A Gallery Of Classic Ford Woodie Station Wagons: The Early Years, 1929 To 1942

Ford didn’t invent the station wagon, but for decades, they were consistently America’s “wagonmaster.” This gallery of early Ford wood-bodied wagons shows how they evolved from basic working vehicles (which didn’t even have glass windows!) to luxurious people-haulers for high-end businesses and well-heeled celebrities.

Station wagons — also called depot hacks, estate cars, and many other names — have existed for more than 100 years. They were originally used much like modern shuttle vans, ferrying passengers and luggage to and from the train station (or later the airport). Early station wagons were occasionally purchased by rich people for their country estates, but they were primarily commercial vehicles. Until the 1920s, they were usually built by aftermarket firms: A buyer would order a car or truck chassis and then send it to a coachbuilder to add the wooden wagon body. In 1923, GM founder William Crapo Durant’s Durant Motors became the first automaker to offer a factory-catalogued station wagon body for its now-forgotten low-priced Star line, but other carmakers were slow to follow suit.

There were a fair number of station wagons and depot hacks based on the Ford Model T and TT chassis, but they were made by outside firms like J.T. Cantrell, Martin-Parry, and York-Hoover. It wasn’t until 1928 that Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford and Murray Corporation of America president Clarence W. Avery decided to create a standardized station wagon version of the new Ford Model A.

The original Model 150-A station wagon body was designed for Ford by Murray, which would also handle assembly. Hardwood for the body came from Ford’s Iron Mountain lumber operation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (which Clarence Avery had headed before leaving to join Murray). However, because of the complexity of the body and the need for a high standard of finish, Ford had the Iron Mountain sawmills ship kiln-dried planks to Mengel Body Co. in Louisville, Kentucky, which milled and finished the wood components of each body and then sent them to Murray for assembly.

Ford’s catalogued wagon bodies had four doors, with rear-hinged “suicide” rear doors. The cowl was finished in Manila Brown with black fenders. (The cutout in the leading edge of the driver’s door is an easy way to tell the early Model 150-A from the later Model 150-B, which eliminated that notch.) There was an imitation leather top over the wooden planks that formed the roof, but there were no side or rear windows, just detachable canvas-and-islinglass side curtains.

The Model A station wagon seated eight, including the driver. Upholstery was blue-gray imitation leather.

The rear seats could be removed to make more room for luggage or cargo.

With a full load of passengers, the tailgate could be left open to serve as a luggage platform.

These early wagons had few luxuries, and a drive from the train station to the hotel on a cold winter’s day probably felt like a very long ride. However, even with the convoluted production process, having a standardized body helped to keep prices down. Ford was able to offer this wagon for $650, only $25 more than a Model A four-door sedan. First-year sales were 4,959 units — not a huge number, but almost unheard of for such a specialized vehicle.

In early 1930, Murray designed a revised wagon body called the Model 150-B, with a more sloped roof and a new driver’s door with no cutout. Production for the 1930 calendar year totaled 3,510 wagons, with 2,848 more built for 1931, the last year of the Model A. Mengel continued to produce the wooden components for these wagons, but because Murray was now heavily occupied with other Ford bodies, the assembly of some of the wooden bodies was outsourced to the Baker-Raulang Company in Cleveland.

Baker-Raulang also assembled a short-lived cargo-oriented wagon called the Model 255-A Special Delivery. Essentially a cross between a station wagon and a sedan delivery, it had a wooden body like the station wagon, but with only two doors and no rear side windows. Unlike the station wagon, the Special Delivery also had wind-up glass windows in the doors. It lasted only about a year; production totaled either 841 or 900 units.

Ford passenger cars were redesigned for 1932, introducing the famed flathead V-8. However, the updated station wagon, exclusively assembled by Baker-Raulang in 1932, was actually based on the new four-cylinder Model B, which had an revised version of the Model A engine in the new body. The V-8 became optional on the wagon in June 1932, although at first it wasn’t very common.

The Depression was now cutting into the market for commercial vehicles. Ford had managed to reduce the price of the Model B wagon to $600, but 1932 station wagon production fell to 1,383 units, 1,032 with the four-cylinder and just 351 with the V-8.

Like Ford passenger cars, the station wagon got a longer wheelbase and more streamlined styling for 1933, with graceful new front fenders and an attractive swept-back grille. Ford also cut another $10 off the price. Sales rose a bit, to 2,013. Unlike in 1932, V-8 wagons now outnumbered four-cylinder models, 1,654 to 359.

Another facelift followed for 1934, with a lovely new fencer’s mask grille. From around February 1934, the station wagon could also be ordered in a wider range of colors, including this popular maroon.

This was arguably the point where style became a real selling point for Ford station wagons. They still weren’t very practical for regular family use — Ford recommended sanding and varnishing all the exterior wood components twice a year, a tiresome chore — but they were attractive enough that a wealthy private owner could expect them to draw favorable comments from guests. Wagon production rose to an even 3,000 units for 1934, 2,905 with the V-8 and just 95 with the four-cylinder engine.

With demand for the station wagon picking up again, Ford decided to end its contract with Mengel Body Co. after 1934 and produce the wood body components at Iron Mountain instead. Murray continued to assemble the bodies.

Station wagon dashboards were shared with Ford passenger cars. Doors were obviously not, but wagon front doors now had wind-up glass side windows.

The 1935 wagons still had curtains rather than glass in the rear and quarter windows, but they now had a rear-mounted rather than side-mounted external spare tire. Base price was up to $670, but Ford station wagon sales increased to 4,536 units.

Mid-1936 brought several important new options for the wagon. First, there was now a De Luxe accessory group that included twin windshield wipers and chrome wheel trim bands, plus interior features like a dome light and locking glove box. This proved very popular.

A rear bumper was now available as an extra-cost option, but more importantly, an additional $35 would now buy sliding safety glass quarter windows and a swing-up rear window with safety glass panes rather than canvas curtains.

The 1937 station wagon had a split windshield, the latest passenger car front end, and various minor refinements.

Although the base price had risen to $755, many affluent buyers were now paying extra for the De Luxe group, radios, and other accessories that cost-conscious commercial users normally shunned. Sales rose to 9,304 units. Ford station wagons were becoming popular with celebrities, particularly sporting types and stars with side businesses like citrus farms.

Beginning in 1937, buyers could have their Ford wagons converted to four-wheel drive by the Marmon-Herrington Co., located in the old Duesenberg factory in Indianapolis. These conversions were very rare — they added $1,805 to the price, and the transfer cases used on early models couldn’t disengage the front axle and had no center differential, so they couldn’t be used on dry pavement. (From 1939, Marmon-Herington All-Wheel-Drive conversions got on-demand 4WD so they could be driven on the highway in 2WD.)

For 1938, Ford reclassified the station wagon as part of the passenger car line rather than as a commercial vehicle like the sedan delivery. Base price was now up to $825, and many wagons were fitted with De Luxe trim and optional accessories. Sales fell to 6,944, probably due to the late ’30s “Roosevelt recession.”

The 1938 wagons now had a central tailgate handle, as the spare tire moved inside.

This wasn’t a great idea, as it meant the spare now sat behind the driver’s seat and cut into the knee room of middle passengers.

Since 1937, station wagons with the De Luxe group had received a different suffix on the body plate, but for 1939, Ford decided to offer the Standard and De Luxe wagons as separate models, with distinct grille treatments and trim. With a base price of $840, the Standard wagon was $85 cheaper than the De Luxe, aimed at commercial buyers.

The $925 De Luxe wagon was aimed at more luxury-oriented purchasers, like country clubs, resort hotels, and well-to-do private owners. Sliding glass quarter windows were still optional on both models, although most Standard and nearly all De Luxe wagons now had them.

Ford De Luxe wagons were increasingly popular with Hollywood types, and seeing these station wagons in publicity photos and movie magazines added to their luster for the general public.

Total 1939 production was 8,266, including 5,748 De Luxe and 2,518 Standard models. Ford was no longer alone in offering factory station wagons (Plymouth and Chevrolet both had them by this time, as did several mid-price brands), but they were the leader in a niche market.

Ford continued this Standard/De Luxe merchandising strategy for 1940, with the 1940 Standard models getting the 1939 De Luxe grille. The 1940 Standard wagon now started at $850, the De Luxe at $920.

Starting in 1940, Ford brought assembly of station wagon bodies in-house. Iron Mountain plant manager Walter Nelson had convinced Ford manufacturing chief Charlie Sorensen and Edsel Ford that Iron Mountain could all handle the assembly and trim as well as the milling. This extra work helped keep the Iron Mountain operation viable now that regular Ford passenger car bodies were no longer wood-framed.

Glass rear windows were standard on station wagons for 1940, and the spare tire returned to the tailgate. Production rose to 11,725, including 8,468 De Luxe and 3,257 Standard wagons.

A basic principle of merchandising: If most people are buying the De Luxe version, that means it’s time to add a Super De Luxe version, which is what Ford did for 1941. The cheaper Standard model was dropped, so the De Luxe was now the base wagon.

Both the 1941 De Luxe and Super De Luxe station wagons had a new body on a longer 114-inch wheelbase (now shared with the new Mercury wagon), but the fancier Super De Luxe now started at a hefty $970, where the De Luxe started at $920. (At the time, you could have a basic Ford Special Six for as little as $700, so the wagons were definitely at the top of the Ford food chain.)

Station wagon sales for 1941 rose to 17,613 units, 8,128 De Luxe and 9,485 Super De Luxe — Ford’s best year to date for wagon sales. If that doesn’t sound like very much, TOTAL 1941 U.S. factory sales of new station wagons were only 36,009, less than 1 percent of all passenger car sales.

The 1942 model year was cut short by America’s entry into World War 2, but the 1942 Ford wagons were the fanciest yet. More than 90 percent of 1942 wagon production was the Super De Luxe, which now started at $1,125 with a V-8 engine. (The De Luxe model wasn’t catalogued for 1942, but some were built, perhaps for government use.)

The 1942 station wagon was now available with either the famous 221-cid flathead V-8 or the new six-cylinder engine, which was actually slightly bigger (226 cid) and had the same 90 hp for $10 less. (There may have been a few six-cylinder wagons late in 1941, but probably not many. Ford production figures unfortunately aren’t broken out by V-8 or six.)

The Super De Luxe had a very fancy interior, with an ivory plastic steering wheel and horn ring, a 30-hour clock, and “Sequoia grain” simulated wood trim. (The dashboard was not real wood, although of course the doors still were.) Super De Luxe wagons now had real leather upholstery, although the Salesman’s Reference Manual indicates that even the Super De Luxe had molded rubber floor mats — I don’t think this wagon’s brown flooring is original. The brown box under the dash is the optional hot water heater.

Along with the leather upholstery, the 1942 station wagon now had roll-up windows in the rear doors rather than sliding panes.

The exposed basswood roof slats gave the interior of the station wagon a very different atmosphere than even a Super De Luxe Ford sedan or coupe.

The exterior wood and stainless steel hardware was very well-finished, although keeping it that way took a lot of work.

Although the station wagon was now classified as a passenger car, the Salesman’s Reference Manual still suggested that it would appeal to commercial users:

The Super De Luxe Station Wagon, while essentially a vehicle of special utility, is more elaborately equipped than formerly, since it utilizes many of the features of the 1942 Super De Luxe passenger cars. Its beauty appeals to owners of estates, summer resorts, hotels, country and golf clubs, etc., where guests or members are to be carried with their baggage. Its utility appeals to schools, farmers, engineers, surveyors and telephone emergency crews and is even better as a unit for interplant transportation or for pickup use where both passengers and merchandise or equipment must be carried.

Some businesses did use these wagons, but they cost more than a sedan delivery, so I think they were more often found in upscale settings like dude ranches or posh hotels. They were also still favored by stars like Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, Bette Davis, and Myrna Loy.

With civilian production terminated in February 1942, Ford was only able to sell 6,050 station wagons for 1942 (5,483 Super De Luxe and 567 De Luxe), but that was still much better than the early Depression years.

In all, Ford built 89,195 station wagons between late 1928 and early 1942, not including the 1941–1942 Mercury or the short-lived Special Delivery. It wouldn’t be until the arrival of cheaper, more practical steel-bodied postwar models that station wagons would become a real mass-market phenomenon, but Ford’s experience with its prewar “woodies” gave it a big head start in designing and selling wagons — sometimes to a very upscale clientele.  In my next post, we’ll see how postwar Ford station wagons went from real woodies to woodgrain Country Squires.

 

Related Reading

Vintage Ad: 1929 Ford Station Wagon – The Roots Of The Country Squire (by Paul N)

Vintage Brochure: 1940 Ford V8 Station Wagons – Suitable For “A Wide Variety Of Users”, But Families Are Not On The List (by Paul N)

1940 Marmon-Herrington Ford 4’4 Woodie Wagon – The Jeep Grand Wagoneer Prequel (by Paul N)

How Postwar Ford Station Wagons Went From Real Woodies To Woodgrain Country Squires    Aaron Severson

Curbside Classic: 1946 Willys Jeep Station Wagon – The First Modern Station Wagon and SUV (by Paul N)