Hot Rods Lookie at what Weasel stumbled across...Willys!!!

Weasel, I have read the HAMB for a few years, but this is only my 2nd or 3rd post. I am a Willys guy, and a few guys on the HAMB really know their Willys. You are one of them! I have a couple of questions for you, and wonder if you noticed the same things. First of all, that is a NEAT car, and looks to be in excellent shape. It appears however that there have been a few up grades and/or changes from a bone stock '37. Here's what I saw from your pictures. Front bumper is not a '37 (bumperettes look ok)...could it possibly be a '42? Can't see the trunk handle real well, but it appears to look like the reproduction one that is out there. Same with the Willys dash script emblem, never seen on on an original car, they are a rather recent reproduction. Neat paint scheme, but not sure Willys offered two-tone in that year, and the pin stripe would have to be an add on also (very nice though. ) The rims did come with a stripe in those years. Just a coupe of other things, the gas cap in those years was a painted one, and the engine didn't come with an oil filter in '37. The carburetors in 37-38 were Tillotson, and they didn't look like that. Your thoughts? What a treat to stumble upon however. Can you find out more about how it survived, and where it originally came from?
g-willys

 

What a beautiful example , sometimes it's best to leave 'em alone.
Great color combo , nice photos
Cheers Weas

 

I've seen that car drive around town for as long as I've lived in Santa Barbara (13 years). There's also a neat white-haired Lady driving a stock '55 oval window VW which she bought when it was two years old. In Ventura lives a 94-year old Gentleman who bought a '55 Austin-Healey 100 Roadster brand new and still has it, faded original paint and all. It always blows my mind that some people can hang on to a car for half a century or more.

 

I tell you what... I've met about five guys with bone stock Willys coupes over the years, and they are always the nicest people, offering to let me sit in the car ( I usually don't, but it's a nice gesture) and they have a lot of heartfelt pride in their cars....

Those wheels are cool.

 

Just beautiful. I've only seen a very few in stock configuration. Everyone should see one at least once. This was a treat. Thanks for sharing, Weasel.

Just met a man yesterday who is restoring an Anglia. The brake cylinder is so small, it looks like an throttle-release solenoid!

 

--------------------
Well yeah, sort of ....the straight axle at
least was stock! <LOL>

Mart3406
===========================

 

Eagle eyes, eh.

Front bumper is not a 1942 Willys - looks more like a 1937 Ford item - but I'm no expert on Fords - maybe the original was damaged and simply replaced with what was available? Trunk handle is a reproduction from Willys Replacement Parts. "Colored fenders" were a factory option on the De Luxe model - which is what this one appears to be. Dash script is on a panel and may only be glued to dash. I agree it is a later add-on. Oil filtration was added on the Overland (not on the Model 48) in 1939. I did not pay much attention to the carburetor but I do have several Tillotsons laying around. It seems to have been common to retrofit/upgrade with Carter Y series which were used on the post WW II Willys.

I am going to contact the owner and offer him a couple of parts for the car - a rechromed original front bumper, an original trunk handle with the spring loaded cover and a pair of N.O.S. Willys script shell covers for the later accessory Unity fog lamps as he currently has GM script shell covers - so I will take the opportunity to ask him more questions. We did have a conversation about upgrading the engine with a Hickey aluminum head and a Burns dual carb intake. As I am up in that area once in a while, I will make a point of getting together with him and the car on a future visit.

Thank you guys for all the positive and appreciative comments and it is so nice to see much appreciation for a surviving stocker.

For reference - and I did post these scans (sorry for the poor quality) taken from Collectible Automobile on another Willys thread here on the HAMB - here is another original 1937 coupe showing the seven window wheels and what appears to be a chrome gas cap. Was the chrome gas cap a De Luxe Model feature? It also shows as chrome in the 1937 factory brochure. But as I have mentioned several times, there are no absolutes when it comes to these pre WW II Willys.

 

Just talked to a guy with a stock 41 4dr if anyone is interested. It is located on the central coast of Ca. It is not running.

 

Amazing ride,very beautiful in its lines and its overall look.I am glad that this escaped the gasser crowd,i think they look incredible in its stock form.

 

Very nice lines, too bad the front end is so ugly.

 

There is one just like the first one posted sitting in a farm barn about 20 miles from here. It belongs to the son of the man who bought it new. It's completely stock and has a cracked block. Seems the lower hose rotted through one summer and when he replaced it didn't put any antifreeze in it and the next winter it froze and cracked. I've known about it for over 30 years and the last time I stopped (about 4 years ago) it had not moved since the first time I was there. It will never be for sale and his nephew gets posession upon his death. The owner has but one daughter and she lives somewhere out west and has no interest in the car. BUMMER!!!

Frank

 

I have a high compression aluminum race head for a 33-39 willys.

 

UOTE=fab32;5623949]There is one just like the first one posted sitting in a farm barn about 20 miles from here. It belongs to the son of the man who bought it new. It's completely stock and has a cracked block. Seems the lower hose rotted through one summer and when he replaced it didn't put any antifreeze in it and the next winter it froze and cracked. I've known about it for over 30 years and the last time I stopped (about 4 years ago) it had not moved since the first time I was there. It will never be for sale and his nephew gets posession upon his death. The owner has but one daughter and she lives somewhere out west and has no interest in the car. BUMMER!!!

Frank[/QUOTE]

 

Post #37; 1937 WILLYS Model 37 Coupe ~ looks like a Factory "Demonstrator" model of the Coupe as denoted by the YELLOW Paint Scheme!