1947 Nash Suburban "Woodie"

One thinks of "woodies" as 1940s-vintage American station wagons, convertibles and sedans with parts of their bodies made of visible wood components in place of sheet metal.  Regarding woodie convertibles and sedans, one usually thinks in terms of the Chrysler Town and Country and Ford Sportsman.  Those were "pure" woodies in that wood structural components were used.  Some background on woodies is here.

Then there are cars that can casually be called woodies due to their appearance, yet lack wooden structural items.  The wood is applied over metal or placed in non-structural areas.  Such was the case for 1946-1948 Nash Ambassador Suburbans.

RM Sotheby's auctioned a 1947 Nash Suburban, link here.

It mentions that, following World War 2: "Nash required something new and different, that may not, necessarily, sell in large quantities, but would serve as a “draw” for showrooms.

"That car was the Ambassador Suburban, a four-door fastback sedan with handsome “woodie” bodywork, in the fashion of the Chrysler Town and Country.  By far the costliest Nash product, it was always extraordinarily rare.  Estimates are that, in three years of production, fewer than 1,000 were produced, with the most scarce being the 1948 model, of which just 130 were made.  Of the entire Suburban run, about a dozen survivors remain in existence worldwide."

Nash was a unit-body pioneer in America, and those Suburbans used those bodies.  Structural requirements meant that wood could not be substituted for structural metal.  So much -- perhaps most -- woodwork on Suburbans is applied, not built-in.

Here is an image of a 1948 Suburban while under restoration by Hensler Furniture Restoration of Saginaw, Michigan.  It appears that some non-structural parts such as door panels and perhaps the trunk lid might be wooden.  Otherwise, wood appears to be applied over metal.

Suburban images below are via a source I cannot presently identify for certain.

Gallery

1948 Nash Ambassador - Hyman Ltd photo
Nash Ambassador 4-door sedan for 1946-1948 looked like this.

A 1947 Suburban seen from a similar perspective.

Lloyd's Auctions photo of a 1946 Nash Ambassador.  Note the widths of the door pillars on this car compared to those on the Suburban in the following image.

Trunk lid hinges are on the exterior, unlike regular Nash Ambassador sedans.