George Masters, President, Dakota Cruisers Car Club, Minot

Editor’s Note:
George Masters was stationed at Minot AFB, and was also a civilian employee. He is currently Vice President of the Air and Space Forces Association chapter in Minot.

In April, 2015, I got a call from my buddy in Bismarck, that he was buying a car and in the back corner of the building was a Ford “Country Squire” Woodie wagon. He said that it was a really unique car and it would be fun to build. Of course I bought it.

I had it towed to a yard in Bismarck where I could pick it up. The Woodie was not really too rusty, but there was not one piece of wood on the body. NOTE: Back in the late 40’s, steel was more precious than wood, so the steel frames were covered with wood. With truck and trailer in tow, I went South from Minot to load this gem. It was such a gem, that it was placed on my flatbed with a fork-lift! Let the fun begin!

I decided that for this car, I was going to pull out ‘all the stops’! I ordered a custom built chassis from the Art Morrison company in Washington. When it arrived, I really didn’t know where to start. My motto is: Know your limits. This was about to reach mine. Anyway, I found a body man that could start the work. Since I had a body rotisserie we bolted this body to it where that work can get started.

While the body work was in progress, I had another crew start the chassis and work with the welding that would be needed. It came with a rear end housing and axles and 3rd member, front suspension, and front spindles. From there, we had to weld body mounting supports and exhaust hangers and lots more. But with the experts that I selected, we got all the welding completed and then I had the new frame powder coated. (chassis black would be fine).

The wheels: Well, I wanted a stock looking car when I was done, so I had a custom wheel set built out in California. When I got them, I had them powder coated red and I got some Z-rated radial white-wall tires. I had the rims built so that stock ’51 Ford hub caps would fit on them. I had in mind the ‘look’ that I wanted. Wilwood 4 wheel disc brakes would be a must for the stopping this car.

Next: Well, what engine and transmission would move this down the road. I had a company in Florida build an 408 Cubic Inch engine for me. It was built specifically for me with just under 450 horsepower. Bowler transmissions are strong enough to handle the power of this automobile. Motor mounts were welded and the engine and transmission were then mounted onto the chassis. Driveshaft—well, that had to be custom built and installed.

So, now the drive-train was all done. The body work was started but not moving along as I had wanted, so, we decided to mount it on the rolling chassis and move it to my buddies in Lake Park, MN where they took over the project.

Now, while the above work was being done, what about the new wood? I shopped around a bit and settled in on a company in Washington state that is the top-of-the-line builder of this wood. I made the order knowing it would take about 6 months to get finished and delivered. That timing was just right, as it turned out.

Now the car is in MN and the body work was under way, but one of the toughest decisions to make on a build of this sort, is: what color do I pick? It was winter in ND, and we were moving some of the club members cars into storage and this 2015 Camaro came in. It was the most beautiful ‘Forest Green’ color that I picked this as the vehicle color.

The wood arrives in a raw state, all crated up. The car is in primer, and ready for painting. But, the wood has to be custom ‘fit’ to this body. All of the pieces had to be slightly cut, sanded and aligned to this body. The wood, by the way, is oak and mahogany. So its placed on the car, fit as well as possible, then removed. The wood has to be stained and varnished. As that is getting done, the car gets painted. The paint is cut and buffed and now the wood is dry and ready to get installed on the car for the final time. All the wood is held on the car with stainless ‘blind bolts). The heads are polished for the look outside, but held on by screws that get installed inside and then covered.

You might think that the car is done, but this is only one major portion of the project. It has to be wired, a nice stereo system has to be installed, the interior has to get picked out, designed, assembled and installed. An upholstery shop in MN designed and installed the custom leather interior including high end carpet, leather seat material, a headliner that is extremely difficult to install and custom dash work. It might be noted, that the ‘woodie’ dashes are a different width than the regular 1951 Ford automobiles. Thus everything has to be build and designed around that width and unique feature.

I called another woodie expert and asked the question about getting all the trim re-chromed: How do you get, for instance, the tailgate hinges nicely chromed around

the rivets and smaller areas? He told me to do it right, you have to take everything apart and get it separately chromed and then get new rivets and reinstall. So that’s what I did. The little details on this car will really never be realized unless they are pointed out.

So, we move forward to 2017. The car is all done (are they ever done) and I’m ready to show it at some shows in ND. I hit Fargo, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Bismarck, Williston, Minot, Dickinson, and the Majestics Show in Regina, SASK. It took some Peoples Choice, Top Ten, Best of Show and other specific awards such as Best Interior. I showed it for 3 to 4 years, and for some dumb reason, I decided to sell it at the Barrett- Jackson in Scottsdale, AZ.

So it was hauled there in Oct of ’20 for the sale in January of ’21. It sold to a defense contractor out of Michigan.
Fast forward to September ’25. I got a call from one of my friends that “MY WOODIE” was going across the block at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale this October! WOW!

So now the decision for me to make—do I want it back? I called another buddy and found out that he was going to be there and would be willing to buy it for me and store it for me until I could make arrangements to get it back HOME! Long story short, with his help, I won the high bid and it has been delivered back to me in Minot. I called the seller, who by the way was the same guy that had bought it from me, and I asked him if he had done any improving to the car. He told me that he put a new battery in it, changed the oil and put fresh gas in it. He said he never drove it!! WOW!

So, in summary, I have it back. I have it on display, and I probably will start showing it this winter around “THE TOWN”.