Born in the Iron Mountain... [PIC]

This 1949 Mercury Eight Sportsman Woody Wagon got all of its beautiful woodwork from Ford's Iron Mountain Plant in Kingsford, Michigan which was built in the 1920's. The beautifully prepared maple stiles and rails and the mahogany panels were shipped to assemblers like Briggs or Murray of Detroit or Baker-Rawling of Cleveland to be fastened to the metal substructure. The Iron Mountain was flush with surplus mahogany from the war years. By 1951, the wooden components were no longer used and the plant was sold to become the Kingsford Charcoal Company... so you can guess what happened to the remaining lumber. These were high maintenance cars, because just like a boat, the wood needed to be stripped and varnished yearly. That may be why only 42 of these are known to exist today.

I just adore the DM model done in Calabash Yellow which really goes so well with the rich mahogany panels. The model is engineered to operate like the 1:1. when opening the tailgate, the rear lamps remain horizontal so it was legal to operate the vehicle with the tailgate down. The 8 passenger model here offers a removable rear leather seat. Of all the woody models, this is my absolute favorite.