Woodie, Woody, Shooting Brake, Break Bois...
Whatever name you choose to use, vehicles with wood bodies possess style and character missing in today's robotically built steel vehicles. Once, almost every conveyance was made of wood: boats, chariots, wagons, trains, even airplanes. The wood-sided wagons, convertibles, sedans and trucks seen here all wear the vestigial tails of their wooden predecessors.

...Continued from the home page

In their heyday, woodies were often the most expensive cars offered by a manufacturer and many tallied impressive sales figures.

Woodies have always satisfied the need for stylish transport of people and parcels. The earliest woodie automobiles were utilitarian adaptations of the 'Rockaway' horse-drawn carriage and canopied express trucks. By the thirties, fashionable American woodie station wagons were pressed into service by lodges, inns and country clubs. At about the same time, wealthy land-owners with country estates adopted the woodie for suburban transportation - frequently with a chauffeur at the wheel. In Europe, wood was utilized by coachbuilders of exquisite vehicles for the aristocrat.

During the World War II, wood construction saved steel for critical war-time uses. After the war, the middle class found mass-produced woodie wagons perfect for family travels. The popularity of woodies for personal transportation peaked mid-century. By the late fifties and sixties, used car dealers had plenty of cheap, poorly maintained wood-clad cars. Surfers found these bargains perfect for hauling their longboards in search of the perfect wave. A sub-culture and a car became legend.

Today, woodies are among the most popular vehicles at auto shows. Posie's recent show rod, named the Extremeliner, personifies retro woodie style, albeit in fiberglass and steel.

Take a look around...

Read the Feature Articles on a few unique woodies and tour the Photo Galleries. If you have the time, browse the Woodie Resource Directory - it's full of contacts to find, fix and enjoy your woodie. at the Shop Talk section. You'll also find several pages of Links for woodies, trucks, books and search sites. For a quick at-a-glance map of this web site, check the Table of Contents. if you are in the market for a woodie or parts, check out the Classified Ads page.

Old Woodies - Who, What & Why

The Old Woodies web site is an independent, educational endeavor that started as an Internet journal of random research on old woodies by David Miller. When he is not working or maintaining the Old Woodies site, David's restoring a 1940 GMC woodie and a 1929 Red Bug. Recently, he assisted on the development of the revised National Woodie Club web site.

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