Stuart Lough's woody


I first set eyes on the Candy Apple 1940 Ford Deluxe Station Wagon when it was parked near my house in 1958. It belonged to a dental student who was going to USC. At this time the classic image of surfers and woodies was practically non-existent, and when this car was put up for sale I was not particularly interested, my surfing transportation at the time being a hopped up 1952 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. A classmate of mine subsequently bought the woody.

However, my Olds was becoming increasingly unreliable and was constantly in the repair shop; It was killing me financially. And so the demise of my Olds, and the need to replace it, arrived at the junction where my classmate had grown tired of the station wagon and wanted to part with it for $450. This time I went for it immediately and it became my constant companion. For a few years it was to be seen anywhere from San Diego to Santa Cruz and all surfing stops in between. I had numerous offers to purchase but I rejected them all as the two of us were inseparable. My wife and I had dated in that car and it was now a fixed member of the family. In the mid sixties I had seen my first "restored" station wagon and this led me to consider doing the same to mine. I began slowly at first, and just concerned myself with replacing the damaged wood, of which there was very little. As there were no woodworkers engaged in this kind of work at the time, I taught myself how to shape the multiple compound curves on the posts and doors. I was fortunate to have access to my wife's uncle's pattern shop where I undertook the work after his normal business hours. It was during this time of heavy slogging that I changed tactics and decided to tear the car down to the frame and start from there. Unfortunately (and luckily, as it turned out), the pressures of work, school, and raising a family kept me from working on the car and it was stored away in my garage until 1988.

Meanwhile, the interest in, and value of, wooden cars began to soar. By 1988 there were so many cars under restoration that assistance was more readily available. In 1992 I struck a deal with one restorer to handle all of the body and mechanical work and another to complete the coach work that I had started. The whole process took about three years and the car was re-built to as close to factory condition as was possible using old refurbished parts and new after-market parts.

Stuart Lough's Woody today

PS. I few years ago I came across an artist who was selling T-Shirts with woody themes. He had one that he created based on a photograph he had taken at Steamer Lane back in the sixties. I was sure it was my car but he couldn't remember the circumstances. The resemblance was too uncanny to resist so I bought the shirt. What do you think?