The History of Woodies and a Few Classic Favorites

At the turn of the 20th century, the Midwest, Northeast and other American communities still contained acres upon acres of dense virgin forests. It thus should come as no surprise that wood was the primary building material. Boats, buildings, and horse-drawn carriages were all built of wood and thus when automobiles first arrived, Americans had a lot of experience working and adapting with wood.

The original Ford Model T rolled out of Detroit in 1908 with a body comprising primarily of top Vanadium steel. However, that model and other contemporaries didn't suit everyone and, with steel being too expensive, people improvised with the material they knew best: wood. Mechanics and furniture makers began purchasing the engines and bodyless automobiles from Ford and other automakers and then building up with wooden bodies. These customized wooden vehicles were originally known as 'depot hacks' and were often built to seat more people and used as cabs and similar transport vehicles for use between resorts, hotels, and rail stations. The more gorgeous of these custom wooden vehicles were sold to wealthy individuals.

Ford caught on to the trend and in 1929 the automotive group sold a series of Ford Model A's with wooden side paneling. Chrysler, General Motors, and Nash shortly followed suit and released their own wood-bodied wagons throughout the 1930s and 1940s. However, by the 1950s, manufacturing processes changed and creating metal bodies was much easier, faster, and less expensive than wood. The style quickly faded from fashion (although the 70s and 80s saw a bit of an attempt at a return) -- but not before leaving us with some pretty gorgeous woodie classic car models to drool over. Here's a quick look at some of our favorite pre-1950 woodie classic car models:

Premier Woodie Classic Car Models

• 1937 Ford Deluxe Station Wagon. There are a lot of Lincoln-Zephyr influences in this model of station wagon with its pointed prow, recessed teardrop headlights, and 'alligator' hood. As a station wagon, it featured a bench in the second row and, also for the first time, featured a glass-windowed liftgate in the back. You can watch a pretty outstanding restored version of this woodie classic car in this old Jay Leno video.
• 1941 Willys Americar Woodie Station Wagon. Our team will never not love a Willys -- in fact, we're just about to start work on this 1940 Willys two-door! But one particularly special Willys model that we haven't yet seen in our shop but would love to have is the rare 1941 Willys Americar woodie station wagon. This was the last of Willys-Overland Company's civilian model before they swapped to full war production. This was a quintessential station wagon model with a massive wheelbase of 104 inches offering an extra spacious 6-passenger seating.

Have a Classic Woodie Car Needing Work? Visit CHRA

If you have a woodie classic car that needs some mechanical or bodywork, then don't hesitate to bring her into our shop. Here at CHRA, we love the look of the classic woody vehicle and always relish a chance to get them back to their glory day conditions!