Well it's day one of my 40 Willys coupe project. I bought it about 5 years ago and have finally decided to start on it. As you can see it's pretty rough and missing everything. I have found a 392 hemi,Olds rearend, and a chromed and drilled Willys axle for it so far. I will be looking for some body parts now. Progress will be slow due to the cost of Willys parts. I will post pictures when things start to take shape.
looks like a graet start.are you going to go gl*** for the rest or steel?street or g***er?if you dont want to start it i will gradly take it off your hands,infact if you want i can leave RIGHT NOW!!!!LOL keep us informed.
I you haven't done so already search here on the HAMB for Kiwi Kev's Nasty Habit build threads and Royalshifter's Teixeira Willys build threads. You'll find a ton of inspiration there.
I wanted a Willys since I saw Hot Rod in '79. Met my best friend Mooney, who owns the Al Tschida Willys, during my search. He wouldn't share any of his stash, but he encouraged me to keep looking. 100k on my pickup and year later of looking at many jeeps and '50 Willys, a friend of mine from high school said he knew where there was one 15 miles from my house. I went to a old s**** dealer's lot and there it was in the very back of his yard sitting on an old loader tire. I struck a deal and had to get 5 of my friends to come out with me to carry the car out from behind all the s**** piles! Many thanks to them. It was -20 that day. So that's how my Willys g***er journey began. I have met a lot of very nice Willys guys along the way and taken note of every bit of wisdom they have shared with me. Now it's time to put it to good use! Thanks to all that have replied for your encouragement.
it would look cool old g***er style.i cant find anyother pics.of dons on the bumper but they are out there.
theres nothing wrong with f.g.bolt ons.thats what racers use to do back in the day.make them light and they will fly.
Awwwwwnnoooo, sounds like another g***er style willys coupe. GOOD,thats the ONLY way they should be built!!!!!! With huffer and injector peekin' outa the hood I hope. Good luck and post pics!!!!
Here's a bit of unsolicited advice.....worked like a charm on the two I have. Remove all of the existing running gear and suspension. Set and stabilize the ch***is and body on at least 6 ratchet style jack stands.....level it and begin your process for straightness and square. A frame table or jig would be nice, but a straight and level concrete floor will work. Bolt the body to the ch***is using as many of the original mounts as possible. From the photos, it appears there is still a large amount of the p***enger floor and trunk floor...that's a plus. I would start at the rear, replacing the under trunk panel, tail light extension panels, and weatherstrip channel. These pieces are available from Randy Ferguson.....nice pieces. Almost going to be a necessity at this point to have a deck lid and rear fenders so your body shape is correct as you fit these panels and it matches the fenders and deck lid. Then move on to repairing/replacing the floor. This should give you a good starting point for the rest of the shell. Just remember, don't "hard weld" or finish weld anything until you have your component parts....fenders, deck lid, doors.....available so as to be able to check the shape of the body and body openings against the shape of the doors, deck lid and so on. I've worked on enough of these cars to say that no two cars have the exact same shapes in the openings. Every door and decklid has to ne fitted to whatever car it's going to be used on. '40s m*** production left a lot to be desired, as did "quality control" Good luck.....you have a great start to having "the" hot rod. Patience in what you do is the key.
Best of luck on the Willys project. Ya definitely have a lot of work ahead of you, but when it's your dream car, none of that matters. I look forward to seeing the progress on this one!
Have you purchased them yet? If not, I may have a deal for you on an old 39 Willys g***er frame setup. PM me if interested....John
First of all congradulations on finding a steel one no matter what shape it's in. Take your time on the build and do it the way you want to. The finished product will be well worth it. If you need help with anything just let us know. We have a few connections G***er Girl
wishing you great success. Thank you for posting, and hope to see more as you proceed. I was lucky in my build and ended up with this. Same inspiration as you. Let me know if I can be of ***istance.
I have alot of favorite cars but 40 Willys is one that is on top of my list of favs. Great project you have goin there. Your lucky.
DAYUM.....someday I sure hope I can afford one when I find it. I have been able to find a few, but they were much more complete and in decent shape so they were to far out of reach for me to afford. I'd be sooo happy to run across what you did. My luck when I do....the guy won't want to sell it!!! Hey, I wish you all the best in you quest to build your dream ride. Please keep us posted and pictures coming....
great story,,,on finding your dream car..... id love to find one in that shape so i could aforde it.... what would a person have to give for a body in that condition???
I'm too embar***ed to tell you what I paid. I can say that his asking price was fair, then half way though my conversion with him he said he would drop the price in half if I came with cash that day. It was -20 outside and he was out of fuel oil. So off to the bank I went. He's a real nice guy who is into vintage snowmobiles, so whenever I find one I give it to him. He always asks about it. He said he was a member of the West Coast Willys Club. He knew what they were worth and even took all the garnish moldings off and hid them in his house so they wouldn't walk away when he was out s****ing. I think he's glad that he was able put in the hands of someone who would love it and do something with it.
A 392 Hemi, Olds rear and chromed axle sounds like a g***er?? Why not save thousands of dollars and put some vintage race weight fibergl*** on the car. Big John, Stone Woods & Cook, KS Pitmann never ran steel front ends, deck lids or fenders. Good luck with the project.
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