Woody In The Woods: 1948 Ford
Having a whole new meaning of “returning to the earth”, this 1948 Ford Woody has been left for dead in the wilderness of North Carolina. Although having spent some years in the wild, this Ford doesn’t seem hopeless. Most of the metal parts are still present, and what metal that is there isn’t too bad off. 1948 was the last year for the Woody. With an opening bid of $500.00, this is a cool opportunity, that looks too have some promise. Find it here on eBay out of Marion, North Carolina. Thanks to Peter R for the submission!
From what is left of the interior, and an undetermined time spent outside, this Ford seems not too rough. The Dash is still very present and relatively complete, granted there is surface rust. The steering wheel is still present, still boasting some shine after a simpler wooded life. There is a bumper and air cleaner present in the interior portion of this Ford, and we imagine that there are some other items in and around the car as well. Peeping the front floor board area it looks reasonable, but is difficult to make out from the large spider web. If you do purchase this Ford you will certainly be displacing a large spider, and some other various wildlife. The windshield frame looks pretty good with no visible holes or rot. The door jambs don’t looks too bad off either, and it appears the hinges are still present. The remaining hinges and wood door frame post paint a sad story, showing that this Ford was likely much more complete than it is now. Deemed unsalvageable this Ford was banished to the woods. Pulling out the magnifying glass reveals the front fenders on this Woody are dent free, and from what we can see, rot free. Not to say that the lower fenders couldn’t be rotted. The one rear fender that can be seen looks nice as well, though it almost appears that the rear lower section may have a large dent. Difficult to make out. The hood looks nice, as does the grill and the front apron. The seller has explained that floors are needed, which we don’t doubt. There is no mention of drivetrain, but the suspension appears to be present on this Woody.
Rough with some prospects of hope, this ’48 Ford Woody may be a cheap buy into a very cool, yet expensive project. What would you do with this Woody?
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Comments
It would be cool to use some of the trees around this car in some kind of build. Kind of a resurrection of sorts.
It’s a Feral Ford
Why do the 3 pics look as if they were taken off the computer? Do your due diligence before handing over anything.
Did I miss something but other than the trees where is the ”wood” on this woody?? And any idea how much it would cost to make it a woody again??
In the sorry state the car is in,I would shorten the frame,extend the front doors and make it a two door woody. Build it semi-custom. Mustang 32 valve Cobra engine. T-56 transmission. Paint it Copper Orange Flame Metallic,Ivory leather interior. Vanity license plates the say “LOGRIDE”. Actually I haven’t thought much about ever having a Woodie.
Turning it into a two door is a great idea I’d be inclined to leave the wheel base alone and making a longer deck lid for it. There is an episode of Jay Leno’s garage where a Chrysler town an country is presented that was restomoded and you would not know it to look at it.
If nicely restored I would get personalized plates that would say…………….. L A Z U R A S
uh, Lazuras was raised from the dead, ya know
Me I’d do a tribute to the beach boys &Jan&Dean theem for it I’d go with a 409& munce 4 on the floor retomod
Boy Brian, I wish I could look at a rusted hunk like this with your enthusiasm. I’d like to see them take a leaf blower to her and post more photo’s.
I live nine miles away from the place woodies were built. My great grandfather retired when the last woodie rolled off the line in 1951 and the plant shut down. I have not been able to find an affordable project to this day I would like to find one because he probably had a hand in building it. We have the slow growing maple here that they used for that beautiful wood work.
run forrest! run!
I’ve heard of restoring woody wagons, this however is not a restore, its a foundation for a new build, and not a very good one at that.
With no floors and no body, one better hope that the frame isn’t rusted or it might involve a big surprise when trying to get this out of the woods in one piece.
Jim, yous a Yooper ? You said you lived close to the woodie factory. I only know of one, Iron Mountain MI.
Yes and that is the only one
Jim:
Anything left of the original Iron Mountain complex ?
Yes about half of it has been used by other companies, if you search it on the internet you can see it from the air in Kingsford MI. The company store and the Ford house are still there and the twin stacks came down a few years back. The saw mill is still up also and yes it is where Kingsford charcoal started
Woodies go for good money, but this one looks questionable, unless you’re an expert woodie restorer, I don’t see it going very high, they sell wood replacement kits, but they’re not cheap, I doubt it sells.
I’ve always felt that nearly every car was worth restoring. This, as hopeless as it might seem, would still fall into the worth restoring category. I’ve often thought that I’d like to take on something really challenging. If I wasn’t already jammed full of PHDs (Projects Half Done)….
Way too far gone,,,, be kind and dig a hole and bury it, sorry but what I see is nothing worth saving unless you are a skilled woodworker/master mechanic metal fabricator.
A student of mine, back in the ’70’s, who was a car nut as well, told me that he had not only found a ’40 Ford woodie in the woods, but had already paid the owner $75 for it, which I now owed said student. He had a tow bar, my ’67 Pontiac Bonneville had a hitch (the 400 cu engine), we cut down a tree or two, and towed it the 30 miles home. Part way a front wheel came off (never thought to tighten lug nuts, although we had a compressed air can and after we inflated them, all four tires held air), car dropped down onto brake drum, wheel rolled off into the woods, Pontiac didn’t waiver, got flat bed tow truck on my AAA for the rest of the trip. It was in MUCH better shape than this one, all the wood was there, although much was rotten, no engine, but Ford V8’s were plentiful, seats were there, frame was solid, sheet metal, floors, bumpers, dash, were solid. But far beyond me, 3 year old son came into the house and cried, he thought it was going to replace the Pontiac, it was “all falling apart”, friend of my wife consoled her with “better an old Ford than another woman”, sold it for $225 when reality set in a year later.
I think it was 1962, I was still in high school, 17, broke, and driving a ’51 Merc, a classmate asked if I wanted another Merc. Well. hell yeah ! He took me to a back yard near home where sat a 1949 or 50 Mercury Woody wagon. Engine and trans gone but otherwise nice, and complete. They wanted it out of there and could have had it for free (or next to nothing anyway) I took one look and said “What do I want with a Station wagon?” and walked away.
Oh, for a time machine with a car trailer attached to it.
W o o d i e guys…sheesh.
The sheetmetal and various dash parts and maybe the firewall could be reused, You can get a woodie restorer to build you a complete wooden body car for I dont know….twenty grand…add in the rest of the car and you would be easily up to a hundred grand. I spent 47 K just replacing a firewall and a fender and a door and various and sundry electrical and metal issues and complete paint job and panel replacement and that was in 2000!
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