Tag Archives: County

The Car With No Name – Willys Americar

I’m not proud to admit it but at school I was a champion daydreamer, by secondary school I seem to have perfected the art of paying just enough attention to gently float by under the teachers radar while doodling away in my exercise books usually dreaming of being at the race track.

Somewhere along the early 1970’s I came across a hot rod magazine which had a full page photo of Big John Mazmanian’s Willy’s Americar, which ran in a petrol driven class and hence is known as a ‘Gasser’, the photo, not unlike the one linked here, ended up like thousands of others on my Dorm wall.

For weeks afterwards I’d spend a good portion of my day dreaming time doodling variations of ‘Big John’ in my exercise book and eventually I came across a model of the car which I had no hesitation in purchasing and building.

I’d almost completely forgotten about the ‘Big John’ doodles and models over the intervening 40 years when I stumbled across today’s featured ’41 Willys Americar ‘doorslammer’ belonging to Richard Davis.

The Willys Americar is credited as having come to be under the direction of Willy’s president Joseph W. Frazer who took over in 1938 and engineered Barney Roos.

Launched in 1941 with a four cylinder L Head motor and US$634 price tag Americar’s with their sharp styling were a competitive proposition, however due to the 2nd World War only 29,000 were built before Willys switched production to the well known all wheel drive ‘Jeep’ for which the company is probably best remembered.

After the second world war Willys decided to continue production of the utility vehicle which played a large part in the Allied war effort and decided against reintroducing models that had been in production at the onset of hostilities.

As a consequence the non availability of parts for the original Willys Americar ‘Go Devil’ motors meant many of these vehicles became targets for hot rodders like Big John Mazmanian and very few Americars are thought to exist in anything approaching stock condition.

Richard Davis unnamed ’41 Willys Americar is known as a ‘doorslammer’ because it carries a replica of an original body, Richard runs his car in the pro ET division organised by Supercharged Outlaws UK.

With a supercharged 350 cui motor Richard has been trying to beat a target time of 10.1 secs / 135 mph for some time.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘The Car With No Name’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

A Down Right Pleasure To Work With – Chevrolet El Camino

Entirely New ? – Chevrolet Bel Air

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Back in the 1950’s it would appear manufacturers could not keep up with demand for new innovations and so would resort to upgrading older chassis with restyled body panels and selling them as entirely new, such was the case with the 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air which was advertised with the strap line ‘Entirely new through and through’ which actually shared its chassis and running gear with the Bel Air built from 1950 to 1952.

Today’s featured car appears to have been built in 1954, the last year in which the first generation Bel Air’s were built.

During the last years production all of the 3,345 lb Bel Airs are said to have been fitted with a 125 hp 3.9 liter / 235.5 cui straight six ‘Blue Flame’ motor.

The original concept for the Bel Air was to style a hard top vehicle to look like a convertible, to confuse the issue Bel Air’s were originally available as either 2 door hard top coupé, 4 door sedan, 2 door convertible or 4 door Station Wagon / Estate.

This particular Bel Air is used as a support vehicle by the Gas Racing drag team who run the Pinto powered slingshot coupé Old ‘n’ Gold for drivers Scottie ‘Dog’ Durrant and Gina ‘Hot Rod’ Rumble.

According to Facebook Gina was recently recorded a 12.95 ET run in Old’n’Gold.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Entirely new through and through’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Performance and Image – Ford Anglia 100E

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One of my favorite films is Monte Hellmans road movie ‘Two Lane Black Top‘ about two drifters in a grey primer ’55 Chevy who earn their keep by drag racing that get involved in a race, ‘for pinks’, along Route 66 with a burned out city slicker in a then new 1970 Pontiac GTO. The city’s slicker believes that ‘it’s all about performance and image’ while the driver of the ’55 Chevy believes ‘you can never go fast enough’.

Today’s car a 1957 Ford Anglia definitely reflects the beliefs of ‘the driver who can never go fast enough’ played by James Taylor in the film.

Externally we have a 54 year old car that looks a little the worse for spending a lot of time standing outside in all weathers,

but then look again at that dinky li’l air scoop on the bonnet and match it with the oversize wheels and even a rank amateur like me begins to wonder what all that weather beaten body work might be hiding ?

The stance of this vehicle in profile when compared to the 4 door version of the Anglia known as the Prefect which I looked at last week only adds to the suspicion that, if indeed this car has a stock size 1172 cc / 71 cui 4 cylinder side valve motor, there is a good chance it is producing more than the 36 hp quoted when it left the factory and that it is capable of much better than the 0-60 time of 29.4 seconds quoted for the model in 1954.

I’d certainly fancy my chances driving my land ladies late model bog standard Passat TDI racing for pinks along Route 66 against this Anglia but I’m not too sure I’d keep the tenner I’d be willing to gamble in a drag race with it at Shakespeare County Raceway where I saw this car.

Thanks for joining me on this wolf in sheep’s clothing edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Hot One’s Even Hotter – 1956 Chevrolet Nomad

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At the travelling 1954 General Motors Motorama motor show, attended by 1.9 million visitors, Chevrolet displayed a Corvette based concept vehicle the Nomad a 2 door estate / station wagon among Head Stylist Harley Earl’s collection of ‘Dream Cars’.

In 1955 Chevrolet launched it’s second generation Bel Air models with the strap line ‘The Hot One’. The Bel Air range included the 2 door Nomad estate / station wagon.

The second generation Bel Air and the Nomad had a three year life cycle, knowing that if the car was to sell well in the second year of production the range had to look new for 1956, even if it was not, GM upgraded the Nomad saving no expenses on styling and tooling the exterior trim, including a fresh front bumper and new full width front grill.

The ’56 Chevrolet’s Bel Air range was marketed with the new strap line ‘The Hot One’s even hotter’.

Power for the Bel Air was provided by either a 4.3 litre / 265 cui or 4.6 litre / 283 cui V8, so far as I can tell this particular Nomad, seen at Shakespeare County Raceway, has a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8.

Chrome trim levels on the humble Nomad were comparable to contemporary high end Cadillacs.

A feature introduced on the ’56 Nomad was the concealment of the filler for the petrol tank by the chrome tail light housing on the drivers side.

With $585 premium over the standard $2025 2-door Bel Air the Nomad was the most expensive vehicle in the Bel Air range.

Production numbers show that Estate Station Wagons were not top of the Bel Air demographics list of priorities in 1956, just 7,886 Nomads were built compared to 103,000 pillarless four door hard tops and 128, 000 base 2 door model Bel Airs.

Thanks for joining me on this Nomad edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Follow that Eldorado – Shakespeare County Raceway

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A couple of months ago, on my way to Race Retro, I spent several hours in the back of mini bus with ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell seen here at the wheel of ‘Backdraft’ a sling shot dragster, in a very short time his enthusiasm for drag racing infected me and on Sunday I finally got a chance to to go to my very first Drag meet.

The meeting was held at Shakespeare County Raceway, in deepest Warwickshire, so deep I managed to get so completely lost trying to find the venue, no Sat Nav in this weekends borrowed wheels, that the only way I found it was by following a Cadillac Eldorado I fortuitously came across while trying to work out where I was at a T junction in the middle of nowhere that I could not find on my Google Map.

The sound of V8’s being tortured for up to 10 secs from the car park was unlike anything I have ever heard before, made 43 cars flying round Talledega at 190 mph sound quite tuneful by comparison.

Bevis the owner of a sumptuous red 450 hp small block road going Chevy Impala, complete with one piece California rear bumper, the subject of a future blog told me that the really big Drag meeting was actually at Santa Pod near Northampton in September, but I was happy enough easing my way into the scene on Sunday.

Against my expectations there were a few UK bodied vehicles including this Morris Minor, a Rover 400 Funny Car, a standard looking TVR Tuscan, a Ford Anglia and a couple of Mark 2 Ford Cortinas, including an Estate / Stationwagon !

I had hoped to get a photo of Crazy Chris popping a wheely, unfortunately I was a bit slow on the camera shutter, still next time I’ll know what to expect. If you have never been to a drag meeting I’d certainly recommend a visit, the atmosphere is extremely friendly and relaxed in the paddock and the action is short but intense on the track, I look forward to future blogs on some of the wild rides I saw on Sunday.

Thanks to ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell infecting me with his enthusiasm, I hope you have enjoyed today’s Drag edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring