Woodie Madness! Classic Ads Featuring Small Wood Sided Wagons

Most automotive styling affectations were born of functional vehicle features. Real wire wheels, for example, lead to the faux-wire hubcaps that were so common in the Eighties, especially on Buicks and Oldsmobiles. Likewise, the vinyl and landau roof craze of the Seventies and Eighties was born of the landaulet and carriage-roof vehicles from decades earlier.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtWwo2AtyL4]

And so goes the story of “woodie” wagons. While the last real-wood-trimmed station wagon, a Buick Roadmaster Estate, was built in 1953, automakers have been evoking the look of real woodie wagons ever since.

Starting in the mid-Fifties, manufacturers switched to using durable fiberglass or plastic trim pieces and simulated woodgrain vinyl appliques instead of actual wood, thus sidestepping the upkeep challenges and durability issues of the real thing.

Eventually, the wood-sided look found its way to more than a few compact and subcompact wagons. For domestic makers, the woodie treatment was likely marketing shorthand for utility, as the general look was evocative of the larger wagons in most product lineups. For import brands, sporting some woodie trim likely went some distance in suggesting that the foreign automaker understood the American wagon buyer.

Collected here are ten classic car ads, each featuring a small wagon embellished with wood-look trim. If you have any thoughts on these wood-sided wagons, please share them with us. The place to leave comments is down below.

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