I have started a 1900 Packard, a kit by Hudson Miniatures. This was a 1949 kit in the era when plastics for model kits were pretty new. It has plastic wheels, steering wheel, and head and cowl lights. The rest of the kit was balsa wood and cardboard.
This is real nostalgia. When I started modeling, car kits were all wood, with composition (a mix of plastic and sawdust) wheels. Some kits included cardboard parts. I find it really fun to be putting this thing together.
Here is the body, well underway.
The springs are glued up from strips of cardboard. Because this kit is so old, the cardboard has really dried out, and the cardboard wants to crease and break rather than bend smoothly. The picture shows the front springs, using the kit cardboard. I am planning to switch over to styrene strips for the rear wheels.
Balsa has a very open grain and takes a lot of effort to fill (if I am scratchbuilding a wooden car I use basswood- much tighter grain). A few times on a balsa kit car I have sheathed it with .020 sheet styrene. I am debating what I should do on the flat areas of this kit. In a sense I'd like to leave it balsa, just to show it is possible to get a smooth finish on balsa wood. But it would make painting a lot easier if I sheathed with plastic. To sheath or not to sheath?