The classier Mercury brand did not miss out on the woodie wagon action. Like the Buick Roadmaster, Ford had ditched genuine wood trim for the Country Squire in 1953, with woodgrain trim used from then on. These included a roof-mounted boat with a tent beneath it.Īn electric fridge was mounted in the rear, whilst a shower attachment made this the ultimate outdoor estate.
This particular Ford Country Squire was used to display a range of ‘push button’ accessories. With woodgrain replacing genuine timber, the woodie moved away from being a coachbuilt creation into a lifestyle wagon. Just 670 examples of the last wooden woodie were sold in 1953. For 1953, Buick replaced the Fireball with a V-8, but still mated to a two-speed automatic gearbox. The most expensive Buick on offer at the time, the original Roadmaster woodie came with an inline eight-cylinder Fireball engine. Buick first began making the Roadmaster range in 1936, but a woodie station wagon version would not appear until 1947.
Chrysler would sell almost 2,000 Town & Countrys before WW2 cut production short. The modern, streamlined, design combined handsome looks and space for nine, with a six-cylinder engine and the option of a semi-automatic transmission. Pegged firmly as a luxury offering, the wooden exterior elements were used for styling rather than structural integrity. Sensing the growing station wagon market, Chrysler entered in 1941 with the steel-roofed Town & Country model. 1941 Chrysler Town and Country © Stellantis.A choice of V-8 engines was offered, in either 136-cubic inch or 221-ci displacements.
Three rows of seating offered the potential for up to eight passengers, with a split tailgate used as well.ĭeluxe models gained additional chrome trim, fancier woodgrain for the dashboard, plus extra tail lights over the Standard version. With over 120,000 examples built between 19, early Ford woodie wagons were a relatively common sight on the roads of America.
The Westchester featured luxurious leather upholstery and removable rear seats for increased practicality, pre-dating modern SUVs by decades. Traditionally built by third-party companies from a bare rolling chassis, in 1934 Plymouth began offering a finished woodie direct to customers. Timber structures were used from the beginning of automobile manufacturing, so the earliest woodie wagons took advantage of body-on-frame construction. 1934 Plymouth Westchester Semi-Sedan Suburban © Stellantis.As an icon of suburban family life, the wood-sided station wagon occupied American driveways for more than six decades.įrom the early bespoke creations, to the mass-market models of the 1970s, this is the story of the woodie wagon’s rise and fall.