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itsworn · 7 years

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Bob Ida’s 1940 Gasser Willys

In 1965, 21 year old Bob Ida was at a crossroads in his racing career. He was having a blast running the BB/GS class with his blown 409-powered 1956 Chevy. But the always weight-conscious Bob felt he was at a disadvantage with the Chevy sedan body and chassis he was running. He believed without a doubt that to stay on top in the Gasser wars he needed to get lighter.

The mid 1960’s saw a surge in the popularity of pre-war Willys race cars. The two and four doors were a big hit with the race crowd, due to not only their good looks and “speeding while standing still” profile, but their light weight as well. The advantage of being able to add weight where you needed it was a big draw to serious drag racers. Its skinnier waist line gave the racer options he didn’t have with many of the other wanna-be race cars that had the looks, but were just too hefty where it didn’t count.

Tipping the scales on the light side definitely gave you a big advantage with the Willys, but their reasonable asking price was also a big plus for a young hot rodder like Bob, who was scraping by with just his own day-job’s weekly salary to fund his race program.

Bob chose the four-door over the more popular coupe. Though he loved the two-doors styling, he was always concerned about how the coupe handled. “From my previous observations of other fat fender coupes making runs down the track, I noticed that when guys didn’t latch their trunk lid, the trunk would lift as they made their runs. This made me concerned that the rear of the coupes was shaped like an airplane wing and the body was creating lift”, states Bob. After driving both styles, he felt the sedan was a much more stable ride at top speeds.

The Willys was quickly sent over to his dad’s gas station/garage in Brooklyn, New York for its metamorphosis into a capable race car. He and his 14 year old cousin Vinnie Quarato worked diligently on the car outside on the station’s property during the day, and then loaded the car into the back of a box truck for safe keeping at night. Many of the parts for the Willys were picked off of Bobs 56, including of course the blown W-series motor.

And how did that particular powerplant come to be? And how did a high schooler get his hands on it? Well, that’s a story in itself. Bob tells it this way, “In high school I would stash away the lunch money my parents would give me, and make it through the day on handouts from the girls.” The young ladies knew Bob was saving for his race car and had no problem helping him see his dreams become a reality. He also tuned local racer’s 348 powered 1961 Impalas to match-race Corvettes.

With that stash of cash, $752 to be exact, Bob purchased a 409 from a local Chevy dealer and then went to work on it. He had to supercharge it, to run with the Gassers out there. “It was the most exciting class out there by far. People would just leave their seats and hug the fence when the Gassers ran. I wanted to be part of that,” claims Bob.

So he tore down his 409, and tried to figure out a way to lower the compression enough to run a blower. He decided on purchasing a 409 truck block which had low compression notches machined in. He then started piecing together the motor using parts from his original 409. The biggest issue here was getting the compression low enough to run the blower successfully. With no aftermarket parts to supercharge a 409, Bob had to use his noggin.

Luckily Bob worked right around the corner from performance expert Jack Merkel. Jack came up with the idea of machining the piston tops down to lower the compression enough to add the needed boost. Good friend Tony Eck, did the machine work, and then Jack balanced the rotating assembly. From there Bob took over, assembling the short block, building a custom manifold from a 348, and sourcing a 6-71 supercharger from a bus scrapyard. Bob disassembled the blower, had it anodized, and then rebuilt it. A small-block Weiand drive and magneto were modified to work with the 409. Lastly, a Hillborn four-port fuel injection unit was ordered and installed. Now Bob had an engine he could work with.

When it came to the transmission, the young Ida showed both his creativity, and ingenuity. Bob knew the Hydrostick was the transmission he wanted to run. He decided to build his own. Not having any real “trans” tools, he had to use his resourcefulness. He first harvested a GMC truck’s Hydramatic transmission and went to work. “I used a tire machine to compress the clutch packs to get the snap ring off. I made all the modifications myself and rebuilt the transmission using military tank clutches that I bought from an army surplus store.” Needless to say, Bob’s work was perfection, and the trans worked flawlessly.

The chassis also needed an overhaul. Bob soon realized he had to cut out both the X-member and front crossmember to fit the engine and transmission. “We always felt the motor really kept this ride from falling apart…that is, they both needed each other for support,” chuckles Bob. Up front, the straight axle was stock, and the front springs were then re-arced for height. Wedges were used between then axle and spring to increase caster for better hi-speed handling. A converted Corvair box helped out with the steering. Bob admits, his racer was “easy to drive,” compared to other racer’s rides.

Out back, a 1957 Olds rear, running a 1964 Pontiac posi center section, stuffed with 4.88 gears got the power to the pavement. “I preferred the posi over the locked rear for safety reasons; that is, it was easier to steer,” states Bob. Axles were 31 spline pieces that were custom made to fit. At the corners were drum brakes, stock Olds out back, and stock Willys up front. To grab the pavement, Bob used Top Fuel tires on American Racing mag wheels. Skinny Cragars were run up front.

The interior was Spartan at best. A set of Stingray seats kept Bob pointed forward, and a roll bar kept him “safe.” Between the buckets was the Hydrogate shifter. Three gauges gave him all the info he needed; tachometer, oil pressure, and temperature. A PTO cable from a truck would turn the fuel on and off. He also had a kill switch for the Vertex magneto.

On race days, Bob would stop at a Sunoco station and fill up on 104 octane. “We would also bring one set of fresh plugs,” says Bob. The team would warm up on last week’s old plugs and when ready to run, would throw in a new set. And how did the young guns do with the Willys? “We set the New York Track record during an IHRA event ,0.2 seconds under the NHRA record. Because there were so many supercharged cars in the area, we elected not to set the NHRA record any lower. That gave us an advantage when it came to running Super Eliminator. The rules said you could run up to 0.09 under without getting disqualified. We liked that and did that often.”

Over the next two years, Bob ran the Willys all over the East Coast, racking up wins by the handful. Over the course of its run, he experimented with the sedan. Changing out the front Cragars for smaller rims, he noticed something interesting; the smaller the front rim got, the faster the car went. That observation was crucial in Bob deciding on what his next quarter-mile terror would be; the famed “Hemi Healy.” With its low stance up front, the compact racer would not only launch Bob’s love of British hot rods, but it would also bring him to speeds he had never seen before.

Now 50 years later, Bob had an itch to revisit what it was like to run a Willys sedan. So he made an effort to scout out and procure a usable 1940 to start his project. It also came with a ‘glass nose like his original. Over a two year span, Bob labored over the car, recreating his original four-door dominator. From the driveline, to the chassis, to the body, this new Willys is everything the original was. There was only one deviation on this particular build; adding “409” to the tasty hood lettering. That’s it!

Today Bob is already enjoying the fruits of his labor, but he knows he couldn’t have done it alone. Special thanks go out to his son Rob, who motivated him to recreate his old four-door racer. Another big shout out goes to Nick Mannarino at Modern Performance in Long Branch, New Jersey, for handling the 409’s machine work. And lastly, a special salute to “cousin” Vinnie Quataro, who suddenly passed away this spring. Vinnie was always by Bob’s side during his racing years and continued as a life-long friend. His help was crucial in bringing back this truly remarkable 1960’s racer.

Bob always ran Cragars on the fronts, but they changed over time. “We ran 145 x 15 tire at first, and later we went to 13-inch to get the front of the car lower. It was a quick test we did without upsetting the front suspension. Every time we lowered the front the car picked up MPH. That what lead us to build the Hemi Healy.”

Bob sourced out the same American Racing mags he ran back in the mid-60’s, and then shod them in 1200×16 Top Fuel tires.

Only the basics here; a set of seats, a few gauges, shifter, pedals, and a roll bar. Bob sourced green plexiglass as well, just like the original had. The brake pedal had to be relocated due to the firewall setback.

The Willys uses its original straight axle in the front end set-up and sports re-arced springs for height. “We used wedges between the axle and spring to increase the caster for better hi-speed handling. I also used a converted Covair box to handle the steering chores. The location of the box, the shape of the pitman arm and the angle of the drag link was critical to eliminate bump steer,” says Bob.

Bob got some additional surprises when he initially tore down the Willys. “I had purchased my sedan from another racer from down south as a bone stock 1940 sedan. When I was stripping it down, Vinny and I realized that it was a former rum runner equipped with additional tanks. Vinny and I also found a lot of snake skins in the interior.”

Nothing screams 60’s drag racing like a blown Willys gasser. Bob chose the four-door sedan over the coupe for its aerodynamics, feeling that the sedan version had less rear end lift, and the back stayed down better at high speeds.

Just like it was in 1967. Bob recreated his suspension, rebuilding his homemade ladder bars, and using the same Olds rear to put the power to the blacktop. Even his parachute attachment is per original spec.

Alan’s a household name to hot rodders on the East Coast, as he’s been lettering up racers and doing custom art work since the early 60’s. Bob’s called him in several times to recreate original lettering on his cars. Alan just knocked this one out of the park.

Bob Ida bought his all-steel Willys sedan for a bargain price, and then quickly replaced the nose and fenders with fiberglass pieces for added weight reduction. The hue is a modified Cadillac fire mist color. Bob liked it because he said it made the workhorse Willys appear “rich looking.”

Bob Ida was a trailblazer when it came to supercharging a 409. Many of its pertinent parts were custom made, and mostly by Bob himself. To lower the compression, the pistons were cut down from stock. The original rotating assembly was then balanced by well-known engine builder Jack Merkel. The 6-71 blower came from a bus graveyard, and was then fitted with a Weiand small-block drive. The magneto is also a small block piece. Bob made everything work together in unison to produce a boatload of power out of this W-series engine.

Bob used all his ingenuity to make this 409 purr. “I fit 427 valves into the heads and made custom spacers which allowed me to use Hemi springs and a higher lift cam. I also used screw in studs from the 427 engine. I ported and polished the heads and installed them on the block. Then I had Chet Herbert grind me a special hi-lift blower cam, bigger than any other for a 409,” states Bob. “Once I had the heads on and the cam in, I had to come up with a set of rocker arms and pushrods. I used a set of 427 aluminum Rocker arms that were higher ratio than 409 rockers. Then came the pushrods, I found that one of the 427 pushrods were exactly the length that I needed for my 409 custom valve train.”

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