I actually have 2 of these, this one is a 4 speed the other is a automatic. Both are 2 doors. and I am building a 31 with a 392 Hemi, did I say "Got Hemi"
This from Legendary Surfers website. Surfer Mike Doyle talks about his mode of transpotation "In 1959," Doyle wrote, switching the subject to transportation, "my senior year in high school, my buddy Mike Majek and I started a business shaping balsa wood surfboards in my garage. Our major investment was a power planer. Foam surfboards had just started to come on the market, but their advantages hadn't been fully recognized yet. In fact, some surfers called foam boards 'speedo sponges' or 'flexi-fliers.' So Majek and I stuck with shaping balsa boards. Beginning with a balsa blank, we would plane and sand each board into the shape we wanted, then coat it with fiberglass and resin. We shaped about 150 boards that year and sold them all, which put a little spending money in our pockets and gave us some independence. "One weekend, after Majek and I had each saved up a few hundred dollars, we flew up to San Francisco, then took a cab down to Burlingame, just south of the airport. There was a huge storage yard there filled with used ambulances and hearses: big beautiful Cadillacs with powerful V-8 engines and heavyweight suspensions. The mortuaries would buy new cars every year or so, no matter what condition the old ones were in; the cars had been well serviced, and hardly any of them had more than 15,000 miles, since they only went from the mortuary to the graveyard and back. There was almost no market for these cars -- who wanted to own a used death-mobile? -- but they made perfect surf wagons. So for $400 I bought a beautiful 1958 Cadillac with braided curtains and a burgundy velvet interior -- a beautiful piece of metal and chrome. I remember the interior smelled like dried flower petals. "Majek bought himself a Cadillac ambulance, and together we cruised down the Coast Highway, through Santa Cruz and Big Sur, in our plush wagons with their big engines purring. We were only eighteen and had our own Cadillacs. "As soon as we got home, I had my hearse painted canary yellow, and Mike had his ambulance painted fire-engine red. We liked to cruise side by side down Manchester Boulevard, in Inglewood, Majek in his ambulance and me in my hearse, while all the other cruisers in their lowered La Bamba '54 Oldsmobiles gave us angry stares. What thrilled us most of all, I think, was that we were thumbing our noses at the stifling Fifties mentality and getting away with it. We didn't have to act like square football jocks, and we didn't have to dress like tough cholos anymore. We had our own style now. The creative freedom and exhilaration we'd found in surfing was affecting our whole lives. "I loved taking my hearse to the beach. I carried my surfboards and wetsuits on the chrome coffin rack, so when I pushed a button, the whole rack would come sliding out. In midday I could climb in the back of the hearse to get out of the sun, and I slept in it when we went overnight to Rincon or Swami's. The only bad thing about that car was going to pick up a girl for a date. One look at my bed on wheels, and no girl's father would ever let his daughter see me again. So I learned after a while to park around the corner."
There was a lot in Kansas City that specialized in used hearses. I got a '50 Cad for $150 and later, a five year old '59 for $550. They were cheap because there was just no market for a used hearse.
I think I got a _ _ _ _y lookin at all these Damn, I really have to get workin on my wood! There are some nice rides on this thread
I'm lovin' this thread!Must be becauseI have from when I was a kid.Had an Uncle with a cool wagon,just remember I always wanted to ride in the back!Wagons rule!
Here's a pic of Tom and his buddy Phil towing Barris' X-PAK 100 with his '50 Cad hearse...snuck a copy of this photo back when I used to work for Tom in Phoenix. Sorry Tom.
I couldn't bring myself to do the surfer thing in Ohio, SO... I ahve a steamer trunk, some vintage luggage, a bamboo fishing pole, a vintage cooler, and was thinking about some vintage wooden water skis... Mike
Awsome thread!! Here are a -48 woodie from an album cover. The car was owned by Randy Nauert (Challengers' bassist) with a Corvette -62 383 with 3 two-barrels!
Uruguayan Surf Wagon: Leonardo Correa Luna's "Surf Wagon" at the beach in Punta del Este (near Maldonado, Uruguay) ... Leo explained that one reason he loves his Isetta is that with the surfboard installed, there's no room for his girlfriend which, in turn, allows him to surf as long as he wants to!
i live in pennsylvania and i love the surf wagon look. i'm building a stude lark wagon right now.hopefully it will be done by spring
Post some pics of that stude wagon once you get it done or start working on it. Those are cool looking wagons. I've always loved Studebakers!
The Trashmen when it was socially acceptable so sing about them... Well if you ever go down to where the big cars go Well you can ask anybody cause they all know
 That there's one wild woodie that's really mean
 She's a roller cam huffer blown fuelie machine

 She's big, big, she's bad, bad, my woodie

 She's a full out scavenger with racin' slicks
 And when I'm lightin' the skins I really get my kicks Uh well she's chopped and a'channeled and she's stroked and bored
 A big rubber daddy with a four on the floor
 She's big, big, she's bad, bad, my woodie

 A roller cam huffer blown fuelie machine
 That really wails comin' out of the gate
 I can hit second gear while you're still layin' rubber
 And buddy by that time it's too late

 So you better think twice cause your wastin' my time
When you come around messin' with that woodie of mine Cause she'll walk right over those bennie soups
The Stingrays, Caddies and the little deuce coupes
 She's big, big, bad, bad, my woodie She's big, big, bad, bad, my woodie She's big, big, bad, bad, my woodie
 She's big, big, bad, bad, my woodie
The Jalopy Journal
