© 2007 Jeff & Sheila Boyd

A heartwarming tale of a very unique Woodie Wagon and the passion it took Jeff & Sheila Boyd to transport it across the country to enter the Wagon in the 2007 Concours d'Elegance. A special thank you to Sheila Boyd for contributing her story and the accompanying images.

This is a story about the rarest Woodie Wagon in the world. In 1940, Matilda Dodge-Wilson commissioned Meteor Motor Company to build a car for Meadowbrook Hall to transport guests and staff around the Estate and to and from town. This car is based on a 1940 LaSalle series 50 commercial chassis. It is here that our story begins in the cycle of renewal. I am writing this article beginning as an amateur witness to being intrigued and captured in the richness of history through the process of a complete restoration. I have found that history talks through wood, metal, engine parts and fixtures. Our journey begins when the new owner of the Woodie, Mr. Zanardi, delivered this car to our shop. I might clarify that my part in this perspective is that of an airbrush artist and partner to the genius who actually knows precisely what he is doing, Mr. Jeff Boyd of Body’s by Boyd. 

I was intrigued that day and to my inexperienced eyes saw little wrong with the Woodie, and in the first five minutes of it arriving Jim and Jeff took a knife to the headliner and started cutting. Within a few days, the body was removed from the chassis, the wood stripped to see what was usable and what needed to be replaced and the drive train torn down into a gazillion pieces, labeled and neatly arranged on racks. It was overwhelming to me. 

Pictured Above: Our Restoration Album

Two years and about 4000 hours later the Woodie is ready for it’s trip to Michigan for the Concours d’Elegance at Meadowbrook Hall. Jeff and I had our airline tickets, hotel, and car arranged. We had our clothes packed and were ready for departure when we were notified that there was a problem with the transportation company. We found out Friday afternoon that due to an insurance oversight, the carrier could not transport the car. They asked to be given until Monday to get a bond in place. Monday afternoon we got word that the carrier could not be insured. Thus begins a new journey for us driven by pure passion and focus. 

Late Monday afternoon Jeff located and purchased a 24-foot enclosed car trailer and arranged a friend to drive it to Michigan with him. By 9:00 pm, the other driver called and was unable to break a previous commitment, so with a bit of apprehension and somewhat terrified, I knew what I had to do. I cancelled our airline tickets, the car, kept the hotel, and repacked my bag to include clothes for many hours of driving. Gone were the luxury of events I had been so looking forward to. By Tuesday afternoon we had purchased a truck, loaded the Woodie and were on the road that evening. 

The first leg of our trip only got us about 40 miles, as far as Madera. We were driving a used truck towing a lot weight behind us, so we made some adjustments, charted our maps and slept a few hours at our friend’s house, leaving Madera by 5:30 Wednesday morning. We rolled into Cedar City, Utah late that evening. The day had been spent watching gauges, checking the oil and transmission levels and tire pressure, and getting used to the performance of the truck and the weight it was pulling. 

To ease our minds, we stopped in Fillmore, Utah to have the truck serviced, transmission fluid flushed and replaced with synthetic fluids to ensure a safe and trouble-free trip. We got just outside of Salt Lake City when the transmission seemed to be having a problem. We had so carefully chosen our route so as not to go through Denver over extremely high mountain passes, but the truck was not accelerating downhill. Jeff explained to me that this was a very bad thing! 

We pulled off to the side of the road, called several Ford dealers, the Big O in Fillmore who had serviced the truck and fellow mechanics. There was not an explanation to be had. Jeff (my partner and personal hero) got under the car and touched, pushed and checked every possible connection while I sat and prayed for a solution. What other choice did we have at this point than to see if we could get to another place where we might be looking at replacing the transmission? Jeff strained up the grade, gathering more speed and then the miracle I asked for; the truck ran perfectly from that point on. Speculation? There had to be something in the transmission that didn’t get flushed all the way out? We do not know, but I was feeling quite blessed and watched over at that moment. 

Exhausted and having lost a major amount of time, we pushed on past Laramie Wyoming agreeing that just another 42 miles or so to get us to the border was quite do-able. What we didn’t anticipate was the next 8700’ big grade. We first saw signs that warned us about fog, but the night was clear and it was August. Surely this was a sign like “Chains Required” appropriate to winter driving conditions. We kept going. It started to rain. We kept driving battling fatigue and limited visibility in the dead of night, and then fog. We kept climbing and saw another warning sign to beware of ice on the road. We were nervous even though all my common sense kept telling me that this was August! At the height of anxiety, there was yet another sign, warning us to watch for wildlife in the road. At this point, we started to laugh. I remember looking up through the rain, the fog and the blackness of night asking my maker if there was anything else we might need to be aware of? Finally, we reached the summit, the rain had slowed down and the fog was dissipating. There was not a flicker of wildlife to be seen and we rolled into Cheyenne Wyoming exhausted and grateful. 

We left Cheyenne at 9:00am the next morning refreshed and pondering over our maps. I called my friend in LA and had her Mapquest distance for us. WOW! 1500 more miles to go! Onward we pushed, and refusing to calculate a set time of arrival, we agreed to keep driving until we could no longer drive safely before catching a few hours sleep. It was at 5:00am Saturday morning somewhere in Michigan that we stopped for breakfast to recalculate. We not only had to get to Auburn Hills to our hotel room, but be present at the party that evening where the Woodie would be unveiled. We passed through two time zones and the realization that we kept loosing hours! We chose to drive into the sunrise and continue. We were SO close! 

Now as a sub note, I did take the wheel a few times for Jeff when the highway was least traveled and on long straight-aways. It afforded him just enough sleep to drive again. As for me, I would not sleep while Jeff was driving. It was the least I could do! I have never towed anything behind me before, so for me to take the wheel was un-nerving to say the least. 

At 11:00 am we pulled into Auburn Hills, MI. We were beyond tired, so we caught about two hours sleep and then delivered the Woodie to its place of origin, Meadowbrook Hall. 

Our time in Michigan was worth the effort. The Concours was incredible and the sentiment and passion the Woodie evoked was not to be missed. 

The Journey Home

We had a splendid time in Michigan. The Hilton Suite in Auburn Hills was delightful with incredible service, and even helped us out by extending our stay an extra day since we missed our check-in Friday afternoon. Monday morning we went to Meadowbrook Hall for a photo-shoot. The grounds were immaculate and Marilyn, the docent was interesting, informative and rich in her knowledge of history. 

We left Auburn Hills Tuesday morning for our relaxed trip home. We would take our time and visit places like the Henry Ford Museum and visit friends in Indiana. We still wanted to make time, so our next destination was Omaha, NE. It was around midnight when we rolled in to the Hampton Inn off I-80. We were well accommodated with a nice room over-looking our rig and precious cargo. It wasn’t an hour later we were hit with the most outrageous thunderstorm this California girl has ever seen! It was raining so hard with the wind blowing the rain at what appeared to be a 90-deg angle that our window was taking in water and dripping on the floor. We were once again humbled by the force, and oh so grateful to be safely indoors and being able to see that our rig was OK through the window. 

The next morning all was fresh and sunny. We stopped to do some shopping and even drove through Ashland’s Wild Animal Park just outside of Omaha. We felt comfortable now with the truck and the rig, so we kept ourselves entertained with taking pictures and enjoying the changing landscape. 

We were just outside of Cheyenne, WY and decided this would be the perfect place to rest for the evening. It was early enough for a nice dinner and catch a bit of news on TV. All of a sudden there was a loud noise that sounded like a canon just went off. We thought the transmission blew up, but it was actually an inside tire on the dually. It ripped the fender, punched up the bed liner but most of all raised my anxiety to new heights. Semi trucks were ripping along the road leaving me clinging to the side of the truck. Again, our guardian angel was watching out for us…(I am sure the angel was my Mother!) as we limped to the next off ramp to find an all night truck station open that would mount the spare for us. Blessings Be! 

The next day we didn’t leave Cheyenne until about noon after getting a new spare tire and the truck serviced at a Grease Monkey. To make up some time, we decided we needed to get to Wendover, Nevada, which to us was just a little dot on the map along the way. It was around 11:00pm when we reached that destination and we were quite tired. Much to our surprise the little dot on the map was lit up with Casino lights flashing, cars everywhere and people and traffic jammed on the streets and sidewalks. We soon found out that is was Bonneville Speed Week and there was not a motel or room available from Salt Lake City to Reno. Reno was having Hot August Nights, so with no place to turn, we found a dark corner of a huge parking lot and slept in the truck. I’m glad we can find humor in about any situation because we went from 4-star hotel to homeless in a matter of a few nights. 

The next morning we woke up laughing at our situation, headed for the nearest truck stop for some rather strong coffee, and hit the road to make it to Reno to visit some friends. We cleaned up at a rest stop along the way and enjoyed a terrific evening. We spent the night in Reno and headed home the next day. Finally! The last leg of the journey! 

Just south of Stockton we had another tire blowout, and again we gimped our way off the road and at the bottom of the off ramp there was a place that could change our tire. We got back on the freeway, and before getting to the next ramp, we had another blowout, this time it was one of the trailer tires. Back off we go, and at the bottom of the off ramp there was a truck service facility and again, changing the tire was not a problem. (I know my Mother was guiding us!) 

With my anxiety level reaching another peak, I was writing in my journal to calm my nerves. Before I could even catch up with the day’s events, I looked in time to see a rather large rectangular 2x4 constructed truss fall off the semi truck in front of us and spin right toward our truck. It paralleled as we braked and went right under the truck between the wheels, thanks to Jeff’s cool head and quick calculations. Our back tire ran over an edge, but nothing was damaged. My heart took a while to drop from my throat back to my chest and I had to tell myself to breathe. So close to home! 

The story does have a happy ending! I thanked the spirits watching over us…(Mom in particular), and my gratitude ran over as I wrote my final entry in my journal. From Modesto to Coarsegold, our trip was uneventful!