Willys 1940- 41 gasser

For anyone growing up during the peak of the Gasser Wars in the ’60s there was nothing quite like the names of Stone, Woods, and Cook; K.S. Pitman; or Big John Mazmanian lettered on the sides of these hell-bent race cars. Their adrenalin rush was legendary and it was easy to see the long-lasting impact these wild rides would have on countless hot rodders.



It was well past the heyday of Gasser Wars when Tom Venezia of Dayton, Maryland, discovered their allure while thumbing through old well-worn copies of drag racing magazines. Even though he had never seen one run, there was something about their nosebleed stance, monstrous blown Hemis, and endless attitude that forever burned in his young mind. He would set out to read as much as he could on the era while taking pen to paper, drawing impressions of what he imagined the perfect Gasser would be, which in his eyes just so happened to be an iconic ’41 Willys.

As he grew older he saved up as much cash as he could from mowing neighborhood lawns and at the age of 15 towed home a ’62 Corvette packed with a non-running 396ci V-8. Forever intrigued by anything mechanical, he worked on the Vette non-stop and got it running as a really wicked ride for high school.

As the years passed and the kid from Jersey (where he grew up) started a business, got married, and raised a family, he never forgot his roots. In fact, he stayed involved throughout his life with numerous hop-ups passing through his garage doors, including a slick Deuce five-window and ’34 Ford coupe, which he still owns today. After all the years though, memories of early Gassers still fascinated him.

There’s nothing like setting out on a quest to blend both excitement and frustration in one’s daily life. Tom decided after years of dreaming about owning a Willys Gasser that he was ready to move forward and find a suitable car to start his buildup. Since a ’glass body just wouldn’t do, he began scouring the country for a clean and uncut ’41 Willys to convert to the dark side. Well, anyone who knows how rare it is to find what Tom was searching for would tell you that you’d have a better chance at finding a diamond in a pile of sand. Any search usually embodies finding the car, but also the bits to build it. Seeing that Tom would be creating an era-correct Gasser, he was also looking for the sum of the parts to build it from.

If you’re going to plant a bit of terror into the engine bay, it had better be an early Chrysler Hemi and one late night an Internet search landed him face to face with lady luck. As often happens, the V-8 arrived well before the body and chassis, and in this case Tom struck gold. The advertised engine was built by none other than legendary drag racer Mike Sullivan. The behemoth 392ci Hemi was bored 0.030 over to 398ci and packed with a stock forged crank linked to Mickey Thompson aluminum rods capped with Venolia forged 8.5:1 pistons. A set of tweaked and polished heads come to life as a Mooneyham 6-71 blower perched atop a Weiand intake sucks air though a vintage Hilborn four-port injector converted to EFI by Hilborn. A Joe Hunt HEI magneto-styled ignition linked to an MSD 6AL box lights the fire while a pair of Hot Heads Research fenderwell headers dump all spent gases loud and proud.

A Muncie four-speed from The Muncie Man in Frederick, Maryland, was filled with a Hayes 10-1/2-inch clutch and pressure plate with a Lakewood scattershield and matched to the V-8 through a Hot Heads Research steel flywheel and Hemi-to-GM four-speed adapter.


Packed with a vintage speed shop full of performance parts, the Hemi not only looked era-correct, it promised to shake the rafters when matched up to the right car. It wasn’t until five years later that the search for a body would finally lead Tom to the Promised Land. Squeezing the Internet for every last ounce of information he could, he followed up on a lead that led him to an original steel body in Seattle. As the story goes, the seller’s friend recalled an old Willys being used as a farm carryall while living in Mobridge, South Dakota, while in his childhood. He revisited the old farm decades later to find it resting peacefully amongst a number of castoff vehicles that had served their time and retired. A deal was made and the car was trailered off to Seattle where it sat for some time, was slightly picked over, and finally offered up for sale. Without wasting any time, Tom made the deal and the car was shipped off to Maryland. Once received and reviewed, Tom was awestruck that even though the car had seen very rough times it was virtually rust free.

It was immediately torn down and sent off to Fast Times Rod’s in Dunkirk, New York, where Pete Clark and his team laid out a new spine constructed from 2x6-inch rectangular framerails with custom tubular crossmembers tough enough to withstand anything the vintage Hemi could dish out. To lay down the power a Ford 9-inch rearend fitted with a nodular centersection was packed with 4.11:1 gears and then supported in place by custom-fabbed ladder bars. Carrera coilover shocks were charged with smoothing out the solid ride.



To set the stance up front a Don Long–style tube axle was complemented by early Ford spindles while parallel leaf springs re-arched by Hagerstown Spring Works of Hagerstown, Maryland, combined with Pete & Jakes tube shocks help soak up the bumps. A 1-5/8-inch four-point rollcage by John Hutchinson adds safety to the mix. It’s easy to go fast but when it comes time to stop well, brake fluid pushed through a Corvette master via stainless lines to 11-inch Ford rear drums and GM vented discs and single-piston calipers up front get the job done.

Completing the look, a pair of 15-inch Team III altered wheels out back capped with Radir piecrust slicks and 15x4-inch aluminum kidney bean Real Rodders Wheels with P145R15 radials up front.

The completed chassis and driveline along with the body was then shipped off to The Hot Rod Garage in Denton, Maryland, where Ray Bartlett and his team began the task of bringing the twisted old steel back to life. The team tackled any minor rust repair while also replacing the transmission tunnel, toe kicks, and a dramatic 5-inch firewall setback and had the car ready to roll onto Grant Bryant at Granted Antique Auto in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, for the final run through. While there it received its flared rear fiberglass fenders, installation of steel reproduction parts crafted by Ferguson Coachbuilding, including the trunklid, rockers, tail pan, and centersection, final panel gapping, bodywork, and finessing to prepare it for the spray booth. Bryant filled his spray gun with a tweaked version of PPG’s Orange Glow Candy and laid down a vibe of decadence, bringing the Willys to life.

To create an office that was all business, a pair of LimeWorks race bucket seats with diamond-pleated black vinyl and Deist four-point harnesses look right at home accented by a three-spoke steering wheel, a Hurst Competition shifter, and a bevy of EELCO and Stewart-Warner dials. Tom wanted to thank everyone involved especially good friend Eddie Hatter for all of his dedication throughout the build. This is one Willys that will shake the streets for decades to come.

Tech Tips

COMP Cams

How do I break in a flat tappet cam?

With flat tappet cams, make sure to lube the cam and lifters with a break-in lube like the COMP cam and Lifter Installation Lube before you install them in the engine. Also use a good break-in oil, such as the COMP Cams’ Engine Break-in Oil, during initial start up to help ensure a proper break-in process.

FAST

Keep it dry

The FAST XFI 2.0 is not watertight. Be mindful to install it where no water, lubricants, or other liquids will come into contact with it.

Inglese

Be precise

Precision is important when mounting a distributor on an Inglese EFI System for a Ford application. Timing may be affected otherwise due to the proximity of the distributor to the fuelrails.



article original: http://www.streetrodderweb.com/features/1211sr_1941_willys_gasser/viewall.html

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Hello nostalgic Hot Rodders, vintage Drag Racing buffs, and diehard automobile enthusiasts world wide.
If plastic molded Willys street rod coupes that are tubbed & lowered with billet accessories are your fancy look elsewhere as this may not be what you're looking for. Those type of high tech street machines are found all over Ebay and other internet places.



What you see in front of your is a very historically significant original Southern California Gasser from the 1960's & 70's, and its something that you WONT find anywhere else.



This is the "Orange Plus" Willys coupe. Its the original and not a copy .




The history of the "Orange Plus" .
Dave McDannel is a retired California Highway Patrolman.



He spotted this Willys Coupe in a person's yard in Sacramento, CA. around 1964 . An older man had a sign bolted to the car advertising "parking" . This was where Sacramento County fairgoers could park their cars at a cheaper price. After trying to buy the car and having no success, Mr. McDannel suggested a trade for a 1953 Plymouth coupe that he found earlier in the day - that way the elderly man could still advertise with his sign , plus be able to drive it around. Dave purchased the Plymouth he found in town, got it running (only needed a battery) and made the trade, getting out of there "before the old timer could change his mind".

The Willys was loaded on a trailer and brought back to Dave McDannel's Pasadena home where he and his close pals completely tore apart for a future "Gasser" build. At first progress was slow until his wife surprised him with a new Kellison Fiberglass front end. These were the first fiberglass parts manufactured for Willys. This was Christmas time of 1965. Everything was stripped down to the bare body still intact to the original Willys frame.



A 57-64 Olds/Pontiac rear was installed using good gears and a positraction unit (still in the car) and home made ladder bars.


At first the Trans was an early slant pan Olds hydro built by B & M. The first engine installed was an injected 396 - later , a destroked 327 with 283 rods & crank - making it a 302. Later on in its life a Muncie 4 speed was installed.


Dave Mcdannel built this entire project saving nickels & dimes , and utilizing what ever he could in order to save a buck. He found an old boat trailer and modified it to haul the Willys around.


The car was named "Orange Plus" and debuted at Lions Dragstrip in 1967. After that it ran at Riverside, Orange County, Irwindale, Fontana, Bakersfield, San Gabriel, and a few others until 1975 when McDannel called it quits. The fastest time was a 9.42 @ 144MPH. In 1972 Irwindale Dragstrip awarded it "Best looking car of the year" !

The car was sold , switched hands a couple of times, lost for a few years until "Kiwi Kev" Perry of Ventura found & bought it in 1984. The car was put in primer and driven through the streets of Ventura county. Can you imagine him driving an original 60's Gasser on the streets back in the early 1980's?!?!? People must of literally freaked out. It was at this time that Kiwi Kev officially started the West Coast Willys Club because of owning "Orange Plus" . To this day the WCWC uses the "Orange Plus" Car on its official logo. Other priorities took precedence and In 1991 Kiwi Kev sold the car where it wasn't seen or heard of until a Craigslist add appeared in October of 2009. A gentleman with a private museum in Gilroy , California had it all these years and decided to liquidate some of his gems. This is where Solo Speed Shop's Bill Fowler & Brad Barrie struck a deal , took it home, then brought it back to its original configuration . They hadn't owned the car that long when I took notice and extended a personal invite to have it in the History of the Race car display at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show. I had my eye on the car ever since its rediscovery , and a couple of years ago it was delivered to my garage from Washington state. The car is taken to NHRA functions, Gasser reunions, the local cruise nights in town, and a few other Southern California vintage Drag Racing gatherings where ol time Drag Racers remember it fondly.


Specs: Destroked 327 with rare Isky reverse rotation solid roller 600 lift cam. Ported heads with roller assembly. tunnel ram and dual quads. Mallory ignition. 11-1 compression , TRW pistons , fenderwell headers.


Muncie 4 speed with heavy duty clutch.


Rear - 57-64 Olds / Pontiac rear with Positraction.


15x8 1/2 American Torque Thrust 5 spokes mounted on new Hurst racing slicks (Cody Adams).
15x4 kidney bean Halibrands mounted on 5.60x15 Firestones.


Original steel body.


I literally have boxes of historical documentation on the car. photographs from the 1960's, 70's, and 80's. Magazines, video's, newsletters, and so much more. Mr. McDannel is alive and still lives in Pasadena ! He and previous owners all gathered for a once in a lifetime gathering when the car was asked to be a part of the Grand National Roadster Show's "History of the Race Car" . All of its previous owners gathered for photographs, meet and greet attendee's, and tell ol racing stories about the good ol days.


The car was just featured on the cover of Traditional Rod & Kulture magazine where a 6 page spread was done about the car. The magazine still might be on newstands across America. If Not the successful buyer of this car will receive a copy along with all the archival parts and memorabilia .


Again folks, this is the real deal. The real McCoy. Historic So-Cal Willys Gassers do not become available too often. If you are looking for something from this era look no further. Whether you are a private collector, a museum looking to add something unique, or an investor searching for that "something special" , this is it. Cars like this have gone in the neighborhood of $200 at auction. I will let this go at a fraction of that amount .


Serious inquiries only. Please don't waste my time or yours. If you know anything about Steel body Willys - You know the drill. If you know anything about historically significant Gassers Willys (those that are left) you know what this is worth. My loss is your gain. I will ship this anywhere in the world. Buyers do not worry about shipping as I know of a couple transportation companies that are reputable and relatively cheap. Buyer pays for shipping and I will see to it that the car arrives in a safe and prompt manner. All Archival parts and memorabilia would be properly insured and shipped separately. Ask all question prior to bidding and/or buying. All potential buyers may look at car in person.

1941 Willys Coupe “Challenger” An all original steel body gasser out of the 60’s.



You are looking at the original Challenger gasser coupe that was originally built at B+M Transmissions by Pat Foster and Jim Kirby, the following year Jim decided to completely redo the car by chopping the roof 2” making the car lighter and building a bigger motor to run in the A/Gas class against other big names like “Big John” Mazmanian, K.S. Pittman , and many others.



The car was never abandoned, Kirby sold the car in the late 60’s to a gentleman on the east cost. The Willys soon after was bought and owned by Phil Quinto for decades. Johnny Lightning Casted a couple different Die-cast Gassers including the Challenger ’41 Willys. If you want more history on this famous gasser coupe, just Google; Jim Kirby 41 Willys Gasser or go onto the H.A.M.B web site and you will be well on your way to a great history lesson. This car is in great condition, absolutely needs nothing.



The car was at the Southeast Nationals Goodguys show in Charlotte N.C. in October 2012 and received the Goodguys Suede & Chrome award. It also received this same award at the 2010 Blue Suede Cruise. At the DeCobler Car Show on Labor Day weekend it received the “Best of Show Award”. The historical Challenger car was also used on the cover of “Drag Racing Gassers, Photo Archive” by Lou Hart forward by Gasser Legend Jim Kirby. The car is also featured in the Jackson Bros DVD Volume #1, It is shown running at the Irwindale Raceway during the 60’s. Check out this YouTube video of the car receiving an award;

 

 

 

 


 

En plus, c'est un flic à la retraite qui roule avec !  

nless it’s undergone some dramatic metamorphosis, it’s rare for a car to appear twice in a given magazine within, say, 40 years. It’s harder yet for one to return after appearing in a readers’ rides column; in fact, unless a car is under construction when first shown, it’s pretty much unheard of. So you could say it’s a pretty rare occasion that Ray Simpson’s ’41 Willys pickup reappears as-finished in print, especially since hardly a year has passed since its debut as a finished car in the May ’11 Readers’ Rods column.

But this isn’t the pickup’s first curtain call as a hot rod, either. Its most recent creator, Woodburn, Oregon’s Bryce Moilanen, remembers it from the repair shop he worked at in the late ’70s. “My boss was actually a drag racer and that Willys was an old Gasser truck,” he begins.

Though his boss never raced it, “… he always intended to do something with it—you know the old story,” he continues. “So he proceeded to slowly make it into what he called a shop truck.” Only it was the ’80s, the era of the GM subframe and showground cruiser, and he modified the truck to suit.

“I happened to go back to visit him in 2006 and lo and behold there’s that truck sitting in the corner with inches of dust on it,” Moilanen continues. So he inquired. “He hemmed and hawed but he called me a couple days later and I bought it.”


Time isn’t kind to old racers and this one suffered accordingly in the 25 years since they met. “There really wasn’t that much that was salvageable,” Moilanen notes. “He’d already thrown away all the good parts, like the front axle and the original frame. So basically the only thing I really used off the truck was the cab, the doors, and the rear fenders. Through a lot of pictures and Gasser videos I tried to build a car that was exactly what somebody would’ve built in a garage back in the day. You know, the bracketing, the ladder bars—I tried to keep it on that theme.”

It was an inspired decision. Moilanen noticed some things during teardown. “One of the doors was kind of reddish brown and said something about trucking,” he says. That means something to Gasser historians: the Panella Brothers, trucking operators out of Stockton, California, campaigned a number of Gassers in the ’60s, one of them a candy red ’41 Willys pickup in B-Gas. “Someone who was close to [Bob Panella] told me that they couldn’t find the original truck but I could never verify whether or not mine was the same one,” he says. “So I just went with the look. If you ever see the Panella truck you can see the resemblance.”

To create that resemblance he hired race car chassis builder and drag racer Jerry Hill to fabricate a 2x3 perimeter frame. “Jerry was a personal friend of mine for 30 years,” he says. In fact Moilanen, who has a drag-racing history of his own, commissioned him to fabricate components for his various race cars over the years. “He was around in the Gasser days but he was more of a dragster and Funny Car guy. I gave him blueprints of what I wanted and he bent up the framerails for me and did the welding.”

The chassis’ front suspension consists of a Speedway Motors Gasser axle kit, including the company’s straight-tube axle, semi-elliptical springs, plate steering arms, and tie rod. The Speedway draglink connects to a reversed Corvair steering box. The rear suspension boasts a pretty serious piece of hot rod hardware: a Winters Performance quick-change axle. “The ladder bars were custom-made by Jerry and me; they don’t make ’em that long. I’d say they’re closer to 55 inches,” Moilanen notes. QA1 coilover dampers suspend that frame over the axle.


The ’49-54 Chevy passenger-car spindles pinned to the front axle sport Wilwood Engineering’s modern interpretation of brakes popular during the Gasser wars: Airheart discs. Beyond their basic function it’s hardly worth comparing Airheart’s old leaky calipers to the four-pot Dynalite versions on this car, though. Like most quick-changes of the era the rear axle mounts a pair of Ford drums, albeit the latter-day, 11-inch versions.

“One of my close friends who does all of my racing engines, Robin Whitcomb, built the engine,” he notes. He based it on an early-’70s vintage Chevrolet 350 block, which he assembled with a forged crank, a Bullet Racing Cams hydraulic roller, and Manley Performance connecting rods. Dishes in the CP pistons combine with the Dart Iron Eagle Platinum heads’ 64cc chambers to yield an 8:1 static compression ratio, a favorable target for forced induction.

Weiand’s version of GMC’s venerable 6-71 series supercharger creates the engine’s artificial atmosphere. Moilanen crowned it with a pair of Holley 1850-series carburetors that he modified for boost reference. A pair of Offenhauser rocker covers modified with 90-degree Moon breathers flanks that induction system. When capped, the collectors at the ends of the S&S fenderwell headers below those covers feed Hushpower mufflers behind the doorsills.

The engine feeds a TH350 transmission. But this is no ordinary 350. “It’s a TH350 case but it’s all 400 internals: a 400 sprag, heavy-duty clutches, and so forth,” he says. “I’m a drag racer and I run the same transmission in my race cars.” The 3,500-rpm-stall Hughes converter lets the engine spin hard and makes the pickup launch even harder.


“The cowl was cut off right at the windshield and they had the throttle pedal on the passenger side,” Moilanen observes. To make the pickup more streetable he had Hill fabricate a new cowl. To make it plain driveable he had him build the floors as well. Naturally Hill built the three-point cage, too.

“The bed, I made that myself,” Moilanen adds. “The rear fenders are factory Willys fenders but I radiused them to fit the tires.” He also used the Willys stake pockets.

Racers dispensed with Willys front sheetmetal groups for fiberglass, making original pieces exceedingly uncommon. But this one is rare in that way, too: though it came with a fiberglass nose it now has a tin one. “It’s all handmade,” Moilanen reveals. “A guy out of California rolled that front end and it’s an exact match. This guy supposedly did only two sets because, as he explained to me, ‘I can’t charge enough.’

“You know, my painter definitely underbid that one, too,” he adds, chuckling. Rene Crunelle, Customs by RC in Hillsboro, straightened the panels and applied the single-stage polyurethane PPG.

Though now a street pickup, its cab’s innards are just about as simple as any race car. In fact, the seats came from Summit Racing. “They’re actually fiberglass racing buckets that I had to cut down to make look more period correct,” he says. Beaverton Auto Upholstery trimmed them in black vinyl pleats and the floor in black nylon carpet. The Grant 502-series Classic Cruisin’ steering wheel mounts to a Flaming River steering column in classic race fashion: with a quick-release hub.

The truck’s completion was bittersweet according to Moilanen. “Jerry had cancer,” he says. “He was actually going through chemo when he was helping me. He got to see the truck when it was finally done but not too long after that he died.” In fact, this was the last car he helped build.


In fact it wasn’t long after that when the siren’s call of another race car inspired Moilanen to market the pickup. “I found it on eBay,” Ray observes (just to set the record straight, it was an error and not Ray’s doing in the May ’11 issue that credited him for the pickup’s construction). In fact, the only contribution he’s made beyond maintaining the car was switching the rear wheels. “I put on a set of original Halibrands that I’ve toted around for 40 years,” he says. “I bought ’em in 1969 right from Halibrand for $250.” For the record, that’s the same as paying $1,567.34 today. “That’s why I’ve dragged ’em around for so long.”

It might be pretty rare for a car to feature a second time, unchanged, within such a short time. And it’s just as rare that an old race car from drag racing’s golden age survives to tell its tale. But that’s nothing compared to how rare it is for one to go back together so completely bitchin’. We’re confident that it’s worth our repeat performance.

Ray Simpson

Portland, Oregon

1941 Willys Pickup

Rod & Custom Feature Car
Article original: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1211rc_1941_willys_pickup/viewall.html

1941 Willys Gasser numerous award winner and featured on the Gasser Reunion calendar. $12,000 show me rods, body titled as 1941.  396 big block chevy 4 bolt main block, 8:1 compression, forged blower pistons, alum-a-coat fender well headers with full 3" custom exhaust, aluminum radiator.  Car never runs over 180 degrees.  Freshly rebuilt with only 200 miles an a completely new built Weiand 671 supercharger, 10% under-driven for street use. Dual 600 CFM Edlebrock carbs. Motor was professionally done from carbs to oil pan by Pro-Formance specialties in Rochester N.Y.  Transmission is a new Tremec TKO 5 speed with aluminum flywheel.  Lakewood bulletproof bell housing and Hurst shifter, custom drive shaft.  Ladder bar suspension with coil overs, Ford rear end with finned aluminum E/T cover.  Car has professionally built custom rectangular tube frame.  Front end is a Speedway tube front straight axle with disc brakes.  New 5 spoke polished aluminum E/T wheels. 15X5 front with 165/80/15 Diamondback tires. Rear wheels are Mickey Thompson Sportsmans 29 x 1800R/15LT. A pair of slicks with inner tubes go with the car as well. Exterior paint is Banzai Blue that is outstanding.  All lettering is gold leaf vinyl that is easily removed.  Interior is custom pleated in white with bucket seats, tilt steering wheel and power window and doors.

Inspiration Stone, Woods & Cook  

Très belle, en tous cas !