Now to finish the story of my business. Everything was going fine and we kept cranking out interiors. I was constantly adding new ones to the list. I used to hang the seat covers and door panels I wanted to make on the walls of the shop. This forced me to think about them everyday. Then once I figured out how to make them, with the materials/equipment that I had available, I would take them off the wall, make them up, and go to the next design. After being in business for many years I finally hit into a pretty good size market. The GS interiors started selling slowly, but once I had all the 65-72 seats available, and had multiple year door panels available, sales started to take off. Between having an entire “make” of Buick interiors available , and having the ability to make other non-available Ford/Mercury interiors, the big boys really started noticing me. The other thing was I was adding many new types of interiors to my portfolio, and doing it quickly. This really started to worry some of the big companies. At the time Legendary had the Mopar interiors pretty much locked up, and here I was doing all the obscure Ford and GM muscle car interiors. The big boys were always looking for new markets to get into, and here were 2 small companies (at the time) cutting off areas that they were considering getting into. The other thing was by this time, quite a few of the cars that had my interiors, were getting awards and were being nationally recognized. (Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I was proud of what we made.) Finally a few of the “big boys” approached me and wanted to buy me out. They figured with my knowledge and their money, they could probably make damn near anything from the muscle car era. I also had all the vinyl books, with original samples, from 61-80 or so, and most of the dealership vinyl upholstery books for Ford, Mercury, Buick, Chevy, Olds, Pontiac, etc., so my library was very large and was all in a single location. I knew the cars, designs, materials, equipment needed to make the interiors, and how to make vinyl grain patterns that were no longer available. Plus I did one other thing, I purchased 2 yards of original material for every grain vinyl that was used during the muscle car era. This would eventually have allowed me to reproduce every grain vinyl if I wanted. In the mean time the company I used to work for “Inter Coach Products” was bought out by Crown Auto Tops, and they were looking to acquire me as well. They offered to purchase my company and I agreed to stay with them for a while so I could “teach” their employees how to make my interiors. I think I stayed for something like 9 months and then left. The cool thing about this is all my patterns, etc. went back to the place I started at. I got to work with all the people I had left and it felt like I was returning home. So I guess it was meant to be. Duane
Engineering car #4085? I have the original or copy of the original “glossy” that Dennis gave me somewhere. But it is the same pic that was used in some magazines. Meaning just the outside pic of the car. Before or either right after it was fixed from it being damaged while someone backing it out of Buicks engineering shop with the overhead door only half up. I think it’s the same picture that was used in the GS X-tra when they did an article on it. Which also brings to mind, Dave Kliner offered me to purchase the original GSX prototype two piece grille emblem used on Brads prototype or show car GSX. If I’m not mistaken I think Brad knows Dave has this emblem.
Guy, Yes, Brad knows about the emblem. Kleiner handed it to me at the GS Nats one year. It was made a lot like Brad’s door panel emblems. If memory serves me correct, it had the engineering number engraved onto the back of it. I don't know if that emblem was ever on Brad's car. From what I heard it was given to Kleiner by someone that wanted it to go to Brad’s car, but I know Kleiner wanted to sell it to him. If you have the pic of "#4085" can you scan it and post it here? I can only find my paper copies of that car and the images are horrible. Duane
Gary yes, thank you. On the front view pic you can see the front spoiler has been waffled. Looks like the center brace got smashed upwards a couple of inches. In the Garage pic the spoiler is not even on the car. The license plates are also different. The top one has Calif Manufacturing plates, while the other has Michigan Manufacturing plates. There is also "Buick" vs no "Buick" on the hoods. I wonder if the hood on the Jones/Benisek car has the emblem holes in it. Do you have any more pics? Duane
Well that answers that question. Does anyone know why I asked about the “Buick” emblem holes on the J&B car???? Duane
Huh. I don’t know why? Both are the SkyLark only hoods. As well as mine. And ALL of the old original pics of mine have the SkyLark hood. And I pretty much know all the history of #4085. Never noticed that. Very cool, I learned something today! Now it will be interesting to learn why!
Hard to tell from the picture, but are those actual emblems or are they painted on like the rest of the graphics?
Well if you look closely at the front view of the White Stage 2 GSX, the “Buick” on the hood are definitely emblems, hence my question. Also I do not know what parts were sent to the J&B group off the Stage 2 GSX when it was dismantled, beyond the hood and air cleaner set-up, but I figure there were more parts then just that. (I read somewhere when they were sanding down the hood to restore the car it still had the black stripe with the white sides, under the red paint.) The GSX front grill emblem that Guy was talking about (engineering piece) was sent to Dave Kleiner from someone associated with the J&B car. My gut feeling is that emblem also came off the Stage 2 GSX car. I don’t think it was ever on Brad’s car. Duane
That is very true. I understand he has Alzheimer’s very bad. My mom had Alzheimer’s for years before she passed. It is a horrible disease and I would not wish that on anybody. When you go to see a loved one and they don’t remember who you are, that is a complete shocker let me tell you. Plus having to watch someone get worse and worse, while you are helpless to do anything about it, is probably the worst part for the family to endure. That disease is not only bad for the person that has it, but for the whole family. My thoughts go out to Sherry and their son. I always considered Dave as a friend and still do. I learned an awful lot about these cars from him, and we talked all the time. Once I got my 70 yellow GSX out of California he used to call me and ask what the paint dabs were at different places on the bottom of the car. It was a completely unmolested car that still had the date coded mufflers on it. The car still had the aluminized coating on the tailpipes from new. Anyway, I would crawl under the car, knock the dust off, then call him back with what I found. Those were definitely good times. Duane
