The Hot Wheels Classic ‘31 Ford Woody is a 1931
Ford Model A Station Wagon. The name “station wagon" refers to the
early use of these vehicles at train stations to pick up passengers.
The cars were also known as "depot hacks", as they were commonly used
to transport people and luggage as taxi cabs. Of course, the name
"Woody" is a nickname that was made popular by West Coast surfers, and
refers to the wooden body panels that ran from the cowl to the rear of
the vehicle. Ford used so much wood in the construction of car
bodies, that the Ford Motor Company owned and operated a saw mill in
the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the 1930’s.
The Mattel version of the hot rod Woody wagon is a good
representation of the vehicle lucky surfers may have owned in the
1960’s. The hot rod changes include the hood removal, and the V-8
engine. The Mattel designers oddly added open headers exiting at the
side, and also large mega-phone exhaust pipes at the rear. The
black roof represents the fabric covered top of Ford’s wagon. On the
toy, it comes in two styles. The early run cars have a flat black roof,
and the later run versions have a glossy black textured roof. The
texture varies from car to car from a fine grain, to a larger texture.
The larger texture is sometimes called a "fingerprint-textured" roof.
A pair of '31 Ford Woodies with
textured (L) and flat (R) black roofs.
The interior is found in three colors: white, bronze (or tan, or
champagne), and dark brown. From the beginning of production, all three
interior colors were used. At some point during the production
run, Mattel appears to have phased out the bronze and dark brown
interiors. This is supported by the fact that only white interiors are
found in Woodies that are painted with second generation colors (hot
pink, magenta, and true yellow).
Woody interior colors: brown, bronze
and white.
Four chassis styles have been identified, and will be referred to here
as A,B,C and D. The four chassis types are as follows:
"A" Chassis: Straight side pipes; round, open rear alignment hole;
small ‘R’ after HOT WHEELS. Note that A chassis are rare.
"B" Chassis: Radius added to side pipes; round, open rear alignment
hole; LARGE ‘R’ after HOT WHEELS; ‘C’ for copyright enlarged.
"C" Chassis: Radius on side pipes; rear alignment hole elongated, and
closed; large R; chassis casting lengthened at the rear (It now covers
the rear portion of the body casting. It’s hard to see, unless you
compare these to earlier castings.)
"D" Chassis: Radius on side pipes; rear alignment hole elongated, and
closed; large R is replaced with a small ‘TM‘ after HOT WHEELS; Large
‘R‘ moved to the end of CLASSIC 31 FORD WOODY; chassis casting long at
the rear.
Four different body casting revision letters also have been
found. The body casting letter is visible on the inside bottom surface
of the roof. A,B,D and E castings have been found. A bodies have only
been found on unpainted prototypes, and at least one brown Woody. This
proves brown Woodies to be early production, or possibly prototypes. B
bodies are common to flat black roof cars, and have been found to be
very common. No C bodies were found in a survey of over 200 Woodies. D
and E bodies are common to late run cars, with D bodies being more
abundant. There is also an E-2 body which indicates a second die tool
was in parallel use.
Brown is by far the most difficult color to find, and there may be only
a few dozen or less, including some prototypes. A few colors are
available only on early run cars with a flat roof; these include olive,
antifreeze, and creamy pink. Other colors are found on both early and
late run versions, including red, orange, green, rose, blue, aqua,
lime, and purple. Magenta, true yellow, and hot pink have only
been found with textured roofs, late bodies, and white interiors. The
Woody has not been found in salmon pink. Nice green Woodies are getting
harder to find, as the late run greens are prone to fading to an icey
aqua color. Early greens do not fade. One harder to find
variation is the transitional car that has both a textured roof, and a
bronze or brown interior. Not many collectors care about such minute
details, but since the change to textured roofs and all white interiors
would not have been done at the same time, these transitional cars can
be found. These have been found in red, aqua, blue, and purple.
http://onlineredlineguide.com/69/69_classic_31_ford_woody/69_classic_31_ford_woody.html
