1950 Ford Deluxe

1950 Ford Custom Deluxe Country Squire Woody Station Wagon  In their day, wooden bodied station wagons were work horses.  Considered unattractive and strictly utilitarian, they were produced in low numbers.  Then after a half century of production, they were gone, discontinued, largely because they were so difficult to manufacture and maintain.  Yet today, they can sell for more than a house and are considered classic beauties.  Sometime in the late 19th century, a forgotten mechanic fastened a primitive engine to a horse drawn wagon creating the first horseless wagon.  The details have been lost to history but from that humble beginning, a style of automobile was born, one that still exercises influence upon us over 100 years later.  Eventually auto manufacturers began producing their own versions.  Ford introduced the first production woodie in 1929.  Throughout the 30's most other manufacturers joined in, usually with very limited success.  Some lesser known car makers only produced a prototype or two.  The largest car company at the time, Chevrolet, waited until 1939 before they introduced their first woodie.  By then the vehicles had become known as station wagons, a variation of the earlier name depot hack, but was still a reference to train stations.  Woodies were never a profitable item for car makers.  They were extremely labor intensive to produce; literally hand assembled.  Ford bought a track of forest known as Iron Mountain in Michigan as a source for lumber, other makers simply purchased the lumber, or more often, had outside vendors manufacture the wood bodies. For consignment, a frame off restored 1950 Custom Deluxe Country Squire woody wagon looking the part with its rounded lines accented by chrome trimmings.  A worked over and souped up 239ci flathead V8 and beautiful wood for the passenger's compartment, but all still retaining that post-war Ford charm.  A fine example showing a mere 11,991 title verified actual miles gracing our South hallway or maybe even the main showroom.  These cars tend to move all over the Hallowed Halls of the Classic Auto Mall. Exterior All steel with attached chrome upfront sporting a center bullet style ring and building on this design to complete the entire grille.  Chrome is in great condition, showing excellent and mirror-like all around.  The steel shows with some slight rust bubbling on the lowers and is bathed in a year correct hue of Cambridge Maroon.  The paint overall remains shiny but does present with its fair share of cracking and chips.  This car has one of the coolest hood ornaments, very art deco style with its pointed raised sides and 1/4 circle clear insert.  Part of the post war redesign, we note slab sided fenders, we are moving into the modern era of the next car look as to the overall design genre.  A hinged on the back hood with some curved edges, and a bulbous badged front section let us know we are firmly in Ford country, but starting with the dual pane windshield we move into another world altogether.  We see a central passenger compartment which utilizes a mix of blonde oak boarding and panels to make up the square doors and rear side panels.  A full length Cambridge Maroon steel roof covers this wooden compartment and rounds over the roof edges creating the perfect topper.  More maroon steel is taking shape for the bottoms of the rear fenders and crystal clear sliding glass for the 2nd row seating area gives your passengers a wonderful view of the countryside as you motor along.  Moving to the back we note the clamshell style steel rear gate with its spare tire cover and round chrome bezel tail lights.  A near perfect chrome bumper with upright guards sits below all of this and 15-inch maroon steel wheels with polished trim rings and chrome Ford logo moon caps and deeply treaded wide whites round out the package. Interior Taking some liberties to show off the fine finishes of the interior, the maroon painted m