Bill Jansen’s 1938 Willys CoupeUnder Construction New South Wales Australia
Bill Jansen's 1938 Willys Coupe Holden Bodied Business Coupe
This 1938 Willys Coupe was bought after it wasfound on a ForSale board at Valla Park Rod Run in 1997
Bringing it home
We had stopped on the highway just to check the ropes and couldn't resist the photo opportunity
We brought the car home on a rental trailer behind my 1937 Ford Club Cabriolet Looked pretty neat too.
Checking it out
This coupe differs from other Australian Willys Coupes that I have come across in that it has a full boot (deck) lid instead of a rumble seat which seems to be the normal way.
As people in other countries may gather this body is somewhat different to the US body style The Australian Holden body differs mainly at the front door pillar, the tops of the doors an has a 3" higher windscreen. The other coupe bodies produced where built by TJ Richards which were a 5 window coupe but had the same front doors as a US sedan but had different door hinges and handles.
Since purchasing the Coupe it had been put into storage awaiting it's turn. The Coupe is now back home due to the storage not being available any longer, so to maximize space the Willys Pickup Cab was removed from the chassis and the Coupe body put in it's place.
Body strengthening and Cowl replacement
With the Coupe body fitted to the Rodded Pickup chassis I have started to fit a steel frame to support the body so that the body can removed when the Pickup Cab is finished.
The door pillars in the Aust bodies are timber which will be replaced by sedan pillars which are metal. although they do need to be modified to fit.
I have managed to find another cowl from a 1939 Willys sedan which will replace therusted out coupe cowl. As you can see by the photo's the new cowl required some repairon the door hinge pillar. It has now been fixed. the new cowl will be fitted shortly afterthe door pillars have been replaced and the body strenghtened. Isn't this fun.
The time has come to remove the old cowl which can be quite daunting but it had to be done. the inner header panel was also very rusty due to a rat's nest so it was also removed and the replacement cowl had a good header panel so it was used. It made lining up of the windscreen edge much easier.
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