Woody Wagons

Growing up in central Illinois I was not familiar with the Wooden Wagons as they were not popular in our area due to the severe winters. My father did own a 50 Woody with bad wood that he refinished and used it to pull his boat to the lake, but I never liked the wagon. I was not interested in Wooden Wagons until 1984 when we moved to Laguna and Woody Wagons were plentiful along the coast. They were parked at every surfing spot my children visited. My daughter wanted me to buy a Wagon so I started looking for one. We also attended Wavecrest which was close to where we lived. I was hooked! In the early 80’s Wooden Wagons were in the $20-20K range for a nice one and in the $10-15K range for one that needed new wood or some pieces replaced. I had a 40 convertible at that time and found a 46 Ford that was available for trade. I tried to get some boot but to no avail. I ended up passing and regretted that decision later on. I keep on building Deuces, Model 40’s, 40 Fords, 46-48 convertibles and didn’t purchase a Woody Wagon until I retired in 2000.

I purchased the car from a friend in Napa who had a couple of Woodies in his garage. I had two other projects at the time and a third back surgery limited my ability to work on the Woody which needed a new Hot Rod chassis. My good friend Bob made me an offer I couldn’t resist and I sold the project. The 4 was finished and is still in his garage with and added 327 engine hooked to the stock driveline. We have regrets for selling some our loves but for me, as long as I can see it went to a good home, I am happy.

Jane and I will drive Pepe to the annual Santa Barbara Woodies outing this Saturday and enjoy the company and camaraderie of the Woody owners. As I have stated many times in the past, the Woody events and people are the best you could hope for.

Stay Tooned!

Lynn

 

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A Happy Retirement present with my Woody Wagon. I still had some hair left — I should have kept this one.

Bill restored it for his son using Chris to redo the wood to perfection.

The car came with the black plates in 2000. Most of the wood is original.

Santa Barbara offers a large grassy knoll overlooking the Pacific where we set up camp and have lots of fun and food.

They also let non-woody vehicles in on the lower lawn. The 3-window is my old one owned by Walt at the time of this photo.

The turnout is about 125 Woody Wagons.

I always cover the leather seats with a Deuce blanket to keep the feeling going.

I always donate some woody pictures for the silent auction. I safe pack them for the trip to Santa Barbara.

Ruby has all the comforts of a late model ride.

Lorraine and Jane enjoy the morning paper.

Walt had access to a Fat Jack built Woody from years ago.

Jim De Frank is setting up camp on the luscious grounds.

 A local favorite is this 40 deluxe with a matching trailer.

The Silent Auction has some great items available. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Winning a Surf Board would be nice but none of our crowd has ever won one.

Jim also owns this stunning 1950 shoebox Woody.

I seem to dwell on the 1940 Woodies but the 46-48 models are also on my list.

Some owners bring out the best in luncheon furniture complete with carpet .

The picnic basket is also a popular Woody accessory. The cake is real.

The dark wood grained dash is looking good is this Woody.

Jim will be there as he is each year representing the National Woodie Club.