Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993 TAG: 9311110274
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's also been his No. 1 hobby.
Fulghum, a Roanoke lawyer for more than 30 years, also has a fascination with automobiles, especially antiques. He enjoys picking up old, dilapidated vehicles and restoring them to their original splendor.
Fulghum owns a fleet of cars - somewhere in the vicinity of a dozen are housed in various garages and a barn in Franklin County - but his favorite is a 1948 Packard "Woodie" station wagon.
"I hope it will become my crown jewel," Fulghum says.
A Woodie is defined as a wood-bodied car whose surface is admired more for its appearance than for its practical value. Approximately 200,000 Woodies of various makes were manufactured in America between 1928 and 1953. Now, 40 years after the last mass production, Woodies are rare.
"Many of the old ones have rotted away," Fulghum says sadly. In fact, it was technological advancement in the production of sheet metal that eventually retired the Woodie.
In their heyday, Woodies were marketed to the affluent as estate wagons. The secondhand market was much broader, however. Farmers used them to haul produce and animals, and in the '60s, the Woodie enjoyed a resurgence as a surfing vehicle.
Fulghum says you can't rush a Woodie restoration.
"It's difficult to push. You have to take the chrome to the chrome shop, the engine to the engine shop, the radiator to the radiator shop," he says. "And then put them all back."
Fulghum has been involved in most of the work himself, but admits he has relied on friends and professionals for advice and expertise. He's kept a diary of the experience and hopes to get it published in Cars & Parts magazine when the car is finished.
He also has become an active member of the National Woodie Club and helped form the organization's Capital District Chapter this summer. Fulghum is president of the Capital District, which is open to members in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The national club has more than 1,900 members - a third of whom live in California - but according to the June 1993 roster, Fulghum is the only member residing in Roanoke.
Fulghum hopes the regional club, presently claiming 39 members, will stir up more local interest. The chapter held its first meeting in Charlottesville in August.
"Anybody who has a Woodie automobile or a station wagon is welcome to join up," Fulghum says. "We like to get the old cars out a couple of times a year and drive them around."
Fulghum found his Woodie three years ago in a Waynesboro junkyard. "A guy let me have it for $500, because he wanted to see it restored and wasn't able to do it himself."
The condition of the car was less than mint. Fulghum's wife, Kelly, was direct. "Don't tell me you spent good money for that," she said when he brought it home.
The Fulghums have a picture of Jim standing in the back seat with his feet on the ground.
But the '48 Packard had sentimental value for Fulghum. In the mid-1950s, he had purchased one from the president of Roanoke College for $300.
Though he was forced to part with it several years later, Fulghum always associated the vehicle with law school, the Army and his early business travel. When the opportunity arose to acquire another Woodie, he didn't hesitate.
Fulghum's restoration work started with a broom, as dirt, dust and other residue had collected on the rotting floorboard. The complexity of the job increased from there.
Fulghum has compiled pages of notes, all meticulously documented, detailing sandblasting, engine work, flooring, brakes, wood and chrome.
"Did you ever take an alarm clock apart when you were a kid?" Fulghum asks, almost rhetorically. "Well I did, too - and it was a job putting it back!"
So far, Fulghum has dedicated about $6,000 to the restoration of his Woodie and hopes to complete the job for less than $10,000. Soliciting help from various sources has held down his costs, he says. But that route also has delayed the project's completion.
The next Capital District Chapter meeting will be in Winchester in the spring, and Fulghum intends to have his Woodie on display.
Anyone interested in joining the Capital District Chapter of the National Woodie Club is invited to call Jim Fulghum at his office (982-3711) or write the chapter secretary, Jim Yergin, Route 6, Box 236, Warrenton, Va., 22186.
by CNB