Reader rides: Sam Garry's trio of toys

By: Unique Cars magazine

Date: 18.05.2022

Meet Sam Garry and his eclectic trio of toys: a 1952 Buick Special, 1961 Ford Econoline and 1967 International pickup

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Growing up around the family workshop I’ve always had a keen interest in classic cars, but not the normal Fords and Holdens. I’m only 25 so you could say I started collecting cars at a fairly young age. I’ve got a real passion for anything that’s a bit different, the kind of classics you don’t see all the time.

The first car I bought was in 2013 and I still own it today. It’s a 1978 XC wagon, bagged with a custom lattice painted roof. After that was when I started collecting the more unique classics. Over the last few years I’ve collected a ‘67 International 908B pickup truck, 1961 Ford Econoline van and a 1952 Buick special.

Buick

I picked up the Buick in 2017, as I really wanted a wagon, truck and a sedan. It’s a 1952 Buick Special and as far as I know it is an ex-police car from Dallas, Texas. It’s not 100 per cent definitive but it has police badging and I’ve got a tiny bit of paperwork that suggests it is.

The Buick was black when I picked it up and in reasonably good condition, but the paint was showing its age and there were a lot of bog cracks. A week later I stripped it back to bare metal ready for paint. I was running a bit short on money at the time so the Missus offered to fund the paint job if she could pick the colour, and that’s how it ended up being Cadillac Pink.

Plenty of chrome

I love the amount of chrome on the Buick, you just can’t buy a car with that much chrome nowadays. There’s a reason why I’ve never had it re-chromed though, it would cost me a fortune. The indicators and brake lights are not original; I used a set of 57 Caddy lights as indicators, which look red hot.

The body wasn’t perfect but the interior had already been done and that’s a big part of why I jumped on it when it popped up, because I know how expensive it is to do interiors in cars.

I’m still running the original straight eight motor with three on the tree and the six-volt generator for the electrics. Everything underneath is still very original but Dad and I upgraded all the shocks and suspension to get it sitting comfortable. Someone’s written in Nikko on the rocker cover all the valve adjustments many years ago. I wouldn’t rub it off, that’s the way it’s going to stay. For a 50s model car, it sits on 100km better than any of my other old cars, just purrs along. You’d be amazed. It’s hardly ever played up; it’s the one car that starts first go, every time.

The original straight eight motor runs like a dream

International pickup

I got the International 908B pickup in 2015. I wanted something different but didn’t know anything about International pickups. Like a lot of young guys I had my eye on C10 pickups, but it was my old man that talked me into the International because he said, "You don’t want to be like everyone else out there." The Internationals are just so different, they’re not at all like a dirty 266 had to go. I would’ve loved to have kept the original motor, but I just couldn’t get parts for an international 266 V8. I ended up swapping out the 266 for a 302 V8 Windsor I picked up for a carton of beer. The price was right, so I was determined to make it work. We stripped it down and hoped for the best. Dad and I rebuilt the C10 pickup truck, they actually have style.

When I picked it up it was still original with a 266 V8 motor and a four-speed on the floor. I was still on my Ps at the time and didn’t know how to drive a left hand drive car with a manual, so I made my old man drive it home from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast in peak hour traffic. We got it home and I drove it for two years as a daily driver. After a couple of years I started having some running issues with it, so the Windsor with a mild cam to give it a bit of a note and chucked a FMX auto box behind it making it nicer to drive. Getting the motor to fit was probably the hardest part of the build, but for a carton of beer it was worth the effort.

16" American Racing wheels are different

After we did the motor I kept driving it as a daily, then I pulled it off the road for a year and spent a couple of hours on it every other day getting the body work right in the shed at home. I stripped it back, welded every plate in it and bogged it ready for paint. A good mate of the old man named Mick Brown did the final paint job on it in flat industrial grey and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

The wheels I chose are 16-inch American Racing, they’re a bit different for this style of truck but I think it suits the truck well. I updated the whole interior, with some assistance. The hardest part of the interior was setting up the auto shifter through the floor and making it all look neat and tidy.

Left-hand drive took some getting used to

The international runs leaf springs front and rear, which I replaced with AU Falcon springs. I reset the springs myself and replaced the shocks. It’s still running drum brakes, front and rear, which I like, because drum brakes are for real men.

Econoline van

My van is a 1961 Ford Econoline and to me, is the rarest of the rare. I’ve always wanted one and was searching for years when this one popped up in 2020. It was the first night my wife and I were out without our two year old for dinner. A mate sent me photos of the van and I spent the next three hours on the phone negotiating without even looking at it. And I just bought it.

We put a new electronic distributor on, carbie, suspension and brakes, put a backseat in it with baby seats for the kids and off we went. It’s my daily now and an absolute dream to drive. Sitting on top of the front wheels, easy to park, nothing beats a Scooby-Doo van. It’s got a six-cylinder 170 Pursuit engine that sits between the front seats. There have been a couple times I’ve had an issue while driving, I just popped the engine hatch and fiddled with it while I was cruising along.

The Econoline van is bare metal on the inside, so it’s essentially a big tin box. I insulated the roof so we didn’t get cooked in summer. The kids love the van the best, even out of our newer family 4WD the kids want to go in this. The van gets a lot of attention when we’re out and about, you just don’t see any like this. I have no plans for this van at all. I’m just going to drive it every day and drive it till it stops. And rebuild it again and keep driving the hell out of it again.

I’ll never be interested in selling any of my cars. I’m hoping to buy more and leave my little girls with a heritage to pass on for generations. There will definitely be a fight over the pink one and the van though.

From Unique Cars #465, Apr/May 2022

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