Wood you look at that: Classic car meetup combines modern metal with old school wood
A restored 1949 Ford on display during the car show. Photos by Bobby Grady
Kieran Adams, 5, of Wareham is ready for the open road.
Gilligan the chocolate labrador retriever, left, and Sebastian the black labrador retriever await pets in the back seat of a car.
A 1939 Chevrolet on display.
Many old woodies have roofs designed to look like canoes.
A serving tray hangs off the drivers side .
Many at the event still consider these cars deluxe.
The lineup of cars.
Woody on a woodie.
A restored 1940s mail truck.
Scott Philbrick peeks inside the 1949 Ford.
A restored 1949 Ford on display during the car show. Photos by Bobby Grady
Kieran Adams, 5, of Wareham is ready for the open road.
Gilligan the chocolate labrador retriever, left, and Sebastian the black labrador retriever await pets in the back seat of a car.
A 1939 Chevrolet on display.
Many old woodies have roofs designed to look like canoes.
A serving tray hangs off the drivers side .
Many at the event still consider these cars deluxe.
The lineup of cars.
Woody on a woodie.
A restored 1940s mail truck.
Scott Philbrick peeks inside the 1949 Ford.
While today’s cars are constructed with cutting edge materials, sometimes there’s nothing wrong with going back to the basics.
Cars from the 20th century made their way out of the garage and into the spotlight during the 9th annual Woodie Car Show hosted by Woodie’s On the Green, a Cape Cod based group who specializes in wood bodied cars.
“These are pieces of automotive artistry and craftsmanship,” Woodie's member David Buckman said. “They are from a bygone era and they are completely different from hot rods and other antique cars because of the wood.”
Back in the 1900s, car manufacturers like Ford and Chevrolet used wood as part of many car exteriors and the meetup held Sunday, Sept. 14 at A.D. Makepeace featured over a dozen of these vehicles, otherwise known as woodies.
“There’s always something new that comes that you’ve never seen before,” Buckman said.
The cars are in various conditions, he said. Some vehicles remained completely untouched like the 1942 Plymouth which was used during WWII and others have seen lots of work over the years to return them to their former glory.
Scott Philbrick brought his 1941 Ford he got as a gift for his 50th wedding anniversary and while the paint and roof have been redone, the wood on the side of the vehicle is all original.
“It’s a great grocery getter because it’s so big,” Philbrick said.
He added finding woodies with the original wood is rare. Oftentimes the wood will rot out but in the four years Philbrick has owned the car, he said consistent maintenance has helped him preserve it.
“You got to sand it down lightly and then keep refining it with a good quality varnish,” he said. “There’s three coats on that right now and we will probably do the same thing again in another year or two.”
He added seeing the old cars all in one place “makes me happy.”
“These were very common in the late 30s and 40s and the movies loved them,” he said. “If you look at the old westerns they were full of these things but now if you see one on the road it’s like eagles used to be, you never saw one.”
Jennifer Cronin of Wareham brought her two kids Lucy and Kieran Adams to the show to take a look at the cars.
“We’re big car and truck fans so I saw it advertised online and thought let’s go check it out,” Cronin said.
While 5-year-old Kieran may still be too young to drive, he got to hop in the driver’s seat of a 1986 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible, which he picked as his favorite car.
“It only has four seats in the back,” Kieran said.
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