Nicks Barron’s 1949 Woody was a true masterpiece. The vehicle’s body work was done by Pinkee’s Rod Shop, with a top chop of 2 1⁄2 inches and 5 inches at the back, while the front grill and bumper were left stock. The back bumper, however, was completely modified, and the car was painted in Red PPG paint by Paul Stoll.
The interior of the car was all leather, done by Gabes Customs, with the same company doing the carpeting. The transmission was a 4 L60 E with a column shifter, and the wheels were from Boyd Coddington, with Charlie Hutton handling the frame and suspension modifications.
Nick Barron found the hardest part of the project was the 2 2/2 inches chop of the top and slanting the back tailgate and windshield. All new glass and power windows were added, and the front seats were equipped with power adjustments.
While Chevrolet stopped using real wood in 1948, all the wood on Nick’s woody was painted on. There were no engine options in 1949, with the standard engine being a 216-cubic-inch engine with a three-speed manual transmission. The standard three-window cab and the optional five-window cab were the two cab models available in 1949.
Chevrolet had been producing woody wagons since 1939, and the wood coach building was farmed out to companies such as Hercules, Cantrell, and Ionia. There was a difference in the wood used by the various coach builders. Hercules built the wood paneling from mahogany and framed it in ash, while both Ionia and Cantrell paneled the wagons in birch. Coach builders made an entire industry of producing wood coaches out of automakers chassis and frames. The station wagon was the primary recipient of wood styling.
In 1949, Chevrolet built their woody wagons with all steel bodies, with only the company Ionia continuing to build woody wagons for Chevrolet after World War Two ended. As the years progressed into the 1950s, most automakers began cutting back on using actual wood in favor of laminates, with the frequent maintenance required to keep the wood looking good and to prevent deterioration cited as one of the reasons for the woody’s decline. Additionally, new highway crash safety regulations dealt a blow to using real wood to construct car bodies, especially as true structural components as opposed to decorative uses.
Nicks Barron’s 1949 Woody was a great find, preserved very well, and mechanically functional. It was also Chevrolet’s most popular woody wagon after the war. While the 1946 through 1948 models were not too different from the 1942 models, the car’s beauty was undeniable, and its craftsmanship was a testament to the glory days of wood coach building.
