Woodies on the Wharf 2012

The end of June saw the 18^th annual running of Woodies on the Wharf. Much more than a car show, this year’s event featured cars like a ’49 Mercury sporting an aluminum-blocked, Ardun-equipped flathead, a legendary surfboard builder shaping a balsa blank with an antique drawknife, and characters like a good ol’ boy named Cotton who drove all the way from Georgia with a trunk full of peach-flavored white lightning. We had perfect weather, bitchen little waves for the Friday Surf-Out, killer barbecue at Saturday’s tailgate dinner, and no one ran out of gas or ice all weekend.

A 158 woodies made this year’s gathering and while we were kept pretty busy, we had a chance to shoot a few photos:

This ’37 Dodge is both a rare bird and a good-looking car. You’ll have to excuse the glare. It was bright and sunny from daybreak. Throughout the previous week meteorologists had been predicting winter-like weather for the event. Wow, did they blow it. While friends in the local mountains reported umbrella-worthy drizzle, on the wharf we were in flip flops and T-shirts by 7:00 a.m.

This tan ’37 was a full phantom-build. Here’s stock-bodied ’37 for comparison:

Santa Cruz Woodies, a chapter of the National Woodie Club, does a worthy job living up to our town’s “Keep It Weird” vibe. The chapter doesn’t have a president, it has a queen. Here she is being escorted onto the wharf in Gary Meadors’ Chrysler Town & Country.

Gary’s Luxury Liner gets plenty of grunt from its Mopar V-10.

Another car worthy of note was Richard Munz’ Ardun-powered ’49 Mercury. It deservedly drove off with the Woodie Owners’ Choice award.

While my lovely wife and I are among the handful of couples that founded the Santa Cruz Woodies, the original Club Kahuna is Don Iglesias. Don drives a bitchen ’49 Merc woodie with a hot flathead. He’s also a lifelong waterman and, at the Friday Surf-Out, knew how to milk the 38^th Street ankle-snappers for all they were worth:

The waves were clean and really fun. Here’s another old car guy/gremmie, setting up for the inside section. A lot of local dudes are both surfers and hot rodders. Could their wives have done any worse?

Builders often target Woodies on the Wharf for finishing and debuting their cars. Local “Farmer Joe” Esperanca rolled out his recently-completed red Mercury.

Big cars are bitchen and we’re seeing more and more of these once-scorned woodies being restored and hot-rodded. Early Dodges look right at home with a load of kids and surfboards. The three-door Cadillac was originally built to transport guests from the train terminal in San Diego to the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island. This luxurious depot hack features an ostrich hide interior and modern Cadillac motivation.

The owner of this ’49 Chevy, the last of the wood-bodied Chevy wagons, slipped a modern driveline and suspension under a comfortably-worn, decades-old restored body and wood. It motored down from the Pacific Northwest and right into my heart. It was definitely one of my favorites.

Woodie and surfboard builder George Benson’s Mercury was topped with a rack-full of balsa. The sign in the windshield read “Surfboard for sale. Some assembly required.” Daughter Kristie’s Mercury is parked next door.

Santa Cruz Woodies member and legendary board builder Floyd Smith of Gordon & Smith Surfboards demonstrated his craft in what had to be the world’s most picturesque shaping room.