More woodie station wagon questions

[Tom Boehm]

There was another thread this past week about woodies that generated some passionate responses because there is not a lot of accurate history out there about wood bodied cars. Here are some more questions to debate that books and magazines either don't talk about or get wrong. A lot of people in 2024 who see a woodie station wagon at a car show have no concept of or familiarity with what they are looking at. Here are some of my conclusions after reading a lot about the history of the auto industry over the years. Do you agree or disagree? 

 

1. Why were the bodies of depot hacks/station wagons made of wood to begin with?

Up until the mid 1930's, all cars had wood framing under the steel skin. Depot hacks were custom built by local craftsmen to suit the needs of tradespeople. Because these were commercial vehicles I guess they did not need or want the expense of the steel skin? 

 

2. Why did they continue to build wood bodied cars for another 15 years or so after the all steel body was developed in the mid 1930's?

There was not enough demand for station wagons to justify the high cost of tooling for the stampings. It was not until the early 1950's when the demand for station wagons justified the cost of tooling for a unique body. This subject is never talked about in books or magazines. 

 

I think another reason to consider is tradition. Wood station wagons with varnished ash and mahogany bodies had a strong association with upper class outdoor lifestyle and leisure. An all steel station wagon with no wood just did not carry on that luxury tradition. That's why they kept using fake wood contact paper until they quit making station wagons around 2000. 

 

3. I have read in magazines the reason for the Ford Sportsman and the Chrysler Town and Country was a lack of steel after the war. I don't believe that. The 1946 models were the same as the 1942 models. These cars were something new to get people into the showrooms. A wood bodied car did not require expensive new tooling for a new steel body. 

 

[3macboys]

I'll add my 2 cents

 

1 - It's not true that ALL cars had wood framing under the sheet metal into the mid 30's.  Dodge was not alone in having all steel bodies much earlier.  The wood framing was fast disappearing by 1930 with some manufacturers using it longer than others.  

 

2/3 - Plymouth began building all steel wagons in 1949, a low cost car line.  You might argue that the all steel wagon lowered the cost, creating the demand for station wagons.   The technology to stamp large panels was not all at that old at the onset of World War II and it is only speculation but the war effort I would suspect only added to that technology and ability.  New products still took time to develop so it would only be natural for a 3 to 4 year timeline after the war for new designs to hit production.  As to the fake woodgrain, I think that was a personal taste thing to attract as many buyers as possible - I still cringe when I think of the original Magic Wagons with the fake wood - not to mention the K car wagons.  

 

The real truth is a lot of what happened was based on economics and the personal choices of the designers and the presidents of the companies.  The consumers were left to pick from the choices presented to them.  

[46 woodie]

Tom, I think the answer to your first question is that many of the companies that were producing depot hack bodies were wagon builders. They had woodworking machinery to build the wagons, but didn't see the need to invest in metalworking tools. As for question two, I do know that Ford made very little profit on the station wagon line. The wood bodied station wagon was the costliest body to build including material and labor. The public did like wood bodied station wagons, so I guess the major manufacturers decided to keep the line going until it just generated little or no profit. I never heard the steel shortage rumor, but the Ford Sportsman was an idea that sprang up after a wood bodied Model A beach wagon was built in the Ford shops  and Henry Ford II used at his Long Island summer home.

[30DodgePanel]

Some of you may recognize the name Charlie Crowell, a early member of the National Woodie Club (mbr #19). I copied and pasted the article here because of all the damn popups and advertisements on the site where I found this article. Worth the read in my opinion, even without references to source details. This doesn't go in depth regarding the many terminologies that were used ie woodies, estate cars, depot hacks or station wagons and other possible terms but does touch on a few of them. I believe his article answers some of the questions for the OP.

 

The History of Woodie (or Woody) Station Wagons (articlebiz.com)

 

Here is what he wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 23 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[46 woodie]

30 Dodge, very nice article. I find it almost comical in that every car show I attend someone asks, "Where is your surfboard"? Everyone seems to equate the wood bodied station wagon with surfing, when all along as the article points out, they were used at hotels and inns and other commercial venues. Surfer's loved them because by the 1960's they were cheap and they could transport their surfboards in them. Another fact that I find amusing is that as the article states, and we know as fact, that Ford started station wagon production in 1929 after 5 prototypes were built in 1928, yet there are about two dozen 1928 Ford station wagons listed in the National Woodie Club. If you look at pre-production engineering pictures of the five prototype 1928 Model A wagon's you can see small differences in some areas. 1929 Model A station wagon number one went to Edsel Fords summer home in Maine and prototype number two went to C.W. Avery of the Murray Body Co. Oh yeah, I get the termite jokes all the time!

[30DodgePanel]

4 minutes ago, 46 woodie said:

30 Dodge, very nice article. I find it almost comical in that every car show I attend someone asks, "Where is your surfboard"? Everyone seems to equate the wood bodied station wagon with surfing, when all along as the article points out, they were used at hotels and inns and other commercial venues. Surfer's loved them because by the 1960's they were cheap and they could transport their surfboards in them. Another fact that I find amusing is that as the article states, and we know as fact, that Ford started station wagon production in 1929 after 5 prototypes were built in 1928, yet there are about two dozen 1928 Ford station wagons listed in the National Woodie Club. If you look at pre-production engineering pictures of the five prototype 1928 Model A wagon's you can see small differences in some areas. 1929 Model A station wagon number one went to Edsel Fords summer home in Maine and prototype number two went to C.W. Avery of the Murray Body Co. Oh yeah, I get the termite jokes all the time!

 

 

Interesting perspective and a lot to consider in what you're saying regarding the Ford brand, but one thing really stands out to me and I've tried and tried to get some guys to understand the difference between date produced and model year.

 

Not to hijack and/or get off topic, but I know that there's a ton of confusion surrounding "model year" and "year produced" so maybe that could explain this discrepancy that you have pointed out?

 

For example, Dodge (and most other manufacturers) started production on most new models after July 1. So anything produced in say August 1928 is technically not a 1928 "model", it's technically a 1929 model. Then there's the issue with many of these early vehicles being titled and registered as a 1928 (rightly so) while the whole time owners label them as 1928 models incorrectly as your example indicates. Could this be why you see two dozen listed in the NWC roster? I don't know... but I would think so. It's actually one of my biggest pet peeves regarding research. I wish more would pay attention to those details and why it's important to clarify. It wouldn't be hard to say "my model 1929 was first produced and titled in late 1928, but it is a 1929 model".