You’ve probably heard the term “jalopies” before and you’ve definitely heard the noise they make – well check out the looks and sounds of this Rocket ’88. Far from a “jalopy,” we recently stumbled upon this 1952 Willys Aero that is powered by the infamous Rocket 88 motor, and man – what a combo!

As soon as Summer comes she will be ready to tear up the streets!

For those of you who don’t know, the Rocket 88 was the motor made famous by the hot rodders of the early 50s and was known for being the subject of the Jackie Brenston and his famous Delta Cats song. You could say it was the first true hot rod engine besides the Ford Flathead. The story of this Willys starts out with a man named Bob Stanton from North East Pennsylvania, who wanted to build a true 1950’s style hot rod.

Stanton began this build by purchasing a shell of a 1952 Willys Aero, the shell looked great despite it’s age and besides for being weathered it had no rust and overall the exterior was in great shape. The next step of the build was to complete the interior of the car. Original 1952 Willy’s gauges and a steering wheel were added and the dash was painted red and white. This red and white paint job along with the Willy’s badges on the dash help bring the classic American 1950s look to the car.

To complete the traditional 50’s hot rod look, the car has all 3 pedals on the driver’s side and four on the floor. As mentioned in the introduction, this Willys Aero is powered by a 1950s Oldsmobile Rocket 88, which is as Olds 394 short block that has been modified with 371 heads, JE Forged pistons, a solid lifter flat tappet cam that has a duration of 250 at .050. The heads have been completely rebuilt with new rockers and valves and the heads have also been ported. The engine is built to run on a 10:1 compression ratio.

When you look at the pictures of the Olds Rocket 88 you may notice the space-age style intake manifold. This intake manifold has metal rocket emblems embed on the side of it. It was custom fabricated by the owner himself, the rockets on the manifold help add a 50’s look since at the time America was obsessed and fascinated with Space.

You've got to love 1950's style interiors!

Behind the engine is an Olds Hydromatic transmission that has been adapted to work as a stick shift. The transmission has a RAM HD Hydraulic throwout bearing which operates the clutch of the transmission. In the future the Willy’s will make several passes down the drag strip and to do this 7-inch “cheater slicks” on the rear wheels and old school skinny tires on the front should help the efforts. She may not be the fastest car on the strip but it will be one of the coolest and one of the most fun cars to drive, that’s for sure!

We love finding hot rods that are period correct and are still built to be driven. We love the fact that it is a bare bones, no frills, stripped down true to the core hot rod that is powered by America’s first thorough hot rod platform – the Rocket 88. We know that this Willys is not quite complete yet, but stay tuned, because there’s definitely more to come!