We just mocked-up the body on the Woodill Wildfire we're building, so it's a good time to post a picture or two. The body is from a car built in California in the 50's ( Thanks, Geoff Hacker), and the frame is an original Woodill built piece ( Thanks, HRHD) replacing the homebuilt one on the original car. Various other pieces are from the HAMB classifieds , so this car would not have been built without the HAMB!! We're using a Buick 322 Nailhead, mated to the original 40's Ford driveline, with shortened torque tube courtesy of Woodill. Suspension is also 40's Ford as was Woodill practice. The original Wildfire inner body structure , somewhat crudely made up of plywood and fiberglass, was badly deteriorated, so the next step is constructing new inner panels - using fiberglass with aluminum structure sandwitched in ( I don't like wood in bodies ! ) Enjoy !!
Oooohhhh! I like it. Ryan posted the "Build a Car in 4 hours" thread and got me interested in learning more about them. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410866&highlight=woodill What are your Paint/Interior color choices?
Hey Stan!! Looking good, I still have the pictures you sent of the build saved on my computer. Keep posting the progress. Frank
Yeah, I've seen the "Build a car in 4 Hours" tape - makes me feel very incompetent, 'cause I already have WAY more than 4 hours invested !! The project started as a vintage race car, but is turning more toward a restoraton. Not sure of paint/interior yet - stay tuned !!
Well, its been a while, but winter is here again and work has started on the Wildfire again. First order of business is the body. Because the body sat outdoors for many years, all of the wood inner panels were rotted away , so all new inner panels were made from fiberglass. Also,since the structure of these frames were notoriously weak, doubler rails were added on each side thru the center of the car, and structural hoops were added in the cowl and behind the rear seat. Exhaust headers have been welded up. and the 3x2's added. Here are some pictures of the current status - enjoy!
Stan... Looking good! Keep up the excellent work I can see you driving onto the lawn in Milwaukee in August... Best.. Geoff
So the body is totally homemade one-off, who built it? What's the history? Did it just magically fit the Woodill wheelbase, or did you have to alter one or the other? Looks cool, I like where it's going.
No, the body is an original Wildfire outer shell - we replaced all the inner panels because the original pieces were wood, and rotted / deteriorated from sitting outdoors. This was an early body, where all the inner panels were wood - later bodies had fiberglass replacing many of the wood pieces - we replicated the later body, but replaced ALL the wood !
Well, it's about time to tear down the Wildfire for paint, so I'll post some current pictures. Body, including aluminum dash done , all done, plus most major components fabbed in. Assuming spring comes to Michigan - should be painted soon - a period dark blue - maybe a little lighter than Washington Blue.
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