Joe Wilhelm's Wild Dream

A photo of Joe Wilhelm with the Wild Dream. Photo courtesy of Hot Rod Magazine.

Wild Dream on the cover of Rod & Custom January 1964.

Viking Custom was a hot rod and custom car club founded in Oslo, Norway in 1964. A photo of the Wild Dream graced the cover of several of the club newsletters.

A postcard featuring the Wild Dream.

Wild Dream at an indoor car show in Toledo, Ohio in 1965. Photo from the Phil Alloy Photo Collection.

Another photo of Wild Dream from the Toledo, Ohio car shoe. Photo from the Phil Alloy Photo Collection.

Wild Dream as it appeared in June of 2017 when Jeff Cimoli bought it. Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

In January of 2019 Jeff put the car up for sale. For more info about the car, get in touch with Jeff at 408 781 1142. Photo courtesy of Jeff Cimoli.

Wild Dream is a show rod designed and built by Joe Wilhelm at Wilhelm's Custom Shop for John Hernandez. Built over a three year period, the wild rod featured a futuristic hand formed aluminum body that was covered with 20 coats of purple metalflake paint. A chrome plated chassis was constructed from rectangular tubing. The chassis featured full coil suspension. Power was delivered by a fuel injected 1960 Chevrolet Corvette 283 cu. in. engine, a 1961 Chevrolet four speed transmission and a 1956 Mercury rear end.

Cover Car

In 1964, Wild Dream was featured on the cover of Rod & Custom January 1964.

1968 America's Most Beautiful Roadster Winner

In 1968 the Wild Dream and Bob Reisner's Invader both won the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award.

Gold

Later on, in the 1960s Joe WIlhelm gave the car a Gold paint job.

Sold to Jeff Cimoli

In June of 2017 original owner John Hernandez sold the car to Jeff Cimoli. Jeff told Kustomrama that he heard about it trough a friend; "A friend of mine knew John's nephew. My friend didn't want it, so he told me about it, and I jumped on it." When Jeff bought the car it had been in storage for 50 years. John had been playing with it off and on, and even brought it out of storage for a show in 1999.

For Sale

In January of 2019 Jeff put the car up for sale. For more info about the car, get in touch with Jeff at 408 781 1142.

Magazine Features and Appearances

Rod & Custom January 1964