear inner wheel wells kick out on the bottom to accept the wider frame . Wiper location, door handle escutcheons , dashboard shape ,just a few little differences I can think of .
Bing, I know if it turns out anything like your truck it will be one sweet ride. I've got the same type itch but don't have the $ or space. I'm with Tim on this one, I could see a 40 coupe in my drive. But I wouldn't pass up a Willy's to get it.
I have to say something about this, I have a friend with a glass coupe and he is trying very hard to find a real steel coupe to replace his glass car. He and I have been looking for years and I am going to tell you first hand that there may be some steel cars popping up for sale but go look at it! We have spent countless hours with e-mails and going to look at steel coupes and just about all of them are real rough! When you do see a nice one its not for sale or very pricey! So when you say there is an abundance of them, I am here to tell you they are 30 to 50 grand piles of crap. There is hardly any nice steel coupes for sale and most of them sell word of mouth and not on the Internet. When a guy is selling a nice car and the buyers think its too much money because they say I seen one in e-bay for 35 grand he will tell you to go buy it! Steel is real and a nice one is a very hard find and when you do you better have deep pockets! Even with the economy down I know of nice ones that have sold recently for between 125 and 200 grand! I am on my 7th real Willys and it soo hard to find nice parts and not cheap. Sure you see parts for sale but the only stuff guys are getting rid of is rough, the real Willys group of guys keep in touch and help each other out and I wouldn't trade my passion for anything! My coupe has almost no repro parts on it and I have been collecting for 20 years to make it all Willys and still have a rough time locating items. With that said I am always looking for nice parts so let me know if you have anything for sale.
So I've heard standard and Deluxe...were they all Americars, or was that a different model all together? A now-deceased friend of mine had 2 restored stock 41 Americars that I did some work on years ago. He sold one of them for $60,000 in 1997.
i have been looking for a steet willys sice i was 10. i found one when i was 9 but my dad would not let me buy it,so i bought my 55 a year latter,i have built and gone through alot of cars since and when i built mt cobra replica and made it look and feel real.i gave up looking and bought a glass body. i think im better off,it will look real,fadded primer some rust spots.but if anything ever happens to it i can just pick up another body..if i had a steel willys or aluminum cobra i would never use them.
I'd rather have a finished metalflake 'glass body and a blown hemi than a twisted steel rustbucket with a 305. That seems to be the break point on cost. Oh, and I'd like Langy to build it!
Corvette Jeff, Hard to know if that green Willys is a '41, but it IS beautiful! No wiper holes left on it, and the dash is a '39 or '40, and I can't see clearly the bezel on the doors. If it's round, at least the doors are earlier...if it is tear drop shape, then it's a '41. So much of that stuff interchanged on Willys of those years! g-willys
ive wanted a 41 willys since i was 16 im 56 now and i still cant find or afford one.som i bought a glass body. im not as fired up about it as i would have been if it were steel. but i will build it and be just as proud.i looked at a steel one a few yrs ago. not one place that wasnt rusted thru or beat all to hell and no bottm on the doors,rear quaters were gone firewall cut frontend rust so bad i cuold put my finger thru it no floor. hell the car was almost gone and he wanted 25,000 for it. i paid 2500. for my glass body. its never been used and its not the best but i can make it way alot cheaper than 25,000 and it will be fast and light.thats is one thing good about glass, its light. had a old timer tell me that if they glass bodies back in his day hed have used one of them instead so maybe its a would have been tradional. maybe.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Willys-/270871679679?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f1135d2bf http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Willys-Willys-/330656681392?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4cfcac8db0 http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Willys-/170743350867?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item27c118c653
I have a couple 1939 questions; What's difference between speedway, special & deluxe? What dictated tail light style/ position? Were Maywood Ca cars different? How?
if you buy a repop 32 ford body,is it a 32 ford? if you buy a dart sbc block is it a sbc ? wonder how many t-buckets out there are model t fords? if i ever build a willys and it happeneds to be glass.. so be it...i'll drive the hell out of it...and be damn proud of it...
Yes Don and boring, good points. I love Willys but if you definately want steel but can't find one and don't want glass, why deny yourself all this time? Why not look at other styles that were gassers? 37-40 Chevys made great gassers and even now as nostalgia cars. Also see some early molars , etc. you only live once , why waste time waiting until your too old? Go have fun as Don says. Y I
http://scottrodscustom.com/40-41willysgasser.html $23,500 for a roller and body. That won't buy much of a steel Willys. I have a 'glass '32 5 window on order. Will have less in a very nice, top of the line New Age Motorsports body and Pete and Jake's rolling chassis than I would a fair to midland steel body. Would I like to have steel? Sure. Can I afford steel? No. I know a guy with 4 or 5 37-41 Willys coupes, a couple sedans and lots of spare parts. What does he do with them? Tells everyone how much they are worth. I'll try to buy one at his estate auction because he's full of cancer and still refuses to sell a thing, just talk about how much it's worth. At least he'll die knowing he could have built some neat cars or made a lot of money but don't see his attitude saving him. They are out there. Cost way more than they are worth. SPark
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