For weight transfer in the 60s ,the front end was raised, this was limited to 24 inches from the ground to crank pulley. I saw a 40 willys with headlights like yours in Gasser Wars book, he won the 61 nats A/Gas title.
The LHS is a toy & hobby store,a customer wrote on the store web page what good luck they had finding the toy they were looking for,but noticed a lot of old men,(in there words) cruising the place
I'm 74 yrs old, started building models in the service back in the 60s. I have been doing more collecting than building lately, Enjoy Gassers & 30-40 models.