When is a woodie...?

Dear Classic American,

My buddy and I have been having something of an ‘animated discussion’ on the subject of woodies. Basically he reckons a station wagon can only be called a ‘woodie’ if it’s constructed from wood. I say this is total rubbish and any vehicle with wood trim, whether real wood, Di-Noc or Fablon, is a woodie… Who’s right? Please can you solve this interminable row that seems to be never ending!

Geoff Carshall

Ludlow, Shropshire

Well, this is a funny one. It would seem that the term woodie is applied to any vehicle with wooden-appearing trim or construction. Although woodies now seem to be all but gone, they were still appearing in the Seventies and Eighties on anything from Chrysler K-cars to Pinto wagons.