1948 Ford Woody – In-N-Out Giveaway

The In-N-Out 50th Anniversary Woody

In 1998, In-N-Out Burger promoted their 50th anniversary by conducting a scratch and win game. Every time a customer purchased a food product, he or she received a game card to scratch off and possibly win a prize.

The prizes ranged anywhere from an order of french fries, a Double-Double, or the Grand Prize, a fully restored 1948 Ford Woody.

Toward the end of the 6 month game period, a 21-year-old young man sat down to enjoy his lunch and scratched off his game card revealing the words “Grand Prize 1948 Woody.” He was thrilled and immediately went to the cashier to claim his prize, which he thought to be a scale model of a 1948 Woody. The girl behind the register was ecstatic with joy and only then did he realize he had won the real thing, this fully restored 1948 Ford Woody.

He drove the car for a couple days, broke the transmission and parked it in covered storage for 3 years.

In June of 2001, needing money, he offered the car on E-Bay where it was sold, broken transmission and all. I saw the car at the Ron Jon show in August of 2001, and bought it a short time later.

I’ve spent several months making the car correct for the period, varnishing the car and making modifications to make it look better and to make it more reliable.

The car has a brand new 1948 Ford “flat head” crate motor found in France. The French military still use “flat heads” in some of their vehicles……. No comment.

Mr. Snyder, founder of In-N-Out selected the dual carburetor set up, the Offenhauser heads and the red metallic color of the car. Unfortunately, he was never able to see the completed car. He, his son and several IN-N-Out top executives were killed in early 1998 while trying to land their private jet at John Wayne airport in Orange County, California.

The color Mr. Snyder selected is a Chrysler 1998 “Chili Pepper Red Metallic.” This was the same color on the 1988 “Dodge Durango” that also was top prize in the contest.

It’s a pleasure to maintain all of the original features and colors chosen for the car by Mr. Snyder, in his honor, they will always remain.