1958 Willys-Overland Wagon: Back from the Dead

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This was a frame-off rebuild. The picture above is actually a "before" photo. The previous owner of this wagon had discarded the stock drive train long ago and installed a Ford straight front axle and a '60s truck rear axle. They were poorly installed and have been removed and donated to a Ford truck club. The previous owner also installed the hood hinges on the outside of the hood! These have been removed and the stock hinges reinstalled. The original frame has been sandblasted, reinforced, cleaned, boxed and powder coated. It now supports a new Fatman's Stage III independent front suspension with chrome coil-overs, a power rack-and-pinion steering gear and 11-in. disc brakes. The 9-in. Ford rear axle also has disc brakes and is powered by a 700R4 tranny with an 1800 rpm-stall torque converter. The power master cylinder-frame mounted under the floor is all new, and it sure makes all four 11-in. discs stop properly. The 355 small block has aluminum heads with roller rockers and has been balanced, blueprinted and dynoed at 435 hp. It's topped with a high-rise, show-polish, dual-plane intake, 750 Holley carb and ceramic-coated headers. Inside is an Iditit chrome tilt steering column along with a Lokar shifter, gas and brake pedals. The wagon now has a polished aluminum radiator with a custom stainless steel shroud and an electric fan rated at 2700 cfm. The radiator support bracket is also made of polished stainless with the Willys-Overland logo (the letter "W" encircled with the letter "O") bead blasted in the center. I fabricated all of the stainless steel components and polished them myself.

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