Me and My Car: It's a woodie like no other

From Mercury.news: Me and My Car: It's a woodie like no other

Is there a car more elegant than an old woodie? There is something about woodie convertibles and station wagons that car enthusiasts covet.

Partly, I suppose, it's because real woodie cars are not available anymore, or maybe it is the special craftsmanship that went into building them and the beauty of the wood used. Today's woodies don't use real wood.

That may be part of the reason why Danville resident Jim Ashworth is into woodies. He offered another possible reason, "When my brother and I were growing up, we wanted a woodie station wagon, but our parents would never buy one."

Ashworth has become an expert on classic cars, including woodies, even teaching classes on investing in and restoring classic cars at UCLA and UC Berkeley. A collector since the 1970s, he has owned some great woodies, including a 1940 Buick wagon that was once owned by Bette Davis, a 1947 Chevrolet wagon, a 1953 Buick wagon and a 1947 Ford Sportsman, in addition to this beautiful baby blue 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Country Club convertible.

Here's the surprise. Chevrolet didn't make a woodie convertible in 1947-48. Not good for Chevy. Ford and Chevrolet have always been like the Hatfields and McCoys, fighting for sales leadership and trying to outdo each other. Ford had the Sportsman, a popular model, but Chevrolet only had the ordinary metal convertible.

As Henry J. Kaiser said, "Find a need and fill it." So it was that Engineering Enterprises Inc. in Detroit noted the need to produce wood panels to make the Chevrolet Fleetmaster convertible into the woodie they called the Country Club convertible. The kit was an aftermarket product to be installed by local Chevy dealers and sold for $149.50 plus an installation fee.

Ashworth bought his 1947 Chevrolet in 1989 from a homebuilder in Stockton who was having financial challenges. It was already restored and parked in a warehouse, but it did not have the wood paneling. Ashworth had some paneling from other restoration projects plus two original pieces that came from Engineering Enterprises. Using those two pieces and a Chevrolet advertising picture postcard, Ashworth's father, a retired engineer, was able to calculate the exact specifications and build the Country Club woodie kit. The completed kit was then installed by Ashland Wood Products in San Leandro.

Ashworth believes his Chevy is the only stock 1947 Chevy convertible with the Country Club woodie package in the United States. Two years ago, he was invited to bring his rare Chevy to The Woodie Show in Pebble Beach, a significant honor.

Back in 1947, the country was just recovering from World War II, and the population was starving for new cars. Chevrolets (and others) were basically carry-over models from 1942. Chevy offered two trim levels. The standard series was Stylemaster, and the deluxe series was called Fleetline.

There was no need for an engine option, as they sold everything they could build and couldn't keep up with demand. Chevy used the tried-and-true overhead valve, 216.5 cubic inch, straight six-cylinder engine rated at 90 horsepower.

A unique feature of the car was the manual three-speed vacuum booster transmission. According to Ashworth, "One could shift the transmission with (his) fingertips, and the vacuum shift would suck up the transmission from one gear to the next."

According to a Hemming Motor News publication, the 1947 Chevy convertible had a top speed of 90 mph and could go from 0 to 60 mph in 20 seconds. Gas mileage for the 3,340-pound car would probably average about 14 miles per gallon.

This 1947 Chevy is one of Ashworth's all-time favorites. He's down to two collector cars, the other being a 1988 Ford Mustang used as a trainer car for the California Highway Patrol. But, alas, Ashworth and his wife, Mary, are empty nesters and are thinking of downsizing. That could mean selling off his last two prizes, but at what price?

"I never reveal what I pay for a car or what I sell it for," he told me.

But I suspect the beautifully restored 1947 Chevrolet Country Club convertible's value is more than the original selling price of $1,628.