'41 Willy Coupe That Honors Big Daddy's Car Wash Owner Wins National Award

​A 1941 Willy Coupe restored by CW Restorations of Huntington Beach received a second place award in the Custom Rod Coupe category at the prestigious Grand National Roadster Show over the weekend.

That's notable for two reasons: it was CW Restorations' first entry in the competition, and the car was built as a tribute to the late Joe Hetherington, whose family still owns Big Daddy's Car Wash in Sunset Beach (as well as the '41 Willy Coupe).

Named one of the top 10 cars by Hot Rod & Restoration, the coupe and its restoration were featured during the last season of the Speed channel's Chop Cut Rebuild.

The job at CW Restoration was headed up by CEO Chris Womack, who retired as an Aspen, Colorado, police officer to pursue his dream of opening a restoration shop in 2010; Jason Jones, the shop manager and head fabricator; and Ron Eagleton, a Surf City-born painting specialist.

Here's another look at the Willy:

​Notable about the car:

• It arrived at the shop in March 2010 as an empty shell of a body on a rolling chassis.

• Fixing the imperfections on an unknown body type took 600+ man hours.

• More than 1,400 hours of total work created the car you see now.

• Pin striper Dan Harvill applied the orange pearl flames to the red pearl paint job.

• Bill Dunn Upholstery finished the custom interior.