The 1953 Woodill Wildfire
I got to know Woody Woodill when I first started racing. He brought his first “Wildfire” to our SCCA time trials at Costa Mesa, CA late in 1952. When I did really well in the trials in our 52 MG TD (2nd out of more than fifty MGs) he introduced himself to me and asked if I would like to drive his car around the course so he could see how quick it was. Although it was not in the competition, I turned in one of the very fastest runs in the class the “Wildfire” would have been in. I was impressed and so was he. He then invited me to visit his factory in Lynwood.
A very successful Dodge and Willys (they made cars as well as jeeps) dealer, Woody had a custom steel fabricator manufacture a steel box frame to match existing Willys suspension and running gear. He built two cars, one for show he hoped to sell and the other for performance he hoped to race. I visited his place just after the show model was completed. The performance model was the one I drove at Costa Mesa.
In 1953 the Wildfire was chosen as the main race car for the movie Johny Dark. By then the performance model had been dolled up like the show model and they looked identical. Woody asked me if I would drive the car for him in the SCCA Santa Barbara road races where they were going to shoot some of the movie. I was the stunt double for Don Taylor with the flying scarf ala Tazio Neuvalari. I was to start at the back of the starting grid, loll around slowly - not too slowly - until the real racers caught up to me. Then I was to try to stay with them for a few laps so they could get movies of the car amidst others. Yeah! Right!
Of course, when they dropped that starting flag, all plans for my tooling leisurely around the course went out the window. Most of the cars in the race were Jags with a few Allards and others mixed in. Several movie celebrities were driving cars in the race including one Steve Wilder. (He was an ass!) By the third lap I was running third and Woody was having an absolute fit every time I went by the pits. Near the end of the race, Wilder lost it in a corner and his gold Jaguar slid almost into a hangar (Santa Barbara Airport) taking out the second place car in the process. Yours truly then waltzed home the winner. Of course, it didn’t count, but the crowd (and Woody) loved it. Tony Curtis and Don Taylor both came over and shook my hand. Woody lied through his teeth when he told everyone I had done just what he planned.
Woody never raced the car again and shortly after the movie, We moved back to Cleveland. Your mom and I went and saw the movie at the Richmond Theater when it came out. I was only in a couple of short scenes, but it was quite a thrill seeing those scenes and remembering.
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Movie, “Johny Dark” 1954
Tony Curtis .... Johnny Dark
Piper Laurie .... Liz Fielding
Don Taylor .... Duke Benson – he’s the race driver I was supposed to be.
Reports about the movie from the Internet
A young auto racing enthusiast and automotive engineer, Johnny Dark (Curtis) designs a new type of race car that his auto manufacturer-employer, Fielding Motors, won't build, so he enters it in a Reno, Nevada to Tijuana, Mexico road race. His girlfriend, Liz (Laurie), daughter of the CEO of Fielding Motors, as strong-willed as he is, finally realizes how important his passion for racing is, and fully supports him to win his heart.
A really fun picture, in glorious Technicolor. This film was made by many of the same personnel who worked on THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955), including the producer, and featured some prime examples of a custom-fiberglas bodied sports car made in Lynwood (a suburb of Los Angeles, Calif.) in limited numbers by a small auto-maker company. The car was the Woodill Wildfire, made from 1953 to 1957 in small, hand-crafted numbers by Woody Woodill Motors. Film also features many other rare early-1950s American sports cars, made in small numbers by independent manufacturers. They are rare collectors' cars today. This movie was remade exactly ten years later by Bill Alland and director Jack Arnold as The LIVELY SET (Universal, 1964). Great fun for all. Hey, Universal, why isn't this movie out on video?
I just happened to notice this film was on TV tonight and had never seen it before. Usually I'll watch because of the actors who are in it. Although the movie is mainly about car racing I really did enjoy seeing a youngish Tony Curtis (in the lead as Johnny) and Piper Laurie (as Liz). Both are strong willed so romance isn't easygoing at the start.
Johnny is the auto engineer who is determined to drive his new model race car to win the 2200-mile race from Canada to Mexico and Liz, when she realizes her love for him, supports him entirely.
Lots of action throughout from players and race cars. The speeding cars keep you on the edge of your seat - great film shots from the air and the road as they blaze along from stop to stop during the race.
The acting in this movie is at best minimal but what makes this film significant is the collection of extremely rare American Sports Cars used to make it. Such rarities as a Kurtis Sportscar (about a dozen made) The Granthom Stardust (several made). The beautiful black Victress (Nicknamed the Thunderbird in the movie) (one of two production cars built) as well as a Glasspar G-2 were also used in an attempt to make the cars anonymous. The star car dubbed the Idaho Special was none other than the Woodill Wildfire of which seven production models were built. If you like rare American cars you should find a copy of this film as a high percentage of the film covers the cars. You can fast forward through the shallow plot.
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Background of Woody and the Wildfire
The early 1950's saw the young B.R. (Robert) "Woody" Woodill become one of the most successful Dodge dealers in the nation. Following in his father's footsteps, Woody was able, in fact, to make his business so successful that he was allowed to add the Willys line, an almost unheard of move in the '50's. One thing that Woody had always wanted to drive as his own personal mode of transportation was a sports car. The sleek lines of the new Jaguar X K 120 had caught his fancy. He expressed his wishes to his mechanics at the dealership. The unanimous retort from those mechanics was to think again, as they felt the Jag to be a rather unreliable car and definitely hard to get parts for. "Woody, she will be in the shop more than you'll be driving her," was the advice his chief mechanic gave him. "Too bad America hasn't made a real sports car yet. It would be so much easier to maintain."
That evening Woody was relaying his problem to his over the fence neighbor Howard Miller. Howard was very talented at making almost anything. "Why not build your own sports car using all American running gear?" Howard suggested. It hit him like a flash. The Willys had been proven to be a real little power plant by Brooks Stevens in his Excalibur J earlier that same year. Woody, of course, had access to those motors through his own dealership. He had also heard of a young boat builder by the name of Bill Tritt who had just begun marketing a Vibrin fiberglass sports car body which you could affix to your own running gear. Unfortunately the affixing was a little above the layman's capabilities.
What Woody wanted was a sports car that used all Willys' components. He solved this problem with the guidance of Howard Miller by having Shorty Post, a noted hot rod builder of the day, fabricate a sturdy frame that would accept all Willys Jeepster suspension components and adapt itself to the Glasspar body. Two of the Glasspar bodies were ordered with specific modifications to set them apart from the conventional Tritt model. First, the rear fenders were squared off with extensions to allow them to accept the Willys Areo taillights. Second, a fake scoop was affixed in front of the hood to balance off the tail lights. Finally, two beautiful humps were added to the dash area which gave the car the M.G., Allard look. These tiny changes gave an already beautiful design a sporty elegance unsurpassed for its time. The hand laid body was of the highest quality, far surpassing the Kaiser Darrins and Chevrolet Corvettes which were to come later. Darrins and Vettes were pressed similar to the way steel is formed. Too much of the resin was squeezed out which led to premature cracking and warping.
Once the bodies were delivered, Howard Miller assembled the components and made the final adjustments. The little Willys engine was set far enough back in the car to give them an almost perfect 50/50 weight ratio. Cornering was superb and the car with a hot cam, three carbs and headers has supposedly obtained speeds in excess of 120 MPH!
Why did Woody build two? Well, being an entrepreneur, he deduced that he could sell the second and greatly defray his costs. The trouble was that Willys got wind of the project, came out and had a look, liked what he saw, and got Woody to fly his little sports car to Toledo where it was shown to all the dealers. They flipped over it! Willys would be one of the first companies to have a sports car, and Woody was going to build it.
Woody decided before he went any further to make some modifications in the original design. Both he and Howard were aware that the cockpit was too small for anyone of stature and needed to be lengthened. They also wanted door panels and a trunk like other cars. Finally the Glasspar grill was too identifiable and needed to be changed. Woody designed an oval grill opening that would accept the single horizontal Willys Areo grill bar. A continental kit was also affixed to the rear, using the filler pipe for the mount. A knock off wheel cover was placed on the spare, using the knock off itself for the gas cap! Several other modifications were done to make the car a lot more practical, although a little of the original clean styling was lost. It is estimated that Woody made 6 of these Post frame, F-head engine cars before he got the news that Willys had been taken over by Kaiser Frazer. He returned to Toledo but was unable to convince the new executives to set aside the Darrin for his car.
Woody was anything but a quitter, however. He proceeded to modify his car to take all late Ford running gear. Ford was not interested. He tried one with all Buick running gear and finally one with all Cadillac parts. Response from Detroit was the same. He and Howard finally hit on making a kit that could be quickly adapted to a 39 Ford frame and running gear. In fact, it was dubbed the 14 hour sports car, which Woody proved by assembling one, in time, live on the television program, "You asked for it". Mr. Woodill had a knack for showmanship, and was able to get his car featured in no less that four movies, the most notable being "Johnny Dark", with Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie. Although the acting would kill you, the Wildfire performed flawlessly, and was in more scenes than the Stars!
Woody managed to keep the Wildfire alive until 1956 in this country. After that time, he went to other countries where he almost made it big in Australia. The little car he built was definitely a notable piece of American automotive history. The fact that two guys in a small building in Downey were able to manufacture such a well built car without formal engineering training says a lot for them. Woody passed on in 1991 before he restored a second series body he had acquired. He used to stop by my house once a year or so during the 80's for breakfast, to chat and to visit the car. His dream was to have future generations know about the love of his life. Have no fear, Woody, the Wildfire will live on!
FREDERICK J. ROTH
Copyright June 2003
This is a picture taken during the shooting of the movie Johnny Dark (1953) starring Tony Curtis. The car star was a type two factory Willys powered Woodill (shown here) named the Idaho Special. The shoot that was supposed to be Canada was done in downtown Big Bear, CA.
