Aero bodies

[Gordie]

While looking through the 1952 Willys Aero parts book I noticed that back then you could order a  complete body painted any factory color.  Wouldn't it be nice to find a couple of those in some old dealers warehouse?

[MarkH]

I saw some pretty large NOS pieces at Buchingers many years ago. Fenders, hoods and pretty much an assembly that was the side of the car including the back fender.
The repair manual says if the main unit body is damaged beyond reasonable repair then a replacement body should be ordered.
I think the shop time book allows something like 20 or 24 hours for stripping the old body and fitting the parts to the new shell. I'm hopelessly beyond that on mine. The time book covers K/F, HJ & Willys (can't recall about Darrin) and makes for some interesting reading about component repairs that are now simply exchanged.

[jneely]

NOS parts are still out there. I've been able to accrue a NOS fender, 4-door rocker panels, doors and a rear quarter section - perhaps even the same one Mark saw.. Networking through the club and forum were key to tracking these pieces down..

[MarkH]

Those are some nice finds. I've had surface rusted NOS pieces like those alkaline dipped and they came out really nice & shiny. Modifying the 4dr rockers to fit 2dr cars isn't hard.

That last shot is interesting because of the additional brace from the inner fender well to trunk opening. I knew about a couple other stiffeners added sometime during production (front wheel houses, rear seat brace gusset) but haven't seen that one before, it must be a late model piece.
The ones I saw similar to that were complete to the front, including the entire support arch over the door.

Sometimes I think the surge of parts that came along with the popularity of the net is about spent, but good stuff still pops up sometime. Peter DeBella Jeeps has a stash of about a pick-up load of NOS Aero parts that came along mixed into jeep inventories he's bought out over the years. He wants someone to come, look, make an offer...……..not ask him to inventory & report what's there. I'd go but NY is a fair drive for me.

[r1lark]

How much Brazilian Aero Willys NOS parts have made it to the States?

[jneely]

The brace you're referring to on the NOS piece is for the late 54 to 55 scissor-style internal trunk lid hinges.

It is not present on my 53's or 54 early specials. However, there is a small triangle shaped bracket for the trunk lid support catch used on earlier cars with external trunk hinges that is not present on the repair panel.

53 HTS and 55 Custom trunk photos attached for reference.

[MarkH]

The brace you're referring to on the NOS piece is for the late 54 to 55 scissor-style internal trunk lid hinges.

It is not present on my 53's or 54 early specials. However, there is a small triangle shaped bracket for the trunk lid support catch used on earlier cars with external trunk hinges that is not present on the repair panel.

53 HTS and 55 Custom trunk photos attached for reference.

Thanks! I've never seen the differences for hidden hinges pointed out before.

How much Brazilian Aero Willys NOS parts have made it to the States?

I've gotten the reproduction rubber front floor mat, headlight bucket gaskets, license light gasket, door handle gaskets, door & trunk seals, '54/'55 upper taillight lenses (lenses poor fit).
NOS front suspension rebound bumpers (rubber cones), turn signal switch, rocker cover stud seals, rear license light complete, and a very good quality material rear main seal.
Used dual carb head, dual carb rocker cover, and a pair of junk dual carbs with air horn to reverse engineer the jets & rob a couple unique parts from.

I've used PayPal & Xoom for payment. The exchange rate has always been good but not so on freight although it has been reliable. As an example, some sizes are air freight express only. I paid that rate (brutal) on the cylinder head, it would have been cheaper to buy three to meet the minimum weight to qualify for slow cheap freight.

[r1lark]

How much Brazilian Aero Willys NOS parts have made it to the States?

I've gotten the reproduction rubber front floor mat, headlight bucket gaskets, license light gasket, door handle gaskets, door & trunk seals, '54/'55 upper taillight lenses (lenses poor fit).
NOS front suspension rebound bumpers (rubber cones), turn signal switch, rocker cover stud seals, rear license light complete, and a very good quality material rear main seal.
Used dual carb head, dual carb rocker cover, and a pair of junk dual carbs with air horn to reverse engineer the jets & rob a couple unique parts from.

I've used PayPal & Xoom for payment. The exchange rate has always been good but not so on freight although it has been reliable. As an example, some sizes are air freight express only. I paid that rate (brutal) on the cylinder head, it would have been cheaper to buy three to meet the minimum weight to qualify for slow cheap freight.

Thanks Mark.

Dual carb heads: I knew there were dual carb Brazilian heads, but didn't realize they were more than just rare small production run items.

[MarkH]

Thanks Mark.

Dual carb heads: I knew there were dual carb Brazilian heads, but didn't realize they were more than just rare small production run items.

They turn up fairly regularly if you keep an eye out. There happens to be a couple listed on Mercado now and a couple dual air horns.  Current exchange rate is about 4 R to 1 USD. ]https://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/aero-willys-dupla#D[A:aero willys dupla]

[MarkH]

While looking through the 1952 Willys Aero parts book I noticed that back then you could order a  complete body painted any factory color.  Wouldn't it be nice to find a couple of those in some old dealers warehouse?

Here's the hours allowed in the Willys Motors 1954 Service Time Schedule book to re-fit a replacement body. Those guys were a lot faster than me!

[Aeroman]

Brazilian dual carb head compared to American single carb.