1949 Mercury Wagon and scrap '49

1949 Mercury wagon 1949 Mercury wagon

In about 1949, Ford Motor Company began making fake 'woodies,' rather than real 'woodies.' This Mercury wagon, with woodgrain paneling instead of a real wooden body, was one of those that marked the transition. Later in the 1950s, the wood disappeared entirely, as Ford went to a 100% fake wood trend. Really this was not a bad thing, as wood, when exposed to the elements over a long period of time, loses its finish, warps, and rots. From my vantage point, many years later, I can thoroughly appreciate real woodies, the not-so-real woodies of the 1950s, and my spouse's contemporary SUV which does not rot if I fail to wax it.

This 1949 Mercury wagon is built from a Hendrix resin shell, with the chrome, the frame, and the added parts from the AMT 1949 Mercury kit. I put a fake spare-boot from the Lindberg '53 Ford kit on the back instead of the full spare for aesthetic reasons.
scrapyard '49 Mercury scrapyard '49 Mercury
Upon completing the Mercury wagon, I found myself with a '49 Mercury body and part of an interior, but no hood and no grill. I've used more complete remnant sets to build cars (my '56 Ford convertible doesn't have a frame under it, as it entirely utilized parts left from a resin project). I used this set of leftover parts to build a scrap car, one that looks to be someone's rebuilding project. I added a few parts that fit, or didn't really fit, badly painted one fender and door, 'primed' the other fender with flat black, and smeared 'surface rust' over a flat light blue. I have come across examples of model builders who claim to have gone to elaborate lengths to create 'junk' cars and find myself wondering. It seems to me awfully easy to build junk -- much easier than trying to build something that's perfect, precise and beautiful.