Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Woodie

In a parking lot at Congress Square this woodie, with its rear bodywork of wood, sits waiting for the surf to rise. The vehicle had its birth somewhere in the mid- 1930s but reached its zenith of sales in the '40s and '50s. There were versions of it in sedans and convertibles, but the most popular, at least in the US, seem to be the station wagons. The older guys on Mayfield were always tinkering with old cars trying to convert them into street rods. Us little guys were always around, it seemed, to help push their cars down the road to get them started. The payoff for us? Once the cars were rolling, we got a free ride! That was 50s cool! One the of their cars was an old woodie from the 40's, I think. It was a Ford, as I recall. It was faded-maroon with all that rear wood. The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean in the 60s made the woodie quite a popular icon of the surfing crowd, by putting them all over their album covers. Jan and Dean would have been envious of that maroon woodie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxMyFe81FUg

14 comments:

  1. It's certainly a beautiful car. What is the owner using for maintenance? Furniture polish?

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  2. There was a time I would have killed to have a Woodie. Come to think of it, I still would. Such a neat look.

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  3. B Squared...we of a certain vintage remember these cars with nostalgia. Wouldn't it be grand to own one now, esp if it was in tip top operating condition?!

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  4. Love the angle of this photo and the beautiful wood.

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  5. Funny, I never thought of Portland as 'Surfcity'.

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  6. Great memories of a cool car.

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  7. Wonderful composition in that shot. Thanks for the memories!

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  8. What a great shot of a wonderful old car. I'm off to listen now.
    Merci!
    V

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  9. Believe it or not Brattcat-- lots of surfing off of Higgins and southern beaches to Hampton Beach in NH.

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  10. I need to confess that I don't understand much about cars, but it's an interesting story and I will check the link, thanks a lot!
    hugs
    Léia

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  11. I don't know much about woodies, but I really like you picture: the colors and the framing are stunning, and the wood look so real!

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  12. My husband would love to own this!

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