Jay Willoughby - What's in the garage?

      Jay Willouhby was only 5-years old when his love for fast cars started. Like any kid growing up his obsession started when he played with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. 

 

One of Jay's earliest memories was when he moved into a house that had dragsters printed on the wallpaper in his room.

 Jay's neighbor had a front engine dragster, he would fire it up and roast the tires down the street, how cool was that !

 

 

Jay's first car was a 1970 Buick GS Stage-1, while the local high-school kids had Camaros , Mustangs & Chevells. There was a lot of street racing in those days and Jay could beat these guys with ease, even with the A/C on. 

 

He hasn't raced much, but recently Jay got back into it when Drag & Drives started. It interested him a great deal. He entered the Death Week by Sick Week but the car he had sold before the event, so the hunt was on for a car that he could enter the event. The car he found was an original 1965 Rambler American.  He then decided to enter the Redwood Rally.

 

 The Rambler had 130K on the clock with an original 232 cube 6CYL and automatic transmission, the car was a great choice because they thought it would be reliable but you how things happen, so a small block 327 V-8 and a th-350 transmission was swapped in. Out back a 10-bolt rear end and a disc-brake upgrade made the car reliable or so they thought. 400 miles into the trip to the event they had a push rod failure and bent some valves. Jay nursed back home and made repairs and tried again in 2024.

 

They went back to Redwood in 24' and had a great time turning mid 14's , they had no issues with the car putting over 2,000 miles on the car. They chose a class that fit the car and because of the time slot they also got to enjoy the beautiful long drives during the daylight hours.   

 

The spec's on the Rambler are as follows: It is a .030 over bored 327 that Jay built himself. He used forged pistons he found on Craigslist, a Summit cam, fuelie heads with 2.02 valves.with screw in studs and Erson rocker arms. The TH-350 was found at an estate sale. The 10-bolt rear was filled with 3.73:1 gears and a locking diff. Jay said he has raced at the Carlsbad, San Diego stadium parking lot drags, Medford, Samoa, Coos Bay, Woodburn, Bremerton and Forks Washington tracks.

 

1959 Opel Olympia Caravan   

 

 Jay's Opel has a stock Buick 350 cube engine bolted to a TH-350 automatic transmission, it was sourced from a wrecked 1970 Buick Skylark. Out back you can find a narrowed Ford 9-inch rear end filled with 4:88:1 gears and a spool. 

 

   Jay's nick-name for the car is " A Zip-Code Car" as it's not taken out of his zip code very often. While he thinks it's a cool ride, it doesn't offer a pleasant driving experience. On a nice 60 degree day it doesn't take long for it to reach above 90 degrees in the car, thanks to all the glass it's like driving in a fish bowl.

  Jay said when he bought the car in 1989 he didn't have the skills to build a pro-street car. He had built & swapped engines, spent hours doing body work but but he's never had the skills needed to complete the the fab-work to make his vision a reality.

As time went on other projects came and went, but he always looked for parts that he might need for the Opel, ten years later Jay moved to Oregon.

One day a gentleman stopped by named Rick, he was a car builder and had his own shop. they spoke about Jay's plans for the Opel, and after some trading a deal was struck. 

Rick installed a Competition Engineering 4-Link kit with a narrowed 9-inch Ford rear-end. Then they installed some Cragar Super Trick wheels that Jay purchased way back in 1986. This was in 2006 and his dream of owning a bad-ass pro/street car was insight. 

 

Not long after, Jay was laid off and he put his projects up for sale, the only person interested in the Opel was a man named Marcus. 

He just wanted the stock rear. He was only in America for a short time before he had to return to Germany. He told Jay that he had parted out numerous Opels back home.

 

Two years later Rick called and said he had a pair of struts that would work for the Opel, so another deal was made and Rick built a new front end. They installed an Opel Kadett steering rack and used a steering column from a Trans-Am. Jay said his vision was finally taking shape.

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late one night Jay got a phone call, it was Marcus and he wanted to stop by. The last time Marcus was there he noted what parts Jay was missing for the project, he arrived with a few totes filled with parts from his stash.

 

 

   The Opel Caravan was an economy class car powered by a small 4-cylinder engine, it was built for the European market. Even though Opel's were sold through American Buick dealers this model was a rare sight to see even back then.

 

 

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 Marcus brought the parts with him on his ski trip and he wanted to donate them to Jay's project, Jay was ecstatic by such a thoughtful gift. Jay's friend David D. sent him an aluminum radiator to use as motivation to get the car road worthy. 

 

30-years has passed and the end was insight, it was now 2019 and Jay got the Opel running and on the ground just two hours before a car show at Ruddell's car dealership.

​The Opel drove there under its own power, but it had an axle leak, & funny feeling brakes but the best part was it made it.

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Jay thanks all those people who helped him over the years, David D., Gerry Allen, JB, Joe S., Gary D., Rick, Brad & Marcus.

He also thanks his wife for putting up with his obsession with cars but also giving him the encouragement he needed. 

 

 

Future goals for the Opel at this point is finish the interior, install a new windshield, and wrap the exhaust system. Jay might replace the Mazda RX3 struts with a dropped front axle because the struts are too stiff. Jay also has some other projects in the works including a 61' Nova convertible and a 63' Nova sedan with plans to convert it into a coupe. He is also working on a friends 67' Nova wagon and a 1936 Ford.

​Jay said he that he might build a Gasser like the ones running in the SEGA series.

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What ever you build next , we will be glad to share them with the world.