1960s surf musicĮarly in the morning we’ll be startin’ out The vehicle was also featured in Motor Trend magazine in 1952. Holmes researched his Mercury and found that the original owner was Don Bleitz, a famous bird photographer in the 1940s to the 1960s. Every man has their price but Holmes says his car is not for sale – ever. The interior has a customized folding cot that can be set up inside or outside for the surfer in need of a nap. Holmes’s vehicle is one of five Mercury’s built in 1947 with its 4×4 drivetrain. The mahogany panels and interior roof slats were replaced during restoration. The structural wood is birch and all original. Holmes describes driving his Mercury as taking a ride in an authentic museum piece and that he is fortunate to be the caretaker of a unique part of the American automotive history.
It will be at the San Clemente Pier this weekend surrounded by many other automotive treasures. Pictured below is Southern California Woodie Club member David Holmes’s 1947 4×4 Mercury. One man’s trash became the surfers’ treasure. By the mid-1950s vehicles with real wood were discontinued.īy the 1960s, young surfers who needed a cheap car to transport their 10-foot boards latched on to the discarded wagons that were no longer mainstream. The demand for woodies declined rapidly in the 1950s because the wood panels required a lot more maintenance than steel bodies. The wood that made the cars desirable was also their undoing.
It was made in the last year Buick constructed cars with real wood. It is one of only 1,830 made and has a V8 engine. The 1953 Buick above recently sold for $55,000. They were high-end family cars with a list price of $3,295, equivalent to about $34,000 now. By 1951, Chevy stopped making wood-bodied cars.ġ949 was the last year Oldsmobile made woodies. Chevy’s eight-seat woodie was its most expensive model and did not sell well. End of the production lineīy 1947, woodies had started to become unprofitable because of the labor needed to produce them. The all-steel roofs replaced the fabric roofs of the past.
The look of woodies changed a lot in the late 1940s, not because of the wood, but because of steelmaking advancements. After the war, car companies began to produce new cars and since wood was readily available more wood-bodied cars came off the production line in the first few months after the war than in years past. Ford never used ash wood, but GM and Chrysler did.ĭuring World War II, domestic car production was essentially on hold. In 1940, Ford built over 500,000 passenger cars and of those about 8,700 were wood-bodied station wagons. Basswood was used for the longitudinal roof slats. The structural framework was mostly maple, birch, mahogany or gum wood panels. Many woodies were used on ranches and in rural areas because they had huge storage and good towing capacity.ġ940 Fords came in Standard and Deluxe models this changed to Deluxe and Super Deluxe for the 1941-1948 lines. The ad on the right for a late 1940s Dodge shows the family packing up for a getaway. The ad on the left for a 1939 Ford states the station wagon combines beauty with utility. What are woodies? Some history about this collector’s car – and why it might not be ‘classic’ – Orange County Register Close Menu
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