1946 woody sedan on BAT

[jwwseville60]

Wow!!
What, no Hydramatic?

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1946-cadillac-woodie-sedan-model-61/

[Tom Boehm]

There are some really puzzling statements made in the description of this car. It says the wood is ash and mahogany. It is not. The wood is poor quality pine with knots in it and the panels are regular pine plywood from home depot. Because of this I think the wood was added in modern times. That being said, the wood design is very good for a phantom woodie. Amateurish design is common in modern phantom woodies.

Also what's with the body builder tag from Briggs? I'm sure Briggs did not have anything to do with the metal body or the woodie conversion.

No hydramatic is the least of the strange things about this car.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I don't have figures for 1946 but for 1942 and 1947, the installation rate for Hydramatic was 60% and 92% respectively. Presumably 1946 would have fallen somewhere between. Hydramatic became standard equipment in 1952 except on Series 75.

It's unclear when the woodwork was added or the air conditioning and the Briggs ID plate has me confused as well. If I were interested, I would buy under the assumption the modifications were done much later in the car's life and not by a known coachbuilder.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

Interesting car but as others have pointed out....questionable.

[Tom Boehm]

The wood on this car is not structural. It has wood panels applied over the original steel body. In 1946, 1947,1948 era Chevrolet offered a factory option like this. Not Cadillac.

There are some Cadillac woodies of this era out there built in the period by Bohman and Schwartz with structural wood. This is not one of them.

I don't understand how an owner can have a unique car like this and know nothing about it ?

[jwwseville60]

And the conversion is on a 61 series sedan too.
Im beginning to think this is a modern conversion done on the
cheapest 46 sedan you could find.
Still a nice car.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The seller did say "Custom mahogany and ash bodywork was added under previous ownership" so definitely a later addition.

Bruce.

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

A few years ago, there was a guy somewhere down in Central America that was doing woody bodies on vintage cars. I know of a fifties Packard station wagon and a Lincoln convertible that he did. There are probably others. This could be from the same place. The Briggs body plate is just comething that somebody stuck on there.

[billyoung]

As an aside, the Cadillac script on the front fenders is 1947 script. In 1946 it was block letters.

[jwwseville60]

Did Briggs make Caddy bodies in 1946?

Info

https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2016/remembering-the-men-and-women-of-the-briggs-manufacturing-company

[Big Fins]

Interesting read. Thank you!

[jwwseville60]

Woody info.