How about a woody?

[Peter Naulls]

Ruairidh,

During the war the government introduced a 33% purchase tax on new cars. This was largely academic at the time because car production was almost nil, however after the war when production resumed it became relevant. Commercial vehicles, wooden-bodied station wagons and rolling chassis were exempt from the tax. Rolling chassis were also exempt from export quotas.

I think the durability of ash is better than we give it credit and probably gets a bad press because 1960s Morris Travellers in particular were rather poorly finished. We had one re-bodied in 1984 and had the timber finished with linseed oil rather than varnish. It quickly became grey and unattractive (especially in wet weather) but showed absolutely no signs of decay when we sold it two years ago with a further 200000 miles on the clock. No rot, no woodworm.

Internal woodwork on Sevens seems (at best) to be painted with a thin coat of black cellulose. Pretty poor protection.

I'd love to have a stab at designing /building a Seven station wagon, even if it was a special.

Peter.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Brilliant - thank you Peter.

Nothing wrong with a special - most are considerably more interesting and unique than production cars.

[spannerman]

Got to be different than another ulster rep?

[Phil Kingdom]

A woody Ruby sounds like a good idea, Bantam made a few of them after all along with pick ups

[Martin Prior]

Having spent the last couple of days hiding in a hole in the ground, I'd missed out on this thread!

We have a number of schemes in the pipeline as alternatives to the endless Ulsteroids. As and when we have time, a hardtop sports coupe is number one on the list. A woody is probably next (with hearse option, of course!).

Personally, I think that ash is eminently suitable. As has been mentioned, it was used for external framing on Morris Minors and others. Regular varnishing may be the problem, not the solution. It will trap any moisture in the timber and accelerate decay. If using ash externally, we would pickle it in a solvent-based preservative before assembly.

I worry about tropical hardwoods. "Ethical" and "sustainable" issues loom large, but many woods are very hard and lack the necessary flexibility for car body work.

[Steve Hainsworth]

Some time ago, whilst exploring the net  Australian Seven utes,  I found illustrations of several Woody type wagons built commercially in Australia.
I will try to find them again. Tony Press may also recollect who built the  in the Late 20s ?
So I guess the pictures (line drawings ) could be used to give some credence to a replica.
They looked similar to that built on the model A Ford of the Period.
I will have a look for them Today.
Cheers Steve Hainsworth

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

I think "woodys" started soon after the 1st World War when wealthy landowners needed something to use on shoots.  Four or even six up with guns and the spoils (grouse etc) in the back.  Possibly the term "shooting brake" was used in the UK.  I think a "brake" was a covered horse drawn waggon used on the moors? Woodys sounds a more American derivative?

Regarding ash (Martin may confirm) it is eminently suitable being relatively close grained and free of too many knots, it is softish, and easily worked.  Other more dense woods like oak blunt tools more easily.  Having built an ash framed special I can vouch for its ability to steam bend easily.  I doubt oak would steam bend quite so well.  All woods will succumb to worm and rot although exotic hardwoods are less prone due to their oily nature.  I can't imagine Austin wanted his cars to last more than 5 years or else he would have no repeat custom (planned obsolescence was alive and well in the twenties!) hence the poor protection given to the wood (and the steel for that matter!).

Cheers

Howard

PS I'm looking forward to a rash of Woody specials reported on the forum  .

[Duncan Grimmond]

I imagine the term "Woody" arose in the early 1960's with the rise of the surfing craze? The Beach Boys perpetuated it in "Surfin' USA"...
Eventually replaced by the ubiquitous VW Splitscreen microbus "California" conversion now much sought after.

[Mike Costigan]

The Shooting Brake term was in use long before the automobile came on the scene; by the early 1900s Albion had virtually cornered the UK market with cars like this:


  Im19071116Auto-Albion.jpg (Size: 76.14 KB / Downloads: 170)

By the mid-1920s second hand quality cars like the Rolls Royce were cheap and were often converted into brakes, now usually with a fixed roof. This style was also popular in the USA, where they were known as station wagons; I think the Woody name is a post-war development used to distinguish them from steel-bodied estate cars..

[JonE]

Should for correctness be "Woodie" and "Woodies", accepting coloquial!

The tax favourable situation in UK demanded "Utility" as the formal title a lot were marketed as, which presumably gives the Aus "ute" Steve mentions above. Some also ended up in "Farmers Goods" road tax class.

Good to hear Peter's story of the Traveller. I may use oil without any yellow tint, but that sounds an ideal route combined with Martin's pickling... to enable gradual colour matching between old and new wood.