Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Early Continental Woody

A chic 4 passenger Woody 'coupe' could have been a big hit with the Northeast Elite of the time period.

C H O P — I made this Woody Estate wagon from one of the very first 1940 Continental Coupes. I think a luxury wagon like this could have been as swanky to the monied set in Nantucket as the Cabriolet was to the tony Palm Beach crowd. It was a huge honor when Collectible Automobile printed this Estate of mine in its Letters column a couple of years ago. CA is one of my favorite magazines, and to be in it was very cool! The other chop was the '61 Lincoln coupe I posted a little while ago.

11 comments:

  1. I love the Woody name...lol
    I have to get a hold of CA magazine, you got me hooked on the classics

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  2. I, too, am a fan of Collectible Automobile. It's definitely the Automobile Quarterly of soft covered publications. Congrats !
    What I particularly liked about this rendering is that you resisted the established norm of creating the entire body side out of wood. That has a tendency to look very clunky - yours accentuates the body and contributes to the streamlined look. Great job !
    Keith

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  3. Casey,

    That Lincoln is fantastic -- I remember seeing the pic in CA (I have every issue since 1984) although at the time I didn't connect it to you. That would have been a great addition to the Continental range -- and a great competitor to the pre-war Town & Country. I'd be curious to see what the Continental estate would look like with the 42-48 bodywork. As I've mentioned before, Lincolns really seem to inspire you to top yourself!

    Paul, New York City

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  4. Thanks! i was thinking with the limited editions of the 'regular' LIncoln Continental back then, only a few hundred each year really, that they'd keep as much of the body they could, so the wood would only be in the upper structure. I'm glad you liked the result! I also di a metal topped version, but it looked a bit pedestrian compared to this version with a bit of warm wood.

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  5. Paul-glad you saw it in the magazine too! I didn't know they were going to publish those 2 pics in the letter section. I bought my copy at the magazine store as usual, and it wasn't until a few days later that I got around to the Letters section. At first I thought 'that looks familiar' lol, until I realized they printed my letter too.

    i think the later sheetmetal would work also, the chunkier fenders might go with the wood well.

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  6. WHEN I WAS A KID OUR NEIGHBOR HAD ONE OF THOSE WOODIES.THEY HAD IT FOR YEARS. THEY ONLY HAD TWO CARS THAT I EVER REMEMBERED.SHE NEVER DROVE A CAR UNTIL AFTER BILL DIED THEN SHE LEARNED. SHE WAS EITHER IN HER LATE 50'S OR EARLY 60'S WHEN SHE LEARNED.

    GRANNY TG

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  7. my grandmother had a friend in the 1960s that had to learn to drive after her husband died. She would only take right-hand turns because then you don't cross traffic! Even though she lived about 5 minutes from my grandmother, it took her 15 minutes to drive there without taking any left turns!

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  8. NOW THAT'S FUNNY.EVEN GRAMPS LAUGH AT THIS STORY.

    GRANNY

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  9. her name was Julia, and she drove a '62 Ford Galaxie 500 4 door sedan. It was a beautiful coppery brown color. I think they called it Chestnut. I think she died around the time my grandmother did, 1969.

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  10. I always turn to the letters in CA first! I like to see what people have to add to the content of previous issues.

    On the topic raised by Tampa Granny, my mom got a her first driver's license at age 58, about two years after my dad passed. She had always wanted him to teach her but he didn't think husbands should teach wives to drive. So it fell to me to teach her -- and we survived. She drove until a couple of years before she passed at age 87. And alwayss drove Plymouths!

    Paul, New York City

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  11. PAUL, NOW THAT WAS ONE COOL MOM.

    GRANNY

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