Does anybody out there know anything about woodill wildfires? I aquired a body the other day that some fool cut into pieces. This is suppose to be a wildfire. I got the grille and tail lights The taillights are from a nash. I've been to the woodill site, They have never seen or heard of one with metal doors and hood. There is suppose to be a picture of this thing at my friends before it was cut up. The guy he got it from scrapped the frame,engine and trans. The guy was going to put the body in a dumpster when my friend caught him and grabbed it. I'm not sure what to do with it at this point. It had a two piece windshield something there are no pictures of in anything I've seen. So I'm serching the hamb to see if anybody might have some info on this thing. I know they are rare. And only a handfull still exist. Might be fun to put back together. Not sure if I'm capable of it but as the kids say "ain't scared" Thanks for any input you guys can give me. Tim If you can tell me how I can post the pictures I took????
Here is some chatter from the HAMB: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=421450&highlight=woodill+wildfires
whoops, didn't answer your question......click on"go advanced" below this box and you can attach an image......
Hello.. Congrats on your purchase. We maintain a website on vintage fiberglass sports cars called Forgotten Fiberglass. You can visit our main site at www.forgottenfiberglass.com I did a quick category search and if you click on the following link, you'll see the stories posted on our website that discuss Woodill Wildfires: http://www.forgottenfiberglass.com/?cat=33 Hope this helps and if you have questions, contact me from our website. Good luck on your purchase... Geoff Hacker Forgotten Fiberglass
Hi Geoff When I got this thing last summer I got on the forgotton site and posted the picture of the pile of parts kinda laid out so one could see if and or what I had. I did not get any feedback at the time so I put it on the back burner. Gregg from the woodill site said he had never seen one with steel doors and hood Mine seems to be unique to most of the ones I see pics of but I didn't get enough car to say one way or the other,The two piece windshield must be something somebody did as this was most likely one of the kit cars. I thought I had me one of those super rare super high dollar cars that you only hear storys of so I grabed it. When I finally get to see it I was glad I didn't have much invested. Still Haven't figured out how to post any pictures on the hamb site yet so I am still working on that. I don't do computors I live in my garage when I'm not at work and there is no internet out there. Never was and most likely never will be. I just got the internet at my home two weeks ago. Only been on it about one hour so far. I think I work to much.
Is it possible you don't have a Woodill, but one of the the other fiberglass bodies from the era? There were several, as you surely know, such La Dawri, Almquist and others. Or, maybe it could even be well done home fabrication which could account for the metal parts. Not in any way being disrespectful of your post, merely opening up the possibilities. Ray
I've seen these & known about 'em since I was a kid. I think a couple were used in movies/TV shows back in the 50's also. As I remember, Woody Woodill was a Dodge/Willys dealer in Calif. when he got the idea for these, and they used Willys engines. Only about 15 were produced...Glaspar the fiberglass boat company built the cars. What killed Woodill's "dream car" was the buy-out of Willys by Kaiser-Frazer. Very cool, rare, cars and very worthy of a resto ! Jonnie King www.legends.thewwbc.net
"If you can tell me how I can post the pictures I took????" Here's a link complete with pictures on how to post pictures. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=18102
Although my post may not have made it very clear, I was trying to cover two different issues the OP mentioned. One was variations in components/appearance of his body from photos of Woodill Wildfires that may indicate it is not a Woodill.......... and secondly, the possibilty that is isn't a manufactured body, but a skillful homebuilt that was built with some metal panels. As far as I know, all the 'glass bodies of the era were all 'glass. Ray
Here are a few pictures of mine under construction, as wewll as a couple more. Anxious to see the pictures, but I suspect it is not a Wildfire.
Ok, I think I've seen enough pictures to say I don't think I have a wildfire. It has the nash tailights But the hood shape and grille are quite different There is no bump in the hood and the grille is a kind of rectangle shape. Its about 14 inches tall and 24 wide the chrome is kinda like the bumper from my 67 camaro just made into a rectangle. The doors are square down the sides and bottom They are only about 20 inches wide and 14 tall. real small. The dash looks close. the sides and wheel openings are close. The two piece windshield is different from anything I've seen anywhere! I've been to the forgotton fiberglass site and not seen anything that looks like this thing. Bad part the guy cut this thing up so bad it is real heard to tell for sure what it is. My friend is sure its a wildfire. I'm not. He is suppose to be finding the picture of the car before it was cut up. (still waiting) he does know who he got it from. I think I will chase down that lead and see what I can find out. I will have to run out to his place where the car is still and get a couple better pictures of some of the defining parts. Tim
Haa ... I got a laugh out of this post. I thought the car he bought was actually in a fire in Woddill (wherever the hell that is) ... so I'm reading his post and thinking ... HELLO, sure it was in a fire blah blah blah but what the hell kind of car are you talking about. Then I scrolled down ... Oh, heh heh. Learn something new every day.
The taillights shown on the Woodill are not Nash.......I believe they are Kaiser....about 1951 IIRC. Not a big deal........I am just compulsive about details Ray
Ray... Those taillights were from a Willys Aero instead of a Kaiser. It was a cool short-lived compact that Willys produced. (Which would make sense since Woodill WAS a Dodge/Willys Dealer.) The Aero Hardtops are neat little cars. The Kaiser-Darrin used Kaiser Taillights. JK www.legends.thewwbc.net
If this story ends up being a Darrin that some jackass hacked up with a chainsaw, I'ma gonna brown my britches! Once again, we need pics.
I saw a flathead-powered kit car at a vintage race with the Nash Metropolitan taillights; which are the same ones used by Alfa Romeo Giuliettas btw. I asked the owner about it; he said it was made and sold by Mickey Thompson and I think it was called an Atlas. http://www.home.earthlink.net/~carparts/alliedatlas/id4.html Of course without pics I'm making a wild-ass guess. http://bringatrailer.com/2007/10/13/1953-atlas-ford-flathead-special-vintage-racer/
I'd have to agree with your conclusion about the Willys tail lights. I, too, like the little Willys coupe and post sedans. I also know that the Darrin used Kaiser tail lights, but they were larger and later model, like '53 or '54 models. There is a Kaiser tail light very similar to the Willys lamp that was used on the '50/'51 era Kaiser sedans. Ray
Ray, Here's an interesting mini-fact: The "taillight & hump" compostion on the Willys Aero was abstracted from the '48 Caddy ! Since it was SO long ago, many have never even seen a "Willys Aero"...let alone known that info ! The below pick shows the original (Artwork by my friend JoepeP from CT.) <SCRIPT src="/count/photos/2761717.js" type=text/javascript charset=utf-8></SCRIPT> JK www.legends.thewwbc.net <SCRIPT type=text/javascript> //<![CDATA[ Event.observe(window, 'load', function(event){ new Insertion.Top( 'reply_form', "<textarea id=\"comment_comment\" name=\"comment[comment]\" rows=\"6\" cols=\"65\"></textarea> " ) }); //]]></SCRIPT>
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