This 1941 Willys Is An Elapsed Time Machine
When you’re talking street rods or noteworthy bodies from drag racing’s Golden Age of the ’60s, the name Willys always comes up. Legends like “Ohio” George Montgomery, “Big” John Mazmanian, and the team of Stone, Woods & Cook sought out these lightweight and inexpensive cars and stuffed all kinds of crazy engines in them.
Two things that made the Willys popular is drag racing were their more aerodynamic shapes and abnormally large engine compartments. (Photos by Brian Wagner)
Willys-bodied cars dominated the late ’50s and early ’60s gasser classes and were so cool (and significant) people are building street rods inspired by them to this day.
What made the Willys so special? According to veteran drag racing photographer Bob McClurg, who captured many of these classics in action when they were first campaigned, racers gravitated to them for several reasons.
“The Willys were lighter and cheaper to buy used than Fords,” explained McClurg. “They were also more streamlined.”
The March pulley system helps modernize the underhood area, which houses a Chevrolet Performance ZZ572/620 crate Rat. It is topped by an 850 cfm Quick Fuel carb. Owner Quint Walberts fabricated the exhaust system. (Photo by Brian Wagner)
Most importantly, though the vast majority of Willys came with four-cylinder powerplants from the factory, their engine compartments were unusually large, which made stuffing modern overhead valve V8s in them an easy proposition.
Those who have no idea what Willys was should recognize it for its significant role in World War II: it was the largest producer of jeeps in the United States from 1941 to 1945—building more than Ford and American Bantam combined. Eventually, Willys became part of Kaiser, then American Motors, then Chrysler Corporation, ergo every Jeep you see on the road today can trace its roots to the car you see here.
Under The Hood
Quint Walberts owns this exceptional ’41 Willys and that large engine bay came in handy. He stuffed a ZZ572 Chevrolet Performance crate engine in there. The 620-horse/645 lb-ft of torque Rat is backed by a Coan Turbo 400 and Moser rear with 4.11 gears and a WaveTrac inside an aluminum third member.
The owner did all the skeletal work in the cockpit, but it was Darrin Cutter of Cutters Hot Rod Interiors (Dillsboro, Indiana) who covered everything. He fabricated the seats, door panels, headliner, etc. (Photos by Brian Wagner)
The chassis is all hand-built and the body is fiberglass. The owner bought the chassis/body combo new as a roller in 2008 rather than go down the rabbit hole of picking up a decades-old body and frame with a questionable history. Besides, it’s not like 1941 Willys bodies are easy to come by.
It takes talent and dedication to bring any hot rod to this level, but Quint feels the glass body was the easier and safer bet. This version he purchased was from Outlaw Performance in Pennsylvania. It came with custom features, such as a lower roof than stock and hidden door hinges, and that saved him an immense amount of time in the build process.
Owner Quint Walberts did all the body work and paint on this ’41 Willys. Heck, he even created the one-of-a-kind-color mixture. (Photos by Brian Wagner)
The body also came complete with tubs in place for massive rear tires. While there was nothing wrong with the Outlaw frame, Quint decided he wanted something of his design under the body, so using the Outlaw C-channel chassis as a mock-up, he fabricated a full tube chassis for this 1941 Willys. He outfitted it with a complete Ride Tech air suspension.
The Budnik wheels are custom-built to Quint’s specs and measure 18×16 in the rear and 17×7 up front. The giant Mickey Thompson tires are a whopping 31.5-inches tall by 18.5-inches wide.
You can’t see it in this photo, but there is a custom oil pan guard with the word “Willys” engraved in it. (Photo by Brian Wagner)
The interior is a work of art. Quint did all the skeleton work, but Cutter’s Hot Rod Interiors of Dillsboro, Indiana, did the bulk of the upholstery and everything else. It is a masterpiece. You can practically smell all that leather over the Internet. An ididit steering column, Auto Meter gauges, and a B&M shifter are featured.
In the center stack are the controls for the air suspension. There is no stereo because, as Quint says, “You wouldn’t be able to hear it over the engine.”
The owner custom-built the stainless steel headers and exhaust. Everything exits through a set of welded-on Kooks stainless mufflers through openings in the side of the body ahead of the rear wheels.
DIY Paint & Body
The owner’s business, Quint’s Kustom Kolors (Coatsville, Indiana), developed the magnificent shade of purple using the House of Kolor palette. Quint did all the body and paintwork himself.
One of the more interesting touches is the LED taillights. He had to heat up the housings, which were straight, and bend/shape them, so they would fit into the curvature of the body.
The taillights were heated and shaped to fit into the opening in the Willys’ body. Even the trunk was completely worked. (Photos by Brian Wagner)
To top it off, both back windows light up with the glow from a one-off custom high-mounted stoplight system.
Willys was once the number two automaker in the United States behind Ford. By the time the ’41 models came around, the company had been hit by hard times. (Photos by Brian Wagner)
You don’t often see vehicles with this kind of attention to detail. It is not a long-distance cruiser or a strip stormer. As Quint describes the Willys, it’s more of a “fairgrounds crawler.”
Still, there’s no getting around the outrageousness of the build. It is a modern tribute of what could have been some 60-plus years ago.
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