Studebaker Woodies

[garyash]

At the request of John Clary, here is some info about Studebaker woodie wagons.

Of course, Studebaker had built wagons and carriages for eons before making cars, so wooden body building was no challenge. There were early depot hacks and wood-bodied trucks, but the woodie station wagons, as we know them, were mostly fabricated by outside companies on Studebaker car and truck chassis from the mid-1930s until the mid-1950's. I have a bunch of photos, though some of them are small.

A 1937 example was by U.S. Body and Forge. The Studebaker National Museum has had die-cast models of it.


Here's a 1939 woodie, not sure who made the body.


After WWII, woodie bodies on the M5 /M15 chassis were available from Mifflinburg and from Hercules-Campbell, possibly also from Cantrell.
Mifflinburg bodies 1946
Hercules-Campbell body

At least one M5/M15 was converted in the Netherlands. It was restored a few years ago and is probably in the U.S. now, though I have never seen it. If it is here, it is the only known surviving Studebaker woodie in the U.S. and perhaps anywhere. [Please prove me wrong on this point!]


These were followed by woodies on 2R truck chassis of 1/2 ton or 1-ton size. Here are pictures of the Cantrell versions. If you want to go looking for one, a batch of 16 were sent from Cantrell to Saudi Arabia in 1952. Maybe the dry, desert air preserved one someplace.

Apparently, I have reached the limit of 10 photo attachments per post.

You can read about the various body companies at www.coachbuilt.com and see more photos there.

[dpson]

Thanks Gary for starting this thread, which came over from comments about the R-series (truck, not engines) woody in photo #5890 in the "Studes in Roadside America" thread. I can't offer much information about Studebaker woodies, other than knowing that they are extremely rare, almost non-existent. Somewhat related, both my dad and I once owned 1937 Plymouth woodies, his was restored and had a USBF body mine was more of a parts car and had a Cantrell body. The story is that Plymouth used USBF bodies exclusively in 1937, however the USBF plant was flooded that year and so at least one Plymouth woody was produced with a Cantrell body. Because it was so rare it was purchased and painstakingly restored by a Plymouth enthusiast who did an outstanding job.

[Studebaker Wheel]

You can find a comprehensive article on Studebaker woodies in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of The Antique Studebaker Review. Approx 3000 words and 25 original photos. Also two issues of the Woodie Times for July and Sept 2007. I authored both. By the way the 1937 Studebaker woody bodies were built by U.S. Body and Forging.

[jeds55]

Photo-Shop Studebaker woodies

Found this on Facebook...

[62champ]

Apparently there were even some sent to Brazil as well

[jclary]

You can find a comprehensive article on Studebaker woodies in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of The Antique Studebaker Review. Approx 3000 words and 25 original photos. Also two issues of the Woodie Times for July and Sept 2007. I authored both. By the way the 1937 Studebaker woody bodies were built by U.S. Body and Forging.

Thanks for chiming in Richard. I was thinking of you when I humbly offered my disclaimer in the other thread. Every "Studebaker Almanac" you authored in Turning Wheels was a great work in itself. Sadly, in my working days, I would too often thumb through the magazine, look for neat pictures, perhaps skim by some of the print, on the way to the cooperator section. Once I read the technical stuff, I would hurry to the classifieds looking for a "steal of a deal" (which I never found), and check out the parts for sale. I almost hesitated posting for fear that I had missed an exhaustive "Almanac"(on woody Studes) you may have published. Not having an prewar car, I have not subscribed to the Antique Studebaker Review.

If many of us had really read, and absorbed the information you, Art Unger, and others provided in years gone by...us older members would not be asking some of the questions we do here on the forum. I recall in one of your articles, you made a statement of something (don't recall exactly what) being "Lost to History." To me, the efforts of you, and many others, through the years, has prevented a lot of Studebaker stuff, from being "lost to history." Thank you.

By the way, I have one of those die cast '37 Woody models. Being that I was born in 1944, I have no memory of seeing a 1937 woody "anything." While woody vehicles have been romanticized, look good in magazines, museums, movies, etc. They really didn't have a lot going for them in the survival department. Our very first family car was a 1951 Pontiac straight 8 powered station wagon. It was bought used in 1953. It rattled, the finish on the wood was already shot. Our next family car was a 1954 version of the same car. If I recall correctly, by then, it was some kind of fake wood decal instead of real wood. By 1957, it too was a cosmetic mess.

Real woody cars not only had to deal with cracking finish, rusting screws, shrinking, separating, etc. But notorious for holding moisture and rusting out the metal in which they were framed. I love to look at them, but I don't think I would be up to the reality of caring for one.

[raprice]

At the request of John Clary, here is some info about Studebaker woodie wagons.

Of course, Studebaker had built wagons and carriages for eons before making cars, so wooden body building was no challenge. There were early depot hacks and wood-bodied trucks, but the woodie station wagons, as we know them, were mostly fabricated by outside companies on Studebaker car and truck chassis from the mid-1930s until the mid-1950's. I have a bunch of photos, though some of them are small.

A 1937 example was by U.S. Body and Forge. The Studebaker National Museum has had die-cast models of it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]52806[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52807[/ATTACH]

Here's a 1939 woodie, not sure who made the body.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]52808[/ATTACH]

After WWII, woodie bodies on the M5 /M15 chassis were available from Mifflinburg and from Hercules-Campbell, possibly also from Cantrell.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]52809[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52810[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52811[/ATTACH]Mifflinburg bodies 1946
[ATTACH=CONFIG]52812[/ATTACH]Hercules-Campbell body

At least one M5/M15 was converted in the Netherlands. It was restored a few years ago and is probably in the U.S. now, though I have never seen it. If it is here, it is the only known surviving Studebaker woodie in the U.S. and perhaps anywhere. [Please prove me wrong on this point!]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]52813[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52814[/ATTACH]

These were followed by woodies on 2R truck chassis of 1/2 ton or 1-ton size. Here are pictures of the Cantrell versions. If you want to go looking for one, a batch of 16 were sent from Cantrell to Saudi Arabia in 1952. Maybe the dry, desert air preserved one someplace.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]52815[/ATTACH]
Apparently, I have reached the limit of 10 photo attachments per post.

You can read about the various body companies at www.coachbuilt.com and see more photos there.

One slight correction: What about the restored prototype Studebaker wagon that's proudly on display at the Studebaker National Museum? It took a lot of time, but it's a stunning restoration.
Rog

[8E45E]

More here -----> http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...6-Stude-Woodie

Craig

[studeclunker]

Found this on Facebook...

they remind me of the 50-52 Buick offerings. I'd love to see a '56 wagon done this way. Having several Horse-drawn vehicles (sadly no Studebakers) I can well understand the hesitation of many people towards these vehicles. Owing to the lack of care most people took of their cars, it also isn't surprising so very few of these survive. Wet weather and damp conditions are deadly to a wood-framed vehicle, motor or horse-drawn. Ask anyone in the Antique Studebaker club.

[8E45E]

At least one M5/M15 was converted in the Netherlands. It was restored a few years ago and is probably in the U.S. now, though I have never seen it. If it is here, it is the only known surviving Studebaker woodie in the U.S. and perhaps anywhere.

It is currently in the Lemay Museum in Tacoma, WA. According to the information board, it was sent as an 'A2' chassis & cowl with windshield to Finland where it received the wooden body and sold new in Norway.





Craig

[garyash]

Wow, Craig, you found it and got great photos. I was at the Lemay Museum a few years ago, didn't see it there then.

I'm not sure why the photos I thought I had attached to the original post did not show up, so here they are.

[Mark L]

Gary, the displays at the LeMay Museum are refreshed frequently. It's not surprising you didn't see it when you happened to go through.

[go-studebaker]

Gary,
despite what the board at the Museum mentions, that Woody is one of the Dutch built ones and sold new in Holland. It's never been anywhere near Finland or Norway.

It went State side in about 2005 from Peter Schotanus in Hilversum. I can't remember the body builders name, but it has been mentioned several times in different publications.
One of the Dutch members should be able to help you out with the carossierie name.

Regards
Greg

[8E45E]

Greg,

Perhaps you might want to take it upon yourself to correct the Lemay museum into changing their description of the vehicle. I correctly referred it as an M5 with an A2 'cowl-with-windshield' in my post, where they incorrectly call it out as an M2.



Craig

[garyash]

I think I'll go with Greg Diffen's analysis that the original chassis and cowl went to the Netherlands or Belgium, probably to the D'Ieteren organization. There are other photos of 2R5's converted by D'Ieteren that show the same basic shape and steel roof. If Finland had an industry to build custom bodies in the 1940s, it's a new one to me. D'Ieteren was the Studebaker importer/assembler/distributor in Belgium from the 1930s through the 1960s.

As Abe Lincoln said, "You can't believe everything you read on the Internet!"