I'll also hit up David at Ewillys to see if he has any info to see if it was a regional or national rebuild. As far as I knew, the Heep had never been outside of Illinois until I liberated it to the south.
As Larrbeard always says, you can never say never, or Willys never. My hunch would be that the engine probably was purchased out of a Napa or something similar. A quick Mrs. Google search brought me to an add for sale on eBay. The add is from 1961. There was another reference to Mustang Rebuilders on a 60s vintage I6 Chevy with a Mustang rebuilders tag.
This tag is going to create a bunch of intrigue! I hope you find out more. I am thinking... did Willys have a program with a large re-builder of the time? Was it a motor that was purchased and installed in TX? Did Mustang ship motors around the country? Did the Heep take a ride and lose a motor in Garland TX? That tag is a very cool part of the Heep's history now! I hope you uncover the story gm, you have me wanting more.
I'll probably spend a lot of my free time doing research on the subject tonight. I'm interested to find out myself. The possibilities are endless at the moment
The views are definitely increasing TJ. It is interesting to see what folks are looking at. The last time I looked, it was heavy on M38A1 related material to include Pelagro. Today it's all over the map. That's great to see people take interest.
The address leads to a warehouse with the concrete Mustang horses out front of the office, but no signage or evidence of still being an engine shop. It looks like a dry goods warehouse.
Your close gm. I think you found enough to get info from the historical society of Garland. They will probably have the history of the address. I bet the place with the horses out front is it.
The ebay adds are so cool. That is the place man, no question that is the company that did your motor. Same logo etc. You should drop a low ball offer to the guy.
The starter and generator are back installed. The starter ended up having a bad switch, even though I replaced it a couple of years back. I searched through my hoard and found the original one to put back in for now. The 2A is supposed to have a momentary switch mounted to the floor instead of one on the starter. I'm grappling with the thought of changing it to the correct configuration, instead of the 3A or truck/wagon set up that is on there now. I have a proper 2A starter, so all I would have to do is make a new 11" cable and the momentary switch. It should be a no brainier, but I like the mechanical rube Goldberg linkage, even if it doesn't always work just perfect... That's a decision left up to a bucket, a beer and a lucky strike. The good thing is that the Heep is running. The next item on the immediate punch list is a new gas tank, which is a project for this upcoming weekend.
That is the same set up as my 3A original starter. I had to adjust my switch several times to get it just right. I love the foot pedal linkage starter setup gm. When it is setup right, it is pretty fool proof. The main reason I bought peeJ is that foot starter. I just flat think its neat!
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