You don’t see many of them anymore, but before and after World War II, wood-bodied station wagons were somewhat popular. They were attractive to affluent Americans and you would often find them in service at hotels, lodges, country clubs, and even national parks. They were expensive to build and maintain, but the seller’s 1951 Ford looks like a solid survivor-quality vehicle. Located in Camarillo, California, this “Woodie” is available here on craigslist for $44,000. Another neat tip provided by eagle-eye barn finder T.J.!
Ford Motor Co. was well connected to this market. Henry Ford had a thing for Woodies and he owned 400,000 acres of woodland in Michigan’s Iron Mountain Forest as a source for lumber. While the company’s competitors used outside vendors to make their wood bodies, Ford’s would produce their own. A lot of hand labor was required in building a Woodie and we understand they were not a money-making operation. Ford continued to offer these wagons longer than others, with them being all wood from the cowl back through 1948. After that, real wood was attached to steel doors, sides, and tailgates until Ford stopped making them in 1951.
Likely a Custom Deluxe (they would be called Country Squires, too), the seller’s wagon is from the last year of production. The wood looks to be in excellent condition, as this is often the most expensive part of the wagons to restore. The paint is nice, but we’re not told if it’s original. The interior is, but the front bench seat bottom has wrinkles all it is from being stretched. The headliner has been replaced.
Ford’s 239 cubic-inch flat-head V8 resides under the hood and we’re told it has been rebuilt. It has aluminum heads and is paired with a 3-on-the-tree manual transmission, and the seller says the wagon performs well. The mileage is stated to be 3,800, which may be when the clock restarted after the rebuild. The clutch is also new and the bias-ply white-wall tires may be as well. The asking price sounds a bit rich, but when you consider the cost of restoring one of these that comes to you as a basket case, maybe it’s easy to swallow.
1951 wagons were designated “County Squire”. They shared the dashboard design of the 1949 and 1950 (not the updated 1951 Ford dash). Early ‘51 steel tailgates may have been wood-grained but later gates while also embossed to resemble wood panels were body color.
Not all ’51s were labeled as “Country Squires”. Of the five woodies I had, two were ’51s, one a Fordomatic (very rare in the wagons) with Sheridan Blue paint, the other a 3-speed w/o’drive, painted in Hawthorne Green. Both had ‘Custom Deluxe’ fender spears just ahead of the door. Neither had the ‘Crestliner’ trim on the dash, and neither had the simulated wood trim on the dash, As a note, only the ’49s had actual wood on the tailgate. None of my ’50-51s were body color on the tailgates – all were a flat color light tan/khaki frame with a flat-color brown in the embossed center panels. Perhaps my ’51s were earlier production than this very nice example.
BTW, high compression heads/headers, but only a single carb???
40 Grand seems about 25% but these guys are soooo intriguing and stand out at any cars ‘n coffee gathering (and with very stout shocks (a lot of weight there, mate), fun to drive about town.
I owned a 1950 that had a wood tailgate, may have been early production?
But definitely Wood. I could not find any used trim to use, and got extremely lucky, My cabinet man had a worker who said he could do it and he did an excellent job. Unfortunately I was talked into letting a movie company use the car to make a movie, I was told it would be the leading actor’s Pride and joy and would not be harmed. they had another car for one rough scene. The Movie turned out to be “Loose Cannons” with Gene Hackman, and Dan Ackroid. I did not take it back. Lost many original hard to find parts, drilled holes for cameras Etc. This was in the late 80’s.
My ‘51 “Country Square” had the Fordomatic. Body color tailgate with two tail lights and ‘49-50 wood grained dash. An industrious dealer had shaped the radio delete panel to accommodate the restyled ‘51 radio face. I’m assuming it was a late production car (?)