Doyle looked to Mike Rutter of Rutterz Rodz for input and the necessary how-tos to achieve his vision. In turn they looked to Eric Brockmeyer of Eric Brockmeyer Design to give them an even “tighter” look at what they were after. First a little background on Doyle’s Willys.

This is one of those projects that’s been around for some time. While it was at Rutterz’s shop since 2011, the fact is the car began its journey long before that. Bobby Alloway, of Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop, had originally started the car for himself and sold it to one of his customers to build it. It sat and then it was sold once more. It was at this point that Doyle heard of the Willys and scooped it up. At the time it was the oh-so-common “pro street-style,” although popular still “been there done that” look.

The Willys sat on a tube chassis, complete with a rollcage, hidden door hinges on suicide doors, flush-mounted taillights, no moldings, massive 15×15 rear wheels with huge tubs, and no trunk space. That wasn’t going to fly so a new look was brought to the forefront. At this point, with Brockmeyer artwork in hand, the next stop was Street Rod Garage for the chassis (IFS, four-bar rear, and coilovers) followed by a timely call to Team III Wheels for a custom set of one-off Fueler wheels.

As for the sheetmetal, the “smooth appearance” was reversed and the body was brought back to what might be called its “original” state. The suicide doors were now “properly” hung with original hinges from the front and a great deal of the original Willys moldings and chrome was brought back to life. Willys Replacement was the source for many of the original parts and pieces. A fair amount of custom sheetmetal work followed with custom running boards, interior flooring, and trunk pans were made. Original bumpers, taillights, door hinges, body moldings, door handles/strikers/latches, and hood moldings were all sourced and installed. The bodywork was handled by Johnathan Tolley of Rutterz Rodz while the Subaru color Desert Beige mixed by Axalta was sprayed on by Rutter himself. The old pro, Jim Rench, was turned to for the one-off grille insert in a concave-style rather than the traditional convex shape of an original ’41 grille. The insert then sat in front of the Steve Long one-off radiator that was included. The brightwork was then handled by Dan’s Polishing.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a blown Hemi as the powerplant for any hot rod, we must admit that seeing this Willys LS powered is different, well sort of. MAST Motorsports supplied the LS3 that features all-aluminum major components, all held together by an abundant use of ARP hardware. The LS is topped with an aluminum Holley 2×4 intake that holds up a pair of Holley Terminator four-barrel throttle bodies that are fed through a Walbro electric fuel pump and covered by a custom Cadillac “batwing” air cleaner from Rutterz. Making sure the proper amount of air and fuel is delivered falls to the Holley Terminator ECU while other electrical components include the MSD coil packs and a Lokar LS Vintage Series plug wires. Other engine accessories include a GM Corvette fan, a Vintage Air Front Runner with its own alternator, power steering, and compressor. The smooth over-water pump is also part of the serpentine belt system as well as the cooling system while the dual-pass engine oil cooler is frame mounted and the battery is relocated to the trunk. The exhaust manifolds come by way of Holley in their Blackheart series measuring 2-1/2-inch tubes that dump into mandrel-bent 2-1/2-inch ceramic coated and DEI-wrapped custom exhaust connected to stainless MagnaFlow mufflers all fabricated by Rutterz Rodz. Attached to the LS is a GM 4L80E trans that eventually passes the power back to the Ford 9-inch rearend that houses 3.70 gears and 31-spline axles. The suspension is based on an IFS with Aldan coilover shocks, and a custom sway bar. In back the Ford 9-inch is held in position by a four-bar, rear sway bar, and more coilover Aldan shocks. Braking is the always-popular Wilwood selection of 14-inch rotors with six-piston calipers in front and four-piston calipers in back. The pedal assembly is one more custom item from Rutterz Rodz. Also seen at the quarters are the Team III custom wheels, measuring 18×8 and 20×10, covered with BFGoodrich 245/40R18s in front and 275/40R20s in back.

Inside the custom dash is immediately spotted and filled with ’33 Ford gauges from Classic Instruments that is brought to life through the American Autowire harness that was positioned while at Rutterz Rodz shop. Other interior appointments include the Flaming River tilt column with a Billet Specialties custom wheel. Seating begins with the ’64 Ford T-bird bucket frames and then covered with a custom distressed leather by Paul of Paul Atkins Interiors. He also stitched the custom leather headliner, door, and kick panels.

The ’41 Willys has won many awards but at the time of this writing it was awarded the Goodguys 2023 Chevrolet Performance Retro Iron Builder of the Year Award. There’s no denying it’s easy to see why this ’41 Willys stands out.