Why No 1979 Liquifire?

[JoeRainville]

There was an interesting thread over on VS where a friend from NY, Mark Harding, was asking about 80-82 Liquifire prices and value. The lack of a Liquifire for the 79 model year also came up, and several theory's were posted.

Dick Teal showed us a memo at ETD Meet and Greet at the HOF back in 2007. According to the memo from Mike Heitman about riding the prototype Trailfire in March of 1977, there was never a plan to have a Liquifire available for 1979. He states to have a liquid cooled version follow on a year after the Trailfire is introducted, and he suggested it be called "Wildfire"...



Stan Hayes did race a prototype Liquifire in the winter of 1979, and Deere even released a teaser brochure for the up and coming 1980 Liquifire in the fall of 78.



-Joe Rainville

[JoeRainville]

This is the "Sneak Preview" brochure for the 1980 Liquifire was printed in the fall of 78 to help explain that there was no Liquifire for 79, and to build some anticipation for the 1980 Model Year.





The sled pictured hints of the new Liquifire, but seems a lot more "Trailfire-ish" by design. I think this sled may be a painted up Trailfire with a sport windshield and Liquifire decals. The seat and track look Trailfire, and there is no wheel kit in the skid either, but the specs discussed in the text describe the up and coming Liquifire pretty accurately.

After fielding a fuller line up in 78, including a 340 and 440 Cyclone, 340 Liquifires, limited build 340 Cross Country, 440 Liquifires and the 340 Spitfire, Deere dropped back to only 3 sleds for the 79 model year, a 340 and 440 Trailfire plus the 340 Spitfire. For 1980, Deere expanded the line up to 340 and 440 Trailfires, 440 Sportfire, 440 Liquifire and a 340 Spitfire, all Kawi powered for the first time.

In summary, it looks like there was no 1979 Liquifire by design. But this is written by an observer. Any thoughts from those that were there, or guys with better info would be very welcomed...

-Joe

[jdrob]

Joe what happened to the lf that Stan Hayes drove ? Or any leads to who has it?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[nick80lf]

That's a interesting brochure, first time I think I've seen it.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk

[That Girl Racing]

I remember hearing that prototype testing did not go well and they decided on another year of development before releasing it. Even then the first production Liquifires in 1980 were very trouble prone. Yamaha did the same thing with the 82 SRX

[AirborneX4Special]

That's a interesting brochure, first time I think I've seen it.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk

Must be rather rare, don't recall seeing them at any dealer back in the day.

[JoeRainville]

Joe what happened to the lf that Stan Hayes drove ? Or any leads to who has it?

Rob, I would be willing to bet the prototype was destroyed due to liability concerns. Or its in Stan's garage...

That's a interesting brochure, first time I think I've seen it.

Nick, this is the only one of these I have seen. Another board member has the original studio photo's that were used to make the brochure. I Like the 78~ish logo on the cover and the 79 modified Trailfire decals shown on the sled. It was a chance e-bay find about 10 years ago or so.

Must be rather rare, don't recall seeing them at any dealer back in the day.

Pat, I have never seen another one of these either, but there must be more out there somewhere...

[AirborneX4Special]

Joe what happened to the lf that Stan Hayes drove ? Or any leads to who has it?

Rob, I would be willing to be the prototype was destroyed due to liability concerns. Or its in Stan's garage...

That's a interesting brochure, first time I think I've seen it.

Nick, this is the only one of these I have seen. Another board member has the original studio photo's that were used to make the brochure. I Like the 78~ish logo on the cover and the 79 modified Trailfire decals shown on the sled. It was a chance e-bay find about 10 years ago or so.

Must be rather rare, don't recall seeing them at any dealer back in the day.

Pat, I have never seen another one of these either, but there must be more out there somewhere...

I have one of those brochures......

[AirborneX4Special]

There was an interesting thread over on VS where a friend from NY, Mark Harding, was asking about 80-82 Liquifire prices and value. The lack of a Liquifire for the 79 model year also came up, and several theory's were posted.

Dick Teal showed us a memo at ETD Meet and Greet at the HOF back in 2007. According to the memo from Mike Heitman about riding the prototype Trailfire in March of 1977, there was never a plan to have a Liquifire available for 1979. He states to have a liquid cooled version follow on a year after the Trailfire is introducted, and he suggested it be called "Wildfire"...



Stan Hayes did race a prototype Liquifire in the winter of 1979, and Deere even released a teaser brochure for the up and coming 1980 Liquifire in the fall of 78.



-Joe Rainville

Notice the prototype Cross Country windshield on #15 in the photo. Stan designed that himself, and it didn't reduce et's in radar runs over the standard sport shield while it deflected the cold air.

[AirborneX4Special]

This is the "Sneak Preview" brochure for the 1980 Liquifire was printed in the fall of 78 to help explain that there was no Liquifire for 79, and to build some anticipation for the 1980 Model Year.





The sled pictured hints of the new Liquifire, but seems a lot more "Trailfire-ish" by design. I think this sled may be a painted up Trailfire with a sport windshield and Liquifire decals. The seat and track look Trailfire, and there is no wheel kit in the skid either, but the specs discussed in the text describe the up and coming Liquifire pretty accurately.

After fielding a fuller line up in 78, including a 340 and 440 Cyclone, 340 Liquifires, limited build 340 Cross Country, 440 Liquifires and the 340 Spitfire, Deere dropped back to only 3 sleds for the 79 model year, a 340 and 440 Trailfire plus the 340 Spitfire. For 1980, Deere expanded the line up to 340 and 440 Trailfires, 440 Sportfire, 440 Liquifire and a 340 Spitfire, all Kawi powered for the first time.

In summary, it looks like there was no 1979 Liquifire by design. But this is written by an observer. Any thoughts from those that were there, or guys with better info would be very welcomed...

-Joe

The dash on that machine lacks the proper indentation and the accompanying John Deere badge that appeared on 1980 machines.

A "Black Trailfire" was spotted at the 1979 Derby, operated by a "kid". The machine looked pretty much like the one in this picture, but the sound from the motor was clearly not from a production Trailfire!

[JRC ETD]

Very significant error in missing a years offering in the Liquifire, then at launch plagued further with jetting and clutching issues.....the work in developing high performance customer equity through racing and 3 years of Liquifire sales were diminished. JRC

[JoeRainville]

JRC,

Thanks for your thoughts. Even 35 years later it still seems odd that Deere did not have their top of the line sled for 79. From what I gathered in the Deere book, the small team had their hands full with getting the 78 Spitfire and then the 79 Trailfires to production before adding the Sportfire and Liquifire for 1980.

Another missed opportunity was that 78 and 79 were actually pretty good sales years for sleds, while 80-83 were terrible years due to weather, high interest rates and such. By the time the Liquifire was calibrated for 81 and updated for 82-84, the competion was 20 to 30hp ahead not to mention IFS and long travel suspensions.

No matter though, as we still love our Liquifires.

-Joe