Tireside Chats: Wood You Believe It?

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Tireside Chats: Wood You Believe It?

Saturday, April 25, 2026
7:00 PM - Program

Savoy Automobile Museum is presenting a woodie-themed exhibition, WOOD You Believe It?!, from March 31 – August 2, 2026.

It’s been decades since U.S. automakers sold real wood-bodied cars, but their fascination lingers like a fond childhood memory. Bobbing in a sea of lozenge-shaped, single-hued, boring contemporary metal cars, a gleaming Ford woodie wagon, a massive Chrysler Town & Country convertible, or an elegant Packard Station Sedan remains a splendid anachronism, a beautifully finished piece of fine furniture on wheels. Russet mahogany panels, honey-toned, birds-eye maple body framing, intricate finger joints, piano-hinged doors, slatted wood headliners under burnished, tightly-tacked boot topping…everywhere you look on a woodie, there’s much to admire.

We’re not talking about fakey-do DI-NOC, simulated wood-paneled 1970s-era Ford Country Squires and steel-bodied Buick Roadmasters. Real woodies are scarce because even when they were brand new, they demanded the careful attention you’d lavish on a classic wooden boat. A three-season vehicle, typically the province of the very wealthy, woodies hauled weekenders to the Hamptons and along Philadelphia’s Main Line. North of Boston, in posh “summer cottage” enclaves like Beverly Farms, they were called ‘beach wagons.’

Usually, the most expensive model in an automaker’s lineup, woodies served as class-crashing Country Club carry-alls. Seeking a visual dazzler on wheels, Hollywood headliners like Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, and lesser luminaries like Hopalong Cassidy, Walter Pidgeon, and Gene Autry all owned woodies.

And a generation of primo California surfers snapped up used woodies in their last stages of roadability.

Want to learn more?

Join us for the next Tireside Chat on April 25 at 7:00 pm at Savoy Automobile Museum. Star of “Chasing Cassic Cars” Wayne Carini, will talk with Ken Gross about the fascinating world of woodies — both have owned numerous examples, and when they finish talking about these charming cars, you’ll want one too!

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