When Aurora came out with the Willys Gasser, I thought I'd died and went to heaven. My friends and I had an HO drag strip at that time and what better car to race, than a Willys coupe. Unfortunately, my penchant for taking the knife to my T-jets got the better of me. I was convinced that by cutting off the front end and the fenders, I could shave off a tremendous amount of weight, giving me a greater advantage on the strip. To make it look like it had a motor, I cut the chrome fuel injecter base out of an old Aurora Chapperal and glued it to the top of the gear plate, glued the guide pin to the chassis and was ready to roll.

Unfortunately, model airplane cement didn't bear up well under the stress that an HO slot car could put on it and my coupe spent much of the time off the track waiting for the reglueing of the guide pin to dry. Since then, I'm always looking for new ideas to create new cars from existing die cast and plastic vehicles. I came across the idea of the '34 coupe while browsing the Hot Wheels display at a local big box store. Hot Wheels makes a '34 Ford 3 window coupe that has a blown chrome motor as well as the '34 Ford grill with the headlights firmly attached. By utilizing the cut down Willys body, I built a reasonable facsimile of a '34 Ford coupe.

 

To build one yourself, you'll need a Hot Wheels '34 3 window coupe, a Willys body, a T-jet chassis, a drill, a modelers saw, sandpaper and some superglue. First off you need to get the plastic chrome motor and grill out of the '34 coupe. The best way is to drill out the 2 rivets holding the chassis to the body. I strongly recommend putting the body in a vise rather than holding it in your hand. I can tell you from personnal experience that when the drill slips, it lands right in the center of your hand and band aids do not stick well to your palm!

 

Once you've removed the plastic chrome insert, it's time to prepare the Willys body. Make your first cut resting the side of the saw on the rear of the hood scoop. Cut straight down into the fenders and discard. Next cut off the two remaining wings off the front fenders. The next step is optional. I cut off the rear push bar and sand it down smooth so that it looks like there's a roll pan in the rear. You can leave the push bar on or leave two posts intact for nerf bars, or mount a bumper more to your taste.

Next, cut off the rear fenders. I sand off the license plate holder as well. Next, sand the body smooth so that the front and rear fenders show no jagged edges. I find that very fine sandpaper works best because the Willys body is very thin and it gives you an opportunity to watch your progress slowly rather than sanding too much off. The next step is making the firewall. Find the thinnist piece of flat plastic that you can and cut it, just a little larger than the opening, then sand and fit until you're happy with it. You'll want to place the firewall inside the body, even with the cowl (the piece where the windshield wipers are molded) and the top of the curve where the front fenders were.

 

Once you've cut that to fit, super glue it and don't use it sparingly. Give it a day or two to dry. Then sand the firewall smooth with the body. The superglue will act like body filler and should give you a nice smooth look. Now you can test fit the body to the chassis. The rear screw should hold the body tight on the chassis because the front is resting on the firewall and should wedge itself into place. Now we can cut and fit the motor from the '34 Ford. Rest your saw on the rear of the blower housing and cut down making sure that you don't cut the valve covers short. From here on it's best to cut and fit because no matter how uniform each body and chassis is, it seems that no two are alike.

 

Remember that the top of the radiator from the '34 should be at the same height as the cowl on the Willys. The average cut to the motor is from the rear, cut to the front just below where the headers start. Cut from the rear to the second header. It's better to under cut and then check the fit and sand it using a metal file. This will give you a nice tight fit, once you get it where you want it. Superglue the motor and guide pin to the chassis, let it dry for a day or two, paint the body and add your choice of tires and wheels and you've got a unique car that hopefully runs as good as it looks!