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2026 Toyota Grand Highlander ReviewThis 1941 Cadillac Woody is Classic Hollywood Cool
This 1941 Series 63 Cadillac recreates one of the greatest custom Caddys ever built, the Durango Kid’s Coach Craft woody wagon.
Old School Hollywood Bling
The longer you’re a car fan, the more your interests veer toward the unusual, obscure, and esoteric. With that in mind, it’s only natural that one might find themselves falling down the classic Cadillac rabbit hole while researching this 1941 Series 63 woody currently listed on Carsforsale.com.
From the late 1930s through the early 1960s, wood bodied cars and station wagons were often a high-end luxury feature frequently denoting a line’s top model. And while there are plenty of woody wagons of note from the period, you’re not remiss if you don’t recall there being a woody Caddy from 1941.
Ah, but there was … one, built by Coach Craft, a California coachworks founded by Howard “Dutch” Darrin, and commissioned by Charles Starrett a.k.a. the Durango Kid.
The Original Coach Craft ’41 Woody
The original 1941 Cadillac Coach Craft Woody was a one-off custom build requested by Charles Starrett, just a year after he starred in The Durango Kid. That film would be the first of 65 starring Starrett as the eponymous Kid over the next decade plus (and you thought Fast & Furious had a lot of sequels).
The Coach Craft company was headed by Howard “Dutch” Darrin, accompanied by Rudy Stoessel (formerly of Pierce-Arrow), Paul Erdos, and Burton Chalmers. Darrin was an experienced hand in coachbuilding, having worked on bodies for Delages, Hispano-Suizas, and Rolls-Royces. He also built custom Packard Darrins for Hollywood elites like Clark Gable, and in the 1940s and early 1950s, he would go on to pen designs for the Packard Clipper and the Kaiser Darrin, the car that bears his name.
The 1941 Series 61 Cadillac was the brand’s basic, entry-level offering positioned below cars like the Series 70 and V16. The car had been redesigned for 1941 after a year hiatus and was offered as a two-door club coupe or convertible and as a four-door sedan or convertible. The standard engine was a Monobloc 341 cu.-in. V8 with an optional Hydra-Matic automatic transmission, a first for Cadillac (the Hydra-Matic had debuted a year earlier for GM on the Series 60 and Series 70 Oldsmobiles).
The ’41 Coach Craft Cadillac was built from a club coupe version of the Series 61. Essentially a two-door coupe with a station wagon style rear hatch, a sort of Americanize shoot break. Much of the car’s steel body paneling the A-pillars was replaced by wood including the doors, rear quarter panels, a section of the roof, and the rear hatch. The club coupe’s downward sloping arch, however, was retained.
The interior was also redone with wood paneling taking over much of the cabin. An additional modified was made so that both the rear and passenger seats could be folded flat to form a bed while telescoping poles could be raised for a tent to enclose the rear of the car. Reportedly, Starrett camped in the car while shooting on location for at least some of his Durango Kid films.
After 15 years of ownership, Starrett sold the back to Burton Chalmers and Coach Craft. From there it changed hands several times. In 2015, owner John Milliken had it approved by the CCCA Classification Committee as a single example classic.
Recreating a Classic
Interestingly, someone along the way went to considerable lengths to recreate the ’41 Coach Craft Woody Cadillac, hence, the listing on Carsforsale.com. While not the original, this recreation is also a 1941 Cadillac though it’s not based on a Series 61 club coupe, like the original car, but instead is built from a Series 63. This is notable because the 1941 model Series 63 was offered as a sedan only, on the same 126-inch wheelbase as the Series 61.
While the chassis was therefore the same, the builder of this recreation had serious work to do modifying the body beyond the extensive woodwork inside and out. Most significantly, the Series 63’s rear end had rear doors and a regular trunk, not the smooth sloping roofline and hatch of the club coupe. Our best guess is the builder borrowed sections from a Series 61 coupe to recreate the same effect. Making this recreation all the more impressive.
Indeed, this build deftly recapitulates the original and looks as stunning inside as it does outside. In addition to the exterior wood paneling, note the white wall tires and body color-matching hub caps, the gleaming bright work of the original Cadillac badging, grille, and roof rails. The cabin retains the original dash, radio, and dials. Significantly, the running gear has been updated to a modern GM 350 V8 paired with a 700R automatic transmission and a Camaro rear end.
Though not the original, this 1941 Series 63 Coach Craft Woody Cadillac is exceptional in its own right. It’s listed for $126,995.
