Today’s car is a 1941 Willys Speedway Coupe owned by Steve Faist. I photographed this car at Tom Masek’s celebration of life held at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum located in El Segundo, CA. It is finished in Emerald Green metallic with a Black interior. It is powered by an estimated 500 hp, 392 cu in, Chrysler Hemi V8 engine, with a 8-71 Mooneyham Blower with Hilborn electronic fuel injection that is mated to a GM Turbo TH 400 3-speed automatic transmission with Ford 9″ rear end running 3.73:1 gears. Slowing this beauty down are disc brakes in all 4-corners. The front suspension is a solid axle with longitudinal semi-elliptical leaf springs and the rear suspension is a live axle with coilovers.
The total 0f 1941 Willys produced 30,100 units. The MSRP was $635.00. With a published top speed of 75 mph. My memories of Willys coupes were primarily from Drag Racing and Hot Rod magazines and a guy named Big John Masmanian racing at the Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, CA. Back in 1964 Big John turned 149 miles per hour in under 10 seconds in the quarter mile in his Willys!
This beautiful example of a customized Fiberglass bodied 1941 Willy that was built by Robert Frost sitting on a Farr’s Racing & Rods chassis. What a great car to take to car shows and Cars and Coffee events. Thank you for riding along. Frank
