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Photos by: Chadly Johnson
Text by: Jon Hageness
Cars, cars, cars, that’s all I dreamt about as a young kid growing up in the ‘70’s. Model cars or a Hot Wheels were never more than an arm’s length away. Countless hours where spent building my dreams cars from the numerous model car kits I acquired. The smell of the model car glue and paint where intoxicating, rarely did I ever build a model per the instructions, I always had to add my personal touch. If I wasn’t building or playing with a car, I was drawing them.
One of my favorite model car kits was of a ’41 Willys pick up. I probably bought and built that same kit 3 or 4 times, each time it was different. I even remember drawing up plans of the one of the builds and hiding the drawing under a loose board in our upstairs hallway. I surely didn’t want some other kid to steal my vision for the ultimate Willys! Kind of strange behavior for sure, maybe all of that model car glue had something to do with it.
As I grew older, I would ride my bike to the junk yard 5 miles away just to walk the isles marveling at all of that glorious vintage tin. I guess it’s safe to say I’ve been obsessed with vintage cars all of my life. I was fortunate to have very supportive parents, they always encouraged me to learn new things and follow my dreams. At the age of 13 they let me have my first car, a 1937 Chevy sedan that was a gift from my uncle Dan. Next came a ’49 Mercury, then a string of ’67 to ’68 Mustangs followed. My dad had a back room in his sheet metal shop where my brother and I could work on our cars. Dad also taught me how to layout sheet metal and weld, lessons I use to this day...thanks Dad!
Fast forward to the mid ‘80’s, I’d since finished college, got married and started a family. I was now working for my father in his new manufacturing company doing design and drafting. When time allowed, I cruised the back roads in my ’36 Chevy hot rod pick up looking for vintage tin. On one of these tin hunting expeditions not far from my house, I spied some old cars far off in a field. When I stopped to inquire about them I was given the dreaded “not for sale, gonna fix ‘em up some day” line. BUT, the old timer did know of a Willys languishing on a hill side on the next farm over. The posi trac rear end in my ’36 Chevy was soon splitting gravel as I raced to the neighboring farm. Sure enough, there she sat, as beautiful a site as you could imagine, a ’41 Willys sedan resting under the shade of an old oak tree. The owner had bought it years before just for the engine for his jeep. $450 was the asking price and by day’s end I had my first of many Willys.
Memories of my Willys models came streaming back, I had found my true hot rod calling, from that day forward, I was a Willys man. I brought pictures of my new Willys to a local car show and was soon approached by Jeff Laska, he too had been bitten by the Willys bug, and a lifelong friendship began. Jeff gave me information on a new Willys club being formed, “The Mid-America Willys Club”. I joined the next week, becoming the 47th member. Looking back I’m amazed at how a chance tin hunt, led to a chance meeting, which led to me to meeting the lion’s share of the people I now call my closest friends...all Willys people.
The Mid America Willys club was headed by Greg and Barb Dummar and every 3 months we got our latest issue of “Gasser Gossip”. It was a great little magazine that had stories of club members and their cars, as well as for sale ads in the back. After seeing all of the pictures of the Willys coupes, I became obsessed with owning one. I followed every lead or rumor of a coupe I heard about, but with no avail. They were un-obtainium!! Then one fateful day in April of 1990 it happened. In the for sale ads in the latest Gasser Gossip, there it was: For sale, 1941 Willys coupe, unfinished gasser, Don Long chassis, ’57 Olds rear axle, set up for an early Hemi, asking price of $2,300, located in Reno Nevada. I was so excited I immediately called the number, failing to realize that even though it was 8:00 a.m. in Osseo Wisconsin, in Reno Nevada it was 6:00 a.m. A very groggy Gary Cerio answered the phone, it was at that point I realized the time difference and immediately apologized for my error in judgment. Gary was very gracious and understanding and proceeded to tell me about the Willys. He had bought the car out of an airplane hangar somewhere in California. Apparently the car had been stored there since the late 1960’s. The story he had gotten was that a car dealer had commissioned the Willys to be built to compete in the Gasser class, but with rule and class changes, the gassers where being phased out and the car was never finished. Gary was told that Don Long had built the chassis, setting it up for a setback Hemi engine. The rear end housing was a ’57 Olds with ladder bars and coil springs located with a panhard bar. The front axle was a straight tube with Willys axle ends welded to it to locate the spindles, everything was chromed, but in sad shape. The Willys was all steel except for the 4 piece Cal Automotive front end.
All of the time Gary is describing the car, my heart is pounding, when I finally asked if the car was still available, the answer was YES! I was the first (of many) to call. I made the deal and sent him the money that day. My error in time zone judgment turned out to be the reason I got the car, as later on Gary told me there where at least 20 other people who were in line to buy the car, I just happened to be the first to call. To retrieve the car from Nevada, my wife Wendy, 2 year old son Derek, and I borrowed my Dad’s conversion van, and headed west for a family vacation. We visited friends and family along the way as we brought the new family member back home to Wisconsin.
Once home the build process began at a slow steady pace, buying parts when I could afford them and working in the shop when time allowed. The main part sourced was a rebuilt 392 Chrysler Hemi. An adapter from Wilcap enabled the use of a 700R4 transmission and a 3:70 Oldsmobile posi unit was added to the mix. Remember this was the early ‘90’s and every one was building pro street cars and most Willys builds of that era where not immune to the pro street craze. Not one to follow the latest tread, I kept true to the car and finished the Willys the way it needed to be done, nose high, loud and proud. “A prewar Willys rises up like a cutter on ice” I believe the line goes (from the movie Hot Rod). During the build, I replaced the Cal Automotive glass front end with the steel one from my previously acquired ’41 sedan. When it came time for paint, blue was the only color I would even consider. The color chosen is from a ‘90’s era GM truck. Being from California, the body required very little work. The main fabrication project was replacing the missing floor and fire wall, for some reason the original builders had removed most of both.
Once painted, wired, & driving the task of upholstery was given to my good friend John Zechbauer, whom I also met through the Mid America Willys club. A pair of mid ‘60’s T-bird seats were chosen too for that ‘60’s vibe, an early GM tilt column, and swap meet gauge panel round out the high lights of the interior. By the summer of 1995 Old Blue was on the road logging as many miles and smiles as the summer weather in Wisconsin would allow. In 1996 my now 8 year old son and I drove the Willys to Colorado logging over 4,000 miles on that trip alone. My daughter Olivia has logged many miles as a passenger as well.
Old Blue now shares a stable with several other hot rods in my collection so he doesn’t get driven as often as he once did, but he’s still my favorite. 28 years and over 16,000 miles later, I still can’t contain my smile whenever I fire up that Hemi and roast the tires. It brings me back to the kid I once was, building models of my dream cars. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d own a car like Old Blue...I’m one lucky guy for sure.
