Uncle Bill's 1936 Brewtser bodyed Buick

[kennb]

Uncle Bill invited me out to the farm this week for a visit. I have not been out there for a long time. Bill is 89 and lives alone and still drives, after a fashion. Not the safest. We had some lunch and he took me out to the barn, Bill is kinda the family historian and has cars the family has bought going back into the 1920's. Some are no more than shells. Mind you, Bill is a little eccentric and missing a few marbles but does pretty good on his own. In the corner of the barn covered in an inch of dust was this monster of a car. Dirty blue but totally intack. We went over and it was this huge Buick like one I have never seen before. Bill got it from his dad that bought it new in 1936. Bill said it was a special order since he came from of family of 9 they needed a big car. I opened the door and got in. This monster had a sedan body and canvas roof. Bill slyly asked if I wanted to take her out to see how it runs, I could not pass this up. He got in the drivers seen and fired it up the tappets clanked and the clutch wiened a little. He shifted it into gear and the old 6 speed truck tanny moved slowly forward growleing in the granny low. He steered it out of the barn and was telling me it was the only car of its kind in the world, It had 3 rows of seats and a covertable top on a sedan body..totaly wierd. He got it when his dad passed away about 40 years ago and had the seats redone by a local saddle maker with saddle leather..............I told you Bill was a little strange , didn't I..........Anyway, more on uncle Bill and the brewster later...............

Hopefully I can convey the strangness of this monster.

Kenn

[CrazyGirl]

cool story , and a cool build ,,,,,,, my family has a kook like that ,, oh wait ,, i think thats me they talk about , never mind

[kennb]

Kenn

[hack-n-whack]

That looks like a major project. How did you get both sides the same? Is it going to be 1/25th scale?

[kennb]

The sides were cut and finiahed on 2 pieces glued together and seperated after they were done. This is about 1/20th give or take......the finished car will be about 11 inches long and 3 inchs wide............................................................Thank you for commenting and the questions. BTW,,it will take about 45 days to finsh...................

Kenn

[crazyrichard]

love dthat story , but is that fictive or real ? and if real we need pics of that real car off-course to statisfy our curiousity

awsome strat with that body , loving these scratch builds and def want to try this myself in the future

[kennb]

We pulled out of the barn into the sun.Through the dust you could see that the paint still have a shine to it. A brief gust of wind sent some of the dust into the air leaving some still clinging to the monster. Bill guided the car down past the house and out the long dirve.

Bill was a tinkerer that I dont think ever had a job other than playing farmer, which he did not work too hard at. He was more interested in making things out of nothing, which is how the car had the 6 speed truck tranny in it, cobbled in by him many years ago. Bill never really needed to work anyway since his dad made a fortune with the Tuna salad sandwich shop back around the turn of the last century. He never got married either saying that females just got in the way of his playing with machinery. I think he was too cantankerous for any woman to handle to start with.

Slowly the brewster got to the paved road and Bill stopped the car and we traded places. I put the shifter into 1st gear and the car slowly went forward,,,,,then to second, the tranny was noisy and groweled like an old truck tranny would do. Into third I was going about 30 and the engine started to level out and quiet down, the tappets no longer clanking but running more like a sewing machine. Bill said to crank it up now so I went through 4th and 5 th and finally to 6th hurtleing down the straight country road. it seemed like we were standing still untill I looked at the speedometer,,,,,it was reading 80, the brewster running smooth as glass with out a hint of speed. Bill said to put the foot down, stop idling the engine and lets get this thing rocking...............................................................................

Thanks for the followers....The exploits of me, Bill, and the Brewster will return later...............................

Kenn

[kennb]

Bill had the interior redone about 40 years ago, it was pretty bad from what I remember seeing as a kid. But,,,you know Bill...a little off center and eccentric and not entirely concerned with keeping things authentic. He wanted something that would stand up so he choose a saddle maker and had him use saddle leather which is a lot heavier then auto leather. Oh,,,,,by the way, it was a Native American saddle maker and Bill gave him free regin over the entire remake of the interior, Bill, apparently gave him creative license to do it the way he wanted......Sometimes Bill just forgot that you don't do that with artists,,,,,,,,,,,,,, anyway, 40 years later and it looks just as good as it did when it was done but maybe a little more "lived in" but like Bill. A little off center. This is the front seat.

The back for the seat was the steel panel commonly used in the 20's and in limo's of the period.

Kenn

[b_lever1]

good to see you back look awsome glad to see others that scratch build

[mnwildpunk]

Neat do you have pictures of the real car? I'd love to see it

[kennb]

Bill then told me to get onto the free way...when we got up to about 70 he asked me if I felt the pedal by my right foot on the bottom of the seat.

Bill then said to push down on that pedal and pull the short shifter back hard and then let off on the pedal and push on the accelerator to the floor. There was a jerk on my neck a squwak from the rear tires and we shot off down the road..Bill howelling with laughter. "My god,,,,what was that?", I asked with total amazment as the speedometer raised to 85,,,,,,,,,then,,,,,,,,,,90,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,then to 100, end highest number and then it pegged out and kept going,,,,,,,Bill told me to back it off to just under 100. cars along the way looked like they were standing still as the huuge Brewster was sure and square running as smooth as can be without a hunt of shuttering. Speedding down the road feeling no effort on the car itself. Bill said that is the 2 speed rear end, and now we can cruse all day at this pace without the big flat head 8 hardly idleing. I can imagine the faces on the people we pass with this monster leaving them behind like so many telephone poles...............Bill still laughing some.............said we better back it back down before the locals constabulary catches us......................Bill settled back down as we truned around at the next exit,,,,we had gone 30 miles in what seamed like only a few minutes.

Uncle Bill and the massive Brewster will return.....................................

Kenn

[GTMust]

Love the way you're putting this beast together.... and also appreciating your sense of humor, Kenn.

BTW... not to criticize..... but aren't those front fenders a little on the large side? Obviously "Uncle Bill" did some aerodynamic lowering of the body. Guess he didn't put the fenders through the farmyard wind tunnel.

Then again, I'm sure Uncle Bill knew what he was doing!?

Keep up the great work and the story.

Tony

[charlie8575]

Okay...this is offically cool!

Buicks...and a weird one at that.

Kenn, this is (or was?) a real car? If so, it's definitely an interesting concoction.

Charlie Larkin

[codie27]

This is just awesome, i hope we see this one through to thee finish. Great start so far and I dig the history that goes with it.

[kennb]

Bill and I went into the "office of his house......little more than sracks of papers and files in a caotic mess................he picked up a stob of a cigar and lite it.smoke circled as he rumaged through the papers mumbling incohearently. Papers flying about kicking up dust. I dont think the room, ro the house for that matter, has ever seen a dust rag or even a vacuum since he moved there. I was in danger of his having a open flame in a place that should or could sponasiously explode from the dust at any minute. Finally afer a few minutes he pulled out a file on the Brewster and opening up.

I reworked the cowel and fender to get closer to the actual measurements I had after I started the model.

Thanks for following,,,this is going to be a long build so stick with me.....

Kenn

[kennb]

Bill showed me all the origional paper work for the Brewster. I was surprised that he still had everything but he said his dad kept everything. much like Bill, save evrything,period. It was all handwritten on the Brewster letter head with notes on the Buick chassis.

Puffing on the stub of a cigar. smoke filled the air. His cheap cigars did nothing to improve the quality of the aroma other than covering up the old paper smell that comes from keeping them in boxes and the humity filling them with the musty smell.

Bill was not much of a neat freak but almost to a clutter nic, much like the personality. All the time we were going through things he was muttering with an occasional tid bit of imformation about the car. If was origionally 2 tone brown dark on the fenders and top and medium on the sides. This brings up a curious dilema, do I go origional or do I go as it is today with the blue. Maybe with the interior the way it is I should just stick with the blue.

There was also the orgional bill of sale that should the price on delivery. Bills dad paid cash for the car when it came so I guess tuna sandwiches were really hot then. When the average Ford was going for $895.00 this seemed to be out of sight for most people. $7,893.56 for all the upgrades and special features, including the $895 for the 2 tone paint.

Found enough plastic in a box to keep pushing on. Rough yet.

Kenn

[kennb]