Hot Rods The Ultimate Willys Gasser Thread

Actively trying to find this car. Raced in Michigan and Canada. Ran an injected 426 with a rare 39 one piece fiberglass flip front end.

 

It must be frustrating to know it still exists and yet where?

Do you know what size engine was in it when it ran E/Gas? It must have been a very small small block or the rear end of that little Willys had to have been heavily ballasted.

 

Yes, it's very frustrating, especially when you supposedly live less than a half hour from it and can't find it!

In E/GAS, It was run with a 274 cu.in., Hilborn injected Small Block Chevy with an M21 and a 5.57 gear in the rearend. It also had 400 lbs. of steel plate bolted to the trunk floor with 2 BIG truck battery's on top of that. I can't remember if it weighed 3600 or 3800 pounds. The body was ALL steel with a full interior and working windows and lights.

 

Hello,

In 1959, Gene Adams had weight bolted to the floor of his Oldsmobile Sedan for B/Gas competition. By 1960, the rules changed to requiring the extra steel plates or whatever, to be welded in place as a structural portion of the frame. The reason being, now it is part of the integrity of the frame and not just an add on (bolted) weight.

We wanted to be able to go from full bore B/Gas competition with our 671 supercharged 292 c.i. SBC motor in the 40 Willys Coupe. We originally had plates bolted to the floor/frame. The added weight allowed us to compete in the C/Gas class to go against some of So Cal's best Gas Coupe/Sedan racers. But, we eventually had to weld in all of our added steel plates to make the frame structurally secure, as per rules.

The advantage was, it did not matter where the added plates were in the trunk. Ours was welded in place over the rear axle set up. It was now legal to go after the records with a "legal" C/Gas coupe.

Jnaki

By 1964, most organizations had the ruling of welded in plates vs bolt in weight to keep things inline. YRMV

 

Beautiful!...^^^^^...

 

This coupe is so flawless, it almost looks fake. Totaly outstanding!

 

Is this the Willys coupe that used modified sedan doors ?

 

That would be a serious find today.

 

It is savable by today's standards.

 

Love it!!!!!......

 

Austin

 

I wonder who owned this one, it has the same spindle mounts that I have, 5 ribs only, unlike the Halibrand below.

 

Maybe that’s what a Willys looks like in Australia. That is where the Austin was from.

 

Oops.

 

Yes it is. The Grist Brothers Ford powered A Gas coupe. The shorter doors allowed them to shorten the car's wheelbase for better traction. NHRA never caught it.

 

Dean, I am that you responded. I have mentioned this to other people, and they looked at me in dis-belief. I wonder if any of the Grist brothers competitors caught either.

The Austin pickup gasser was owned by Warren Goodall. I had the pleasure of sending Warren a 1932 ford tudor sedan. IIRC, it was the first 1932 Ford tudor in Australia.

 

I like this 1933 Willys gasser. It is down and dirty, but it gets the job done.