1951 Willys Pickup

[grymsr]

Hello, CJ people. I am usually in the TJ section, but need some help with questions I have about a 1951 Willys pickup I am looking at.
Here goes: The body and frame are very sound, but the owner, who is not the seller, made a lot of oddball mods. The engine is supposedly an AMC360 and has been converted from manual on the floor to automatic on the column. The steering wheel looks to be some sort of GM monstrosity. The dash has been booger with and has generic gauges. I think restoring it to looking stock is beyond hope, but thats not what I have in mind for it anyway. Here are some pics.

 

[grymsr]

Here is a look underneath:

 

[grymsr]

When the owner lost the floor shifters, the Tcase lever disappeared as well. In its place is a knob thingie take works by pressing the center button and pulling it outward. I wasn't able to work it so I don't know what issues lurk there. Also the fuel filler is a odd little bypass deal.

 

[grymsr]

Finally, some exterior and interior views. And the big question: what is it worth? The seller wants $13995 which is out of the question. But I see potential and want to pick some brains on its reasonable worth. So join in and give me your thoughts.

 

[flatie46]

Too much money for too many issues. I love these trucks, I see nicer ones for less money often. Shop around. Just my opinion, good luck.

 

[0III0forlife]

Sweet looking ride, for a custom pickup. Not worth no where near what he wants for it. If it was in pristine mint condition, i would say around $8,000.

But looking at the pics i can see a few major issues,...
1. What frame is it on? Willy's pickups were never on a short wheel base like that.
2. Looks like a Dana44 front end, But a 51 willys didnt have hubs or an auto or a V8.
3. The interior is totally custom, every willys i have ever seen was bone stock inside with bucket seats.
4. The hack job for the 4wd looks like it could have lots of issues.
5. It could be a AMC 360, looks like 1.
6. The column and shifter seem like they are out of an older wagoneer, which is a GM column.

In my personal opinion, if it ran great, and the body and frame are decent, my highest price on it would be about $5500.

 

[steady.foot]

Looks like a willys cab and body on a newer frame to me. Even looks like a jeep frame. But not willys. Maybe a J-10. Transfer case shifter is a vermeer (spelling?) throttle cable. Used on a lot of heavy equipment and large trucks. Should work fine if set up right. I can see a lot of trouble down the road with wiring issues. Even a hack master like me would do a better job than that if i was planning on selling it. I can see that a lot of work went into this but definetly not worth the asking price. My offer would be around $4000.

 

[Jeepergeo]

It looks good from afar, but the closeups show that you will have a lot of work ahead if you buy it. At the right price, this looks like a fun project. I have seen worse come back to be amazing restorations.

 

[grymsr]

My wife just bought it for me for my birthday (actually she made the seller an offer and he took it). She won't tell me how much it was, but said she used all the info we had gathered on this forum and elsewhere and the guy came way down on the price. Seems he has had it in his inventory for a lot longer than we knew and was eager to get it sold. Be that as it may, I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. So the project begins. I will be posting a proper build once things start moving. Wish me Luck!

 

[steady.foot]

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[grymsr]

Alas, trouble in paradise. The seller assured us we could register the truck in Maine as an antique therefore removing the need for a state inspection. As I relate before, the truck has no e brake . Well after talking with the BMV we learned that the seller is totally wrong. Since the engine is not from the same year, it must be registered as a custom vehicle. When we asked if the owner had the titles to the engine and the truck, the seller got irate and refused to go further with the sale. Naturally this has left us both saddened and confused. I am terribly disappointed but thankful that no money had changed hands. I suspect that something must be amiss with the titles or bills of sale to provoke such a reaction.
Oh, well. Anybody got a 51 willys pickup for sale?

 

[grymsr]

Update
The owner has agreed to meet with us tomorrow to look over the paperwork and see where that leads. Stay tuned.

 

[superj]

i would pass man.

 

[Gohot]

HOW MANY RED Flags do you need, GET OVER it, move on, before you find out how much a nightmare it becomes in your life. If you somehow get it, it will be a permanent story that will be discussed at Thanksgiving with your relatives, and the brunt of jokes by your friends......... It's cool on the outside, but underneath is all kinds of terminal disease. RUN!!

 

[grymsr]

Well, it's over. My mechanical guru and I did a semi-tear down and there was just too much that needed work. For someone with more time and money it could be a *****in build. Just not me.

 

[Gohot]

Good, good, good.... it sounded wrong from the start. I'v seen a couple around here that were either complete and finished with small blocks and stuff go really reasonable. I love these things maybe as much as I think you do, but ons't you started describing the 'guts' we all started cringing, thinking you were gonn'a get hurt on this one. I know I don't wann'a see a member get hurt on a buy. One will come up I bet, and if your jazzed enough for one, it'll happen soon... Were all in your corner....

 

[Gohot]

There have been a couple stone stockers here for sale, one 'nice' no rust orig that was going for like 3800. Here's a current job, looks like a decent build, I'll keep my eyes open down here for ya.....

project truck

 

[steady.foot]

1961 Willys pickup 4X4 This doesn't look like too bad of a deal if you haven't found something else yet.

 

[grymsr]

1961 Willys pickup 4X4 This doesn't look like too bad of a deal if you haven't found something else yet.

Yeah I saw that one but had trouble contacting the guy. Still trying though.

 

[grymsr]

It's still there. Going to check it out tomorrow.