Looking Good with Wood! Some Old, Some New-ish

Kia Piccanto Outdoorsman edition—I've created many, many cars with wood siding. Growing up, we had a Country Squire at one point, and I've just always loved the look of them. In the "early days" the wood was real of course, structural even. Then it became a decorative touch, and was eventually replaced with Dinoc appliques, a "contact paper" of sorts. All of my creations would use something I'm not sure even exists yet, "Microveneers." This treatment would be super thin veneers of real wood, sandwiched in between the paint layers and the clearcoat top finishes. This wood would be able to follow any body contouring and curves as it would be paper thin. Some of these Woodies in this post were done 5-6 years ago, some are from the past year, and some have been updated today to include the paneling. Enjoy!

Lincoln MKW—Created before the current MKT was introduced. This would be a sleek and luxurious Lincoln station wagon.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu Concours wagon—This generation of Malibu has just been replaced, but sadly, there will still be no wagon option, woody or not.

Mercedes GLK—This photochop was created before the current GLK was introduced. I thought it might look more like its bigger brother, the ML, but I was wrong. Mercedes chose to make it boxier, more like the GL SUV. And you can't get Microveneer doors on any of 'em!

Lincoln Cosmopolitan Estate Wagon—This avant garde luxury station wagon would sit at the top of the Lincoln range, with various types of wood available, burled walnut adorning this example. This chop dates back to 2006.

Audi A6 Allroad Black Forest Edition—Because Audi will never do it, I did, lol.

1940 Lincoln Continental Wagon—Hearkening back to the prewar Lincoln Continental, this "sport wagon" would have used the convertible's two front doors and added a wood-trimmed wagon compartment. This chop has run in the Letters section of Collectible Automobile.

Buick Apollo MPV—Estate wagons are a part of Buick's past, and I hoped to show that they could be a part of Buick's future as well.

Buick Special Estate Wagon—This little wagon was chopped several years ago, before anyone knew Buick would even introduce new, and smaller, European-inspired vehicles. I take complete credit for them doing so, lol.

Buick Enclave Estate Wagon—When the Enclave was first introduced, I found it a bit lumpy looking. At first I just cleaned it up the way I'd like to have seen it, sleeker even though it's a large crossover. Then I decided to give it an old-world touch by adding the wooden paneling. Crude now that I look at it, but this was done about six years ago.

Pontiac G8 Safari—This would have been Pontiac's top-of-the-line rear-wheel-drive sportswagon, bringing back Poncho's classic "Safari" moniker. No Pontiacs today at all, regardless of the wood.

Ford Interceptor Country Squire—Again, a very old chop, pretty darn crude, but my heart was in the right place... I used the same chrome Country Squire nameplate that was used on the very first 1951 model, also a 2 door—the only 2 door Country Squire ever built.

Jeep Grand Wagoneer woody—The woody version of the Grand Wagoneer I created for Automobile magazine last year.

Jeep Wrangler woody—My most recent Jeep chop, adding a classic woody look to the Wrangler 4-door. This could be produced tomorrow, for real, if Chrysler wanted to! They have so many special editions of the Wrangler, I think they should build this one, too!

2013 Beetle 4-door with Woody Option—Not only is the New New Beetle not available with 4-doors, it's not available with woody. It's a shame, lol!