woody body was made by Raulangs Body Co

[mrtexas]

Is this a Ford factory woody? If not, what is it? Says it has roll up front door windows!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1931-...#ht_500wt_1182

[Elcastor]

I do not know, but it is possible. Here is what Coachbuilt has to say about Baker-Raulang (not Raulangs Body Company) ref web site: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/b/bake...er_raulang.htm for more information.

Prior to 1929, all of Ford’s station wagons were produced by custom body shops such as Cantrell, York-Hoover, Waterloo and others utilizing chassis purchased from independent Ford dealers. Ford decided to provide a factory station wagon for the new Model A, marking the first time a manufacturer mass-produced a station wagon on their own assembly line. Murray produced 4,954 examples of Ford's new $695 Model 150-A Station Wagon in 1929. The following year, A new body style, the 150-B, was introduced and the contract was split between Murray and Baker-Raulang in Cleveland, Ohio. Murray was swamped with other Ford projects so Baker-Raulang built the lion's share of the 6,363 Model 150-B bodies built in 1930-1931. 1932 Ford Model B station wagon bodies were all built by Baker-Raulang, as Murray was still overwhelmed with bodywork destined for the new 1932 Ford.



As Ford's Iron Mountain facility was ill-equipped to manufacture the complicated wooden framework for the Model 150 bodies, the millwork was subcontracted to the Mengel Body Company of Louisville, Kentucky, a medium-sized production body builder who had previously supplied Model T coachwork for Ford's Louisville branch. Iron Mountain shipped kiln-dried lumber to Mengel who milled and assembled the various subcomponents which were then shipped to either Murray or Baker-Raulang for final assembly. Rather than shipping the bare Model A chassis to Raulang, Ford opted to have Murray and Raulang assemble and finish the bodies, then ship them to a Ford assembly plant where they were mated to a waiting chassis. The bodies produced by Raulang were assembled without cowls as Raulang lacked the deep-draw presses needed to produce them and special bracing was installed to prevent damage during shipping to Ford. Baker-Raulang also built the very rare 1931 Model A Traveler's Unit, a 2-door Woody camper with screen-side panels based on the Model A Special Delivery Body.

[sawzall]

i've not had the chance yet, but have been offered the oppertunity to take a look at that particular car (given that a friend of mine knows the owner and its not far from me)

its a neat piece.. and I think a good buy at the asking price.. (even thought I Havent seen it yet.)

[pat in Santa Cruz]

it could have been an original 31 Ford 150-B. A right side mount is incorrect. Painted interior wood is incorrect. Seat covers were not pleated. Paint was only manilla brown, not red. The wood looks like original wood, the Raulang tag looks original, that is the detail is sharp. Repros are a bit less so. Original Raulang tags have some writing on the back side, repros are plain. 150-Bs were made by both Murray and Raulang. Glass side door windows would not be original. I cannot see the detail of the rear fender wood arch. The joints must be finger joints to be original.

[Roadster62]

The Special Delivery had rollup windows in the doors, so maybe thay put them in some Station Wagons. I have an original regulator I picked up with the remains of one over 40 years ago.

[barnstuf]

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The eBay blurb on this station wagon says it came from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. There was a Model A club member in Mattapoisett named Arthur Smith who owned a 1931 station wagon with roll up front windows and I recall it being a Raulang. He owned it for many years probably from the late 1950's until his death about 15-18 or so years ago. I saw the wagon many times during those years and suspect this might be the same one. It did not have dual sidemounts then and was manilla brown then, but it did have the roll up windows in the front doors. We drove together to a national meet in Atlantic City in the early 1960's.

[Steve Ciccalone]

To my knowledge, stock production factory woodies did not have roll up windows in the front doors until the 1935 model. It is very possible there were accessory retrofits available from non-Ford suppliers. The '33-34 models had side curtains that slid in tracks. I think '32 was similar but I'm not familar with that model.

[sawzall]

steve is correct ---this is the roof of a 32 woodie.. which has curtains in the front doors, rear doors and rear quarters.. i believe the brass tracks are original