#2 40s Woody

                                              40's Woodie

Ahh, the looks of this casting (and this version in particular) just scream for beach side roadways. California styling but I could see this on the roads around Daytona, cruising from RonJon shop to the next. The motor sticking through the hood tells the on lookers that this one means business.

           This casting has always looked great in my opinion. The wood body is molded in plastic, but it has for the most part been a wood colored brown which really pulls it all together. There were a couple editions where the wood showed up in Blue, Pink and even a white version for a police model according to wiki fandom site [1] (check this site for more pictures and info, link below). It may be hard to see here but the grain of the wood is also embossed in the panels and it looks good. The door handles have also been depicted and is a great little detail that makes the woody stand out from other castings when it comes to the details. Inside, the details are bland but good for a diecast of this scale (I mean who looks at the interior of a Hot Wheels beyond the color). The surfboard rack is not always present but is definitely a great addition to the look of this issue. The rack also snaps on and off so if you are hunting one, check to see if the model came with a rack or not. This is a later production (I believe around 2010 mainline) version. I featured this one because the 5 spokes of this era really make the look complete. The 5 spokes represent a newer interpretation of a Cragar style mag wheel that would have been very popular for this car in real life.

         And what of the real-life version? Well, I cannot remember ever seeing one firsthand (these cars were in garages by the time I was even born) but I would remember one for sure. They are just plain cool in my opinion and a great subject for an even cooler hot rod. The real life model it represents would be a 1940 Ford Deluxe Woody Wagon. These were not as popular for hot rodders most likely because of the maintenance required for the wood panels. However, some made it into the custom car realm and would be a real treat to see at a car show. Lots of curves at every wheel well gave this a standout appearance for its time and the pointed nose would provide for some clever engineering with relation to motor size. It is an interesting approach to automotive manufacturing and styling if you think about it. This is pre-WWII vehicle and soon steel would be on the shortage so the timing would have been perfect for materials. I imagine that wood was also cheaper than steel in this time so the profit may have been better as well. Think about if Toyota presented an Odyssey van with actual wood for a body on it in today's market, they would be shunned into bankruptcy by the tree conservationists alone. I am also guessing it would also cost about $100K just to make. I am chuckling at visualizing this in my head for today but I don't think it was funny in the 40s.

       

             Back to what I know (the diecast versions), here is an original 1983 real riders series version with the hi-rakers feature that lets you jack up the rear tires to look more street worthy (another unfortunate fad of 80s). The blue high flake paint looks great against the wood sides and the black roof on this one ties into the real-life car as well. The goodyear lettering of an original real rider always looks good and was very durable. This one has been with me since 83. The real rider cars didn’t roll well on tracks and had so much grip that they weren't much fun to roll across the floor either (at least for me) so they most likely got put aside and not played with much. They do catch the hardened collector’s eye with a gleam and I admit, the rubber tires do seem to make the casting really that much cooler than a standard casting. The white lettering on the tires is very rare to be seen on newer castings and even the tread patterns are not as typical making this era of cars special for many reasons. The headlight details have changed slightly (for the better) over the years. The idea is for them to look like a “frenched” flush headlight that would have been common on a hot rod like this. The older versions were not as defined and were a bad spot for paint defects, but the newer versions and presumably better painting technologies have made the headlights look great. The grills are also detailed well.

                      I will end this review with the faint sound of the Beach Boys and most likely California Girls quietly playing in the background of your mind as we exit for this weeks spotlight. Maybe the Van Halen version for the Orange one right? Or maybe Wipeout by the Ventures if you are from a surf town.

As always, Thank you for stopping by

(and a special thank you if you made it this far)
Until Tuesday, enjoy this One Life - Collector Quentin

May your Hot Wheels hunting be rewarded with a casting you have been looking for all this time!

[1] https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/%2740%27s_Woodie website accessed November 1, 2019

As always, although I own the actual diecasts pictured in these posts, all artwork, Hot Wheels logos, car names, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions in regards to the Hot Wheels versions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

The 40 Ford is a trademark of the Ford Motor Company.