1940 Willis sports car,not mine $6500

[Buick35]

I saw this on Fls. Craigslist,thought it was interesting.I tried e-mailing post but was unable to,sorry.

[George Smolinski]

What the hell is Fls.?

[Buick35]

Sorry,Florida's Orlando ,Space coast is where I saw it.

[pont35cpe]

here you go..https://staugustine.craigslist.org/cto/d/saint-augustine-1940-willys-sport-car/7290048125.html

[alsancle]

Not bad.  I've seen worse for more money.

[alsancle]

During the years following WW2, interest in hot rods, dry lake racing, drag racing, and sports car racing sky rocketed! Expensive foreign cars such as Jaguar, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Porsche, Austin Healey, Alfa Romeo, Triumph, and others dominated the road race tracks. Allard cars were exported to the United States and fitted with flathead Ford engines and overhead valve Cadillac and Chrysler Hemi engines. Frank Kurtis began to build cars and chassis for not only the oval track but for road racing. Good ol American ingenuity began to take hold as cars were built here to compete with the imports. Glasspar made the first American fiberglass sports car. Bill Devin began to sell fiberglass bodies for $295 to put onto the builders chassis. Hand built race specials such as the Max Balchowsky Old Yeller, Duffy Eliminator, and many others, began to proliferate and even beat the high dollar imports. While many of these cars were built from fiberglass, plenty of others were custom built from steel using factory bodies modified to a sports car style. This is one such car, the 1940 Willys Special.

I bought this car years ago. I don't know the entire history but I do know that it had a small block Chevy before me and earlier than that it had a flathead Ford V8. The faded paint on the side makes me think it was used as a display car or attention getting sign after it retired from it's early life of terrorizing rich playboys driving expensive European cars. At least that is what I like to think! There are rumors of this car having a race history in the 1950s. Please feel free to spend many fun hours perusing old race magazines and photos from the early 50s to try and find a glimpse of this car!

I bought a rebuilt Dodge 325 KD500 Hemi for this car. I thought an early Hemi was the appropriate engine for this car. The Chrysler 331/392 engines, while famous for lots of torque, aren't called Elephant engines for nothing! They are very very wide. The smaller early Dodge engines such as the Red Ram are very cool but down on power compared to the bigger Hemi engines. I found the largest and most powerful of the smaller Hemis to fit in this car. The KD500 puts out 285 horsepower with a single 4 barrel carb or 310 with two 4 barrel carbs. This engine was rebuilt years back and I was told it was never run on the road and it appears to be in great condition. I pulled the valve covers and the oil pan and everything looks brand new.

The chassis is the original Willys frame that has been modified. The center X frame has been cut. The chassis needs to be properly built. The engine is just mocked up in the engine compartment. No transmission. I have a shortened driveshaft from when it ran a Chevy. 16 inch wheels. There are some very cool period gauges. The original Willys vin numbers are still on the front cross member and it is registered in the state of Georgia as a 1940 Willys Special. This will get you a title in states that require it for these years.

I'm not looking for hot rod project trades. I will consider air cooled VW Porsche. Will consider a modern car trade as long as it's a good trade for me. No motorcycles.