Dan’s 1940 Willys Coupe has a drag racing history. It was raced first by Visalia- based Avila Bros. Racing in A Gas Supercharged with Johnny Avila driving, then it was sold and raced in B Gas Supercharged by Rogers and Rogers with Tommy Rogers driving. From 1960 -65 the Coupe sported a blown Chevy small block. The blower had a chain drive. Both the Avila Bros. and Rogers & Rogers raced the Coupe in supercharged classes. It spent its racing career at drag strips in Madera, Santa Maria, Merced and Famoso. Dan has photos of the car when it was racing and has reconstructed some of its history.
Dan bought the Coupe in 1966 after it was nearly trashed by an exploding clutch. It sat for awhile until Dan started putting it back together. In 1983 the Coupe was ready to hit the road again and Dan did some NDRA racing at Famosa.
This is one of the cleanest Willys Coupes you will find. Although the Coupe no longer races, just looking at it brings back memories of the “good ol’ days” when the Willys Coupe was the king of the quarter mile. While the Coupe retains the look and stance of its racing days, it now has a streetable dressed up Chevy 350 ci engine. It still has the 1963-64 Cal Automotive fiberglass hood, and has long traction bars and a Mopar 8 ¾” Currie rear-end.
