1940 & 1941 Buick Brunn Bodied Coachwork

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

dynaflash8:

Your doing fine on your uploading.

Your also posting photos of the Townmaster never seen before.

This thread is going well. Thank you for your continued contribution.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

[Dynaflash8]

Send your address to: Forever39z@aol.com. I'll see if I can spare a copy. The last one I mailed cost me, I don't know, six or seven dollars I think, by Priority Mail.

[Dynaflash8]

Better yet, if you're an AACA member, which you should be, since it's the oldest and best club in the World, then you can call or email the AACA Library and for next to nothing they'll copy all 19 pages of the article and send it to you. Just go to Antique Automobile Club of America like you do when you go on the Forum, and read across the top and click on "Resources" and scroll down to AACA Library and click on that. It is the May-June 1971 issue of ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE. This article represents the first definitive article on the Pre-War Buick Straight 8 that was ever written. It's called "The Early Buick Straight 8, and the Car That Curtice Built."

[TG57Roadmaster]

Earl,

What a treasure trove of images, whether they upload or not, and a thousand thanks for sharing them!

TG

[Dynaflash8]

Here is a picture of the rear radio

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

dynaflash8:

Just amazing. Just amazing.

The Brunns had class not glitz.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited January 8, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

To allcars:

I came across and bought today the program book of the 1993 Eyes On The Classics car show. (Today it is called Eyes on Design) On page 61 it bears out allcars information that Marvin Tamaroff was the owner of the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Bodied Town Car. It lists Tamaroff as the owner and resident of Southfield, Michigan.

In this show "The Brunn" was entered in the Honored Marque Buick Class. Sadly there were no pictures of this car. The program book did show some photos of the 1992 winners. Some good photos of Buick concept cars and a write up to go with it.

Below is the photo of "The Brunn" taken at Eyes On Classic Show in 1993 and the cover of the program book.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited January 19, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dynaflash8]

Dave: The picture of the 1941 Brunn Landau Limited sedan with the top down appears in the book by Terry Dunham and Larry Gustin, called "The Buick, a Complete History". I don't know if I provided that picture or not....I certainly had it at one time. Did you get the picture of the car with the top up that I mailed to you? Earl

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Dynaflash8.

Not yet but mail has been slow lately. Today I received a letter that was mailed on Nov. 28 2009.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Hello To All:

The following was sent to me by John Scheib also know as jscheib in this thread.

The information he has provided is excellent and adds new information to The Brunn Thread.

Please read on with enjoyment. John did a fine job on research which included information from the AACA Library

 

 

TRACING THE DESIGN AND CREATION OF BRUNN BODIED CUSTOM BUICKS – 1940-1941

 

In 1940 Buick, anxious to provide a line-up of quality specialty cars, arranged to work with Brunn Coach Builders in Buffalo, NY. . Several references are used to list the source materials.

These are:

Dunham and Gustin, indicated by footnote 1

Earl Beauchamp, indicated by footnote 2

Terry Boyce, indicated by footnote 3

 

CAR 1 – 1940 -The first car produced was a 1940 – Buick commissioned Brunn to build a Townmaster on a 1940 Roadmaster chassis (reported as 126” wheelbase*3). It was painted Brewster Green with a Black top. Note that Standard Catalog of Buick (1903-1990), First Edition also indicated that two series of Limited were produced in 1940 with 133” wheelbase.

In the Antique Automobile*2 of May-June 1971, Earl Dunaway Beauchamp, Jr indicates that the original 1940 Townmaster was placed in “Brass Hat” service of Buick’s advertising executive, Arthur Kudner. It later was mounted on a 1941 Limited chassis (139” wheelbase) and refitted with some 1941 sheet metal and then returned to New York*1*2. It was later sold to Robert Blair, Buick’s NY Regional Manager.

There is an article by Terry Boyce*3 in Special Interest Autos, June 1979 called “Full-Dress Buick, The one and only Townmaster Lives” shows the car as it existed in 1976 (missing the fender skirts and lower side molding) after being hidden since near its construction. It was purchased in 1975 by a collector in Indianapolis and shown briefly in that area. When the Dunham/Gustin book was published in 2002, it was reported this car was owned by Dan Slowik of Westchester, IL.

I believe this car was last known owned by Sidney Aberman

 

CAR 2 - Also in 1940, Buick also had Brunn design and build on a 1940 Roadmaster chassis a convertible coupe with a sweepspear for Henry H. Bassett of Buick. It was painted Silver Grey with a red sweepspear and trim (including the cowl and grill insert.

It seems this car has not survived.

 

1941

In the early stages for the 1941 Model Year, Buick asked Brunn to prepare some preliminary renderings for as many as seven (7) different designs for custom built Buicks. From the seven renderings Buick selected four designs to incorporate into their 1941 catalog. The seven designs were:

1 – All Weather Cabriolet – open over driver, rear was “semi-collapsible touring” cabriolet

2 – All Weather Brougham – open over driver, seems ordinary rear with rear quarter (third) window

3 – Convertible Phaeton – with sweepspear

4 – Convertible Phaeton – without sweepspear

5 - Clear Vision Brougham – Open over driver, continuous windows at rear side, special framing, two-tone paint

6 – Formal Sedan – No 3rd window on sides, no trim at fender skirts

7 – Touring Cabriolet – Solid over driver and rear door– rear convertible, over passenger

 

The four designed for the catalog, with different names were (Durham and Gustin’s book used different names):

Type A – Cabriolet Sedan – Of the 7 Brunn designs, this seems to be most like No. 1

Type B - Three window town car – Of the 7, this seems most like No. 6 (this seems in conflict with the Dunham/Gustin book)

Type C – Landau sedan – Of the 7, this seems most like No. 7

Type D – Four door convertible – Of the 7, this seems most like No. 4

 

These are the four listed in Dunham and Gustin’s book (which do not seem to match the catalog)

I – Custom Town Car - based on Model 1 above, open over driver solid rear without Landau bars.

II – Custom Phaeton – based on Model 4 above

III – Custom Landau – based on Model 7 above, solid over driver, conv. Over passengers

IV – Custom Brougham – based on Model 1 above, but open over driver solid rear with Landau bars

 

Durham and Gustin report that in 1941 three Custom Buicks were built be Brunn.

 

 

CAR 3 - The first of the Brunn built bodies being not one of the proposed designs but a Convertible Coupe built on a Roadmaster chassis, for the 1941 New York Auto Show, October 1940. This was painted a rich Cinnamon Brown with Yellow trim (including the sweepspear of V shaped side panel. The history after the display is unclear, but it has been reported that one of the convertibles was consumed by a fire along a highway in North Dakota in the late 1950s*3. Boyce also indicates that two convertibles were built on 1941 Roadmaster chassis, but this may have been mistaken for the one 1940 Roadmaster convertible.

 

CAR 4 - The next (apparently the first for public sale) was an “All Weather Cabriolet” (named by Durham and Gustin), (Type A from the catalog) with Landau bar but deleted the spears on the wheel covers (or by Buick brochure Custom Brougham) for Colonel LeRoy Burdeau of Chicago and Palm Beach. This car had the trim on the rear wheel skirts deleted. Painted grey (apparently light grey) with black leather top.

It is believed this car was last owned by Marv Tamaroff of Michigan.

CAR 5 - The third (and reported last) was a Custom Landau (Type C from the catalog) built for the McCormick family of Chicago. It was painted a medium grey with painted black top with open rear. Boyce refers to this as a “semi-collapsible touring cabriolet”.

The present owner of this car is unknown, but it is believed to have survived.

 

CONCLUSIONS

It was reported that a Convertible Sedan (or Phaeton) appeared in the late 1940s around Baltimore. Could this have been the “Shirley Temple” car by Bohman & Schwartz and not one of the Brunn Body Buicks.

Also of note in the brochure there are two sketches of features at the rear window, but none of the cars noted have this third side window.

 

My conclusion, if Brunn had actually built more of the cars, the owner could probably have selected any of the features combined (within reason) especially since Buick backed out of the marketing (thanks to Cadillac) and likely relinquished some control over any likely selection by the buyer of certain design features.

The comments on the latest internet thread suggest that Mr. Brunn indicated that “more” cars were built, but at present there is no evidence.

 

An interesting side note in Mr. Boyce’s article was that Hermann C. Brunn indicated that with other manufacturers they had to rework many body panels but when Buick shipped a body for custom work, the unmodified panels (such as doors) could be used as they were delivered (a statement to Buick quality at that time).

by John Scheib

 

 

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited October 25, 2019 by Dave Gelinas (XP-300) (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

"From whence the Brunn cometh"

Another showroom scene similar to the one provided by TG57Roadmaster.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

[jscheib]

About two weeks ago xp300 added my summary of the Brunn Bodeis Buicks of 1940-41, which likely was the last year any one made custom body Buicks beyond the professional cars.

I thought the summary I provided might spark some interest and questions as to the accuracy of the data.

For those that do not read Hemmings Classic Car and may be interested in Custom coach Buicks, there is an article in this months issue that profiles a 1937 Custom body and Richard Lentinello's editorial refernces a number of other custom coach builders, and specifically a few Buicks.

I would like to engourage that the entire history of Custom Coach Bodied Buick be summarized in one location.

If anyone wants an e-mailed copy of my summary, let me have your e-mail address and I will e-mail you one, so you do not need to extract it for future reference.

John

[TG57Roadmaster]

Having recently acquired a nearly-complete collection of Special Interest Autos,

here's the sidebar from the SIA #51, June, 1979 piece on the '40 Townmaster.

Larger, click once after opening to enlarge. I believe sharing it here,

attributed, falls under fair use guidelines.

How'd you like to find one of these '41 Roadmaster ragtops?!

TG

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

A very good addition from TG57Roadmaster.

jscheib added about a week ago that he would like to encourage that the entire history of Custom Coach Bodied Buick be summarized in one location.

I think his suggestion is a good one.

I will be adding to this thread additional Buick Coach Work photos. I think this is a good place to put it, as this thread has had over 2100 views in less than two (2) months.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 27, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dynaflash8]

Dave, I sent you a real Brunn photograph of that 1941 Roadmaster convertible; along with a couple of other Brunn photos of the 1941 Limited's. Did you receive them? Earl Beauchamp

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1938 Buick Roadmaster Opera Brougham, Body by Fernandez and Darrin of Paris, France

All photos and info from Concept Carz

This one-of-a-kind Buick Opera Brougham is the creation of the design house of Fernandez and Darrin of Paris, France, and is mounted on the Series 80 Roadmaster chassis. First displayed at the 1938 Paris Auto Salon, it was the property of several proud owners, including the Countess Max de Polaska, of Poland. Powered by a 320-cuibic inch, overhead-valve, inline eight-cylinder engine, the chassis rides on a 140-inch wheelbase. Suspension was independent 'knee-action' coil springs in front and coils in the rear. Top speed for production models was about 80 mph.

This one-off Buick has sweeping early 1930s-style fenders, has no running boards, a very raked windscreen, Marchal lenses, caning, oversized rear-hinged doors and many luxury features in the passenger compartment. There is a proper Buick cowl, bumpers and headlamps.

During the 1990s, the car was given a frame-up, cost-no-object restoration.

In 2009, the car was offered for sale at the Gooding & Company auction held at Pebble Beach, CA. It was expected to sell for $200,000 - $325,000. The lot was sold for the sum of $506,000, including buyer's premium.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 24, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dynaflash8]

There was a 1938 Buick Fernandez and Darrin of Paris, France shown at the 1971 Buick Club National Homecoming Meet at the Flint factory. My mind tells me it was a cabriolet rather than a sedan. I have a photo of that car in my files, but haven't looked at it.

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1936 Buick Roadmaster Town Car, Body by Brewster and Company

Info from and photos from Concept Carz . First photo is from my library

1936 was the first year that Buick automobiles were identified by model name as well as number with the advent of Special, Century, Roadmaster and Limited. Hydraulic brakes also became standard equipment on the Buicks. America responded well with the new styling and sales began to escalate, tripling the prior year's total.

This 1936 Buick Series 80 Town Car wears coachwork by Brewster and Company. It rides on the chassis of the top-of-the-line Buick Roadmaster platform and fitted with an eight-cylinder OHV engine that produces 120 BHP. It is a one-off design and has been accepted as a Full Classic by the Classic Car Club of America. It won an award at the 2006 Newport Beach Concours d'Elegance and won a preservation class award at the Meadow Brook Concours.

In 2009, this Brewster Town Car was offered for sale at the Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. The car was estimated to sell for $75,000 - $100,000 and was offered without reserve. The lot was sold for a high bid of $57,200, including buyer's premium.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 24, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Hello Earl.

Yes I did and thank you very much. Two of them I had not seen before. Thank you again.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 24, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1940 Buick 80 Limited, Body by Bohman & Schwartz Phaeton

I found this on the internet. This has been posted in this thread before. I thought it should be re-posted to encourage the continuation of Custom Bodied Buicks in this thread.

This car has also been referred to as the "Shirley Temple Car". It was also owned by Lorin Tryon, former Chairman of The Pebble Beach Concours.

The engine has been replaced with a 1950 Buick Roadmaster Engine of the same size displacement as the original 1940 engine.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 25, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Hello to all.

I have been able to come up with a short list of Custom Body builders that used Buick. The list is not complete and I hope others will add to it.

1932 90 Series Town Car, Murphy Body

1933, 1934, & 1938 Gustat Norberg of Stockholm

1935 D'leteren of Europe

1936 Brewester and Co. Town Car on a Roadmaster Body

1937 Bohman & Schwarts produced an unusual roadster for the Topper movies. The car has been rebuilt twice and now sits on a Chrysler chassis.

1937 A British Sedanca De Ville Body

1937 Carlton Drop Head Coupe

1937 Brewester Town Car on a Limited Body

1938 The Derham Co. of Rosemont, Pa. Designed a Town Car. There are conflicting reports if the cars were ever made.

1938 Fernandez & Darrin of Paris

1939 Carlton

1940 Brewester Co Town Car

1940 Brunn Townmaster

1941 Brunn

I'm certain ther are others so please add if you can.

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 25, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1940 Buick Brewster & Co. Town Car

This is one Custom Bodied Buick that I have seen personally.

It is owned by Robert Bahre of Paris, Maine. He is the former owner of The New Hampshire International Speedway.

The 1940 Brewster Buick Town Car was built for Mrs. Richard Whitney,

wife of the former president of the New York Stock Exchange. The rear compartment contains

2 crystal bud vases, vanity compartments, 2 fold-up jump seats and a polar bear rug.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited February 24, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dan Marx]

I have a 16x20 inch colored pix of the '40 Brewster Buick Sedanca deVille hanging in my office. At the time it was owned by Noel Thompson. It is on my bucket list to ride in that car!!!! I better start looking real fast!!!

Dan Marx

Rembert, SC

[Centurion]

Dave, the photo you've shown in connection with the 1932 Murphy Town Car is not correct. Here is the actual car, as shown at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it won a best in class award. The car is owned by a BCA member who also won the Bulgari award at the Buick Centennial celebration.

[Centurion]

Another addition to your list of custom-bodied Buicks is the following car:

1939 BUICK MODEL 60 DUAL COWL PHAETON "SALOON TOURER"

COACHWORK BY MALTBY

Chassis No. 636816990

Maroon with cream interior

This car was previously displayed at a BCA National Meet, but I do not recall which one. (Actually, it was the Flint Homecoming meet in 1988.) Here is more complete information about the car:

1939 BUICK MODEL 60 DUAL COWL PHAETON "SALOON TOURER" | Christie's

Several years ago, I was surprised to see this remarkably beautiful car traveling on Interstate 5 north of Seattle.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Centurion (see edit history)

[Centurion]

Here is an image found at the pre-war Buick site, showing a 1939 phaeton with custom coachwork by Glaeser of Dresden, Germany:

[Centurion]

Obviously, many additional coachbuilders utilized the Buick chassis for funeral or professional car service, and that is likely outside the scope of this topic.

Here is a link, however, to one of the 1933 Series 90 cars with a custom body by Bronkhorst, which was located in either Belgium or The Netherlands. This car, which appeared on a recent cover of the Buick Bugle, was displayed at the 2009 Buick National Meet in Colorado Springs.

http://www.buickclub.org/Bugle/Buglesept09.jpg

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Centurion.

Thank you for the correction.

I realized my mistake this morning, was going to correct it, but did you it for me.

Thank you again.

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door side mounted touring sedan

Edited February 25, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1932 90 Series Town Car, Murphy Body

This is my original entry on the Murphy Bodied Buick. I removed the entry because of the wrong photo. The correct photo is above as submitted by Centurion.

Another Custom Bodied Buick found on the Internet.

This Buick dates from an era when elaborate coach-built Duesenbergs and Packards were the rides of choice for the discerning upscale automobile buyer. Commissioned by Charles S. Howard (who owned the celebrated racehorse, Sea Biscuit), the car was constructed on stretched Buick chassis by the Murphy Company, one of the foremost coach-builders of the era.

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door side mounted touring sedan

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1939 Buick Special Carlton Drophead Coupe

This car was sold on Ebay in 2005 or 2006. Any one out there that knows for sure.

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

1939 Buick Special Carlton Drophead Coupe

I found another photo from an English web site.

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

[Guest DaveCorbin]

For all:

Add to the list of people who built custom bodies for Buicks during the 1930's the name Bronkhorst in the Netherlands. They built 5 1933 Buicks with custom bodies on a series 90 chassis for a major funeral home in that country.

One of those was at last year's National BCA meet. Big as a small house!

Regards, Dave Corbin

[TG57Roadmaster]

I've been mining a collection of recently-purchased Special Interest Autos

to add to this growing thread...

Larger, click once after opening to enlarge.

This partially-restored '31 Mayfair-bodied Buick was shown circa 1971.

Larger

Van den Plas is credited with this '32; whether it's the Belgian VdP or Paris is unknown.

Larger

A 1933 bodied by Drauz of Germany.

Larger

Glaser of Germany built this pretty '33.

Larger

Henri Chapron of Paris created this lovely 1934 Buick.

Larger

The Belgian concern of D'Iteren Freres bodied this '35.

Larger

This Carlton-bodied '37 Drophead Coupe has been discussed elsewhere.

TG

Edited March 4, 2010 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[Centurion]

Great photos, Tom!

[TG57Roadmaster]

GM International in Copenhagen built this '32 Buick one-off as a design study to show

well-healed customers the company's skills. Using CKD components, they started

with a Buick 90 chassis and its 134" whb and 344.8 cid engine.

Unfortunately, the dramatically-designed sedan has been lost to history.

Larger

Larger

Larger

TG

[TG57Roadmaster]

Nordberg of Sweden built many Buicks during the Coachbuilt Era,

and here are a few more examples from Special Interest Autos'

early years; SIA #9, Jan-Mar, 1972...

Larger, click once after opening.

This '33 Victoria Cabriolet is quite different from Buick's American offerings.

Larger

A lovely 1934 Cabriolet makes fine use of that year's flowing lines.

Larger

12 of these stunning Cabrios were constructed for 1938, six each of sedans and coupes.

Larger

The unique sliding doors exhibited on the '38 Cabrio coupe made opening

them in tight spaces much easier.

Modern photos of the '38 can be found at Coachbuild.com

TG

Edited March 4, 2010 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Hello To All.

It has been awhile since my last post. I have recently come across some better quality photos of the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Bodied Brougham on the Internet.

Photos are below.

Who else has owned the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car and who owns it now?

"Have you seen the 1941 Buick Limited Brunn Town Car ?"

Dave

BCA 26773

1938 Buick Special 4 door sidemounted touring sedan

Edited August 7, 2010 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

Is this a custom-bodied Buick? Photo was taken in 1939, but it is not the Buick I normally associate with the Queen of England.

[West Peterson]

Answer from the "What is it?" forum revealed that the car is a 1939 Lincoln.

[Joseph P. Indusi]

I have seen the 41 Buick Brunn Bodied car with the landau irons. I also know where it is. I will speak to the present owner when I have time to contact him.

Joe, BCA 33493