Coachbult.com - Cotton Body Company



Cotton Body Company 1910s-1922 Concord, New Hampshire - Boston, Massachusetts 1922-1923

The Cotton Body Company mounted its Beverly Suburban on a 1924 Maxwell chassis. The picture, copied from an original trade journal, shows an unusual "A" pillar, cowl covered with imitation leather, and a front seat back owner than the others

Some of the other body companies were the Cotton Body Company of Concord, New Hampshire who built bodies for Maxwell.

Concord was also the home of Abbot-Downing, makers of the world famous Concord Coach, the finest stagecoaches that traversed the country in the mid-to-late 1800s. Abbot-Downing also manufactured commercial vehicle bodies and Concord trucks up until 1933.

As the popularity of wood wagons grew, so did the number of companies who built them. The Cotton Body Company of Concord, New Hampshire, offered its "Beverly" suburban, at least one of which was borne by a Maxwell chassis. A leather substitute covered the cowl and panels of this model. The Waterloo Body Corporation of Waterloo, New York, built some suburbans for Dodge, but perhaps the best known of the early builders for Dodge was Cantrell.

The distinctive leatherette-covered Cotton curved cowl was used to hide the awkward transition of the very low Ford Model T (and other brands) hoods with their attractive upright coachwork. Cotton bodies used the alligator pattern leatherette material to cover their seats and the normally varnished-wood side panels as well.

By 1923 Cotton had moved from Concord, New Hampshire to Boston, Massachusetts in order to be closer to their customer base. They continued to make their wagons with their distinctive alligator-covered leatherette panels and side-mounted spare tires.

Cantrell, Cotton and H.H. Babcock specialized in Estate Cars for moneyed clientele. These high-end woodys featured such amenities as leatherette or real leather upholstery, cane, leatherette, or painted panels and nickel plated hardware. They were advertised in Country Life and other publications aimed at the rich and famous estate owners. The distinctive-looking Estate Cars offered more snob appeal than the basic depot hacks and woody wagons typically used by hotels, and their owners were willing to pay extra for it.

One popular Cotton Estate Car was called the "Beverly Suburban" and featured an extended roofline which sloped forward over the windshield to produce a visor, a lower front seat and strange angular A-pillars. Most were built on 109" Maxwell light truck chassis in the early 1920s.

For more information please read:

Donald J. Narus - Great American Woodies and Wagons

Donald J. Narus - Chrysler's Wonderful Woodie: The Town and Country

Donald F. Wood - American Woodys

David Fetherston - American Woodys

David Fetherston - Woodys

Richard Bloechl - Woodies & Wagons

Robert Leicester Wagner - Wood Details

Ron Kowalke - Station Wagon: A Tribute to America's Workaholic on Wheels

Byron Olsen - Station Wagons

Robert J., Jr. Headrick - Chevrolet Station Wagons: 1946 Through 1966 Photo Archive

James T. Lenzke & Karen E. O'Brien - Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks: 1896-2000