History Why does every Willys have to be a gasser or street rod?

Then you haven't seen Two girls, one finger !

 

I guess I was just starting to get the impression that anything shiney wasn't very popular here.

And I've seen that black Willys face to face. The 392 lurking under the hood says it's definately not "retarded". That car is finished like a Pebble Beach contender, top, and bottom.

 

The fact thats it's shiny isnt why I called it retarded. There is only one way to do a Willys correctly and that aint it.

 

everything has its place.a stock willys look like lost little puppys but a willys gasser, now that a mean lookin piece of artwork. aint nothing shy or lost lookin about a willys gasser. im building a glass41 right now. mocked it up as ground scrapin pro street, just didnt look right. put 4x4 blocks between the frame and body.i was standing in front of her (after i put the blocks under her)ans im sure she smiled at me and said thank you, i feel better now.

 

The early gas classes were all about the biggest engine in the smallest/lightest body. The Willys coupes were comparatively lightweight and had heap of room under the hood if you moved the firewall back a bit. They also had the advantage of being cheap to buy stock as nobody wanted them.

The Anglias/Austins didn't make a showing in gas classes until wheelbase rules were relaxed to allow them to run.

Cheers, Glen.

 

does every Willys have to be a gasser ?

YES/ im positive its a law! check your he/man hand book..

 

This is my Willys speedster.
Is that different enough for you?
All the running gear is 41/37 Willys freebies from gasser projects.
Rich

 

Well, then get me a fudgie helmet cause that thing is sick.

 

This red one dont look bad dragging but then again the orange one looks mighty good sitanding at attention.

 

On that point I 100% agree. I am as old school as it gets when it comes to classic 60's gassers. (Great pic of SWC!) That is exactly how I would build one. That said, I am still impressed with the balck one. All my friends are as old school as me, and when we first walked up to the car, we were all blown away by the painstaking work on all the stock trim pieces, the perfect stock dash, and the outstanding attention to detail. Try putting a 392 in a Willys with out cutting any sheet metal. Though the car is not my style, it is still impressive. I'm done.

 

its the law of the west

 

no airbags under that black willys with the www.
tough 392 and top loader as well, the 6x97's are actaully very well disguised injector throttle bodies.
No doubt that willys look great as gassers, but this car also proves they can be a pretty dam cool street driven hot rods.
Where we live there is no chance of running a proper gasser front end as cars have to be inspected before rego and they just plain wouldnt let us do it.

 

Ohh, ok. In a couple of those pics it looked bagged. Either way, its badass.

 

It's just the rules. Very simple, just the rules .. Some things are just the rules and this is one of them... Just The Rules ... Like when yer kid said (says) why Daddy? Ya say "just because, that's why, just because". Same thing here ... "Just The Rules" ....

 

You guys cant run OEM style front ends in your cars?

 

Just got back from the NSRA Nats and all I did was take pictures of all the different Willys. Can't wait to get mine down from the rafters in my shed and get started. The black Hemi powered Willys was definately a super car and so were some of the Gassers. Just like Model A's we all build them different, it'd be boring if we all had the exact same idea.

 

It's not that all Willys have to be GASSERS. It's that they only look good in "bad ass" trim. Usually that means gasser, but it's open to slight interpretation as the black one with black walls shows. No two ways around it, that car is bad ass.
The red one? Not so much. It's a nice looking car, but "nice looking" doesn't suite the lines or pedigree of a Willys.

And while they weren't the only cars that were running in the gas classes, it's very telling that complete fiberglass front ends were available for them very early on.

-Brad

 

here is willys gasser, butt ugly to begin with and still somewhat ugly but i like it..........

 

When I first started dating my wife, we went to her grand parent's place in Florida. Her grand dad had a small repair garage, which is how he made his living. As we were leaving, he mentioned that he had "an old Willys out in the back, along the tree line. It's a 2-door. I think it's a '41." Naturally, I about had a stroke. And since everyone was already in the car, and it was dark, I couldn't go look at it.
So the following year, after we're married, we head back there, and at the appropriate time I head back there with Suzi (who has been having the same kinds of visions I have.) We get to the tree line, and there's it sits, 3/4 rusted into the ground, the floor completely gone, the rest of the metal fairly thin: a '51 Willy.
Grandpa was just as disappointed as I was...he was going to sell it to me, and figured he had a real fish on the line.

-Brad

 

we can run OEM front ends but not a straight axle. I am looking at doing a T coupe with an A chassis and using a 37-40 ford OEM front end, but it wont be way up in the breeze.
Dropped axles are ok as are IFS stuff but they are even funny about tube axles.

 

You funny guy.

Re. axles, what we can do and how we do it differs from state to state.

 

Thought I'd share some pictures of probably the most well known willys. I took these in Louisville at the NSRA Nats, awsome car,glad it is still around.

 

Tim Woods displayed the car at a little show in Pasadena when it was just finished, had not been raced yet. Only difference was it had the ripple tube grill, and white wall slicks. It needs that tube grill with the lucite park lites to look right. Still looks cool though.

 

I think I read in TRJ that the original custom grille still exists and is being held hostage for a large ransom.

 

I saw a bone stock original at Hatfields open house last year, first one I ever seen that was stock. Had a puny 4 banger iirc.

 

This car is #1 in my book

 

Same car, BTW.

 

gassers rule !!
but they don't all have to be gassers or street rods
mine is just a daily work horse

 

Gasser,gasser,gasser!!!!!!!!!!!!!