Vehicle Description
For car enthusiasts in America, the early 1950s was a time of rich
experimentation and creativity. Service members returning from
Europe experienced small, lightweight sports cars for the first
time, and they wanted to recreate that experience at home. Imported
sports cars trickled in, but they were expensive, scarce, and some
found their small-bore engines poorly suited to vast American
roads. Particularly on the West Coast, the lines between Hot Rod
and sports car culture began to blur, as individual enthusiasts
took it upon themselves to build sports cars incorporating readily
available American drivetrains. The broadening availability of
fiberglass coincided perfectly, as car builders experimenting with
the material found it robust, easy to work with, and capable of
being molded into virtually any shape imaginable. Bill Tritt is
considered the father of the American fiberglass-bodied sports car.
His stylish, Jaguar-inspired Glasspar G2 was one of the first
commercially available fiberglass cars. Sold primarily in kit form,
Tritt produced a handful of complete, turnkey vehicles. At the
time, none of the Big Three offered a pure sports car, and with
young buyers eager for anything sporty, independent dealers took it
upon themselves to create their own using Tritt's Glasspar G2 as a
basis. The Yankee Clipper and Fiberflash were notable examples of
modified G2s built and marketed by car dealers. One who jumped on
the bandwagon was B.R. "Woody" Woodill of Downey, California.
Woodill operated one of the largest Willys dealers in the country,
and he envisioned a version of the Glasspar using Willys Jeepster
underpinnings and running gear. He built two prototypes and shipped
them to Toledo to present to Willys management. While the brass at
Willys was impressed, financial struggles preoccupied them, and a
merger with Kaiser soon followed. Since Kaiser already had the
fiberglass Kaiser-Darrin sports car in the works, the Willys
Wildfire project was shelved. Unfortunately for Woody Woodill, he
already invested heavily in the project, so when the axe fell from
Toledo, he changed tack and redesigned the Wildfire with a new
front end and more powerful Mercury flathead V8 running gear. He
sold the cars under his brand, through his dealership, as
fully-built cars or Ford-based do-it-yourself kits. The arrival of
the Chevrolet Corvette in 1953 marked the beginning of the end for
boutique manufacturers like Woodill, yet he still managed to sell a
respectable number of Wildfires - estimates say between 100 and 200
- the majority in kit form, during the brief production run. The
very special Woodill Wildfire offered here is chassis number WW010,
documented as Woody Woodill's personal car and one of the first of
the six produced. Woodill used WW010 for shows and promotions, and
to get maximum exposure, he leased the Wildfire to movie studios.
This chassis appeared in the 1954 filmWritten on the Windstarring
Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone, and
Ms. Malone's character is seen driving the flashy red Wildfire in
several scenes. Tony Curtis also used a Wildfire in the
action-sporty-car flickJohnny Dark,though it is understood to be a
different chassis. This car is fully equipped for its glamorous
film debut with the punchy Mercury flathead, wire wheels,
continental kit, and a removable soft top. The fascinating history
file documents how, in September 1965, Mr. Donald E. Lowe of San
Carlos, California, discovered this unusual sports car stored in a
barn in Sonora, California. The proverbial "little old lady" who
owned the barn had nicknamed it the Wild Hare but knew little else
about it. Mr. Lowe made a deal to buy it, and when he set about
registering it in California, he realized the car had never been
licensed and had no official serial number. Because Woodill used
the car for promotional work, it always ran a dealer plate or was
trailered to events. When Woody Woodill sold his business, records
for the company car went with it and were ultimately lost.
Undeterred, Don Lowe contacted Woody Woodill directly, and
correspondence on file tracks how he got Woodill to assign a new
Certificate of Origin with the serial number WW010. Nine months
later, Lowe finally succeeded in getting the car registered in
California, and he even threw a 'Registration Celebration' party in
honor of his new license plates! Mr. Lowe owned WW010 through at
least the late 1970s when the string of CA registration slips
stopped. During this time, Donald Lowe performed a thorough
mechanical overhaul and got the car looking tidy and fresh once
again. When it appeared inWritten on the Wind,the car was bright
red but was finished in black with a red rocker stripe when Lowe
acquired it. Period photos from the early 70s show it in the same
black livery, looking quite sharp. The story of WW010 went quiet
from there until the most recent owner acquired it in 2012. In all
the years since Donald Lowe's ownership, the Wildfire remained
essentially untouched and is offered today in preserved, unrestored
condition, in the same black and red livery as seen in the early
1970s photos. Power comes from a Mercury Flathead equipped with
period accessories, including a Mallory dual point distributor and
aluminum cylinder heads, headers, and intake by Fenton. The car is
sound and essentially complete, needing only minor sorting to be
enjoyed. It displays a well-earned patina and is a prime candidate
for continued preservation or as the basis of a straightforward
refurbishment to restore the glamorous Hollywood looks. This
fascinating machine represents a fruitful time in the American
motoring landscape when determined, creative individuals filled a
niche largely ignored by the major automakers. Cars like the
Woodill Wildfire were pivotal in establishing a market for a
homegrown roadster, and this fascinating example was at the
forefront of the American sports car revolution. Offers welcome and
trades considered For additional details please view this listing
directly on our website
https://hymanltd.com/vehicles/7158-1954-woodill-wildfire-roadster/
