Ready for more? The guy that lived next door took these photos. He was newly married and said it was really exciting living next to John. He was into cars but he never thought of building one. He got severely hooked and has a 37 Chevy to this day ( after many others). John must have separated or something at that time, maybe he was divorced and got re-married. Anyway he was living with Ron Cook, still a rodder today with a 36 sedan delivery. Cook owned the T touring in the pics. Some of pics will wander off onto some other cars, but I couldn't resist showing them. This was all taking place about 1970- 71, maybe into 72. John standing buy the Willys; here's John standing by a race car; high view of the Willys; I don't know who owned this 36 at this time, but it was built by a guy named Dan Hamm when he was in high school. He was about 4 years older than me and I saw it in the parking lot. He got killed in the 60's when he ran his 57 Chevy under a semi. What a shame, just think what he would be building now. I saw the car in Muncie, Indiana in a garage about 1974 and I haven't seen it since. I have never seen this car; I think this car belonged to Ron Ennis, and I think he stil has it only it has fenders now. This T belonged to Don Ennis (Ron's twin brother), both are still rodders today ; Here is one of the Willys I must have missed earlier; Here is Ron Cook's T touring they built there. Really nice car with lots of chrome. He rolled it in a ditch a number years ago. It sat for long time and he finally sold it a few years ago. He has a nice 36 sedan delivery, 35 pickup and and a 49 Ford, maybe more. steel body the T under construction;
This car was owned by Bob Wallbridge. Sadly he p***ed away a few years ago. I think Jim Wise of "Wise Guys Seats" owns it now. I don't know who owned this car at this time. Kind of a funny story. I was a tool & die maker for GM. We had a pretty good apprenticeship program and when you graduated from apprenticeship they had a banquet. The guy setting across from me was an electrician and he owned this car and I didn't know it and he didn't know I had hot rods (we had over 20 plants with about 18,000 employees so we never crossed paths) until the next weekend and I saw him at a swap meet. Here it is after John painted it. He was a pretty good painter. I don't know if I posted this one before; misc pics; That's all for now. I will get ahold of Ron Cook (T touring), he will probably have more pics.
Great bunch of photos. It's neat to see a group of friends together helping one another out like that. Drag racing looks like it had quite an effect on those guys, front ends being up, race tires/wheels. I love the '35-'36 three windows, I have three '35's and a chopped '36. I've also got a '32 three window so those pictures strike home for me. John must have had an influence on me as my first hot rod which I finished in '72 was a '37 Chevy coupe, painted green with Corvette suspension. That Willy's was still head and shoulders above even his friend's cars. Post more as you get them, I'm having a ball with this.
Hello Jim, I believe you are looking for me. I am John's daughter Kelly and I would be happy to answer all the questions you may have. My father was I the midst of doing some cutting edge modifications when he lost his sight. Therefore, some of his last work may have not been what the world has come to expect from my father. His eyesight was challenged; but his mind never rested. In my opinion, and its only my own, the custom car world would love to see it restored back to its original color Candy Apple Green. I am available by email and then we can most certainly speak by phone. Good luck on this project and God Bless.
Yes Dave, it certainly has. I had no idea how to contact Kelly. I knew she had moved to Florida, but didn't know how to contact her (***uming her last name had changed). Thanks to the H.A.M.B. we may be in contact. It sounds like she has a wealth of information.
To everyone that has uploaded pictures I am absolutely loving it!!! I have never seen these before. I was only 3 when my father lived with Ron Cook so I would not remember. Please continue to upload and I will do my best to share some insight to help restore the Willys to its former glory. Anything I can do to keep his legacy alive.
Kelly and I are in contact now, first by PM and e-mail, but we will have a phone conference this weekend. Naturally, I'm curious about what she has, but she ***ures me she has plenty of information about John and the Willy's. I will share what information she has with her permission. I'm looking forward to this. Thanks H.A.M.B.
Hey Tom Man you hit the mother load plus the jackpot. You need to buy a lottery ticket. Don't forget your ol buddy.. Just jokin about the last part Rick
Hey Tom I thought I would post my favorite article from Street Scene dated in April 1973 which featured the 41 Willys. It is one of my favorite articles. I have many more to share with you. Blessings to you and yours for good health and a prosperous year. Talk to you soon.
I had a telephone conversation with Kelly earlier today. She is a fine lady and certainly interested in her father's former car. She has a wealth of information about the car and I found out a lot more about it. There are a few missing parts that she can come up with and she is going to work with me on getting historical information about the car that I can use. She told me that before john p***ed, that he had an accident that affected his vision, and some of the later work was not up to snuff because he couldn't see well any more. He did quite a few changes to the car over the years and obviously loved working on it. We'll see where this goes. I had a good day.
WP_20150725_017 1 by NovaGuy70 posted Aug 14, 2015 at 3:51 PM WP_20150725_013 1 by NovaGuy70 posted Aug 14, 2015 at 3:50 PM A couple pics of another Ballard build.
That car (39 Olds) had Toronado front wheel drive with a turbocharged V6. It may have also had a Cosworth Vega engine in it at one time also.
Old post but..... https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/d/la-canada-flintridge-john-ballards-1941/7659395276.html
My brother-in-law Joe Gren did the ch***is work on John's car about 1970 in Elwood Indiana. He put the Jag suspension and I am not sure what else on the car. He was very proud that the car won "Best Engineered Car" at the Memphis Street Rod Nationals--so much so that he included it in the credits that were lettered on his own Willys coupe when he painted it in 1973. That car is the the WHINEVENDOR, which has some coverage on the HAMB. Sadly, Joe Gren died in a car wreck in 1974. I wish I could tell you more, but I was away in the Army when John's car was being built. A question I have is whether John bought his Willys from Joe, since Joe owned 3 Willys coupes at one time.
The Jalopy Journal
