1940 Willys Coupe -The Pay-Off

Growing up near the beaches of Southern California could very well mean you grew up one of two ways: either in your Dad's garage helping out with polishing parts, finding tools, or simply watching in awe at the events unfolding in front of you, or spending every free second in the surf having the time of your life while honing surf skills that will stay with you for a lifetime. Both activities pretty much gobbled up most of a young'un's free time, however, even if you couldn't seem to find the time to stay out of the surf long enough to build you own rod, you most certainly had a few good friends that did. This is pretty much the scenario that brings us to the owner of the mean looking Willys you see here.

Kenny Duncan has pretty much been living the "California Dream" his whole life. That's not to say he lived the so-called "beach bum" lifestyle, actually quite the opposite. Kenny has worked hard in a corporate career field that required most of his time and brainpower. This not only meant a long hibernation from the surf, but all those childhood memories of cruising to the beach or school in friend's hot rods as well. Luckily, the finer things in life that really mean something to you have a way of coming back around to smack you back into whom you really are inside. In Kenny's case there was a full-fledged hot rod nut just waiting to get out. As usual with the male race, Kenny's awakening came later in life, but what the hell, it's better late than never, right?

Once Kenny let the rodder inside come out to play, it meant a complete life change. Today Kenny uses his knowledge of business to help keep one of surfing's most legendary names (Stewart Surfboards of San Clemente, California) stay successful and running smooth so that he can split his time between surfing and building-up quite a nice collection of hot rods.

Kenny's first hot rod came to him on his fifthieth birthday thanks to his lovely wife Marcia. He figures she just got tired of hearing him go on and on and thought what better way to shut him up than to present him with what he really wanted. It was a '28 Ford woodie panel truck mildly hot rodded by New Yorker Bobby Schlegle. Now the hook was set and not long after receiving the woodie, Kenny went about changing it to his taste and finally becoming the hot rodder that had been locked away his entire life. The woodie was more fun than he'd imagined, as was going to shows and meeting new friends. This quickly gave Kenny fuel for a new project, only this time he wanted something "big, bad and blown."

With the woodie safely tucked in the garage looking and running exactly the way Kenny wanted, and having a new crop of hot rod friends hangin' around for encouragement, he went about planning the Willys you see here to the last detail. He even tried a hand at building the car, again with his friend's encouragement, soon to realize some things are better left to the pros. This is where custom car builder Scott Holton of Long Beach, California, comes in.

Kenny was looking for someone that could build the car of his dreams, do it in a relatively timely fashion, and keep within Kenny's new life motto of, "Don't nobody bring me no bad news." So when a Kenny saw a buddy's car with a super trick radiator cradle built by Scott Holton, he had a pretty good feeling about approaching Scott with his ideas for the Willys. After a few meetings with Scott, Kenny felt assured he would soon be scarring old ladies and waking up the neighbors with what would soon be that "big, bad and blown" Willys that had been floating around in his imagination.

One of the coolest parts of the build for Kenny was actually being able to not only watch as Scott transformed the Dennis Taylor Willys body and frame whenever he wanted, but also that Scott had no problem letting Kenny help out and learn a thing or two about hot rods along the way. This was defiantly a match made in street rodding heaven, as Scott is not only a proficient rod builder, but also a pretty easygoing guy and was more than happy to work with Kenny, because, well, lets just say that Kenny is a one-in-a-million customer. He knows what he wants and is more than willing to do what it takes, or spend what it takes, to get exactly what he wants. He is also the type of guy not to forget how much time and energy it takes to build a car like this and had no problem in the generosity department when it came to Scott, or anyone else that helped out with the Willys. (Coming from a car builder, a customer like Kenny is few and far between, most people not only have no idea the amount of heart it takes to build these rolling works of art, but rarely show the kind of appreciation car builders deserve.)

Next it came time to find the right engine builder to put together a Hemi that would make even the most diehard racers stand up at attention. It didn't take long for Kenny to figure out if you want a big, bad, and blown Hemi there is one name synonymous with Hemi engines, and you guessed it, Art and Mike Chrisman of Santa Ana, California. After attending the Chrisman's Wednesday night shop cruises a few times, and after much nudging from a few good friends, Kenny knew he found the right shop. Starting off with an uncut '57 Chrysler block found at Memory Lane of Sun Valley, California, the Chrisman's went about completely disassembling the Hemi, boring, balancing, and blueprinting it before completely deburring it for a truly show-quality finish. The engine was then treated with only the best internals by way of Ross pistons with Speed Pro rings, Eagle rods, and an Isky "Bad Ass" camshaft. The factory Chrysler Hemi iron heads were ported by Bob McKray then put together with Isky valves and springs, stock rockers and topped with P.A.W. valve covers and a pair of Holley 700-cfm blower carbs feeding a Mooneyham 671-1 to 1 blower. Bolted to the backside is a Dana Sniff-built GM 200R4 trans with a Comp 10 converter, B&M shifter, and Inland Empire Driveline shaft.

Back at Scott Holton's shop production on the Dennis Taylor 2x4-inch chassis was going strong with the addition of Heidt's chrome-plated IFS components with Aldan coilovers and Corvette disk brakes upfront, a narrowed Ford 9-inch with 31-spline axles and 4:10 gear ratio and custom four-link with Aldan coilovers out back, and as the icing on the cake a set of American Racing Hopster wheels at each corner. Scott also spent some time custom plumbing the chassis with stainless tubing throughout. Scott also incorporated a few personal custom tricks like the rear rollpan, radiator cover, and frenching the rear license plate.

With the body ready for paint and upholstery, it was time for the boys at Paint N' Place of Orange County, California, to take over and whip the already straight body into a thing of perfection before giving her a bath in Dupont's 99R black paint. From there the Willys received, in our opinion, one of the coolest flame jobs ever by custom painter extraordinaire Van Demen of Anaheim, California. When you stand back and take the entire car in at once, you notice how the flames not only add to the aggressive attitude of the car, but also work with the car's natural lines to not take way from what a Willys looks like. Van Demen also went to town airbrushing a Black Widow spider on the trunk lid. Incidentally, the firewall was given a flame job as well that looks amazing in close proximity to all the polished aluminum bolted to the top of the Hemi. With the car now approaching the end of the tunnel, the only thing left was the interior. Again, going off of reputation and the work visible at any number of car shows, Kenny dropped the Willys off at Orange Auto Upholstery of Orange, California. There the Willys was treated to a thorough wrapping of black and red leather, including the pair of Cerullo buckets, a Fast Eddie chrome-moly four-point rollcage and all the way back into the trunk. Knowing he'd be driving the Willys on a regular basis, Kenny went the extra mile by adding only the most important creature comforts, like a high-powered Sony sound system with Autobahn speakers installed by Azteka Custom Cars of South Gate, California, a Billet Specialties leather-wrapped steering wheel mounted to the Flaming River column, and a set of Auto Meter gauges mounted inside the leather-wrapped Dennis Taylor dashboard. A set of RJS harnesses keep Kenny and his passenger firmly secured within all that plush leather.

Looking back on the build, Kenny has nothing but great things to say about all involved, and with a build time of just 10 months from start to finish and results second to none, it's easy to see why. Everyone's efforts have paid off in spades with the car taking trophies just about every time the car pulls into a show, a great studio shoot ending up with the Willys being used on an American Racing Wheels poster and, of course, Kenny's smiling face every time he buckles himself into the driver's seat.

On a personal note, I had the great fortune of not only interviewing Kenny about his Willys for this article, but also to be allowed within his personal group of surfing buddies. Over the past few months I have had more fun than I can remember, so I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to Kenny, Larry, Mike, Scott, and Kevin for all the goodtimes in the water, and thanks to the staff at Stewart Surfboards for all the help in making me a better surfer.