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1951 Ford Woody Wagon Is a Real Beast, Doesn’t Show It

Nowadays, wood is a material that is used in building high-end cars, with the finest examples of it making for incredibly luxurious interiors. But there was a time when people appreciated the look and feel of wood on the exterior of their cars, and there was nothing luxurious about them.
1951 Ford Woody Wagon 17 photos
Photo: Mecum
1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon1951 Ford Woody Wagon
The trend of having some exterior body parts of a car covered in wood started decades ago, in the 1930s, and peaked over the next few decades. Everybody was in on it, as carmakers were looking to ride the wave, and so woodies were born.

For Ford, the woodie adventure started in 1929, and ended at about the same time as with all others, not leaving behind a fan base to crave for such builds. Yet, from time to time people do go nuts and try to revive cars of this type for simple enjoyment, or as a gamble meant to make them an extra buck.

The 1951 Ford Woody you see here is one of those gambles. It was put together over a very long period of time, eight years, and benefitted from the involvement of several custom shops across America, including Cali-based Messano Woodworks, or Easy Street Hot Rods from Washington state.

Riding on an Art Morrison chassis, the wagon looks as unassuming as all other of its kind out there, with wood covering the two doors and the very long rear panels. Once it gets moving though, it would have no problem taking on the giants of the drag strip.

You see, the rather short hood of the thing hides underneath an LS3 V8 which in this application has been cranked up to 485 hp, and was tied to an automatic transmission and a 9 inch Ford Positraction rear end. We’re not told anything about acceleration numbers, but the size of the troop kind of speaks for itself.

The car, which you can admire in full in the attached gallery, is listed for sale during this week’s Mecum auction in Las Vegas. It appears to go with reserve, but we are not being told how much that is.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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