Let’s have a contest. The winner gets to be crowned King of Barn Finds for a whole day. All day long! How do you win? It is easy. Everyone gets unlimited chances to enter in the comments. Just tell us what should be done with this 1936 Buick Shriner’s Parade Car for sale on craigslist in Arpin, Wisconsin. While there is no bringing back from the dead this former Sayers and Scovill bodied hearse, the car is too solid to send to the junkyard. So, what do you think would be the best use for this long wheelbase Frankenstein of a vehicle? Remember, Halloween is this month! Thanks go to T.J. for the funky find!
I want to play along as well. My first thought would be to convert this into what was called a vegetable truck. Some manufacturers built pickup trucks with steel roofs and either canvas or metal side panels that folded up. These vehicles roamed city neighborhoods and sold fresh fruit and vegetables at what I assume were set times and places. With a fresh coat of paint, a mechanical refurbishment or transplant, and the talents of a good upholsterer skilled in the intricacies of building a folding boat top, this Buick could be a great retirement moneymaker at those upscale farmer’s market that every semi-affluent community puts on.
My second thought would be to do what thousands of farmers did when they needed a truck and only had a dilapidated sedan to work with. Out came the torch and a few hours later a rudimentary farm truck emerged. The long wheelbase of this Buick is perfectly suited to make it into a truck. I am on the fence about cutting down the rather tall sides. Trimming it down about six inches would clean up the lines a bit but would certainly be a chore. At least you would have the most distinctive pickup in the Home Depot parking lot.
Another idea I have ties in with my recent motorcycle obsession. Why not make this Buick into an awesome bike hauler? I have seen owners of top shelf collector cars use converted fire trucks as haulers. So, why not restore this Buick into the perfect hauler for your vintage, or not so vintage, motorcycle instead of using a boring old truck and trailer combo or an old van? It would look cool parked next to the Boot Hill Saloon in Daytona Beach with a vintage Harley or Indian in the back. Of course, looking cool is everything in life. Or so I have heard.
Finally, since it is October and Halloween is just around the corner, I think this Buick has all the makings for a scary clown car. Think about it. It is a former Shriner’s parade car, and the Shriners are known for their clowns. Shriners do outstanding work, and their clowns are obviously working for the greater good. It is just that a large percentage of the population is terrified of clowns thanks to Stephen King and John Wayne Gacy. So, get this beast running, put a proper floor in the rear, and parade a choice collection of creepy clowns around on All Hallow’s Eve to terrify the locals. Maybe break it out on other nights to. Just for giggles, of course.
At any rate, this Buick is not currently running and is being offered at a stiff $4,000. There is a lot of work to be done and I am sure that cash would get you a much lower price. Hopefully one of you will come up with a great idea for this former hearse and get inspired enough to carry out your master plan.
What would you do with this former hearse? Share your plan in the comments and I will pick a winner 48 hours from publication. I am ready to crown our new king
It would be perfect as the Barn Finds Party Bus….or a portable stage for the Barn Finds Rockabilly Band.
“Hello, Coy? Where have you been?” “No you weren’t at the banquet…” “Well, how’d you get that big motorcycle up on the high diving board?” “It’s a typical American phenomena where are the members have a grand ol’ time; it’s the 43rd–annual convention of, the Nobles of, the Alibaba Temple of the Shrine…” Sorry, every time I see the name, ‘Shriner,’ Ray Stevens starts singing that song.
OK, the car. Well, it looks to be in pretty good shape, even if it’s got a chopped top that got carried away–literally. I think I might consider turning it into a panel or a woodie, like a depot hack. It’s already been compromised so the sky is pretty much the limit…
Ha! I have to agree with you, geomechs. I hear it , too. In fact, I knew the guy who inspired the song. He did really ride his Harley 74” into the motel swimming pool! I’ve heard the story first hand, so to speak, from the Shriner and later on I heard Ray Stevens corroborate the tale in an interview.
Paint it gold with chocolate brown fenders, add slab board sides to the back and haul that fine Thoroughbred stud to all the mares in the state.
Dump runs.
Inspired by the picture on the rear, I’m thinking make him look a bit more like the Zig-Zag dude, change a few letters on the side, and drive around proclaiming “It’s FUN to be a STONER.”
Fill the bed with charcoals, put on a mesh and it’s a burger stand at the next car show. Or turn it into a mobile jacuzzi.
With that said – with a prettier paint job – it could’ve been an attractive kitschy rolling X-mas decoration with an enormous pile of trees in its bed and colored bulbs
Source a Buick 455 to give it enough oomph and build it into a one of a kind food truck serving items like nehi and rocket pops or other vintage style snacks.
Okay, how about getting one of those
slide in campers we used to see on
pickup trucks and convert it to a really
cool RV! Saw a conversion like this
back in the late ’60s while on a camping trip with my folks. Dad started talking with the owner and
found out it WAS a ’37 or ’38 Cadillac
hearse at some point in time. The owner took great pains to make the
rear sleeping area look like an Airstream truck camper. And to make
even better, he did the work himself.
Boy, I could’ve used this thing to haul
band equipment back in the day.
Hey,, I thought I was the Barn Finds King of the Day,,( crickets), this is really cool and ties directly in with the HD scooter. Not sure if other parts of the country had Shriners doing outlandish, death defying displays( figure 8s) on goofy vehicles in silly costumes,,grown men, for crying out loud,,, but Wisconsin seemed to be the king of such shenanigans. With a baseball team named the Brewers, that might explain to some.
It’s nice enough to lose the goofy paint, and restore it for some sort of advertising deal, people stick a lot of money into promotion these days, but lose the “Shriner” schtick.
make it into a rolling hot tub
Leave it as is it’s a neat piece of Shriner history
Use it to haul around yesterday’s Yugo.
Jump on copart or IAAI and find a wrecked airstream trailer and combine them into a RV
Drop acid and stare at it.
Use your imagination. The possibilities are almost endless. It could serve as a birthday clown vehicle, gutter- guard sales navigator, mobile pet grooming, voter registration drives, or have your most esteemed dignitaries waving proudly from the spacious cargo area during your next homecoming parade
I want a pickup truck, preferably an old one, that is also capable of running on an interstate spec highway at 70 mph, when the temperature is in the 90’s – in California’s wisdom you can’t leave our community without at least 10 miles on such a road so cars whiz by at 85 mph with bicyles in the breakdown lane going 10 mph – so a ’36 Buick 8 with over drive could do this – so if the engine is good I would install a dual master brake cylinder, discs on the front, new brake lines, recore or replace the radiator, radial tires, tighten up the front end if needed, and repaint it. Then take it to the lumber yard, the dump, the farmer from whom I get manure for my garden, the nursary to get my living Xmas tree. By ’36 the framing was all steel, so that should be solid. IF the engine is toast, then a nailhead Buick V8, to keep it in the family. IF the frame is toast, then something more modern, but,given the cost, not worth it to me.
As an active Shriner the answer is easy – return it to it’s original glory as a Shriner parade unit. We love old vehicles and a whole parade unit of Shriners could be formed around this beauty. Re-painting it exactly as possible to the original would be marvelous!
Frank B
Rameses Shriners
Toronto, Canada
Use it to get the go carts that stopped running in the parade…or fill t with Clowns and use it as a fundraiser for the Shriners Hospital.
I love it just as it is!
I see a fantastic blank canvas. Maybe a Woodie of sorts with a rack for the surf boards. Some better rear cab enclosure and nice paint with pin striping and take to the local cars and coffee. Having the rear doors still operate would add some opportunity for more creativity. Simply put, a rare opportunity for a personal and creative project. Love the front end, fat fenders and running boards.
I’d just get it running, titled, registered and insured and park it in front of my house with a big sign saying “in your ear HOA” of course the sign would have a big goofy face on it grinning from ear to ear. It would be completely legal and not a thing they could do about it. By the way my HOA can be a big pain in the butt at times writing letters threatening fines for little things like a weed in the front yard and such stupid things,
God Bless America
We must live in the same community.
U-Haul.com Realtor and Zillow are your best weapon for a HOA
John,
A friend had a running feud with the local HOA and the county zoning guys. After winning her 4th round against these zealots, she asked a local plumber friend for some old toilets.
She set out a line of 6 white toilets at the front of her small farm, each was without the seats or tank top. She filled the toilet bowls and tanks with soil, and planted beautiful flowers in them. She also signed each toilet on the side of the bowl. She put up a small sign declaring the set a work of art, and as such, they were protected.
The HOA and county gave her citations for not having a permit for the sign! She claimed it was exempt because it was a political statement, and the judge agreed. Judge also warned the HOA if they brought another frivolous case before the court, the court would order the total and permanent dissolution of the HOA. He also ordered the county to pay all her legal fees.
That was about 25 years ago, and as far as I know, the HOA took the judges advice.
Lots of interesting ideas, some crazy ones too, but what I’m curious to know is this: What did the Shriners actually use it for?
Shriners always had representatives in our local parades… with Many, Many different types and shapes of Vehicles, even tiny cars circling the big vehicles. Those tiny ones must have been built on go-cart frames, but they had very elaborate and ornate bodies on them. What I always wanted to know was, how in the world did they store all those “units”… they were always clean and shiny… someone had to have had a BIG garage to house those “parade” vehicles. Hate to see this one no longer in it’s prime.
Man.if I could afford to waste money on something…and I mean a lot of money…this would be it. What a great project. I’d keep the paint job and refresh it. Make it into a useful pickup. Restore the interior. I also am sorry that a Sayers hearse went this road. But that’s a dead issue.
Nicest thing to do with this one is to restore it as a vintage Pickup. Put a decent paint job on it rebuild the motor and use it to haul things in. Every kid in town would stare at it. A contractor could use it to advertise his business. Every time he’d go to home depot he’d have crowds of admirers.
Rent a helicopter on Thanksgiving, lift this to about 1500′ feet and drop it on main street. “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”!
Put an LS in it!
I’d paint it the original black, put 2 or 3 rows of seats in the back (rear-facing in the rear), cover the back with a black surrey top and plastic roll-up windows, and give cemetery tours.
maybe donate it to any shriners group who may want the rebuild challenge.
I’d do bmy best to have it running and stopping ok and truck all the neighborhood kids trick or treating in a couple of weeks!
Ok here is the plan …get a local small batch brewer to sponsor A shriner Bock…get clowns wearing Fez’s to serve for Halloween October fest…put tombstone styled beer kegs…keep the paint add blood …zombie Shriners…t shirts merch…etc etc etc…
Tour bus for use up in the Willamette Valley. Highlight of the tour is a stop at Ken Kesey’s estate and a photo op parked next to the Further bus.
The Shriners have a place near me. I’d donate it to them if they wanted it. It’s got their history.
I think we have a winner,,,except, get one of these rich bastarxs to donate spiffing it up too. The Shriners do great things, I meant no disrespect by their funny costumes.
Do the rear suicide doors and rear door still function with the tops cut off? If so the just build a wood upper wagon to make a hybrid m metal and woodie wagon with canvas top on the rear if not cut the back body off and build a power wagon style pick up bed but use the Buick fenders any build would be big bucks to make it look good so not anything I could take on but lots of cool options being tossed out
the rear view is the only unfortunate one (that slab at the cab’s roof back). I’d make sedan delivery (roof over, hearse sides back on but no/close to no – windows). They call me wagonman round here and thus it would be~
Like the barn dor existing and would place a top back on there. Possibly ‘bed it’ w/one of those ‘roll out’ shelves (1/2, 3/4 bed length?). May B nother small, single swing out dor@curb side?
while you could try make it into a crew cab and still have the short bed truck. Or mount the body on a newer truck frame and still make it into a crew cab. Or have Bad Chad from Canada cut it up>
Give it to the Shriners or maybe a funeral home could make a flower car out of it or a very cool VW hauler.
This has all the makings of a period flower car which is not far from its original life anyway. Surely there are pictures that would help. S&S probably made them out of similar components.
Thank you to everyone who made a suggestion in the comments! I was blown away by the responses and enjoyed every one of them. If I had my way, there would be a lot of “Kings of Barn Finds” tomorrow!
However, I promised to select a king. I am modifying that a bit to include a prince for second place and a duke for third place.
King: Frank Baille
Frank is a Shriner and suggested returning the Buick to its former glory. He can share his title with everyone else who suggested or supported the idea. Frank got the nod because he and his fellow Shriners do an incredible amount of good work. Thanks for all you and the Shriners do for the world!
Prince: local-sheriff
The idea of turning the Buick into a grill is unique and, I think nothing like that has ever been done before. Once I read the post, I was immediately trying to design in my head how the grill could be built to protect the car’s body and drivetrain. Fire bricks maybe? At any rate, a great idea!
Duke: johnmloghry
Reading between the lines here, but I am guessing that you have experienced a few problems with your HOA. While sometimes a good idea, HOAs can become a terrible annoyance. I’d hate to see the Buick towed off by an overzealous HOA board, but I admire your spirit and creativity! If the Buick doesn’t end up in your yard, I have two suggestions:
1) Run for the board with your friends like my brother did. Win, then dissolve it.
2) Grow corn in your front yard and call it a historical and ornamental native plant. I read about some guy who did this and was able to argue with the board until the corn was ready for picking! Winning!
Thanks again to everyone who entered! It was a lot of fun, and I will be on the lookout for another vehicle to write up this way so we can do this again.
That long wheelbase is just begging for 1500-2000 hp to stick some short axle fatties to the ground. 427 small-block Dart block, Lunati crank, Dyers connecting rods, Trick Flow cylinder heads will make close to 2,000 hp with a Forced Induction 88mm turbocharger pushing 24 psi of boost in a 9.5:1 compression engine. Big Stuff 3 controls fuel and boost, while MSD’s Digital 7 Plus or Power Grid to control ignition functions.A decent drivetrain w/ auto trans w/trans brake, Powerglide, good torque converter and rear end (choosing gear ratios per application), and maybe some coil overs. Chop that top and straight-cover that bed into a down-force wing. Drop it 4 inches, and lose the bumper for an air dam and ground effects. Paint? Who cares?!? Rattle-can truck bedliner.
or same,……but as a hearse!!!