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35 Willis fun. |
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| Found the 35 in
a Torrance Junk Yard during the time that "Stone Woods &
Cook" & others were tearing up the Dragstrips with them
with transplanted Hemi's.
Don't think I had any real idea of what I was going to do with it! Towing it back to Barks garage in Hermosa Beach, I popped the clutch a couple times & the engine broke loose. It was common then to tow with a rope while someone rode in the towed car to steer & apply the brakes. |
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Getting it Drag Strip ready. |
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| Had a
couple dents in the fenders fix but the car was in reasonable good
shape except for the paint. Then I gave it a custom hand brushed
paint job. Looked good standing back a bit!
Pulled the head & gave it a valve job. Then to lighten it I pulled all the seats out & interior trim. Not knowing when to stop I then drilled holes in the Wood frame! To drive it I sat on a Milk crate! Then to add a bit of excitement, I made a Megaphone for the exhaust right out of the engine. |
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Ready for the Strip! |
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| At Lions
Drag Strip it attracted a bit of attention until I made my first run at 60
mpr.
Hard to believe but there was only one other 4 cyl car there & it was a Dragster! So for eliminations, I was given about a 1/4 of the 1/4 mile head start. Speed (ha!) shifting into 2nd gear I pulled the floor shifter right out of the trans. I lost! |
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Driving on the streets of LA |
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| Scares me to
think of it now, but once I drove it about 20 miles to LA from Hermosa
Beach all the while sitting on the Milk crate. Now I have a
3" seat belt with 2" shoulder straps in my 64.
Another time I made a similar trip during the hot summer time. Being accustom to the cleaner Beach air, the Smog (different then) made me Tear so bad I could hardly see to drive. |
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Sold it before going into the Army. |
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| To sell it I advertised it in a Drag Race paper. Among other things I said it was "Cherry"! People came from Arizona to buy it & weren't too happy about the Cherry bit, but they took it home. |