My Classic Car: 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe Woody
By: Bobby G, - California (Guest Contributor)
My Classic Car: 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe Woody
Literally escaping a fire together
Images provided by Bobby G.
I owned this car for 17 years. Throughout the years, we would take it the four hour drive from our home to Santa Cruz, CA, for the annual Woodies on the Wharf event. It was all original with factory overdrive.
In November 2018 a devastating campfire took 95% of our beloved town. I remember waking up and looking out at 7 a.m. and the sky was red and black like midnight. My wife drove out in our H3 Hummer to go pick up her parents. We had only minutes to evacuate with just the clothes on our backs, thinking we would be back in a day or two.
I jumped in the '49 Plymouth Woody, and it took me three hours to go 15 miles to Chico in the bumper-to-bumper panic traffic. Everyone was trying to escape.
We didn't make it back in a few days, instead we lost our home, our 12 vintage cars and my shop. My son often comments on how I drove a wooden car through the fire, but I just couldn't leave Woodrow behind. It's not a very happy story, but the car survived and so did our family. A friend stored it for me for a while, but unfortunately I ended up having to sell the car. Here are some great photos of it; hope you enjoy the car.
No politics, no religion, no instagrams, and commentary must be civil. The ToS and the CoC will be enforced, and anything that the administrator deems to be offensive will be deleted. YouTubes, videos and images that the administrator is unable to open must be described and explained or they will be deleted.
I thought this was a really relevant story considering the present wildfires in California. It's just a minimally happy story in that the owner saved his woody, but a sad one considering all the rest of his losses. What I'm really trying to do here, though, is to figure out what the second word is on that T-shirt. LOL
I’m wondering if that word was in some way deliberately altered so viewers could not make out what it was. I tried to make it bigger but still couldn’t tell. The first letter seems to be D. The second may or may no be an O. But it’s impossible to read.
Yes, it's hard to stop staring at it, isn't it.
Is a “Woody” the same thing as what we used to call a “station wagon”?
Not all station wagons were called or were "woodies". Read the title again. The author called his car, which had wood sides, a "woody". It would not be called a "woody" if it did not have wood as part of its exterior, but then you knew that, didn't you.
Surfin, USA the classic Woody rules PCH.
PCH? Pacific Coast Highways?
Only someone who owned an actual Woody would know what PCH means!
Would a person who never left England who owned a woody know what PCH meant?
Probably not Publisher’s Clearing House.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't stand for Paroxysmal Cold Hemoglobinuria.
Yes, PCH is Pacific Coast Highway.
Thank you - finally a definitive answer to alleviate my acronyphobia.
By the way, don't miss clicking the author's link of "Woodies on the Wharf" for some real Woody candy for the eyes.
Nice!
Somehow those photos makes me think of The Beach Boys (even though they drove different kinds of cars).
What surprised me in the top image that is opened by that link was to see 3 1950 Ford Woodies side by side. Maybe I particularly took note of that because my first car when I was 16 was shared with my brother was a 1950 Ford Custom Coach.
I’m wondering if that word was in some way deliberately altered so viewers could not make out what it was. I tried to make it bigger but still couldn’t tell. The first letter seems to be D. The second may or may no be an O. But it’s impossible to read.
Are you having a problem with deleting duplicate comments?
Woody's Diner on PCH in Huntington Beach. I've eaten there many a time.
Damn. 9:30 p.m. and your comment just made me hungry.