Bright Idea

Discovering the Buick Wagon

The next time a trip took him through Basin, he built in a little extra time for some investigation. It was about three months later, and lo and behold, Bright found the car parked in a field at the edge of town. But he couldn’t find the owner. Over the course of about a year, Bright kept an eye on the car, and it never moved, but eventually he figured out who owned it. It seems the engine had blown a head gasket and the owner was just going to let it sit there endlessly. It took several tries but finally Bright was able to convince the owner to sell the car to him.

Frame-Off Restoration

That was the end of this car sitting around as the crew at Bright Built Street Rods & Restoration tore into the project with a vengeance and spent the better part of a year getting everything turned around and ready to take some Best of Show awards (four at last count). This was your proverbial “frame-off” project, as the body was removed to make getting at the frame and suspension much easier. Everything on the frame was rebuilt or replaced according to Bright’s specs. Bright’s crew installed a ’64 Buick rearend (narrowed 3 inches) with 3.08 gears using Chevelle springs and Corvette air shocks. The front end wasn’t tweaked much, save for cutting two and a half coils out of the springs to lower the front end about 4 inches. Bright even left the stock shocks and finned drum brakes on the front. Intro wheels (17×7 front and 17×8 rear) were wrapped with Nitto tires (225/50-17 front and 255/50-17 rear). After the chassis work was done, the frame was detailed and attention was turned to the body.

Body Modifications

While the body was in pretty decent shape for a ’58, Bright wasn’t looking to just fill the dents and smooth over the scratches. What he had in mind required some craftsmanship. The most obvious change was the 2-1/2-inch chop to the top of the car, and when you’re talking about a car this long, the change is magnified. Bright shaved the doors and smoothed the front fenders to keep the emphasis on the body shape. The most dramatic change was extending the top fin trim from 10 inches to 32 inches. When the body mods were finished, Bright put the body back on the frame, and then everything was smoothed to glass-like perfection. Bright sprayed the PPG red and black paint himself at the shop, and it’s a flawless job that showcases the talents of Bright and his crew.

Engine and Performance

If you were wondering what happened to that engine with the blown head gasket, no one seems to remember, but what’s in the car now is a healthy ’72 Buick 455 engine with an Offenhauser intake manifold and Stage 1 heads built by Tinks Auto in Salina. A Mooneyes air cleaner sits atop dual Edelbrock carburetors, which feed the air/fuel mixture into the 9:1-compression engine. A Comp Cams camshaft gives the engine the right amount of rumble at idle and plenty of horsepower at wide-open throttle. A 700R4 overdrive transmission with a custom 2,400-rpm stall speed torque converter and remote trans cooler gets the power from the engine to the rearend.

Interior Transformation

The interior is about the only thing Bright and his crew didn’t tackle themselves. Here, the talents of Goldfield Trim in Linsburg, Kansas, were brought into play, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. Using Ultraleather in both red and black, Goldfield had a lot of area to cover in the wagon, but within a reasonable amount of time the work was done. The seats use horizontal pleats, which helps create a visual trick of making the seats look wider to go along with the car’s copious length. Goldfield also padded the wraparound dash with Ultraleather, and that softens up the look of the interior.

Conclusion

When all the pieces are added up, Bright’s ’58 Buick wagon is much more than the sum of its parts. He’s taken a car that few have hot-rodded and turned it into a trophy winner. But that’s what happens when someone has a bright idea.