CARLSBAD, Calif. — Jack Barton’s 1939 Packard Six station wagon will take your breath away. It is as much a piece of fine furniture as it is an automobile, and Barton’s restoration is absolutely perfect.

 J.T. Cantrell of Huntington, N.Y., was a well-known maker of woodie station wagons. He built wagons for a variety of brands, but converted about 25 Packards in 1939. There are only five known to exist today, and Barton’s car is one. 

 Barton, of Gallatin, Mo., runs a hardware business and collects old cars. One day in 1995, after attending the Antique Automobile Club of America’s annual meeting in Hershey, Pa., he asked his wife, Lois, and daughters, Sara and Anna, which cars they liked best. “The woodies,” they answered. The search was on.

Barton located this unrestored car in Florida. It was basically complete but needed a total restoration.

 The Packard has a 245-cubic-inch, six-cylinder engine and an overdrive transmission. It cost $1,404 new. It weights 3,600 pounds and has a 122-inch wheelbase.

 Barton took more than 1,000 photos as he carefully dismantled the car. He removed the wood body and shipped it to John David Hamlin in Indiana. Hamlin had woodworking experience but had never undertaken a project like this. He replicated every piece of wood in Honduran mahogany or maple. His workmanship is astounding.

 While Hamlin took a couple of years to fabricate the wood body, Barton disassembled, restored, and reassembled the rest of the car. It is like new, top and bottom, inside and out. Even the radiator hose clamps are original. The engine is cleaner than most kitchens. Kevin Zwgart, Cowgill, Mo., did the paint and bodywork. Garry Westher, Richmond, Mo., helped Barton with the reassembly.

 “We built it to drive, but finished it to show,” Barton said. And show it does.

 Barton trailered it to Orange, Calif. last summer for the Packard Club’s national meet, and it won Best of Show. His daughter Sara lives in Carlsbad, and he left it at her house. In September, he took it to the 25^th annual Wavecrest, a gathering of some 300 woodies in Encinitas, Ca. Woodie enthusiasts gave it the People’s Choice award. That’s quite a testimony.

 Later this spring, Barton plans to bring his car home. Like a show horse back from the circuit, it will arrive with plaques and accolades.  But soon it will have a stablemate. Barton and Hamlin are building another Cantrell body on a 1940 chassis.