Has anyone heard of a Wildfire Firebird. I just purchased an 84 Firebird limited edition by Wildfire Motorsports( was a Dallas based company in yhe 80's. The car was bought new at a dealership in Lewisville, Tx with all modifications done to the car. Engine is a 350 from RHS with an Edelbrock intake and Holley 600 carb, hooker #2138 long tube headers no cat, and an Hei. Computer and harness was removed along with the emission equipment. Trans is a Doug Nash 4+1 5 speed with scattershield. Car also has bigger sway bars, front is adjustable, and koni shocks. Wheels are some old school 15 inch enkei wheels. It had some fender flares and body kit which ard gone but still has this NASCAR looking wing on it. Interior has konig front seats, trim bezels, and a 160 speedo. The car has 28k original miles on it and is very clean. Like I said the car was bought new this way from a dealer for get this, 26k in 84. I have all paperwork, dealer invoice and letters between wildfire motorsports and the original owner. I know this car was bought this way because I purchased it from a family friend who got the car from his boss(original owner). If anyone has heard of these cars and has more info I would greatly appreciate it. I plan on putting an LT1 6 speed in it, but would just like to know more about these cars. Thanks

 

Never heard of that one.

 

I haven't either. I think it was some optioned car sold through a dealer. There were some issues about options it was suppose to have but doesn't. The motor was suppose to be more heavily built and was suppose to have a 12 bolt according to the options sheet. Those are the only options that don't check out. Doesn't really matter to me, I'm swapping it all out anyway. Anyone need a DN 4+1 w/shifter and scattershield?

 

Unless it went for a ton of money, I don't think any dealer would have swapped the engine out. I've heard of that being done in super rare cases such as the LS2 equipped Solstices that some Pontiac dealer used to sell, but regardless I don't see any dealer removing emissions equipment and selling vehicles that couldn't pass emissions testing, visually or otherwise.

It doesn't check out or make much sense. Though you are the one with the documentation.

Do you have pics of the car? I'd like to see it just the same.

 

I agree with you on that. From what I know and was told the dealer did not do any of the modifications. I am thinking it was bought new then sent to this company for the modifications. There are letters from a Bill Rea to the owner. I researched his name and found an article talking about the company he started in Dallas. It said he used to be involved with Don Yenko way back in the day. I have never found any pics of the wildfires supposedly built. I do have a few pics of what it looked like when I bought it and will post when I can. I have already started the swap process, 4th gen rear and rear suspension.

 

I'd check for links at Hot Rod or Car Craft. They did articles on cars like that, all the time in the 80s.

 

post lots of pics!

i highly doubt the car has a 12 bolt, since a torque arm 12 bolt didnt exsist back then. Unless the rear suspension has be changed entirely.

 

Gale Banks was using Ford 9 inch rears in 1983 and other turners were using the GM 10 and 12 bolts.

 

The car does not have a 12 bolt. I have already put a 4th gen rear with disc brakes in the car, I'm putting zr1 style wheels on it. I never post pics on forums so I'll have to find a way to post. I only have a few before I started swapping parts. What's the best way? I'm not too worried about the history, just wanted a clean low mileage 3rd gen to swap over my 4th gen stuff to. I have always had Camaros so it's nice to make the change to a bird.

 

i want pictures, sounds interesting, or like complete crap, pics and time and alot of searching will tell

 

I hope these pics posted. The interior bezels have glue on them from removing the fake wood trim that was peeling. Found a gauge bezel already, now just need to address the center console bezels. Will get some more pics up when I get them. 4th gen rear is in and now just waiting for the wheel spacers for the front. Replaced the header gaskets, valve cover gaskets, plugs, and wires. Gonna drive her for a bit before winter hits then swap the power train and front brakes.

 

steering wheel is odd o_0 and those appear to be corbuea (cant spell it) seats so there not stock and as for the wood grain on the dash anyone could have put that on, paint is nothing special i've seen a few like that before, wheels look aftermarket, so far i'm not sure its anything special sorry, nice looking car though and hey its still a firebird

 

Steering wheel is a grant, seats are konig, and I know the trim could be put on by anyone. I've also seen the paint scheme before. I never said the car was special, but thanks for your opinion. Though I didn't ask for opinions. I did find an older post on another forum of someone else asking about an 84 wildfire trans am. Like I said before, I know this car was made this way by wildfire motorsports in 84. I have all paperwork. I know who the original owner is and I've known the person who I bought the car from since I was 6(second owner). I know most of the history of the car, I just wanted to know if anyone had heard of thes cars cuz I know there was more made. I can't complain, I got a clean car that needs a little work on the exterior, not much in the interior, and I got it for $1500. I will make most of my money back by just selling the Doug Nash trans.

 

The spoiler looks like RPO Z20, the 88 Firebird appearance package that included the four wheel spats.
Pictures here --> https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...e-package.html

 

Yeah, it does look similar. Based on receipts, the one on my car was part of the appearance package installed back in 84 by the company that did all the mods. I kinda like it, so I'll keep it on there.

 

I built them. Any info you want, I have. Bill Rea 814-229-3402
Stage I through Stage IV. Most sold through Chevy and Pontiac dealers...David McDavid, Steakley Chevrolet, Friendly Chevrolet, Johnson Chevrolet and more. 367 sold between 1982 and 1987.

Also google: bill rea yenko Wildfire to see what we've done since.

 

That's a car that was built for a doctor in Denton, Tx. He came in and wanted a car built that would beat his friend's 911. We built him a stage IV with 620 hp. It beat the Porsche in the 1/8, 1/4 and flying mile.

Hadn't heard about it in years.

 

Appeared at Eagle 97 car show at DCC. Was in Car Craft and Hot Rod.
Later cars were in Restomod Annual.

Several of our cars are now in 6 museums. Had a car at Corvette Museum in Bowling Green and the only Corvette ever at Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum in Indiana.

Google Bill Rea Yenko Wildfire for history, pics, video.

 

Dealers did none of the work. It was all done by my shop. Later we did work in Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas. In all 657 cars, many customer cars and 25 Yenko Wildfire Commemorative vehicles were built.
Most can be seen by googling bill rea yenko wildfire
billrea33@comcast.net

 

Each car was spec'd out prior to the build and ALWAYS was completed by the checklist. Our Mild To Wild banner meant what it said.
Approx. 300 to 625 hp.

We have done several now with over 800 hp....though mild by twin turbo standards.

0-60 in 3.7 1/4 mile best of 10.33/133 mph. Top Speed...206.54
plus road course and grand prix wins. We're happy.

 

billrea33@yenko-wildfire.net

 

I’m just seeing this after all these years. Yes it was built for a doctor in Denton. My dad’s good friend worked for him. The doctor gave him this car for a bonus one year. He was a big car guy too. He never drive it and owned it for 10 yrs. When he first got it, I told him if he ever sold it to give me first crack at it. I picked it up,
got it running, put about 5 miles on it and removed the powertrain and swapped in a 93 LT1/T56. Original engine was not 650hp, it was a RHS 300 hp engine. It was very mild. Sold that engine and kept the Doug Nash which will go back in it once I pick up a Long shifter. The doctor always said it would pop out a third when he drove the car, and when I got it and looked into it, one of the shift arms that go on the transmission for the shift rods was in the wrong spot. The 3/4 arm was in the 5/R spot and vis versa. The 5/R arm on the 3/4 shift fork shaft would rub the case when it was shifted into third. That was done by your guys who assembled the car. There was a bunch of other **** that I found that shocked me for the price that was paid for this car, 25k in 84. 13k for the car and 12k for the modifications Not sure how these cars got by emission laws since all the computer and emission stuff was removed. In my opinion, very poor craftsmanship. I think the thing that shocked me the most was the way the torque arm was set up. Suppose to mount to the back of the transmission. Since using the Doug Nash with the hurst shifter with no mount. a 1 ft section of 1” bar was welded to the end of the torque arm so it would reach a swaybar bushing that was bolted to the trans crossmember which was about 3.5 to 4 inches lower than where it should’ve been mounted which caused pinion angle to be severely off, causing the rear joint to bind when taking off. It puzzled me because the Meacham TA cars used a long shifter that had the integrated torque arm mount. I wondered why you didn’t use that since you already had to buy a shifter anyway for the Doug Nash. The Hurst shifter is sub par compared to the Long for these transmissions. It could’ve been hooked up like factory with no issue with pinion angle. My car build sheet said it was supposed to have a 12 bolt but it didn’t. I know the doctor was having the car looked at by other people for what it was supposed to have because of the lack of a 12 bolt. I have paperwork where he had it looked over by technicians to verify the build per build sheet. I was told there were some discrepancies in the builds of the cars and some things happened and that’s why the business ended. Idk, don’t really care. In my opinion, it was a half *** attempt at a nice build. I’m not trying to bash you, but I call out crap work when I see it. I’m a GM Master-tech and some of the **** that I saw on that car made me choke. Maybe you personally didn’t do the work, but whoever did had no clue on what they were doing. I’ve corrected everything after putting it on hold for years. I completely disassembled the car other than the interior and undercoated the entire underneath of the car then reassembled.
Only thing that is the same on the car is the interior. Everything else has been changed. Should be a really fun car when I’m done. Should be finished by next spring. Never registered it, still has a Tx 96 registration sticker on it. I now live in Ohio outside of Columbus so it will only come out in the nice months but will start adding to that 28k original miles soon. This was a pic from years ago.