Thread: What never was a woody, but would make a cool woody?

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My wife wants us to build a project together that the entire family can ride in. She wants to be able to go to car shows and keep all of our stuff together. But, most importantly, she wants us to build it together. Of course I agreed. But now I'm trying to find something cool to start with. She wants it to be pre 60's. She likes Model A fords, she even likes the 35-40 Fords. But she asked what was never offered as a woody that would be cool as one. I drew a blank. What do you guys think? She'd like to have it done in 2 years. We'll see how that goes. Haha

I once knew a fella who started with a '29 A two door sedan, cut it off right behind the doors and made a woody panel delivery out of it; stretched the frame a bit, built the body framing from square tube, clad it with sheet metal, and applied the wood over that, with a metal roof made up from the original and a couple of donor bits. It looked good, and got a lot of attention. You could apply the same treatment to a sedan, two or four door, keep the doors, stretch the rear of the body a bit, and bolt and seal the wood onto the outside.

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I am a hotrodder and was a cabinet maker for 26 years and was going t build a woody, the holy grail of phantom woodys is a '32 Ford, it was never made and most all agree it should have been, flat cowl which by the way can be easily bought (I know a guy with a steel repop one for sale) I even found a guy named Mike Chiavetta from the national woody club that has model A plans (worthwhile) that make a great starting point, ash makes a great woody they say also. Looks like a fun project unfortunatly wood working for me isn't a hobby, its a job!

The idea of a Phantom Woody is a good one, but it's not an easy project. A "Phantom Woody" is a free form concept, building what might have been, but never happened. I've been kicking around the idea of a sedan style woody, but with some curves that woodies never had back in the day. Not sure if it will ever happen, but my idea is growing on the sketch pad....

SO Ryan's gonna start ANOTHER project?!?! You're my hero that's for sure. LOL.

There's a fella in town who used a VW bug and built a "woody" with it. Also used an aftermarket nose that resembles a 40 Ford. It's really a fun car when we're at a show and someone comes up and says "my granddad had one exactly like this!"

It's very well done, not perfect but just nice to go to cruise nites in.

ANyway, I think you guys can pull it off, go for it!

Originally Posted by Matthyj

I am a hotrodder and was a cabinet maker for 26 years and was going t build a woody, the holy grail of phantom woodys is a '32 Ford, it was never made and most all agree it should have been, flat cowl which by the way can be easily bought (I know a guy with a steel repop one for sale) I even found a guy named Mike Chiavetta from the national woody club that has model A plans (worthwhile) that make a great starting point, ash makes a great woody they say also. Looks like a fun project unfortunatly wood working for me isn't a hobby, its a job!

Matt, I'd be interested in the cowl. I actually thought a 32 one would be cool. I see 32 everything else but not a woody. Around here any way.

I'm thinking she'll want it to be a sedan too. Maybe even a fo, foo, four door..

Originally Posted by 34_40

SO Ryan's gonna start ANOTHER project?!?! You're my hero that's for sure. LOL.

There's a fella in town who used a VW bug and built a "woody" with it. Also used an aftermarket nose that resembles a 40 Ford. It's really a fun car when we're at a show and someone comes up and says "my granddad had one exactly like this!"

It's very well done, not perfect but just nice to go to cruise nites in.

ANyway, I think you guys can pull it off, go for it!

This project is the wife's idea so I can't refuse. I'm considering selling a project car to help fund it. She told me I could make this a diesel if I wanted but at this point I'm not sure. My main concern is getting a direction and picking a cowl forward to do then hoping I can pull off the wood work to be able to get the thing looking nice and be strong etc.

For a woodie that won't break the bank, the car really needs have straight lines and square corners....Like a T....

Type Ford depot hack into Images and this is what you get....
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...30.wr97-pwnBzU

Use a Ford Pinto as your donor car, 2.3 liter w/manual trans, differential.....Yeah, Buddy!!!!!!!! Should be cheap to build and cheap to operate with room for the family.

This one is probably my favorite....
http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/upl...ic-woody-1.JPG

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

Type Ford depot hack into Images and this is what you get....
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...30.wr97-pwnBzU

Use a Ford Pinto as your donor car, 2.3 liter w/manual trans, differential.....Yeah, Buddy!!!!!!!! Should be cheap to build and cheap to operate with room for the family.

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There are a lot of nice ones in there! It's funny you bring up the 2.3 pinto power train up. My friend has a T coupe he's in the plan stages of building and we were just talking yesterday of a turbo'd 2.3 and a 5 speed in his.

I was back in North Carolina a few years ago to visit my daughter and took in some car shows while I was there. The finest little "swiss watch" of a car that I saw was a T-body Lakes Modified with a turbo'd 2300 and 5-speed. I stood there for far too long, just drinking in all the details of the thing....Of course, you will need more room than a Lakes Modified, but it sure was pretty.....Maybe you could build the big hack and tow the Lakes Modified....

Or find yourself a '28 or '29 A sedan and build a "Paper bag princess" out of it. This little rod really knocks my socks off.....Mazda rotary power....170 hp in a 1200 lb car should make for some spirited driving....Cheap to build, cheap to keep....
http://www.killbillet.com/showthread...dster-FINISHED

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32FordWoody.jpgActually there were 32 Station wagon (woodies) produced. Not sure what the numbers were, but they show up for sale occasionally. They were all 4-doors and used the commercial cowl. Might be cool to make a 2-door deuce woody though.

Mick

In the first link Tech provided, I saw the roof of this one and visited the page. It was a very nice car. I'm not sure how long ago it sold.

Spud's Garage - 1932 Ford Woody Project - For Sale

A 2 door would be cool. But we have 3 kids and my wife would like to have another some time. So, the 2 door may not work with her.

Tech, the paper bag princess is very cool!

I'll have to admit though, that the deuce 4-door is a piece I'd be proud to own.

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Ryan, I will get the guys number this weekend, he won the cowl at the NSRA giveaway this memorial weekend so he should make a "deal". Go to Curry's Hot Rods Inc. ~ 417-332-2667 ~ Southwest Missouri's ONLY Full Service Rod Shop & Hot Rod Retail Store! and then go to gallery and pic project cars, thats Tony Curry's web site and he is building a 32 woody, one of the best, nicest and talented rod builders in Missouri ( shop is south of Springfield) It is his personal build off a Boyd Coddington sketch that was never built, I am sure he would give you any needed advice on a start, I have went with him and gave him suggestions on the woodwork, he's very talented and doesn't need shown just suggested (I have done a lot of bent wood laminating) you can see his subfloor that is fastened to the frame, everything is built off of it (the way Hercules builds 'em) these thing sell for big bucks, I have several books on woodies and was actually a woody club member for several years, I might be able to get you some info if I remember where I put it, I also have Chiavettas plans somewhere.

Originally Posted by techinspector1

For a woodie that won't break the bank, the car really needs have straight lines and square corners....Like a T....

When you're working with wood, I'm not sure I understand how a curved line is going to be that much more expensive than a square corner box? Just saying, to slope the top at a nice sweep is just two pieces of wood on the sides, and the top laterals stay the same. On the sides, having it narrower at the bottom than the top, or even bulging out with top & bottom the same is just a band saw cut, right? Or like Matt says, some bent wood laminations.... To me the boxy square wooden body of the T's is boring. Any hack builder can do a square box, raised panels.