Can someone tell me what kind of wood is used for the 1925 Chrysler roof?

[Bob D.]

Can someone tell me what kind of wood is used for the 1925 Chrysler roof?

[Bob D.]

Thank you very much,  I am a contractor and that's what I thought.   Are the running boards wood.  Mine are missing.  A detailed picture would be great.  Thanks again!

 

The picture you sent looks good. 

[wayne sheldon]

49 minutes ago, Bob D. said:

Are the running boards wood.

 

Probably, most automobiles in 1925 were still using wood for the running boards. However, any specific model might be different. 

As to what kind of wood Chrysler would have used in any specific year or model? I don't know. Some manufacturers used oak. Some used ash in the running boards.

I had to replace a broken running board on the 1925 Studebaker I restored over forty years ago, and took a broken piece of the original (still had some of the original linoleum on it!) with me to an exotic wood broker. He seemed to really know his stuff! He looked at what I had and exclaimed "Where did you get THIS?"  Then telling me what it was (which I have long since forgotten), "This hasn't been commercially available since before World War Two. There is only one grove of it left in the world (somewhere near the Carolinas?), maybe I could get some?"

I replied that an exact match wasn't necessary, that it was for a running board on a 1925 Studebaker and anything close would be fine. He told me that the closest commercially available wood was Douglas Fir. 

So much for automobiles only using hard woods in them.

I happily overpaid for an extra nice board of Douglas Fir and it made a beautiful running board and served me well for several years until I sold the car.

[Bob D.]

Thanks Wayne,  I posted another question recently.  Can you look at it and maybe have an answer.

[wayne sheldon]

9 hours ago, Bob D. said:

Can someone tell me what kind of wood is used for the 1925 Chrysler roof?

 

7 hours ago, Bob D. said:

I posted another question recently.  Can you look at it and maybe have an answer.

 

I have done repair work on several non-Ford's wood structure over the years, and completely re-wooded a couple of model T Fords. But I have never done any significant work on a Chrysler's woodwork. So the only answers I can really give to that are generalizations.

The old myth that all automobile bodies were wooded with ash is just that, a myth. The truth is that many types of wood were used. Ash in general is one of the better choices.

Oak was sometimes used, but not all that often. It is too hard to be easy to work with in a factory setting, difficult to nail or drive screws into, and actually too brittle to be used if body flexing is required on the road (which it often is!). Various types of mahogany can sometimes be found. Poplar is another one that was often used for less stressful applications (often in flooring).

Hickory was used almost exclusively for wheels for cars. It has the best mix of strength versus flexibility. Oak was sometimes used for truck wheels as their speeds were slow enough, however, it should never be used for automobile wheel spokes because again it is way too brittle for automobile speeds.

Hickory was sometimes used in automobile bodies.

Over the years, I have had dozens of opportunities to examine rotting automobile bodies from the 1910s through the 1930s. Many of them clearly had a mixture of wood varieties in them.

 

I looked at your forum profile, and found you had asked a couple other questions in other threads. None of them were something for which I had good answers.

[viv w]

A couple of 1920's Chrysler tourers that I restored had original birds eye maple in the door frames and they were all built in USA.

Edited October 12, 2023 by viv w (see edit history)

[Vintageben]

So in the Powerhouse museum in Sydney Australia is this pretty cool 1928 Chrysler body that is section and the timbers are labeled and yes many different types used here in Australia, probably doesn’t help you guys in the USA  But thought it might be of interest 

 
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/237123
 

[Rusty_OToole]

Have seen pictures of timber being delivered to auto body plants by the carload. When you figure up how many bodies were made and the amount of wood in each, and figure half was wasted in cutting out the pieces it comes to an astonishing total. I can see why they would use anything that was suitable, would stand the strain and could be bought cheap.

[wayne sheldon]

1 hour ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Have seen pictures of timber being delivered to auto body plants by the carload. When you figure up how many bodies were made and the amount of wood in each, and figure half was wasted in cutting out the pieces it comes to an astonishing total. I can see why they would use anything that was suitable, would stand the strain and could be bought cheap.

 

Exactly right! Add in supply chain disruptions as another reason. Many specialty woods came from commercial groves, most of which could only produce a certain amount of wood in a given time. When you figure in that automobile manufacturers were building more cars with each passing year, and one can quickly see why shortages would occur. Certain pieces NEED to have special characteristics of both strength and flexibility as well as workability in a factory setting. Those special woods would be earmarked for those uses. Remnants and scrap pieces would be used for making smaller parts. When supplies were running low on the special woods, many pieces of the body would be made of what ever was available, hence maple bought from the furniture industry being found in some original bodies.

 

Although I know a bit about it, I certainly am NO expert on woods! I can rarely actually identify a given piece of wood myself by just looking at it. However, I have met people over the years that worked with specialty woods either as a hobby, or professionally, that could identify most common woods easily. One time, many years ago, I had an opportunity to look closely at a heavily weathered and gutted 1920s sedan. Just looking at the different wooden pieces and how they had weathered, I counted five different species of wood in that body. The fellow I was visiting with was really into woodworking and furniture making. He was impressed that I could see the differences of the woods even though I couldn't identify them. He then pointed out what most of them were. As I recall, oak and ash were there, but the one that really stuck with me was maple around part of the window frames. I do not recall what the other two were.

[trimacar]

From a trimmer’s standpoint, ash is the best.  A fine grain wood which takes tacks willingly.  
 

That said, kiln dried ash a few years old does get hard, do your woodwork early in it’s life while it’s fresh.

 

Oak is a poor choice, wide grain and splits  easily. People think it’s a hard wood, yes, it is, but a poor choice for car bodies.