The wooden frame was white ash (adding structural rigidity to the doors and deck lid), fitted with interlocking miters. Mahogany veneer plywood filled the spaces within the frames.
Now that is craftsmanship!!!!
The engine was the Spitfire Straight Eight with 323.5 cubic-inch displacement and 135 horsepower coupled to a fluid drive transmission.
135 HP
The convertible was the most favored of the Town and Country line with 8,368 sold. In 1948, the price tag showed $3,395.
I got this idea from our friend Joe in Florida. Thanks, Joe, for the pictures and the reminder of some these great iconic cars.
I’ve always admired the workmanship that went in to the older cars that had wood components and have always disliked the simulating wood on cars with plastic molding and contact paper stuck on the horrible quality 1970’s and 1980’s station wagons was supposed to be a retro look (but only at 15 feet away) and cool (well as cool a station wagon was back then). I recall working in my father’s body shop and how much “fun” it was to put that contact paper back on Ford station wagon. In this mini series “Gorgeous “Wood Vehicles” I’m going to pick a year and toss you a few facts about the cars that came ‘in wood’.
Wood was used a lot in the auto industry, from all wood wheels to just the spokes to entire frames and interiors (like dash boards and steering wheels). Some of the best uses known uses were on the outside and truck beds. They were often referred to as ‘Woodies” either correctly or incorrectly, be most of us know that the term relates to cars with real wood on the outside. These are the cars I’m going to look in this series. For no particular reason, other than this was the first picture Joe sent, I’m starting with the year 1948.
A major reason for using wood was the shortage of raw materials and labor issues for producing steel/sheet metal. This was the case in 1948, just a few years after the end of World War II.
Nearly all of the major producer had models that had external wood components. This 1948 Chevy was one.
1948 Chevy.
This is the two door Fleetwood Aerosedan, but Chevy also made an 8 passenger station wagon the Model 2109 Fleetmaster. This year’s model set the record for Chevrolet woody production with 10,171 wagons built. Both Cantrell and Iona built bodies to fill the demand for the last Chevrolet wagon with structural wood. The 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Station Wagon was the last true woody (structured wood) from Chevrolet. What type of wood was used? Ash the wood used for the structural base, while mahogany was used for the panels. Leatherette was stretched over a wood frame to provide the roof. Approximately 10,171 were built between February 1948 and January 1949.
Most of these cars were powered by the Chevy Straight 6, 216 CID engine.
The 1948 Straight 6 216 engine (The 235 was very similar).
Engine specs:
Bore and stoke 3.5 x 3.75 (in); Displacement 216.5 (CID); Compression 6.50:1; Max Brake Horsepower 90 @ 3300 RPM; Max Torque 174 Lbs.ft. @ 1200 RPM
Packard was another manufacturer that produced woodies. They released their Twenty-Second Series cars. They were Packard’s first totally new models were since before World War II. The wood used was northern birch for the frame and maple panels. This was purely for looks, because the overall structure was braced by the metal body shell which actually was modified from the Standard Sedan Body, only the upper rear quarters which were removed from the sedan body used the wood as actual bracing. On the door sides and window frames the regular sheet metal was cut away in order to allow the wood to be inlaid, rather than just bolted on top. These were powered by the Packard’s L-head straight 8.
Some engine specs:
Bore x stroke 3.50 x 3.75 (in.); Displacement 288.64(cid); Horsepower 130 @ 3,600 rpm; Torque 226(lb-ft) @ 2,000 rpm; Compression ratio 7.0:1; Main bearings 5; Lubrication full-pressure; Carburetor Carter 2-bbl
automatic Choke; mechanical Fuel pump
We have Chrysler’s, and Pontiac’s 1948 woodies as well as a Bentley woody and Willys coming up next in this series.
I have a National Motor Museum Mint die-cast car to give away. It is the 10 millionth car Ford produced. It was 1924 and the 1924 Model T Touring Car was the car of choice.
When new, the “real” car would cost between $295 and $380. There were 773,102 produced and it was powered by the L-4. With 176.7 cubic inches displaced it muscled out 20 Horse power.
In the original box and with Certificate and "baseball" card
How do you win? Post of a good picture of your 1920-1950 engine, tell us what it is and get someone to like the pic. The engine picture with the most Likes wins.
You can post it on our Facebook page located here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Average-Guys-Car-Restoration-Mods-and-Racing/185827701454279
Oh the cars of the 1950’s were great. So how did they start out that iconic decade?
Some fantastic car and shapes came out in 1950.
Leading the numbers game was Chevy and Ford with over a million each, Chevy with 1,498,590 and Ford with 1,208,912, not bad.
Plymouth was third with nearly 800,000 out of first place with 610,954, Buick with 588,439 and Pontiac finished up the top 5 with 446,429.
Here’s the rest of the 19 makers:
Oldsmobile – 408,060
Dodge – 341,797
Studebaker – 320,884
Mercury – 293,585
Chrysler – 179,299
Nash – 171,782 (produced it’s 2,000,000th car)
DeSoto – 136,203
Hudson – 121,408
Cadillac – 103,857
Packard – 42,627
Lincoln – 28,190
Kaiser – 15,228
Crosley – 6,792
Frazer – 3,700
Do you have a favorite? I have a couple. My first would be the Hudson, followed closely by the Studebaker with its bullet nose.
I don't know why but I love the shape of these cars. Here is the 1950 Hudson Commodore.
There is nothing more interesting than the Bullet Nose Studebaker. Here is the 1950 Land Cruisera.
What else went on in 1950?
Micro Cars!!! Say WHAT??? Yeah!!! The IMP – hailed as “The Little Car with the Big Future”. With an MPG of 10 miles per gallon and all fiber glass body, the hopes were high. But the car didn’t sell and disappeared in the same year.
Well I’m beginning to think that my local grocery store is really a car show 7 days a week!!!
Case in point is this ’39 Ford coupe I saw over the weekend.
Great Hub Caps, Great Paint.
You’ve got to love that split rear window.
Pretty stout looking tail pipes.
Besides the tail pipes I’m liking the chevron tail lights.
1939 brought hydraulic brakes to the Fords for that year. Ford produced 487,031 cars that year, coming in second to Chevy.
Love the rolling fenders and the dog dish hup caps with the V8 log pressed into the centers.
Love the grill and the V8 and Ford badges.
You can't tell from my 'most excellent' photos, but there is a huge difference in the width of the rear vs. the front.
The V8 engine was the Flathead, which was originally developed in 1932. For 1939 the flathead was the V8-91A, compression increased to 6.15:1, power rose to 90 hp.
I thought I’d share the an interview of Ed Pettus (previous owner of this unique vehicle) conducted by Dave Rasdal in is column “Ramblin'” in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Thegazette.com. I’m interested in his next project.
The Crow Lakester
When Ed Pettus finished building his bullet-shaped Lockheed Lakester a year ago, he didn’t plan to sell it. But, after a whirlwind tour of the car that’s a cross between a jet airplane, a Bonneville Salt Flats racer and a 1930s biplane, he changed his mind.
“I do all of these projects and when I’m done, what do I do?” says Ed who with son Eddie Pettus Jr. has Eddie’s Rod & Custom in Cedar Rapids.
The Lakester, which I wrote about last July, is built around a wingtip gas tank of a 1950s Lockheed Super Constellation and has a steering yoke from a 1948 airplane. Parts came from 1930s Packards, a 1940 Ford tractor and a 1959 Chevy pickup. It has a turbocharged Toyota engine.
From shows in Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities, it went to Chicago’s World of Wheels, a two-month stay at the Experimental Aircraft Association museum in Oshkosh, Wis., and on display at El Mirage near Long Beach, Calif., where dry lake bed speed runs originated.
“I thought, you know, after that I’m going to take it home and put it in the garage,” Ed says.
But, as a fan of the famous Barrett-Jackson vehicle auction in Arizona, Ed inquired about selling the Lakester. Told it was too late, he sent information anyway and was surprised to become a last-minute entry. It went on the block Jan. 21.
But, this auction doesn’t allow sellers to set a minimum price — if the high bid is $100, the car sells for $100.
Ed had insured the Lakester for $100,000. Bidding opened at $10,000.
“We were a nervous wreck,” he says, referring to his wife, Kathy, and friends in attendance.
Bidding quickly rose, though, to $100,000. Two bidders pushed it to $170,000, the winner from Georgia adding it to his collection.
“We feel so blessed with what we got,” Ed says. He’ll use the extra funds to retire the mortgage on Ellis Boulevard NW property (home and vacant lot) destroyed by the Floods of 2008.
Unsure about what they can do with the property, Ed, 60, isn’t waiting around for another hot rod project. All he says is that it’s a unique truck. “Let people wonder.”
I have a Ford and as I’ve said before, though the years (ok….40’s, 50’s and 60’s) they produced some of the more interesting cars with some of the most powerful engines. Of those engines the Cleveland and the Windsor were major players.
I’m not alone thinking that the only real difference between the two were the names each being made in the plant they were named after. The Windsor was named after the Essex Engine plant in Windsor, Ontario and the Cleveland Engine Plant in Ohio.
1914 Photo of the Essex Engine plant in Windsor, Ontario
Cleveland Casting Plant where the Cleveland engines started.
Totally different plants and countries about the only they had in common was displacement.
I love the Sunliner the 50’s and 60’s models. Love the fins and the dual antennas on the 1960 in this vid. Ford made some of the most innovative and well designed cars in the 50’s and 60’s. I am a fan.
I’m not sure what year it. You couldn’t really tell by the headlights or tail lights. But one doesn’t often see one of these in this condition too often.
One of a kind.
Back of the Bun!!
The interior was set up like a tour bus.
What I can tell you is that the big dog is resting what appears to be a Chevy Dually pick up truck bed. According to the sign it’s powered by a 5700 6.0 Vortech Chevy engine.
