Recently, I’ve been looking at some of the fantastic regenerative agriculture being done at The Farm at Okefenokee. The rural agrarian community near Folkston, Georgia, offers a farm-focused lifestyle. To connect the privately owned residential cabins, the Farm has enlisted the work of master craftsman, Doug Hansen, and his team, to restore an 1890s surrey to offer mule-driven rides throughout the scenic farmscape.
This 130-year-old vehicle was common in the Hudson Valley, New York, area. Known as a backboard surrey, it was used in resorts for outings and now will continue to serve its historical purpose.
Hansen’s team at Hansen Wheel & Wagon Shop comprises many experts, including a Wainwright (wagon-builder), coachmaker, blacksmith, painter, trimmer and ornamentor. The shop is located in Letcher, South Dakota, and they have been restoring wagons and the like for over 45 years!
A historic vehicle
Today, you can go through in your head all the famous vehicle manufacturers, but it wasn’t always that way.
“The difference between the era of horse-drawn vehicles and the era of motorized vehicles is huge. There are a dozen vehicle manufacturers around the world today and, in that period, there were thousands of vehicle manufacturers,” Hansen says. “The number of components that can interchange are quite minuscule.”
Despite the surrey’s rarity, Hansen had experience with the wagons, having restored two before.
“It just intrigues me every time I see one,” Hansen says. “They’re very, very cool.”
When he received the surrey, it probably had received a paint job 20 to 30 years ago and that was the extent of the restoration. The surrey, after 130 years, was beginning to deteriorate. Thankfully, it was structurally sound, so Hansen’s team was able to focus on refinishing and reinforcing the existing structure, including redoing the textiles and leather on the trimming. One might ask, why bother restoring it?
“The benefit of restoring a vintage vehicle is the nostalgia, the design, the fit and finish,” Hansen says. “To build an exact replica of this vehicle with the level of design and styling would probably cost well over $100,000 to do everything like this.”
While a new surrey is convenient, the new styling wouldn’t match with the experts’ design from that time.
Restoration
To begin the restoration, Hansen and his team disassembled the entire vehicle. They removed the body from the chassis, which is known as the running gears, as well as the wheels and the seats. They also reset the wheels and tires.
“There’s a steel band around the perimeter of the wheel that we had to tighten up and make sure the wheels are solid,” Hansen says. “We had to tighten everything up, clean everything before the new finish, get the brakes working, and all the things associated with the running gear.”
In addition, the gate, camber, towing, the axles, and then the body, including the seats, were worked on. While that was in progress, another part of the team addressed what was needed regarding upholstery.
“Jeff [Meyer, co-founder of The Farm] has a theme on the farm and it’s a deep, deep green,” Hansen says. “We knew the vehicle was going to be painted a rich, deep green. And then out of all of our kinds of upholstery grade leather samples, we chose a kind similar to Italian glove leather, that’s supple, deep brown, and real nice.”
And like in the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, this surrey has a fringed top.
“It’s what we called a standing top. For touring, obviously, you want to be protected from the environment a bit while you’re out enjoying the trip,” Hansen says. “It, therefore, has a top on it, and the fringe around the perimeter dances as it’s going down the road to add a neat, nice flavor.”
He adds that although the vehicle is from the post-Victorian era, there is still evidence of stylish, flowing designs throughout it, like seen on Bonanza or some old Westerns.
“Going from the design we have a hickory species in America that they did not have in Europe. It’s a resilient, springy type of wood, and it’s meant to enhance the suspension. This surrey has two longitudinal piecess on the running gear, hickory boards that offer suspension. They’re the buck boards, and on those suspension boards are also two longitudinal leaf springs that give a little extra support to the boards.”
He explains that it’s a parallel or combination suspension system of spring steel and springy hickory wood.
“As we go through the mechanical process of assuring that all this is up to speed and functioning, we move into the cosmetic side.”
The day that I spoke to them, they were applying The Farms’ logo with 24-karat gold leaf, which would be appropriate for that time when this surrey was first put to work.
“I’d say 95% of the body is original. We have replaced some parts in the top, some frame parts, and some pieces of wood but all the hardware is original throughout. So it’s really a very original vehicle.”
DIY Restoration
Today, it’s hard to find information on how to restore vintage vehicles, including horse-drawn ones.
“There’s a few tidbits of information on our website, and when we find a book that we feel is going to be beneficial to our community of carriage and horse-drawn vehicle enthusiasts, we add it to our collection of how-to books.”
Hansen recommends going to museums and studying photos of horse-drawn vehicles as the first step if you want to get involved with restoration projects like the surrey.
Hansen says that craftsmen should be well-versed in iron, wood, pigments and textiles. The horse-drawn vehicle was built pretty much out of raw elements, and it requires many different skillsets. He says that since the wool, leather and pigments were created from natural resources, refurbishing a horse-drawn vehicle may be more attainable than a project requiring more machine work.
“Let’s say you have one on your farm, rotting out in the woods, or you found a skeleton of one or you have your great-grandpa’s buggy in the barn,” Hansen says. “Studying the sales material, features, and promotion of the vehicle is helpful, since there isn’t much written material out there on how to restore a buggy.” FC
www.facebook.com/HansenWheelShop
www.instagram.com/hansenwheel
www.hansenwheel.com
Kenny Coogan earned a master’s degree in global sustainability and has published over 400 articles on pets, livestock, and gardening. He lives on a 1-acre homestead with a flock of Pekin ducks, managing permaculture-style landscapes. Coogan also runs a successful carnivorous plant nursery in Tampa. Listen to Coogan co-host podcasts by visiting Mother Earth News and Friends Podcast.
