Vehicle Description
1941 Willys 441 Coupe
The Willys Americar was a line of automobiles produced by
Willys-Overland Motors from 1937 to 1942, either as a sedan, coupe,
station wagon or pickup truck. The coupe version is a very popular
hot rod choice, either as a donor car or as a fiberglass model.
Only the 1941-1942 models were called "Americar", (441 and 442
models respectively), following the patriotic trend of the time.
When Joseph W. Frazer joined the company in 1938 he decided that a
modern-looking and cheap compact car was the answer for the
struggling Willys.
For consignment, a wild and wooly Willys, with a miles House Of
Kolors Tangelo Orange paint job with some pinstriping and gold
leafdecaling that gives us the look of a Ford Fairlane dip and
swoop trim spear, which is just fab! This is a street legal car but
can also hold it's own on the dragstrip if that's your forte. With
a supercharged big block V8, custom leather interior, and even more
custom electronic touches, this is definitely a neck snapper, and
an eye catcher.
Exterior
With front and rear bumpers as well as door handles shaved,
teardrop headlights frenched into the bulbous fenders, a custom
thin LED rear tail light and some massive through the body side
exit pipes she's a runner and looks as though it's moving when
standing completely still. The Outlaw fiberglass body has been
drenched in a professional application of House Of Kolors Tangelo
Orange done by Doug Carlson. A gold leaf and pinstripespear starts
as a point on the sides of the beaked hood and run rearward,
culminating in a tribal Fairlane style dip on the rear quarter
panels before tapering off to a point just above the rounded rear
fenders. This artistic gold was applied by "Howie" Speaking of the
hood, in the rear center is a snazzy polished hood scoop, but with
its mesh insert no birds or small children will get sucked in. No
running boards here, just big fenders which frame front polished
consignor stated SFI 15.1 riveted edge effect Centerline wheels
wrapped in 24x5.00-R15 front skinny rubber, and rear ultra-wide
Centerline SFI 15.1 15-inch wheels wrapped in massive 33X-22.50-15
radials. Custom wheelie bars are peeking out from under the rear
roll pan to finish out this lovely, yet frighteningly fast in looks
and performance glass runner.
Interior
A swing of the suicide hinged doors allows us to slip inside and be
greeted with a tangelo framed door with very nicely sculpted saddle
tan padded leather panels. A shiny actuator and ivory tribal insert
are seen within this padded leather field. Grabbing a spot in the
bucket in front of the wheel, I plant myself in rounded padded
leather seats that have a broad stitched tuck and roll design and
thin ivory leather inserts. These seats are courtesy of a Mustang
II. A beautifully designed saddle leather rimmed steering wheel
sits atop a polished tilt column. The dash which is painted in
tangelo has AutoMeter gauges with black bezels and white faces and
these run across the dash front. Directing your attention to dash
central is the foursome of AutoMeter supporting gauges, some push
buttons, and a Blaupunkt AM/FM/CD stereo. The console flows down
and between the seats are the power window rocker switches, a pair
of toggles, and a B&M racing shifter. The headliner is more
saddle leather with some ivory swoops and down below is a pristine
tan carpet. Flicking the power toggle behind the driver's seat
opens the sloping trunk lid. This allows us to gaze upon saddle
colored carpeted trunk and the stainless steel fuel tank. A shout
out to Gillin Auto Interiors for installing this show quality
interior.
Drivetrain
Under the hood is pure automotive art in the form of a super shiny
consignor stated 427ci V8 with less than 1,500 miles on the build.
This is a Mark IV block and is topped with Merlin cylinder heads.
Atop each head are chrome valve coverings with Redline Automotive
Competition Engines logoing. Between all this bling is a Weiand
supercharger that ingests air and fuel via a pair of Holley
4-barrel carburetors. On the back is a TH400 3-speed automatic
transmission which sends power rearward to a Moser 9" rear. Just a
crazy shining diamond!
Undercarriage
Near perfection underneath with many polished parts, tangelo
painted Outlaw frame and chassis, black floor pans, and that sexy
body exiting side exhaust. Even the rear axle and the transmission
case are finished in Tangelo Orange, talk about attention to
detail. Stainless lines snake their way around this environment as
well, and I see a Mustang II independent coil over front suspension
and ladder bars with coil overs on back. Power disc brakes are all
around. Get the mirrors out at the car show, people won't want to
miss this show.
Drive-Ability
These cars are waaaay over this writer's head so I had my partner
in crime take me for a spin, and it was an E ticket ride. He
reported and I felt plenty of acceleration,so much so that I had to
call for my lovely bride to bring me a fresh pair of khakis and
boxers. Good handling and plenty of stopping power with this car
you will definitely need! It had plenty of creature comforts and
all of them work. We did note that after our test drive and during
the photography the power lift hood and trunk lid stopped
working.
A true race car that is mild mannered enough to drive on the
street. With awesome paint, plenty of creature comforts, and all in
working pristine clean order. Even the undercarriage you could eat
off of, but please nothing greasy! Show and go...like hell!
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our
showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just
1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The
website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888)
227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come
see the vehicle in person.
