Here's the start of what might end up as quite an epic... In late 2013 I bought a very rare Ford Pilot V8 Woodie unseen from Holland through a well known auction website. The car had emerged from nearly 40 years of storage and was being sold by a dealer in military vehicles who had taken it in exchange. Pilot Woodies were rare and expensive cars in postwar Britain - King George VI had one in 1951 but unfortunately died in 1952. Apparently Queen Elizabeth likes it and it was used until the late 1960s. It is now kept at the Royal Collection at Sandringham Museum.
Anyway, from what we can uncover in the EFV8 Club there 10 Pilot Woodies left. Mine was a very late car and was registered in April 1954 by a Major in the British Army It was built on a commercial chassis and in 1954 these were for export so there are brackets for a left hand drive steering box and the floor has a plate screwed over the holes for the left hand drive pedals.
The car was sold on after two years and passed through four owners before being owned by Larry Peyto. Larry was an enthusiast and showed the car at events around Essex in the 1970s. I've been really lucky to see photos from this time - notice that the rear lights have changed between photos!
The Woodie was exported to Holland from the UK in 1977, by which time it was very shabby and started to be dismantled. The history becomes very unclear, but what is known is that it spent the next 35 years in a woodworker's shop in Holland where it was completely stripped of paint and varnish and largely dismantled. This is how I bought it... to be continued.
Anyway, from what we can uncover in the EFV8 Club there 10 Pilot Woodies left. Mine was a very late car and was registered in April 1954 by a Major in the British Army It was built on a commercial chassis and in 1954 these were for export so there are brackets for a left hand drive steering box and the floor has a plate screwed over the holes for the left hand drive pedals.
The car was sold on after two years and passed through four owners before being owned by Larry Peyto. Larry was an enthusiast and showed the car at events around Essex in the 1970s. I've been really lucky to see photos from this time - notice that the rear lights have changed between photos!
The Woodie was exported to Holland from the UK in 1977, by which time it was very shabby and started to be dismantled. The history becomes very unclear, but what is known is that it spent the next 35 years in a woodworker's shop in Holland where it was completely stripped of paint and varnish and largely dismantled. This is how I bought it... to be continued.
