What Makes The Wooden Model T On American Pickers So Unique

"American Pickers" is full of iconic classic cars uncovered by Mike Wolfe and former co-host Frank Fritz as they travel across America to check out private collections full of unbelievable finds. But sometimes the duo finds even more than what they expected. This was the case in Season 17 Episode 7 when Wolfe and Fritz headed to a collection of concept cars owned by a man who passed away and left the one-of-a-kind collection to his son, Brent. 

The collection itself was enough to impress the American Pickers, but it was one vehicle in particular that caught their attention — a Model T Ford made fully out of wood. Every single detail of the vehicle was made of wood, including its steering wheel, hub caps, windshield wipers, and hood ornament. The seat was also wooden, which Wolfe said looked mighty uncomfortable. They were even more amazed, however, to find out the car actually drives, powered by a 215 Ford engine. 

Brent told Wolfe and Fritz that his father loved woodworking and cars, so he spent seven years combining those passions to create the wooden Model T. The car even placed second in the Winston Championship Auto Show back in the '80s, only losing to famous hot rod builder for the stars Boyd Coddington. Brent commented in the episode that Coddington may have had a lot of money for the time, but his dad had "blood, sweat, and tears." 

The American Pickers told Brent that the Model T belonged in a museum, with Wolfe saying it's a "shame" that the car is not in the public eye. It's currently unclear if the car ended up in a museum, but fans of the show have been asking ever since the episode aired in 2017. 

The wooden Model T featured in "American Pickers" is super unique because it's made entirely of wood. This is not usually the case for Model T cars. Released for the first time in 1908, the Model T's body was made with vanadium alloy steel, which kept it lightweight and durable. The Model T was made using Henry Ford's moving assembly line, focused on fast mass production. For this reason, the Model T is considered poorly made by today's standards and was even considered a fire hazard back then. It's possibly in part due to its lightweight and rattly driving experience that the Model T earned the nickname "Tin Lizzie." 

Some Model T cars included wooden parts over time, however. The Mifflinburg Buggy Museum houses a 1926 station wagon with a Ford Model T chassis and a wooden body. In the 1920s, buyers often purchased a Model T and had custom bodies built, with wood being popular at the time due to craftsmanship being at its peak. While the wood parts of this Model T are handmade, the Model T featured in "American Pickers" is still the only fully wooden one out there that can run.