Vibrant Willys Coupe at Barrett-Jackson

~ Amusives

Willys-Overland Motors produced the Willys Americar from 1937 to 1942 – either as sedans, coupes, station wagons or pickup trucks.

The coupe version is very popular with the hot rod set, and this beautiful 1941 Willys Custom Coupe wears vibrant metallic pearl and royal ruby pearl paint. With extensive chroming from front to back, this car sparkled under the lights at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale in January 2016.

Willys-Overland’s biggest claim to fame is the famous 4×4 “Willys” which was chosen by the War Department as its light utility vehicle of choice. The “Jeep”, as it would become known, was based on the original Bantam design of the Willys company.

A Willys Americar would have cost about $630 in the early 1940’s. As a hot rod, this one sold in 2016 for $80,300. In 2015, the same car sold at Barrett Jackson in Las Vegas for $110,000. What goes up, must come down, they say…

Have you ever taken a big ‘hit’ when you sold a car?

18 thoughts on “Vibrant Willys Coupe at Barrett-Jackson”

  1. Unless one waits 40-50 years, one will always take a hit. Even then, one still has to invest in space, time, insurance, licenses, and supplies to keep something pristine enough to pull in serious cash.

    I think I have photos of similar cars. Thanks for mini-history lesson

    Like

    1. Serious cash – my husband keeps his eye on all these sales to see what kind of serious cash he might get some day for the car he restored!

      Like

      1. Funny thing, I meant to do more posts about it, but I forgot until now. I’ll have to take a trip back to last year and do many of those photos justice.

        Like

  5. My husband is a real ‘car guy’ – always has been. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve seen gloriously restored classics and he’s sighed and said, “I had one of those when I was X years old; if only I’d kept it.” Of course, back in the 70s, ‘classics’ weren’t classic, they were just ‘cars’. He ran a few into the ground, sold a few (for a few hundred dollars), and never thought any of them would be worth anything ‘down the road’. Hindsights 20/20, right? I had a nearly pristine ’75 Firebird (my first car) that I had to sell in 1982 because you just couldn’t fit a baby seat in the back. I didn’t get nearly what it was probably worth, but it had to go. I cried for days!

    Like

    1. Hubby has one of those showroom type cars that rarely leaves the garage except to tiptoe over to the local car show!

      Like

    1. We’ve been to Barrett Jackson four times. We always go on the second or third day so we can avoid the crowds. They do a super job of ‘crowd control’, but I still wouldn’t want to be there on the last week-end.

      Like

  8. I’ve never heard of the Willys but I’m not really a car guy. Yet this one is a beauty and your image does it justice. Great job!

    Like

Comments are closed.