ONE HIT WONDER —

CRAIG ‘TURTLE’ JEFFERSON HAS GONE OFF BUILDING CARS, AFTER THE MASSIVE EFFORT REQUIRED TO BUILD THIS ONE. LUCKY IT TURNED OUT SO GOOD THAT HE SHOULD NEVER NEED TO BUILD ANOTHER!

WICKED WILLYS COUPE

I’ ve always wanted to buy a 1941 Willys coupe, but they hardly ever come up for sale in New Zealand,” Turtle tells us. “So, when I saw a Willys body and chassis for sale on Trade Me, I bit the bullet after many sleepless nights and started the mammoth task of building one from scratch. I never realized what a massive job it was going to be, and there were a few times where I’d had enough and thought about selling it before it was finished.” How hard could it possibly have been, building a fibreglass-bodied version of perhaps the most desirable hot rod in the world? As it turned out, pretty damn difficult given the sheer amount of custom everything required to make it happen. Turtle, who sometimes responds to the name of Craig Jefferson, began with a body and chassis hauled up the country from Paraparaumu, and we’re sure that there’s no need to go into detail about the perils of purchasing anything sight unseen. “We pretty much remade the whole chassis, with lots of modifications, in a friend’s workshop in Papamoa,” is how Turtle puts it. One of the key points of that procedure involved narrowing the supplied Jaguar XJ6 front cross member by 150mm, along with the steering rack. Things were no less demanding at the opposite end, with the narrowed nine-inch diff housing needing to be mocked up. Having it in position meant that adjustable four-bar arms could be made up and mounting brackets welded to the chassis and diff. Aldan American adjustable coilover shocks and an adjustable sway bar were hung off the lot, and Holden Commodore disc brakes — with an internal drum-style handbrake — were adapted to work at the rear. It’s all standard Jaguar XJ6 stuff up front, and the completed hub assemblies meant that the Willys

could be mocked up on Craig’s choice of classic Weld Draglite wheels, in sizes nothing less than mandatory — 15x6 and 15x12 inches — with equally beefy rubber for that classic pro-street style. At least the running gear was ready to drop straight in, the 454ci big block being a good runner and the TH400 transmission having been freshened up by Rossco at Automatic Transmissions in Courtney Road, Tauranga. Even so, they needed to put in a bit of work to make new engine mounts and a transmission cross member, and a mate, Pom, got tasked with building a suitably heavyduty driveshaft. Having reached this point, Turtle could probably have given it a quick matte-black blow-over and got it half-pie bolted together, but we’re glad that he didn’t. The amount of work that they’d already put in meant that the job had to be finished right — cue a whole lot more custom work. The fibreglass body was a new unit made by Fairview Fibreglass in Timaru, but, for a bit of extra security, a roll cage was welded up and engineered to work with both the suicide-door hinges and the seat-belt mounts. Another easier-said-than-done task: plenty of modification had to be worked into the existing material for the end result to look at home, and, now that it’s done, you’ll need razorsharp eyes to pick it.

Just as stealthy is the fact that, behind the suite of Auto Meter gauges, the dash is totally custom made. The full-on Sony audio system is just as low key, hidden in plain sight by Turtle and his mates Ryan and Chucky. Keeping the old-school feel, Turtle sourced a bench seat from a Mitsubishi L300, which the boys modified to suit its new home before giving it to Reece at Regal Auto Trim for a makeover. The culmination of many man-hours and many stressful nights was a staunch-looking Willys coupe ready for final assembly. Chucky did Turtle a solid here, sandblasting and painting the chassis, as well as coating the body in primer. Since fibreglass doesn’t rust, Turtle was quite happy leaving it in that state, and we can’t blame him — there isn’t much out there tougher than a primered-up pro-streeter. Dion at Glasgow Motors wired it up and got it ready for its maiden drive around the block. When the excitement had died down, the boys decided to get straight back into it. After giving it a thorough once-over, they trailered it to Noel McMillin at Nostalgia Motors to undergo its LVVTA certification — a process that involved a huge list and three more visits to Noel before it was deemed roadworthy. Happily ever after? Ah, if only …