Vehicle Description
1950 Ford Custom Deluxe Country Squire Woody Station Wagon
In their day, wooden bodied station wagons were work horses.
Considered unattractive and strictly utilitarian, they were
produced in low numbers. Then after a half century of production,
they were gone, discontinued, largely because they were so
difficult to manufacture and maintain. Yet today, they can sell for
more than a house and are considered classic beauties. Sometime in
the late 19th century, a forgotten mechanic fastened a primitive
engine to a horse drawn wagon creating the first horseless wagon.
The details have been lost to history but from that humble
beginning, a style of automobile was born, one that still exercises
influence upon us over 100 years later. Eventually auto
manufacturers began producing their own versions. Ford introduced
the first production woodie in 1929. Throughout the 30's most other
manufacturers joined in, usually with very limited success. Some
lesser known car makers only produced a prototype or two. The
largest car company at the time, Chevrolet, waited until 1939
before they introduced their first woodie. By then the vehicles had
become known as "station wagons", a variation of the earlier name
"depot hack", but was still a reference to train stations. Woodies
were never a profitable item for car makers. They were extremely
labor intensive to produce; literally hand assembled. Ford bought a
track of forest known as Iron Mountain in Michigan as a source for
lumber, other makers simply purchased the lumber, or more often,
had outside vendors manufacture the wood bodies.
For consignment, a frame off restored 1950 Custom Deluxe Country
Squire woody wagonlooking the part with its rounded lines accented
by chrome trimmings. A worked over and souped up 239ci flathead V8
and beautiful wood for the passenger's compartment, but all still
retaining that post-war Ford charm. A fine example showing a mere
11,991 title verified actual miles gracing our South hallway or
maybe even the main showroom. These cars tend to move all over the
Hallowed Halls of the Classic Auto Mall.
Exterior
All steel with attached chrome upfront sporting a center bullet
style ring and building on this design to complete the entire
grille. Chrome is in great condition, showing excellent and
mirror-like all around. The steel shows with some slight rust
bubbling on the lowers and is bathed in a year correct hue of
Cambridge Maroon. The paint overall remains shiny but does present
with its fair share of cracking and chips. This car has one of the
coolest hood ornaments, very art deco style with its pointed raised
sides and 1/4 circle clear insert. Part of the post war redesign,
we note slab sided fenders, we are moving into the modern era of
the next car look as to the overall design genre. A hinged on the
back hood with some curved edges, and a bulbous badged front
section let us know we are firmly in Ford country, but starting
with the dual pane windshield we move into another world
altogether. We see a central passenger compartment which utilizes a
mix of blonde oak boarding and panels to make up the square doors
and rear side panels. A full length Cambridge Maroon steel roof
covers this wooden compartment and rounds over the roof edges
creating the perfect topper. More maroon steel is taking shape for
the bottoms of the rear fenders and crystal clear sliding glass for
the 2nd row seating area gives your passengers a wonderful view of
the countryside as you motor along. Moving to the back we note the
clamshell style steel rear gate with its spare tire cover and round
chrome bezel tail lights. A near perfect chrome bumper with upright
guards sits below all of this and 15-inch maroon steel wheels with
polished trim rings and chrome Ford logo moon caps and deeply
treaded wide whites round out the package.
Interior
Taking some liberties to show off the fine finishes of the
interior, the maroon painted metal dash with exterior matching
curved design is nearly pristine and houses a large centered
speedo, with surrounding oil, battery, temp, and fuel gauges. We
note a central clock is above an original oval faced round push
button Ford AM radio. Fronting the dash is a red bakelite steering
wheel with chromed horn half ring all presentingas nearly new. A
clean tan carpet is below in good condition, and above is a tan
headliner nice and tight with no stains. The 2 rows of chairs are
now covered in nice medium saddle leather and there are a split and
solid benches for the front and rear row respectively. The door
panels are finished in a faux oak paneling and have chromed handle
accenting for the cranks and actuators. A large round brown
bakelite steering wheel with a black leather wrapped rim fronts
this dash. The inside of the passenger compartment is pure art with
a mix of wood, cloth and leather.
Drivetrain
Flipping the hinged hood, we see in the restored engine bay, a
239ci flathead V8 which our decoder states is correct for this car.
The mill is fed air and fossils via a pair 2-barrel carburetors
sandwiched between an Offenhauser intake manifold and small chrome
air cleaner assemblies. We note the addition of Edelbrock aluminum
cylinder heads along with a conversion to a 12 volt system with an
alternator replacing the generator. A 3-speed manual transmission
with overdrive is on back which sends power to a 4.10 geared rear
axle.
Undercarriage
An X frame with no rust firmly supports rust floor pans and body
hangers all in a nicely applied black. This is definitely an all
solid undercarriage environment with very few flaws to note, with
even the dual exhaust system and glasspack style mufflers looking
nearly new. Independent coil springs provide the ride front and in
the rear aretraditional leaf springs that all work with drum brakes
on all 4 corners.
Drive-Ability
She started right up, and on the test track had solid acceleration
and bias free braking. The steering was smooth and shifting was the
same. All other functions were working as they should save for the
overdrive being non functional, otherwise I had a splendid ride
around our test track simply breathing in all the wood
craftsmanship. While Classic Auto Mall represents that these
functions were working at the time of our test drive, we cannot
guarantee these functions will be working at the time of your
purchase.
In keeping most of its original charm with under 12,000 original
miles, we see an overall very good condition automobile with that
fab grille! Much of the original trimmings and steel panels have
been retained and the paint is near excellent, still shiny after
all those years showing just a few small battle scars. It is time
to do another bucket list thing in retirement, so advantage YOU!
Come and get it!
B0SP161044
B-239ci V8
0-1950
SP-St. Paul, MN Assy Plant
161044-Sequential Unit Number
Classic Auto Mall is home to more than 1,000 classic and
collectible vehicles for sale via consignment in a climate
controlled 336,000-square foot showroom (that's more than 8
acres!). The largest single location consignment dealer of classic
and collectible vehicles in the country is located in Morgantown,
Pennsylvania, just 1-hour west of Philadelphia off Exit 298 of the
I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. For more information visit
www.classicautomall.com or call us at (888) 227-0914. Contact us
anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.
There is no guarantee of mileage. A $299 Dealer Administrative fee
is not included in the advertised price.
With so many great cars, you know we have a lot to talk ab...for
more information please contact the seller.
