Woodie (car body style)

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1941 Chrysler Windsor Town & Country

A woodie (or a woodie wagon) is a wood-bodied automobile, that became a popular type of

tailgate
.

Originally, wood framework augmented the car's structure. Over time manufacturers supplanted wood construction with a variety of materials and methods evoking wood construction — including infill metal panels, metal framework, or simulated wood-grain sheet vinyl bordered with three-dimensional, simulated framework. Wood construction was evoked abstractly on the Nissan Pao (1989–1991) and Ford Flex (2009–2019) with a series of horizontal grooves and strakes.[1]

History

1930s and 1940s

As a variant of body-on-frame construction, the woodie as a utility vehicle or station wagon originated from the early practice of manufacturing the passenger compartment portion of a vehicle in hardwood. It was a modern interpretation of an earlier horse-drawn wagon called a shooting brake which was made entirely of wood used to transport hunting spoils, gun racks, and ammunition on shooting trips.[2][3]

Woodies were popular in the

carpenters and craftsmen for individual customers. They could be austere vehicles, with side curtains in lieu of roll-up windows (e.g., the 1932 Ford)[4] — and sold in limited numbers (e.g., Ford sold 1654 woodie wagons).[5] Eventually, bodies constructed entirely in steel supplanted wood construction — for reasons of strength, cost, safety, and durability.[6]

1950s and 1960s

In 1950,

DI-NOC (a vinyl
product). As the appearance became popular, Ford, GM, and Chrysler offered multiple models with the woodgrain appearance until the early 1990s.

The British Motor Corporation (BMC) offered the Morris Minor Traveller (1953–1971) with wood structural components and painted aluminum infill panels — the last true mass-produced woodie. Morris' subsequent Mini Traveller (1961–1969) employed steel infill panels and faux wood structural members.

  • 1950 Buick Roadmaster
    1950 Buick Roadmaster
  • 1950 Chrysler Newport Town & Country convertible
    1950 Chrysler Newport Town & Country convertible
  • 1951 Ford Custom 79 Country Squire
    1951 Ford Custom 79 Country Squire
  • 1960s Morris Minor 1000
    1960s Morris Minor 1000

Simulated woodgrain

See also: Skeuomorph

After the demise of models using actual wood construction, manufacturers continued to evoke wood construction with sheet-vinyl appliques of simulated wood grain, sometimes augmented with three-dimensional, simulated framework, and later by a simple series of indented grooves in the bodywork.

The 1966

vinyl-wood trimmed station wagon, the Caprice Estate. Dodge
also reintroduced simulated wood the same year.

rebadged variants of the Vega (marketed as "Woody"),[8] including the Pontiac Astre Safari, Chevrolet Monza Estate and Pontiac Sunbird Safari, also offered simulated wood trim. Chevrolet offered a simulated woodie version of the Chevette in 1976, and AMC offered the Pacer
wagon with optional simulated wood trim in 1977.

Ford also marketed version of their

Volkswagen Rabbit, and 1970–1991 Jeep Wagoneer had simulated woodgrain siding.[9]

Introduced in 1981, the

aftermarket
firms offered kits as well.

Japanese carmakers shied away from the appearance apart from port-of-entry or dealer-installed trim offered to North American consumers, although Mazda equipped the 1972-1977 Mazda Luce/RX-4 optionally, Honda briefly offered the 1980 Honda Civic station wagon, and Nissan offered the appearance on the 1983-1987 Nissan Cedric V20E SGL and Nissan Gloria V20E SGL top trim package station wagons to Japanese customers only.

In 2010,

Chevrolet Spark for the 2010 Paris Motor Show.[11]

Introduced in 2008, the Ford Flex featured a series of side and rear horizontal grooves intended to evoke a woodie look—without either wood or simulated wood. Car Design News said the styling references "a previous era without resorting to obvious retro styling cues."[1]

See: Smart Fortwo, George Barris woodie version
See: Smart Fortwo, aftermarket woodie kit
See: Chevrolet Spark with woodie trim

Legacy

Columbia Pictures' top-grossing film for the 1940s, director John Stahl's 1945 Leave Her to Heaven starring Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde, features a "woodie" station wagon early in the film. Many other American movies from the 1940s also feature woodies.

The woodie was also closely associated with surfers and

Surf-rock, e.g., “I bought a ’34 wagon and we call it a woodie" from the classic "Surf City" by Jan and Dean or the 1963 instrumental "Boogie Woodie" by The Beach Boys
.

In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 15 cent stamp commemorating the woodie wagon.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Driven: Ford Flex". Car Design News Joe Simpson, Dec 26 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-06-28. Reminiscent of the infamous "woodie wagons" of the '50s, the Flex's aesthetic is notable for referencing a previous era without resorting to obvious retro styling cues. Woodie wagons, such as the type-defining 1953 Buick Roadmaster estate, featured wooden exterior panels towards the rear of the car. The Flex reinterprets this through four distinctive horizontal grooves set into the lower half of both front and rear door panels, and a brushed-aluminum tailgate finish.
  2. ISBN 978-0-7478-0666-0
    .
  3. ^ Terry, Christopher William (1914). Motor Body-building in all its Branches. London: E. & F.N. Spon. p. 6. shooting-brake.
  4. ^ Street Rodder, 7/94, p.90 caption.
  5. ^ Hot Rod Magazine, 7/90, p.50.
  6. Georgano, G. N.
    Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)
  7. ^ Little-known Vega Development stories by John Hinckley, GMAD-Lordstown Vega Launch Coordinator
  8. ^ 1973 Chevrolet Vega brochure Jan. 1973
  9. ^ "Against the Grain: 21 Woodies That Weren't Station Wagons". Car and Driver. 2 September 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Batmobile, 'woodie' Smart cars conjured up by George Barris". USA Today, May 13, 2010. May 13, 2010.
  11. Jalopnik
    , Matt Hardigree, August 5, 2010. 5 August 2010.
  12. ^ "Stamp Series". United States Postal Service. Archived from the original on August 10, 2013. Retrieved Sep 2, 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Woodies.
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