[SEL] OT Willys Overland project.

Alan Bowen rustaholic777 at yahoo.com
Mon Jan 14 17:54:59 PST 2008


Curt,
I didn't say anything about original axles on that old Willys.
I was certain it had tougher axles.
I know it had some really sweet wheels and tires on it.
It really had the look of one of those souped up hot vehicles that were built by young men that died in Vietnam and was being sold off cheap by the folks back home.  Back in those days I saw several deals like that.  Sad but true.

Two years later Bob, the older brother of my then girlfriend now wife, saw from a distance a 1964 Chevy step-side short box pickup sitting behind a barn.
He pulled into the farm and stopped at the house.
A man came out so Bob asked him if the old truck behind the barn was for sale.
It was another one of those "dead son"  sad stories. The man told Bob he could have the truck for fifty bucks.  He also told Bob that he had just driven the truck back there a couple weeks ago and it runs fine.
Bob just handed the man the money.  Bob had been high on the list to be drafted the same year that man's son went in but he had a hole in each eardrum so they wouldn't take him.
Bob walked back there and lifted the hood to check the oil and was surprised to see so much chrome.
Yup, that Chevy had a built Ford 390 under the hood.
It had a hot cam, racing pistons, three duces and chrome everywhere.
Nice wide rear tires and pretty chrome mag wheels too.
That truck would really fly. Almost,,,, 8>))

Alan Bowen
Williamsburg, Michigan 

Curt <curt at imc-group.com> wrote: Alan,
That hemi would have lit the tires up real sweet for a few seconds. At 
least until the axles let go! The original engines were about 73 HP. 
Poor old drive train didn't stand a chance with the hemi!
Fellow here in town has one with the 350 Chevy in it with the original 
5.33:1(?) rear end in it . It still only goes about 55 tops. But it gets 
there faster than about anything else in town!
I'm big on originality, but I've been told that Cummins makes a 4 
cylinder diesel that would get about 50 mpg in this vehicle. Very 
tempting......
Probably has more HP that the original engine too. Can't be any noisier!
Curt


       
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