(first posted 6/19/2012) Every once in awhile, fun stuff really can happen when you get a text message while sitting on the couch on a Sunday afternoon. This is what happened to me a couple of weeks ago. As I was enjoying the remnants of my Sunday newspaper (yes, I still read one of those) I received a picture text from my son Jimmy. “Cool car, check it out” was the message. “Great,” I thought. “Another resto-mod with a Chevy smallblock.” But, it was nearby, so I figured that I would waste five minutes of my life and go look. First impressions are not always accurate, and this is one that was not. It turned out to be a genuine straight 8 Pontiac that I was glad I checked out. And now, you can too.
This car is the junction where Pre-WWII America met it’s postwar counterpart. Postwar America was all about promise and possiblity. Modern, strong, and made of shiny steel and glass – this was the vision of the powers that led American institutions in those years. But in the immediate postwar years, there was a bit of a gap between the vision and the reality. Because automotive development had been arrested during the war years, early postwar cars were little changed from their prewar cousins – the main differences being that the postwar cars were much more expensive and much harder to get. So, while all of America awaited the automotive promise of the future, folks were happy enough to snap up the new yet familiar cars that were the objects of waiting lists everywhere. Except at Lincoln dealers, but that is another story.
I have always wondered why, in a postwar sellers market, when manufacturers could sell everything they could make, would they continue to offer these anachronistic old lumber wagons? Was it the shortages of steel? Was it the need to use (at least for awhile) the lumber resources that the biggest auto companies still controlled? Or was it the desire to still offer some of the most expensive cars in the catalog so as to make as much money as possible in a market where price was (almost) no object? I can see the answer being all of the above.
In 1948, Pontiac was probably the most conservative of all of GM’s five car divisions. This conservatism would be more evident as Pontiac moved into the 1950s. But in 1948, there were a lot of conservative cars. So what made Pontiac stand out? Two words (or perhaps four): Eight Cylinders and Hydra-Matic.
The first step up from Chevrolet got the new car buyer of 1948 quite a lot. Many medium priced cars had offered a choice between six and eight cylinder power going back to the 1930s. But Pontiac must have been one of the lowest priced eights out there. Not that there was that much practical difference. The Pontiac eight was only about ten cubic inches larger than the six, and offered only another thirteen horsepower. But to Mr. & Mrs. postwar America, that didn’t really matter. What mattered was that long engine block with the eight sparkplugs that told the world that you had made it, or were at least en route. This probably explains why in Pontiac’s long wheelbase Streamliner series (though not in the lower priced Torpedo series), the Eight outsold the Six by more than three to one.
But Pontiac did not stop there. The world’s only fully automatic transmission was offered by General Motors, and that was the famous Hydra-Matic Drive. This modern marvel that shifted gears automatically for most Cadillac drivers was now available in the Pontiac as well for the first time in 1948. This was clearly a big deal, as almost every page of the 1948 Pontiac sales brochure uses the words Hydra-Matic multiple times. If you don’t think this was a big deal, just read Pontiac’s description: “This great mechanical masterpiece – which completely eliminates the clutch pedal and permits the driver to drive from sun-up to sun-down without touching a gear or a lever – is brought to buyers in the Pontiac field for the first time in history.” It probably even made the newspapers. Interestingly, this car appears to be one of only about 22% of 1948 Pontiacs that was not equipped with Hydra-Matic Drive.
By 1948, the woody wagon was a dying breed. Most of the independents that had made woody wagons did not bring them back after the war. Jeep had already brought out a steel wagon, albeit a small and crude one. Plymouth would follow in another year, and everyone else would soon join in, or else exit the station wagon market altogether. The late 1940s were about the future, and the future of station wagons was steel. Although those who wanted the utility without the outsized upkeep (and wouldn’t that include most wagon buyers?) would welcome the steelies with open arms, these timbermobiles are a beautiful last gasp of a now-extinct species.
Last year, I wrote at some length on how station wagons went from expensive and demanding niche vehicles to a staple of the baby boom family in the 1950s (here). The 1957 Pontiac wagon featured there was a pracitcal, powerful and versitile vehicle for growing postwar families. This one, however, is a throwback to an earlier time. Expensive and elegant, this big Pontiac makes me think of executives on trout fishing trips at the lodge with highballs to share afterwards. This car was much too impractical for busy middle-class family life. No, this car was for the horse-country set that liked some old-style class and panache with their utility. So, how fitting that this one was found parked at a country club.
Most of you are aware of my station wagon fetish. These old wood wagons have a special and unique place in my heart. I look at these in much the same way I admire a classic Chris Craft speedboat. I love them. I would ever so much enjoy the experience of a ride. But I am not sure that I am the guy who should actually own one. A close up look at this car shows the reason – as beautiful as the car is, it is time for wood maintenance again. Bring on the sandpaper and the spar varnish, and hope that you have not let it go too long so as to allow rot to get a toehold. A wood wagon would be like being married to a beautiful, but high-maintenance woman. I prefer my beauty with a little less upkeep. But I am happy that not everyone agrees, so that I may admire from afar.
Color is a very subjective thing. Each of us has our own likes and dislikes. But when it comes to these wood-bodied cars of the 1940s, is there any other acceptible color choice besides this rich maroon? Parma Wine, according to the brochure. I have seen other woodies in other colors. But if there was ever a need for governmental regulation of paint color, it is here. “All wood-bodied cars shall henceforth be painted maroon.” I am sending this to my congressman and expect to see a new statute in the United States Code quite soon.
But back to today’s car. Although he would be de-emphasized in later years, Chief Pontiac was still working hard to sell Pontiac cars in 1948. The Chief’s image was used in the car, in the logos, and even in magazine advertising. In those years, there was no mistaking that this car was named after the dynamic and forceful leader of the Ottowa nation.
The original Chief Pontiac forced all of America to take notice of him in the 1760s when he laid seige to Detroit. The car that was named for him did the same in the 1940s. It was probably a good thing for other carmakers who offered products in Pontiac’s price range that all new cars were so hard to get after the war. Had it not been so, these attractive and feature-packed Pontiacs could have made the car business a lot more difficult for several other companies. As it was, Pontiac outsold Mercury by nearly a factor of five, and was less than 8,000 units behind the fourth-best seller, Dodge. However, for those lucky folks who made it to the top of the waiting list at their local Pontiac dealer, what a great way to finish out the 1940s. Eight cylinders, a Hydra-Matic, and a popular price would be a winning combination, at least until the modern ohv V8 would burst on the scene the following year. But until then, and when paired with some old-school wooden coachwork, this eight cylinder Streamliner station wagon would be that rare car of the era that would be at home in almost any setting.
My favorite feature of this old woody? The tail lamps!
If you look very closely, it appears that these were mounted on a swivel bracket, which allows them to pivot upward 90 degrees. When the vehicle is driven with the tailgate down, the lamps could still be pointed rearward. In those days, it appears that no one worried about exhaust gas being sucked into the open tailgate!
A pretty ingenious and simple solution. Today, even if we could get past the exhaust gas issue, something like this would have to involve the use of complex (and dubiously reliable) electronics, as well as a second set of lamps built into the edge of the tailgate.
Perhaps I am sounding like a geezer this morning, but I really miss this sort of simple, honest, and purely functional engineering.
I agree with you on the basic functionality on these old cars.
There is one thing that really puzzles me, though, and shows up on the clue. At the bottom edge of the wood body there is a stainless steel strip. But at the lower edge of the steel front fender, there is a little trim strip of wood. A look at the magazine ad seems to indicate that they were all this way. An interesting detail, but this would seem to be one area where the wood trim would have a difficult life.
What makes it even stranger is that the wagon in the magazine ad has a metal trim strip there, not wood!
+1
With it’s tall roofline and upright seating position, this wagon is somewhat like a modern crossover…
Beautiful and with the hydra-matic it is more desirable in my eyes than a Buick with the Dyna-“slow” transmission.
Well done, JP. And shoe-leather dark reds, anywhere from saddle to cordovan to ox-blood, are my favorite on almost any car.
That hood looks as long as the roof. That’s one way to establish one’s alpha status at the ol’ fishing lodge.
Agreed – it would probably have taken a Buick wagon or a T&C convertible to displace the owner of this Pontiac as the lead dog.
The hood almost looks too long for the body, as though the front belongs on a B- or C-bodied car.
Good job Buzz Dog. For some reason I sound like a geezer all the time.
I think the reason nobody was busting down the door to make all steel wagons was that they were only about 1% of the market prewar and 3% postwar. Somewhere in the fifties they hit almost 20% and were worth an investment. Change costs money and if you aren’t making a batch – why commit.
Willys made the first all steel wagon in 1946 and the funny thing is that so many of them had fake wood after the war. I guess that’s like the retro cars (PT and HHR) today. Geezermobiles aimed at Buzz Dog and I.
I love this era of car, and of American history for that matter–we had just won WWII, and as of the beginning of 1948 were the unchallenged single nuclear superpower…for a few more months anyway. A nice interlude before Korea and the Cold War, and before the straight-eight engine became completely obsolete. (When was the last production straight-eight sold in the US, BTW? 1953-54?)
In that ad, Chief Pontiac looks like he’s hailing a cab. 😛
I know that both Packard and Pontiac were still selling the straight 8 in 1954, and both would go with a new V8 the following year. I think that those may have been the last ones. Anybody got anything later?
I am with you completely on the era. There was something about the late 1940s that was lush and luxurious. The styles, the music, and of course, the cars.
Beautiful car; beautiful write-up. Thanks for bringing some more wood in my life, having spent yesterday ripping up some old black walnut and cedar planks to trim windows.
Yes, the woodies were not typical family-mobiles at all. You practically had to have a handyman on staff to try to keep up on the perpetual sanding and re-varnishing.
The Jeep and Plymouth all-steel wagons revolutionized the genre, but their success took a little while to spread. I think lots of folks were still adverse to “wagons”, in the same way many are to minivans, just for slightly different reasons.
It just now occurs to me that nobody has mentioned the indian blanket on the seat 🙂
Chief Pontiac left it there? 🙂
Beautiful car! Thanks for the great writeup as well, may I just suggestion one amendment to your woody/colour decree?
I think forest green or British racing green goes extraordinarily well w/ the wood motif as well. IMO. Check out this Merc:
I agree, as green is my favorite color! But may I also nominate navy blue?
I like the way they used to do wooden door panels on the inside, instead of upholstered panels.
Nice wagon, there was one of these down here in the same burgandy color, they used to drive it to cruise in’s towing a similar vintage small wooden speedboat, talk about a show stopper.
The maroon colour does look great on woody wagons, theres a 39 Packard around here in dark maroon it looks awesome, Theres also a dark green Morris Minor woody wagon some guy daily drives that looks good too fitted with a tuned engine and Triumph overdrive box it must be reliable hes been driving it 30 years as his only car, maybe he got a bulk deal on varnish as most of those things rotted away.
Is the top metal? Looks like a vinyl or some such cover.
The maroon is a nice colour but dark navy blue would also be very nice. This was an era when the woody wagon was not for the proletariat or working-class, only the rich could afford the upkeep on these things. It wouldn’t be until the ’50s that woody wagons became symbols of middle-class suburbia. Great write up!
This is the best looking of the early post-WWII Pontiacs I’ve seen
I really like all woody wagons – wonderful looking cars. Like the the author though I cannot see myself ever having one because of the maintenance factor. I have several classics and just polishing them all is enough for me! Even the fake woodies have maintenance issues. Here in Australia I think the only country squire type wagons sold new were Falcon versions and that fake wood fades badly in our sun. Come to think of it, there was a genuine woody wagon sold here post-war – a variant of the Morris Minor if you can believe that. They were available until the 1960’s and offered a “shrunken” woody experience.
I remember reading this piece before, but just now spotted the wonderful, horrible pun.
Well played Mr C.
It’s my weakness. 🙂
I love these cars, although I wouldn’t want the wood maintenance, either.
The one that REALLY made no sense (other than looks) was the ’48-’50 Packard Station Sedan. Wasn’t really a wagon (full-sized), wasn’t really a sedan, and required scarce PMCC resources to form its unique roof and quarter panels to boot.
And bottom-line question – other than looks or exclusivity or larger amounts of money being spent, what was the POINT of wooden-bodied SWs? The GM (or Chevy) Suburbans of the 1930s were steel-bodied station-wagon-esque vehicles. Why weren’t these emulated for cars?
Guess I need to read JP’s article on wagons for some answers…
I had to laugh at penguinboy’s remark that it looks a lot like a modern crossover … my DD is a 2001 Forester, described officially I think as a “crossover” (or small SUV), but I very firmly and stubbornly refuse to call it anything but what it obviously is: a station wagon! Another in a series of the three I’ve had, and the only rather large one.
My last was an Austin Mini 850 Countryman that was decorated (if you want to call it that) with wood strips, in approximate imitation of the older Austin Countryman and Morris Traveller bodies, which were almost all wood from the B-pillars back. These strips had no function but to require the sort of maintenance they did not get from me. I am inclined to think that removing those and filling the holes alone would have added around 5 mph to our top speed and/or 5 mpg to its already thrifty 40+. As it is, I am on-and-off looking for a deal on one of the Spanish or Portuguese ones with plain steel bodies …
These are beautiful cars, but I imagine that they had an unintentional creation of one of the most bizarre automotive problems of all time: termites.
the one thing that puzzles me on these cars, is the optional contusion that the car is bent downward at the base of the windshield, like it took a very hard jump and bent the front of the frame upward.
If there were a “Best of CC” this write-up would be among them. It also doesn’t hurt that the car is so wonderfully appealing.
Not to overly gush, I’d have to wonder what the body integrity on one of they woody wagons is like? It seems like it would have a lot of tendency to flex, squeak and rattle.
Thanks for the kind words, Dave.
I recall reading once about a guy with a wooden Town & Country sedan, or maybe even that prewar wagon – back when it was just a ratty old car. He remembered that in wet weather the body swelled so that it was hard to open or close the doors, and in dry weather the body shrank so that doors would come open on their own when rounding a corner. He remembered it as beautiful and unique, but said that he would never own another.
Nice car and unique. As a part owner of a straight eight Pontiac in the 60s I can relate. For woody fans the San Diego Woody Club has a great show every fall at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas Ca. Beautiful cars at a beautiful location. Worth the trip and a great excuse to go to the beach.
I don’t cotton to wood bodied cars but this is a sterling example .
I used to own a top of the line ’54 Ponticac Coupe , I loved it’s silky smooth L Head 8 cylinder engine and Hydromatic Drive .
I prolly should have bought that ’48 Mercury woody in 1973 for $1,000 but the upper tail gate hinge was rotten….
Great car , nice writeup .
-Nate
Hello. Just ran across this great writeup, and thought I’d share a little history about this particular 1948 Pontiac Woody. This one was purchased new by a hotel in upstate New York, and was used for the next 2 or 3 decades as it was originally intended, a station wagon, shuttling guests and their luggage between the train station and the hotel. The hotel would close down for the winter months, and the car was garage stored, being started up occasionally to keep it ready for the next summer season. The hotel and its belongings were auctioned off sometime in the 70’s or 80’s, the woody being purchased by a collector somewhere in the Midwest. My late father-in law, Wayne J., purchased it in late 1997, and had it shipped to his home and 2000 sq. ft. shop here in Santa Cruz County, CA. It had around 45,000 original miles. He spent the next few months going thru the brakes, electrical, and some much-needed wood restoration, a new cloth top, powder coated the hinges brown, new exhaust, whitewall tires, rims, hubcaps and trim rings, and showed it at the annual “Woodies on the Wharf” car show here in Santa Cruz, for a couple of years, 1998 and 1999, I think. That’s where the two window stickers in the lower corners of the rear glass came from. He grew weary of not being able to cruise at 70 mph, and always being a hot-rodder at heart, started on a quest. When I saw new speed parts coming into the shop, a Ford 9” rear end, a 1970’s Pontiac 455 V-8 and automatic transmission, a new front clip with independent suspension, disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, I pleaded with him not to hot rod this beautiful work of art. It drove like a dream, floating down the local freeways. Standing next to the car with its straight flathead Silver-8-Streak engine, the only way you could tell it was running was the smell of exhaust. I came over one weekend and he had it up on his lift, the original rear axle was out in the dirt, and he asked for help welding in the new rear axle. That was the only modification it received, for he became interested in another project, building their retirement home. He passed away unexpectedly in 2003 at age 60, and the woody sat under its car cover for the next 5 years. I sold it for my mother-in-law, both of us knowing it needed a new home with someone new to appreciate it. Through eBay, it went to a gentleman in Indianapolis, Sept of 2008. I’m glad to see it again after all these years, with a beautiful fresh coat of paint in the original color, and expertly polished stainless and chrome. All these classic cars should be cherished, for, as the old saying goes, they don’t make them like they used to.
David, thank you so much for filling us in on this Pontiac’s story. I am like you, happy that the car remains quite original. I still recall this as one of my favorite local finds.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that Pontiac got their wagon bodies which were entirely different than those used by Chevy with a more steeply sloped rear among other details. The advent of the GM A-body all steel wagon in ’49 meant that Pontiac would share those with Chevy, with a tighter budget for brand differentiation for the wagon model than the last. Not until the Toyota-derived Vibe would there be another Pontiac wagon with a fully differentiated outer skin (or the Aztek if you stretch the definition of “wagon”).