Veloce Publishing continues expanding its line “Those were the days…” this time with a book devoted to the American Woodies. While the book title says “1928-1953”, it does provide some history prior to those years, going all the way back to 1886.

The first chapter describes the origin of the woodies or “station wagon”, a sort of railway station shuttle to your vacation hotel. The second chapter describes how Ford led the way on making the Woodies popular and the last two chapters covers the immediate pre-WWII years and the immediate post-WWII years.

The book is not meant to be a detailed recount of every “Woodie” out there, nor a source of detailed information for a restorer. It is more of a gallery of pictures, some details and stories leading to how the Woodies became an icon of the ’40 and’50s. You will find Fords, Hudson, Chryslers, Studebaker, Crosley and more.

Some of the pictures are from restored models, showing those gorgeous golden and tans of highly polished wood finishes. Other pictures are in black and white, clearly period pictures that will have value for a modeler looking for specific details.

Several cars have pictures taken from different angles, although this book is not meant to be a “walk-around”. A detail I really enjoyed was the reproduction of period magazine ads. While those are drawings (not pictures) still have a great nostalgia value, which is what I think Woodies are all about.

In short great sharp color pictures, enough background to learn the history of the woodies and nostalgic ads from magazines. A great trip down memory lane.

Honestly, I loved this book. It is a great summary of station wagons since the late 1800’s until the golden decade of the ‘50s. Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Veloce Publishing and IPMS/USA for the review sample