Wood Framed Cars

[31 LaSalle]

I was wondering if anybody knows what year did america phase out wood framed cars I am probably wrong but I am thinking early 30s

[ramair]

I am not sure about custom coach work automobiles but as far as factory built bodies I have a 1939 Packard twelve club sedan with wood framed body.  In 1938 senior series Packard eight and twelve cylinder cars had wood.

Then in 1939 the super eight was moved to the smaller all metal body that was used on the junior 120 leaving the twelve to finish its run of 466 cars before it was cancelled for 1940

[Walt G]

Chrysler Corporation started to use all stamped steel bodies in the early 1930s as you mention. My 1931 Plymouth model PA was an all steel body except for the floor boards.

[58L-Y8]

Dependent upon carmaker and the body series, a good share of the final transition took place in the 1937-'40 period.  Because of the dies and tooling costs plus large stamping presses to create the panels, high volume cars were first as their production could amortize the upfront costs quickly.  The few remaining custom coachbuilders had no reason or financial resources to pursuit all-steel construction.  Rather, most turned to custom modifications of volume all-steel production body shells, albeit with wood still used to create the custom features.      

[Walt G]

Briggs was a pioneer to use the big presses to stamp out body panels, I have a 4 inch stack of linen backed 8 x 10 photographs of Briggs operations doing this in the 1935-42 era that were in their factory archives.

[1912Staver]

Smaller { and some not so small  } English car makers used wood body framing much longer. Riley RM series into the 1950's , MG up to 1954, Alvis right into the 1960's , Morgan up till today. And probably others I have missed.

[Rusty_OToole]

Last American production car with a wooden frame was the Model 1 King Midget 1946 -1951. The chassis was made of 2 oak boards. This may be stretching the definition of production car but they did make them in series and continued to make cars until 1970.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Pierce Arrow made bodies of cast aluminum starting in 1912. If they had any wood it was for tacking strips to hold the upholstery. Bodies were cast in sections, welded  bolted or riveted together and the seams filed and sanded smooth. They continued until 1917 or 1918 then switched to a conventional composite body but with sheet aluminum panels 50% thicker than others used.

 

https://pierce-arrow.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Arrow_2021-2_website.pdf

[Leif in Calif]

Back in the 70's my business did maintenance at the local airport. They had Oshkosh dump trucks for snow removal. I believe they were mid 60's vintage but the doors still had wood framing (which was not holding up to the harsh conditions).   

[Grimy]

1 minute ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Pierce Arrow made bodies of cast aluminum starting in 1912. If they had any wood it was for tacking strips to hold the upholstery. Bodies were cast in sections, welded  bolted or riveted together and the seams filed and sanded smooth. They continued until 1917 or 1918 then switched to a conventional composite body but with sheet aluminum panels 50% thicker than others used.

 

https://pierce-arrow.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Arrow_2021-2_website.pdf

Small nitpicks here:  Pierce kept cast aluminum bodies through 1920 (the end of the RHD remote-trans chassis), and wood was used also to hold door latches as well as upholstery.  During the 1921-1928 period, bodies were sheet aluminum over wooden framing as Rusty described, but fenders, hoods and aprons were steel.  Beginning in 1929 through the Pierce end in 1938, all body metal was steel over a wooden frame.

[1939_Buick]

For most models/brands by GM 1936 was the last wood frames, 1937 all steel

For the larger model Buick series 80 & 90, Caddi using the C body may have some wood for longer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_C_platform_(RWD)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_B_platform

[Bloo]

The 1937 GM/Fisher small bodies were all steel (Buick Special, Century, many other GM cars). At least some of the large Buicks remained wood in 1937, probably all of them. I once took pictures of the inside of the doors of a 37 Buick 80 Phaeton. All wood.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Walt G]

5 hours ago, Grimy said:

Small nitpicks here:

George

Small nitpicks BUT so important to get the facts straight and accurate so many decades later.  Small inaccuracies may not seem important then those "myths" become fact if around long enough where someone can point to them and state " see it says so here" on the AACA forums so has to be correct.  Diligent research and then comments are most important and that is what to all of us reading this here it is all about . Some people just like to voice their opinion about all subjects............. Not putting anyone down or complaining but just want to keep it all true.

Walt

[DFeeney]

As I remember my 1933 Franklin Olympic  ( Reo body) had a lot of wood.

[wayne sheldon]

Dodge Brothers is famous for their "all steel" bodies fairly early. I don't know what year that actually began, but even then it was only on the larger production touring car and roadsters. Sedans and coupes were wood framed for several years yet after the touring cars were "all steel". Even after the standard sedans went mostly "all steel", Dodge had a few low production body styles that were still wood framed. A long time ago, a good friend was quite the Dodge expert, and had several 1925 Dodge Brothers automobiles (his favorite year for them). One he was especially proud of was a 1925 Dodge Brothers rare Victoria/Opera Coupe! It had a typical for the era wooden framed body. I often wonder what ever became of that car. It needed extensive restoration, and he messed up his life and I lost track of him years ago.

During the 1920s, a few major automakers began switching to less wood and more steel structure in bodies. It was a long and slow transition. 

My 1927 Paige 6-45 sedan (Briggs body) has a typical wood framed sedan body, however the four doors are "all steel"! Not even tack strips of wood in them. There isn't enough wood anywhere in those doors to assemble a single toothpick! They sure open and close nice.

 

For 1926/'27, Ford moved toward mostly steel bodies in USA production, except for the four-door sedans which remained steel covering over wooden structure. Two-door sedans, coupes, roadsters, and touring cars all used some amount of wood for tack strips, folding tops, and roofs on the enclosed cars. Model A Fords continued in a similar manner. Model A Ford sedans, some were mostly steel structure (especially the later ones), while some continued as major wooden structure. Early Ford V8s followed suit, and then continued progression to all steel bodies by the end of the 1930s.

 

Chrysler was using a few mostly steel bodies in the mid 1920s, an early proponent for them then furthered by their acquisition of Dodge Brothers in the latter half of that decade. After their acquisition of Dodge, other Chrysler marques went towards more steel and less wood structure. 

 

General Motors was the slowest of the biggest automakers in the USA on that trail. Practically all their cars had wooden framework bodies until at least 1935, with many lower production models still using wooden structure even as late as 1940.

 

The dozens of other significant USA automakers (Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, Willys, and many more) with a few model exceptions mostly continued with wooden structures until their end or the very late 1930s whichever came first.

[Robert G. Smits]

The Budd company claimed to be the first to develop the "all Steel" Automobile body in 1913.  The first major supporter was the Dodge Brothers who ordered 70,000 all steel touring bodies in 1916 which was soon followed by a all steel sedan.  Somewhere in my library I have a book on the history of the Budd company.  Their contributions to the rail industry are probably more significant than the auto industry.

If my memory is correct they produced the body for my 12-13 Garford which is all steel.

[arcticbuicks]

Essex was early to drop wood........GM mostly dropped wood half way through 1936......but still had small body to frame/mounting or spacers  in trucks through 46

[Rusty_OToole]

When it comes to wooden bodies station wagons were the last holdouts. I believe the 1953 Buick station wagon was the last mass produced American car with structural wood.

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[Robert G. Smits]

The 38-41 Cadillac Sixty Special still utilized a wood "frame to body mounting" or Sill plate along with wood structure around the rear window.    Twenty years go when I was looking for a 41 Cadillac tour car I was advised to stay away from this model.  The 38 Town Sedan utilized wood for the rear door, trunk lid and "C" pillar.  Wood was still used for the rear window surround in the 75 series limo through 1956.

[dodge28]

The one thing I can tell is look at a video on Dodge production cars (all 4 cylinders) from 1914 on UTUBE and see the all steel body. 

[61polara]

An old time joke about Brush automobiles:

 

Wooden Frame,

Wooden Axle,

Wouldn't Run.

 

[wayne sheldon]

14 minutes ago, 61polara said:

An old time joke about Brush automobiles:

 

Wooden Frame,

Wooden Axle,

Wouldn't Run.

 

 

And yet, back in their day, those silly outdated single cylinder automobiles made several impressive long distance runs in several places around the world. A single cylinder Brush with wooden frame and wooden axles made one of the first automobile trips around the Outback in Australia!

Truly amazing little cars and part of an incredible history of a too little known automotive pioneer, fortunes made, and fortunes lost, and forerunners to the Chrysler marque. Read up on Alanson P Brush.

[Rusty_OToole]

There are wooden cars (wheels, bodies etc) still around after 100 years. Today's plastic cars start to fall apart after 10 or 20 years.

[JRA]

On 12/18/2023 at 8:51 PM, wayne sheldon said:

Dodge Brothers is famous for their "all steel" bodies fairly early. I don't know what year that actually began, but even then it was only on the larger production touring car and roadsters. Sedans and coupes were wood framed for several years yet after the touring cars were "all steel". Even after the standard sedans went mostly "all steel", Dodge had a few low production body styles that were still wood framed. A long time ago, a good friend was quite the Dodge expert, and had several 1925 Dodge Brothers automobiles (his favorite year for them). One he was especially proud of was a 1925 Dodge Brothers rare Victoria/Opera Coupe! It had a typical for the era wooden framed body. I often wonder what ever became of that car. It needed extensive restoration, and he messed up his life and I lost track of him years ago.

During the 1920s, a few major automakers began switching to less wood and more steel structure in bodies. It was a long and slow transition. 

My 1927 Paige 6-45 sedan (Briggs body) has a typical wood framed sedan body, however the four doors are "all steel"! Not even tack strips of wood in them. There isn't enough wood anywhere in those doors to assemble a single toothpick! They sure open and close nice.

 

For 1926/'27, Ford moved toward mostly steel bodies in USA production, except for the four-door sedans which remained steel covering over wooden structure. Two-door sedans, coupes, roadsters, and touring cars all used some amount of wood for tack strips, folding tops, and roofs on the enclosed cars. Model A Fords continued in a similar manner. Model A Ford sedans, some were mostly steel structure (especially the later ones), while some continued as major wooden structure. Early Ford V8s followed suit, and then continued progression to all steel bodies by the end of the 1930s.

 

Chrysler was using a few mostly steel bodies in the mid 1920s, an early proponent for them then furthered by their acquisition of Dodge Brothers in the latter half of that decade. After their acquisition of Dodge, other Chrysler marques went towards more steel and less wood structure. 

 

General Motors was the slowest of the biggest automakers in the USA on that trail. Practically all their cars had wooden framework bodies until at least 1935, with many lower production models still using wooden structure even as late as 1940.

 

The dozens of other significant USA automakers (Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, Willys, and many more) with a few model exceptions mostly continued with wooden structures until their end or the very late 1930s whichever came first.

I believe the 1928 Dodge-Brothers Victory Six was already all-steel body. It took few years to the rest of Chrysler line to adopt it.