Older Body, New Chassis: Brewster Bodied 1938 Buick

One of the more interesting aspects of prewar automobile production was the use of coachbuilders to craft bodies for high-end classics.  The deal was you selected a chassis from a builder like Packard, Duesenberg, or Rolls Royce.  These chassis left the factory with a full front end, driveline, and a cowl.  Then, you contacted one of the many coachbuilders, many of whom were in business long before automobiles arrived on the scene, and their staff designers would present you with sketches of bodies that they could build for your new automobile.  While this process sometimes varied, the combination of a luxurious chassis with a custom-built body was a magical recipe that resulted in automobiles that are still famous and highly desired even today.  Sometimes, bodies were even used for a second time.  This 1938 Buick is fitted with a Brewster body originally built and installed on a 1931 American-built Rolls Royce.  Do you think the angular lines designed for a Rolls Royce meshed well with a more rounded later Buick front end in its second act?

Many of the vehicles we revere from the prewar period were either bodied by or influenced in some way by these firms.  Designers from Alexis de Sakhnoffsky to Harley Earl served time as official designers at coachbuilders, working with customers to make their ideas come to life.  Automobiles were built with body-on-frame construction at the time and these custom bodies bolted onto the frame rails after being merged with the cowl.  When you think about it, the idea of purchasing a complete chassis and having the ability to put the body of your choice upon it is an idea that should have caught on.  Imagine a world where you purchased a chassis and just replaced the body as needed over the years.  It seems like a good idea for cars at every price level.

A second act was what happened to the body on this 1938 Buick chassis.  It started life on a 1931 Rolls Royce built in the company’s Springfield, Massachusetts plant.  Rolls Royce manufactured cars there from 1919 to 1931 to escape tariffs that made access to American markets difficult.  This last of the breed Rolls Royce chassis was driven from Springfield, with the driver sitting in the open on a box, to Brewster and Company in Long Island, New York.  The fabled firm had been purchased by Rolls Royce America in 1925 to provide bodies for their cars upon demand.  Brewster produced many of the bodies for Rolls Royce, but not all of them.  When production of American Rolls Royce ceased, the parent company shipped chassis straight from England to the Long Island coachbuilder.  When that arrangement ended, Brewster tried to stay afloat by producing luxury bodies for Ford chassis with limited success.  Sadly, the fabled coachbuilder slid into bankruptcy and was liquidated in 1937.

The 1938 Buick you see here wears the body from the previously mentioned Rolls Royce.  The seller tells us that it was called a “Saint Andrews Limousine” when it was attached to the Rolls Royce chassis.  There is speculation that this was a car put together by former Rolls Royce of America president (and later Brewster president) John S. Inskip.  The belief is that it was a stored body from the unusual Brewster practice of offering summer and winter bodies that could be interchanged at the whim of their wealthy clients.  While in storage, these bodies could be refurbished for later use.  When Brewster went under, he was believed to have placed some of these stored bodies on newer chassis.  This article on Inskip reveals quite an interesting life led by this unfamiliar automotive pioneer.

Careful analysis of the pictures above and below provides us with a look into the construction of such a body.  Nearly all of this 1931 body’s framework was of wood with metal panels attached.  This is an interesting contrast to industry practices at the time it was reused, where wood use had evolved to being almost completely absent from automobile construction.  We are told that the car last ran in 1992 and was parked in a garage in Gridley, California.  It appears that parts of the car were stripped off to begin a restoration while others have succumbed to age and rot.  The sheet metal is said to be complete and rust-free.  However, the woodwork and interior need many hours of skilled labor to refurbish them to their former beauty.

The allure here is that this is a full classic with an interesting story.  Cars such as this are desirable candidates for the highly competitive Concours circuit.  Of course, that would also mean a professional restoration executed at the highest levels.  The vintage picture above gives us a good idea of just how beautiful this car was and how surprisingly seamless the adaptation of the stately older body was on a new chassis.  While Facebook Marketplace may not be the proper forum for such a vehicle, perhaps an interested party will hear of the car and return it to its former splendor.

If you are looking for an invitation to the Pebble Beach Concours in a few years and need a rather unusual classic to make your dreams come true, then faithful reader T.J. has found the perfect car for you.  This 1938 Buick fitted with an older Brewster body for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Gridley, California is in poor condition but holds a lot of potential.  With an asking price of $15,000, do you have the skills and financial endurance to turn this re-bodied Buick into an award winner?