If your automotive nostalgia burns so bright that you can’t possibly wait until 2019 for the next edition of the Jeep Woody, we’ve found a worthy alternative.
She’s splinter-free, enjoys long drives on the beach and has a helluva a back end … and she’s 69 years old.
Once the priciest station wagon in Mercury’s entire stable (at $2,200, in 1947), the original 79M Woody Wagon boasted a 239-cubic-inch flathead V8 with three-speed manual transmission. Featuring fiddleback maple rear bodywork, a slatted wood roof topped with vinyl and three rows of seating, fewer than 3,600 of the ‘47 Woody Wagons were ever built, making them seriously desirable cars for the serious collector.
The gorgeous specimen you see here has had minimal work done and has retained almost all of its original parts and finishings, although a Columbia Overdrive unit (not to be confused with a Bachman-Turner Overdrive unit) was added to make the vintage wagon more road ready.
With only 81,000 miles on its odometer, its current owner — who has driven the car in parades and shown it professionally — is asking about $50,000 for it at auction. Considering the original Woody Wagon sold for $2k about 70 years ago, that inflation ain’t bad.
Better get yourself to the virtual auction block. Bidding ends right around happy hour.
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