‘41 K1 Woody Wagon Restomod

[Gudwood]

Yup, the thread title is true. Scout’s Honor! Rumors on the web seem to indicate that 18+/- of these woodies were produced in 1941by The Cantrell Body Company. A further cursory web search turns up 3 +/- beautifully restored totally drool-worthy wagons @six-figure prices. Suffice it to say that I’m downright giddy at the prospect of customizing one of these rare-ish depot hacks as my last great adventure. As this project unfolds on these very pages just let me know how much detail you want to see and I will oblige. Behold the Woody…….

Oooops! Sorry, this is one of the restored IH wagons. Spiffy, eh? OK, OK., here’s mine on the way back from Cape Cod to central Florida…….

That’s my report for now, thanks for stopping by.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

 

[Gudwood]

My current project, a ‘50 Willys Wagon on a ‘02 S10 chassis spent the month of September’25 at the electrical shop 2 towns over. This project developed nuclear mission creep while keeping me entertained for 5 years. A few pics…….

Today the Willys is running/driving/stopping and about 98% complete. Nothing much to do other than shake-down cruises to troubleshoot and fine tune.

So, while the Willys was in the field hospital I started getting familiar with the woody. A total strip-down was necessary to get a good look at the condition of the frame and a clear view of how the wood body was constructed……….

Next stop was the pressure washer to de-crust the 50 year patina. Dropping it on the trailer was the ticket………

The frame was washed while I was filthy. Future sandblasting will help in checking for cracks before rebuild commences……..

Don’t know why a thumbnail appeared but I’m old and lost in the ether. Moving right along, after washing the body was placed on the shop floor for the first modification………

Thumbnail again. Maybe I have reached the hogwash limit for one posting! Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Gudwood]

Moving right along, with the body on the floor the prime candidate was more easily accessible. The cowl vent won’t be necessary with the Classic Auto Air HVAC/DEFROST system in place. Step one was to remove all the paint in the vicinity. The macro plan is to strip all the painted parts to bare metal so the journey begins…….

OK then. A marine plywood filler was formed to fit the arched opening then glued in place with 3M 5200 fast dry adhesive. A skim-coat of body filler wrapped up the prep…….

Uggh! Looks a little better with primer…….

The wooden body will be fastened with carriage bolts so my intention is to use that feature wherever practical moving forward. A piece of 3/16” aluminum plate was formed to fit, drilled for a wad of carriage bolts, slathered with 5200, and bolted in place…….

But Claude, don’t carriage bolts have square shanks? Yes they do, so each drilled hole had to be squared out with a body saw. Now that’s my kind of tedium! Looks a bit better with primer…….

That’s all for now, thanks for stopping by.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

The cowl vent won’t be necessary with the Classic Auto Air HVAC/DEFROST system in place.

Nice ...

I thought about doing this on my R-100 ..
Did go with a 'Old Air' A/C unit, no longer the 60 mph factory air was needed ...

But, I thought it was a good idea to keep the cowl vent working just in case the A/C went South ...
Installed power on the vent cause of the pod I built from another R Series dashboard to houses the center A/C vent and switches was in the way of working the factory vent handle ..

1K views · 27 reactions | Batmobile ain't got nothing on this old truck .. Well maybe, perhaps a grenade launcher ! .. Lol | Jesse Stewart

Batmobile ain't got nothing on this old truck .. Well maybe, perhaps a grenade launcher ! .. Lol

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The button in the end of the tilt lever works the vent ..

 

[Gudwood]

Took another bite out of the mechanical elephant while waiting for the Willys to return from heart surgery. I really like the later model hood belt so I snagged one on EBay that was in good shape other than the chrome. Making the oval holes was made more angst inducing due to the curves and the projecting bosses on each wing……..

With a few scribbles on masking tape the metal mangling commenced……..

Those bosses needed to be offset to draw the belt to the hood……..

They were about a quarter inch proud of the inside surface. I grabbed 2 hunks of Delrin out of the scrap drawer and carved them to suit, including the 3 degree pitch on the hood…….

A test-fit was successful. Using Delrin for the blocks eliminates future rust and squeaks. The original badge holes were welded closed later…….

After searching the usual sources for “International” badges for the hood I was taken by the laser cut stainless script from a later model. A drilling jig made short work of the installation……

To increase the bling, I used the drilling jig as a holder for sanding with 600-1500 grit then buffing with white compound…….

This process removed the hard edge from manufacturing and was well worth the effort. That’s it for now, thanks for stopping by.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Man, those Scripts look great ...

Wanted to do the late model scripts on mine ...

But, thought it wouldn't look right with the 100 badges ..
Did find badges off of a R-190 that was much larger than what came originally on the truck and matched the size of the 100 badge ... Had them chromed ..
The 49 Jeep pickup badges was installed on the hood ...

The mods we do to enhance our trucks makes for a super unique vehicle ...

Like the 47 Ford Custom hood ornament ...

I'm really digging what you're doing with that old Binder ..
Keep up the great work ..

 

[Gudwood]

Man, those Scripts look great ...

Wanted to do the late model scripts on mine ...

View attachment 41099

But, thought it wouldn't look right with the 100 badges ..
Did find badges off of a R-190 that was much larger than what came originally on the truck and matched the size of the 100 badge ... Had them chromed ..
The 49 Jeep pickup badges was installed on the hood ...

View attachment 41100

The mods we do to enhance our trucks makes for a super unique vehicle ...

View attachment 41101

Like the 47 Ford Custom hood ornament ...

I'm really digging what you're doing with that old Binder ..
Keep up the great work ..

Thanks Jesse, it’s great fun to mix and match details on the way to a finished project. Many decades ago some loony-tune car designer combined some details and came up with the BATMOBILE for cryin out loud I’m leaning toward the Scout all wheel drive emblem……

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Thanks Jesse, it’s great fun to mix and match details on the way to a finished project.

Tis a fact ...

The folks at IH must of had that same thought in the early 50's ...

1954 International Harvester R140 Woody Wagon For Sale At Auction - Mecum Auctions

View the 1954 International Harvester R140 Woody Wagon for sale at Kissimmee 2025 in Kissimmee, Florida as S281.

www.mecum.com

 

[Gudwood]

Well grab your stomach distress bags folks, we might be slipping over the edge with today’s progress report. I value high visibility while motorvating at night and if this rig doesn’t turn out like the visions that haunt my sleep I’ll be doing more night driving than in broad daylight. The addition of an LED park/turn on the front fenders was straightforward once I found a small enough yet bright enough fixture that was simple to mount………

After using three methods of finding the center, I threw the dice and fired up the holesaw. The test-fit went fine…..

While the holesaw was hot I turned to the existing parking lights. With a bit of finagling I was able to fit the LED into a modified housing while still using the OEM glass lens. Time to take a gander………

Keep the barf bag handy ‘cause the hood spear was bothering me. Not the spear so much but the way it was attached. This is the way it looked when I brought it home……

I don’t have any idea what the fastening system was, so I brought out the cutting wheel. The slots were trued and short hunks of 1/2” steel rod were drilled, countersunk, and welded to the improved flange…….

The test fit went well……

As for the decorative ornament, I received 2 miniature cast acrylic IH badges from Australia and they are probably destined to be planted on the spear. That’s it for now, thanks for stopping by.