Willy's Replacement Parts Free Classified Ads from Ferguson Coachbuilding Need to contact Randy with a question or comment, this is the spot. Magazine articles that might interest you. Here you will be able to read and view information about our past projects here at Ferguson Coachbuilding. Our most current projects are listed here. You will find links to some very interesting sites that work with metal in the coachbuilding industry. From time to time we offer hands on classes and this is where you can read about them. Read a little about us at Ferguson Coachbuilding and what we do. Ferguson Coach Building

41 Willys Coupe (UPDATED on February 9, 2009)

This old '41 Willys coupe is an old race car project. Part of the dash was removed for roll bar clearance, The firewall and cowl were removed, as were the floor pan and rear inner fenders.
Preparing for that long trip from Wyoming to Illinois. The owner borrowed the nose and rear fenders from his '40 Willys sedan to mock up the chassis and to help stabilize the body shell during transport.
We were able to locate a complete '41 cowl in Michigan. The goal is to leave the cowl and firewall in tact and still fit a  blown 392 Hemi into the small engine compartment.
With the dash cut away and the front end removed, there's very little left to trim away before grafting in the donor cowl.
 
To maintain structural integrity, I carefully removed the outer skin of the A-pillar, drilling out the factory spot welds and cutting it through the factory seam as it meets the roof panel. This will allow me to keep the majority of the donor cowl in tact. The door jamb section of the inner A-pillar remains un-cut and will be welded to the donor cowl at the stock location, where the upper hinge is bolted. Some of the inner structure of the A-pillar had been cut away for roll bar clearance, so that will need to be replaced with new metal. It would have been much faster to simply make a single cut on each A-pillar and weld the donor cowl in place, but it would not have been nearly as strong.

Before welding the donor cowl in, it's carefully blasted to remove paint and rust and has 2 coats of epoxy primer applied.

This shows how the original section of the body was left in tact and where it joins the donor cowl. Notice that the outer skin of the donor cowl was also cut away. This provides access to the internal area of the A-pillar. This will allow me access for welding that would not be possible otherwise. The original A-pillar will be re-installed after all the inner structure is replaced. That will tie everything back together as if it were never cut.
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Randy Ferguson
Ferguson Coachbuilding
Robinson, IL
618-544-2972