I came across an ad on my local Craigslist yesterday for a "23 ford hot rod project" There were two small pictures in the ad, and I could tell it was no 23 ford, it looked more like a 28-29 roadster. I answered the ad and went to see the car. It turns out the car was only about 5 miles from my house, sitting in a barn on an old dairy farm that I have driven past probably hundreds of times. The man that I talked to said that his dad had started building the car a long time ago, but he apparently lost interest and the car had been sitting in the barn for over 40 years. He also said that his dad had bought a new frame for it when he started building it, and that it still had the manufacturers tag on it. I wasn't aware of any aftermarket frame manufacturers in the 50's, so I was curious to see what I would find. I looked at the car and found out it was a 28-29 roadster pick-up. It was on an aftermarket frame, with a tag that read "Wildfire". My dad was with me and he recognized the name as a late 40's - early 50's sports car manufacturer. A deal was made and we went back today and picked up the car. I'm going to try to post some pictures, hopefully this works. Here's the barn where the car sat for the last 40+ years: This is what I first saw when I walked in: We started moving junk out of the way, took the body off the frame, and started rolling it out: Loaded it on the trailer and headed for the long 5-mile journey home: Got it home and off the trailer and snapped a couple more pictures: Here some shots of the frame with the bosy off: And one of the frame tag: So there it is, the question now is what do I do with it? I did some googleing, and found a couple websites that talk about the Woodill Wildfire sports car. http://www.woodillwildfire.com/ This site shows a picture from the Woodill factory in the 50's, and you can see a frame leaning against the wall that appears identical to mine. http://fiberglasssportscars.com/Wildfire_Wildfire/Woodill_Wildfire.htm And this site is about the Glasspar G2 sports car, which is apparently where Woodill got their frames from, and theres another picture a frame like mine on this page http://fiberglasssportscars.com/Wildfire_Wildfire/Woodill_Wildfire.htm I guess Im looking for opinions on what I should do with the car. The woodill frame is very wide, especially at the front, and the body doesn't fit it that well. I do have a Model A frame here that I could use instead. Or I could cut this frame and modify it to make it work with this body. Does anyone know if this Woodill frame would have any value to vintage sports car enthusiasts? This post has gotten a little more long winded that I had planned, so thanks if you're still reading this far!
Awesome find! Use the A frame you have, sell the wildfire off. It's a cool piece, just not for this car. Congrats!
Neat find, and I can smell that barn.........any more "treasures" in there? At least the guy had the "smarts" to put concrete blocks under the rear axle to keep it in the air. Chris Nelson Kansas
That is awesome! I have never heard of the frame manufacture. It looks like the radiator and shell would have to be really short to line up right. Maybe you could change the front crossmember and bring the frame rails back down to make it look better, but again I do not know if you would be changing something that is valueable in stock form. Whatever you do, congratulations on a really cool score!
sell that chassis to someone who can save a wildfire- and use a model a frame or build your own. DONT USE THAT FRAME its ugly as all get-out... no matter how much you cut it up.
Tough to say without knowing the whole story, but buddy's project may have stalled when he realized the frame and body didn't quite work together. I say keep the body and get a frame that fits it better. Try listing the Woodill frame for sale on one of the enthusiast sites and see what happens.
I would mess with mocking it up on that frame w/o cutting anything to see if you can get it to work for what you'd power it with, and to see if you can come up with something you like. It'd be different, and it might end up being cool. In the meanwhile, you'll probably find answers to the frame value question. Thanks, Kurt
That's the Original Woodill Sweep (TM)...which just goes to show you that everything was invented in California. Neal
good find, dont use that frame tho. that angle on the front end is too steep and in the wrong direction
that frames gotta go!!!!!! talk about "ugly as a bag of smashed ass-holes" nice looking body and bed though. should make a neat little rod.
cool score will make a nice car , sell that ugly arse frame to some wildfire restorer , and build a cool z d frame
I wonder where the original body went? Did you check the rest of the barn for it? I can remember one showing up at north Jersey's Island Dragway in '61 with a SBC running as a modified sports.
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Looks like everyone here is thinking the same thing I was, ditch the wildfire frame and build a proper hot rod frame. I guess Im off to see if I can find any nostalgia sports car forums to see if this frame is worth anything.