Ford Motor Company produced the first woodie wagon in 1929 with it’s Model A. The woodie was quite popular and it’s style lasted about a quarter of a century. The 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Woodie Wagon featured here is a great example of the beauty automakers could add to a vehicle by using finished wood trim. This eight passenger Woodie Wagon is a true classic Ford. From 1929 up to 1951 Ford Motor Company sold the most popular woodie station wagons during those years.
Henry Ford was so confident that the woodie concept would endure he bought hundreds of thousands of acres of woods in the western part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
By 1940, complete wood bodies were being built at Iron Mountain, Michigan and shipped to the Ford assembly plants where they were put on chassis. The vehicle’s body framework was typically maple, birch, mahogany or gum wood panels.
The first woodies were wagons and utility depot hacks. These were vehicles that were used at the time to transport passengers typically to and from railroad stations and hotels. These replaced the wooden horse drawn wagons. It’s a fact that during the first few decades of the twentieth century, the bodies of motorized depot hacks were essentially the same as those made for horse carriages except to lengthen them to fit over truck wheels. While the very first generation of wooden depot hacks were not enclosed, it didn’t take long for automakers and coach builders to build totally enclosed bodies.
Building Cars and Trucks Working with Wood
While we look at the styling beauty of classic restored woodie wagons, it’s interesting to understand what it takes to build and maintain such an impressive upscale vehicle.
Wood was nothing new to transportation since horse drawn carriages were mainly made of wood. Many people involved in the new motor car industry were previously involved in the carriage building business. Stamped metal was expensive and wood could fill the need early on.
Building a woodie motor vehicle would often take well over one hundred pieces of wood and the building process would be quite time consuming. It was a very labor intensive model to build. The extra costs of production of course would have to be passed on to the buyer. On the other hand, the woodie buyer would have to pay attention to maintenance. Unlike metal, wood can warp and rot over time if not cared for.