My first 48 Willys truck rat rod(different)

Hey all...you have a cool thing going here since most other forums abolish these kinds of build, you cherish and respect the art and talent that goes into a rat rod...I will admit at first the first time I saw a rat rod at a car show my first impression was wow what a POS looking thing that is...as I got a closer look around the rat I was really intrigued at the use and creativity of certain car parts used for other purposes...the more I looked the more I was impressed, now mind you this was several yrs ago at the beginning of a new trend...as time went on I noticed more and more rat rods at car shows and clubs with large numbers showing up...now this is not just a trend, this is a culture with a background and do not see this going away any time soon.

I have really wanted to build my own rat rod for some time as I have toyed with VW's my whole life, owned a couple of muscle cars and some bikes I wanted to try something new...I am quite a good metal fabricator and welder so this really fits my cup of tea...while searching the for sale web site I come across a '48 Willys truck, no front axle, no engine or trans, it has some rust at the bottom of the door skin and the front body lower section...all flat metal work so no big deal...I picked it up for $150 bucks, after I recycle the frame, rear axle, front body work and fenders I should get my money back.

I also wanted to mention how different my build is going to be...I am going to use all VW running gear...I have a titled VW pan with front and rear suspension, I also have a trike project with a 5 link rear suspension I built a couple yrs ago...my plan is to use the 5 link setup from the trike and graft it onto the VW pans center tunnel section, this will remove a lot of unwanted weight and make for a really nice rear suspension setup under the bed...the bed will be shortened and narrowed in proportion to the rest of the build so it looks the part...the cab will be trimmed to fit the VW tunnel section and set over the tunnel section and welded to it so it will become one unit, this will give me all the pedals, shifter, clutch and throttle all done...I do not care for the Willys front end so I will look for something else that will look good, maybe a grill from a 30's or early 40's grill and I'll make my own hood and sides...I might even just make my own grill that looks the part, not sure yet...might need to stretch the front end out to look the part but it will look nice and will become my truck space...I have a full set of disk brake and a nice duel carb 1904 VW engine for it so it will have plenty of go power.

The cab will also get chopped and might even channel the cab a few inches...I am also going with a Carson style convertible top to get a flatter roof line...I will get some pics up soon cuz I know we all like picture to drool over...I hope you enjoyed reading this as I did sharing my projects plans with you...any response or questions to my build are welcome cuz I would like to hear some feed back about the project, thanx

My eyes hurt reading that.[S[S


Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure we have a long enough attention span to read all of that at once!! HA HA

OK OK I know it's a bit long winded but I wanted to explain my build

I will try to keep my posts shorter since the attention span is too much

ok I will go along with you ! Sounds different , and different is good ! Let s see the pics when you get started and time will tell [

Welcome to the forum. Now show us some pictures.

Just kidding 48 we can handle it.

Just to give you some ideas.

The top was choped 3" but the windshield was not choped, it was lowered into the cowl.

My doors were also rusted out so I cut them flat at the botom hinge and removed around 3" from the botom of the body.

I also chanelled the frame and moved the rear axle back.

It sounds like you are going to run a VW engine in the rear so why not build a grill like the C cab trucks.

I have seen the Desert Rat build over at OFN. Really cool build.

I dig the old Willys too. They almost always look great.