Hi Gang…
I love one-off cars.
Big, small, streamlined, not so streamlined….they all represent the realization of a dream and passion whether it be from one dedicated person or a small intrepid team of designers. And when the car hails from an individual or a small company – such as today’s Verrill Wolf Wagon – it impresses me even more.
How can you not root for the underdog???
I first came across photos of this 24 foot long boulevard cruiser about 8 years ago. I saw a collage of images in a 1997 edition of Collectible Automobile Magazine that showed the Wolf Wagon at a show with just its name shared and no history. And surprisingly, that’s what has happened each and every time I have found a photo of the car. Very little known history – my favorite kind of mystery!
I tracked the car to its current home in Pennsylvania as part of the collection of current owner Patricia Swigart. Although they had the car for many years, not much more information was known except a bit about the designer and the rough timeframe during which the car was designed and built.
Let’s check out some photos of the car I’ve collected over the years, and you’ll see why it has fascinated me for so long:
From An Unknown Publication – Anyone Know When This Was Printed Gang?
From The Roy Benz Collection
From The Roy Benz Collection
Believed To Be A Postcard From the Paul Stern Museum.
Restoration and Exhibition
Although the car has been kept in nice shape throughout its life, the decision was made in 2013 to begin the restoration of the car using the most creative and wonderful way of having a car restored – by working with students at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. And…the end result of their efforts would be participation and display of their restored car at the 2014 Elegance at Hershey – a very fine concours d’ elegance in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Click Here To Learn More About The Restoration of the Verrill Wolf Wagon
Tracking Down The History of the Verrill Wolf Wagon:
I recently met Bud Juneau and introduced you to him in the story about the Packard Proving Grounds and the movie Johnny Dark. Bud is an automotive historian and has written about cars for many years. But his expertise is tracking down the tiniest of details of the most interesting cars and sharing the full story – often never told before – with the world at large.
And he’s done it again with the Verrill Wolf Wagon.
Bud undertook what no one had done before – track down, learn about and share full history of the Verrill Wolf Wagon and its’ designer – Thomas D. Verrill. And I’m excited to say that this story is now complete and is available to you in the April, 2015 issue of Collectible Automobile Magazine. Be on the lookout for this issue, and as Paul Harvey used to say, you can learn “the rest of the story” about this special man and his boulevard cruiser within this magazine.
Summary:
So be sure to race down to the bookstore and find the April, 2015 issue and bring it home to your collection. Bud Juneau did a fantastic job of capturing what no one else has about this car and….we may have a bit more information to add to the story later this year too courtesy of Bud. How fun so stay tuned 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the story, and remember gang…
The adventure continues here at Forgotten Fiberglass.
Geoff
Love the cars Geoff. Very interesting
The bat mobile mated with a Duesenberg.
The one thing most of the glass cars had trouble with was getting a decent looking windshield.