Woodill Wildfire

[Destralo Roach]

A guy at work has a Woodill Wildfire car, it is one of the few Fiberglass cars built in the 50's by small timers, his car might have been ownd by the actor "danny Kaye" (David Daniel Kaminsky) My Google fu sucks, trying to get some confiermation if Danny Kay did own one, other wise a great car, his will be back on the road one day....Roach.

[speedtool]

Don't know, but I like the looks of the Wildfire.

[Special Ed]

I know a couple of folks who own them. Actually, my cousin has one...He's had it for a long time. There is a ton of documentation on them, if you spend some time on researching them. Nice looking cars...

[McKee]

Here's one.

[302GMC]

Guy in Idaho Falls stuffed a 392" Imperial in one of those, with a T-85 OD & 3.00 rear axle ... said it should go a little over 200 but didn't know ...

[JohnnyFast]

Did Woodill use Glasspar bodies ? Looks a lot like my late friend's car and his body came from the boat folks.

[HJmaniac]

Originally Posted by Destralo Roach

A guy at work has a Woodill Wildfire car, it is one of the few Fiberglass cars built in the 50's by small timers, his car might have been ownd by the actor "danny Kaye" (David Daniel Kaminsky) My Google fu sucks, trying to get some confiermation if Danny Kay did own one, other wise a great car, his will be back on the road one day....Roach.

He Drove one in a movie but don't know if he owned it.

For not the demise of Willys, this car might have gone into full production, but Woody made only about 10 factory cars and the rest he sold as kits. A fully assembled factory car initially sold for $3,260 and, as a kit, the body cost $995 and the frame $228. He attempted to market the production car worldwide and succeeded in having the Wildfire featured in three movies; "Johnny Dark" with Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie, "Knock on Wood" with Danny Kaye and "Written on the Wind" with Dorothy Malone and Rock Hudson. Woody Woodill finally closed down Wildfire production in 1958 after selling about 100 cars, all bodies provided by Glasspar.

[HJmaniac]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFast

Did Woodill use Glaspar bodies ? Looks a lot like my late friend's car and his body came from the boat folks.

Yes.

For not the demise of Willys, this car might have gone into full production, but Woody made only about 10 factory cars and the rest he sold as kits. A fully assembled factory car initially sold for $3,260 and, as a kit, the body cost $995 and the frame $228. He attempted to market the production car worldwide and succeeded in having the Wildfire featured in three movies; "Johnny Dark" with Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie, "Knock on Wood" with Danny Kaye and "Written on the Wind" with Dorothy Malone and Rock Hudson. Woody Woodill finally closed down Wildfire production in 1958 after selling about 100 cars, all bodies provided by Glasspar.

[fms427]

While Wildfire bodies were made by Glaspar, they were styled somewhat differently. There was a Series One and a Series Two, but both used Willys Aero taillights, among other things. Here is a picture of a Series Two "Johhny Dark" clone. I'm currently building one with a Buick nailhead - will post when I get a little more done !!

Go to Geoff Hackers site www.forgottenfiberglass.com for MUCH more info.

[Destralo Roach]

Yeah, I found all that in my search, Dudes got the seris two with the Glaspar G2 frame, Danny Kaye was suposed to live up here in WA out in Spokane and own a couple of radio stations, previous owner raced this car and stripped it down, took off the door tage that had Dannys name in it, all that is lost due to his divorce!!! So the curant owner is having a hell of a time trying to conneck Danny with the car, Any help would be apreciated........Roach.

[36C8]

<<<<<< Who'd drive that junk?

[Destralo Roach]

Me if I had one!

[The37Kid]

Wasn't there a post here on the HAMB about a Woodhill chassis that was found in a barn basement? Factory build if I recall correctly, never had a boddy installed.

[fms427]

Yeah, I bought it for my build .......Here is a before - becoming after photo ...

[fms427]

Roach - back to topic..... I have done a lot of research, and have seen nothing on Kaye except the movie. Try a PM to Geoff Hacker ( thats his handle) - he is perhaps the foremost expert on old cars fiberglass. If anyone can tell you, he can - or could tell you where else to look....

[G. Hacker]

Hi Guys..

Glad to help in any way.

Checkout our website at www.forgottenfiberglass.com There's lots of info on the cars. I'm friends with both the Tritt family who produced Glasspar and the Woodill family who made the Wildfire. Lots of other folks too from that era. Danny Kaye did not own one, but he did drive one in a movie. There was only one Woodill made for the movie. That information comes directly from Chuck Tatum - good friend and driver of one of the 8 movie cars used in Johnny Dark in 1954.

Checkout the website, and let me know if you need help. My e-mail is on the website too.

Thanks for the kind words from Stan and maybe Tony St. Clair too

Best..

Geoff

[Destralo Roach]

Cool, thanks for the info, I was on your site, great place, I wonder if dudes car was the one from the movie? Guy who sold it to him could Have been full of it to!

[Dave_D]

Originally Posted by fms427

Yeah, I bought it for my build .......Here is a before - becoming after photo ...

Hey, that looks a little better than when it left my garage! It looks like it cleaned up pretty good, too. I can't wait to see more pictures.

[Rich Venza]

Here's one I took a photo of at Island Dragway in NJ probably in 1962 or '63. As I recall it was from Connecticut and was running a blown SBC.

[G. Hacker]

Rich...

This is a really neat picture. It's not what you think. It's a series 1 wildfire - one I've never seen before. There are only 2 known to exist and the history of both does not coincide with this car. So...there may have been 3 made. This is really neat. Here's a website to show you the difference between the Series 1 and 2 Wildfires:

http://www.fiberglasssportscars.com/...l_Wildfire.htm

Can you contact me about your photo? I may want to feature it in our book - if that's ok with you. E-mail me at geoffrey@grhacker.com or call me at 813-888-8882.

Thanks!

Geoff Hacker