America’s history is filled with the stories of hundreds, perhaps even thousands of would-be automakers from around the turn of the centuries. One of these long-lost companies is Willys, founded in 1908 and for a brief period of time, it was the second largest automaker in America, trailing only Ford and the Model T. Willys produced some memorable and important vehicles, their most important contribution being that of the Jeep. These days, the defunct automaker’s relics and replicas are popular with hot rodders. Though we’ve never seen a hot rod Willys like this.
Underpinning this 1941 Willys Coupe body is a 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, an all-wheel drive turbocharged sports car that is popular with the tuning crowd. Check out this video of those potent hybrid on Streetfire.net.
Daniel Buschur's '41 Willys Evo
We’re all about the V8 muscle, but you’ve got to be willing to tip your hat to those tuners willing to try and make more power with less displacement (whatever you can do, we can do better!) The Lancer Evolution is a sacred cow for those who prefer four-cylinders over eight, and it is a quite capable car. Putting a Willys Coupe body on another American other chassis might seem a wee bit boring. These two cars have almost 70 years between them, yet it seems like a great match to us, and something Willys might have made themselves if they were still around. So we like where Daniel Buschur, of Buschur Racing, has his head.
We’re pretty sure that’s a reproduction fiberglass Willy’s chassis too (a real steel body would be a bit of a waste since there’s not that many left.) It sounds pretty bad ass for a four-banger, and puts out pretty impress numbers too; 354 horsepower and 375 ft-lbs of torque at the wheels. Not bad by any measure. We still think it needs proper dual exhaust tips though. All told, this is our kind of hybrid.