SPLINTER Wood Car

Nothing new in the world! Earliest cars had quite a lot of wood in structure. Some classic cars of the twenties and thirties had bodies partly or mostly done in wood. In this case the wood was for appearance, with exotic woods with fine finish. Original station wagons all had wood bodies from cowl back. Many early trucks had wood bodies.

My '53 MG-TD had a body with sheet metal over a wood frame. Earliest Model Ts had same body structure.

Wooden wheel spokes & hubs were very common. Wooden frames common. Never heard of wooden engine, though. Probably would have to be rebored quite often :-)

Think Ford used wood frames on the A's or T's, and burned the scrap into charcoal. A's according to this.

--Vic

Those old ''Woodie'' vehicles are nice, nice looking anyway.My 1914 Ford Model T Runabout Roadster has some wood body parts, wood spoke wheels too.Nice. cuhulin

Small part right, big part wrong.

The Ford Model T and the '28-31 A (there was a Ford 'A' back in '03, he restarted the numbering in '28) were both steel frames. Ford used wooden panels in the floor, specifically from forward of the front seat to the firewall and (I think) sometimes farther back.

Some of the lower-production A bodies that were built by outside vendors had wood reinforcing, but by '28 all of the Ford-produced bodies used steel reinforcing; any wood was for attaching upholstery and not for strength.

Chevrolet used steel panels over a wood structure up through 1936, if I'm getting my dates right -- there was a joke among '50's hot rodders about the result of a collision between a Ford and a Chevy -- on the one hand you had a bent Ford, on the other you had a pile of sheet metal and dry rot.

Dunno about Dodge or any of the other off-brands.

Dodge (Dodge brothers) made major componets for Ford Model T and some other auto/truck companies too.Back in the 1960s or 1970s, some Chevrolet axels assemblies (front wheel/four wheel drive, I think) were made by Dodge. cuhulin

Don Stauffer wrote in news:4b12acb7$0$48227 $ snipped-for-privacy@news.qwest.net:

First all-steel-bodied car: 1903 Vauxhall.

First all-steel-bodied closed car: 1924 Dodge.

I don't think US automakers went to all-steel bodies across-the-board until about 1935 or so (excepting woodie wagons, of course).

New-built Morgans /still/ use an ash frame. Believe it or not.

I wood think it wooden run...

Not many years ago, Ford reproduced/manufactured six brand new 1914 Ford cars. cuhulin

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news:17945-4B146F3E-7150@storefull-

Yep. They did that in 2003 to commemorate the Ford Motor Company's 100th anniversary.

From what I remember, they had enough original tooling left over (!) to produce most of their own parts. The rest they bought in the aftermarket.

Look up "Marcos".

Other than "gee whiz", is there any advantage to this wooden car? Weight? I would think the lesser body rigidity would detract as much from the performance as the weight reduction would add.

But what do I know, I'm not an engineer.

-J

The 700 HP engine in that car should make it move out! at combat speed.

Platoon, Ten Hut!,,, Ahh, move out!

Perhaps some of the reason for building that car is, Well, why not? cuhulin