Author Topic: Solved: 58_spyder 2 - Brauks 8 (Read 1399 times)

58_spyder · « **on:** January 01, 2016, 04:23:26 PM »

Dear all,

what have we got here?
Let me know what it is called as well as the story behind it for a point.

58_spyder · « **Reply #1 on:** February 12, 2016, 02:41:42 PM »

No takers at the rookies, so maybe an expert wants to have a go?

gilescooperuk · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2016, 01:59:07 AM »

1937 Terraplane very coupée

To be fair Ray B. posted a picture yesterday in the anonymous cars thread....

58_spyder · « **Reply #3 on:** February 18, 2016, 02:16:45 PM »

Well that can happen, I was fortunate that a puzzle was added wth a car that I had seen the previous day while I was trying to solve an earlier puzzle.

If you dig in to it a little bit further you will find the full answer about who etc. Looking forward to see you solve it, I guess you are well on your way, so I lock it for another try.

gilescooperuk · « **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2016, 03:05:10 PM »

Well is is off one website so hopefully is accurate

This green 1937 Brauks 8 five window coupe is a one-off custom-built early car ready to be restored or rodded. This may be one of the first custom "pre-hot rod" cars ever build. The car was created by George S. Brauks, a St. Louis, Missouri foundry pattern maker and carriage builder. The front of the car is a 1937 Hudson Terraplane 2 door coupe. From the cowl back, the car appears to be a sectioned 1936 DeSoto 4 door trunk back wood-framed sedan. The rear door and body were sectioned out, then the front door was shortened. Finally, the entire body was narrowed lengthwise on the centerline to create a narrow body width. The hubcaps is embossed "Brauks 8". For the power train, Mr. Brauks made custom foundry patterns, cast the parts blanks and then machined the one-off straight eight L-head 115 CID 65 HP motor and three speed manual transmission. The crankshaft features a dual 90 degree offset design. Many of the ancillary motor parts are also handmade. The intake and exhaust manifolds are custom fabricated from welded tubing. The cast iron 8 cylinder head is only 22" in length. The motor is out of the car, apart, complete and ready to be restored. The brown fabric interior is all there. The dash is in good condition. The car uses Terraplane gauges, which are in restorable condition. This is an opportunity to own and restore a professionally-built one-off 5 window custom 5 window coupe. It is the only one in the world and likely one of only a few cars ever built with a custom-built power train.

58_spyder · « **Reply #5 on:** February 20, 2016, 04:39:11 AM »

Yes, the point is yours!

You got the dessertcars add. That is where I originally found it as well when I was looking for a Ford Galaxy 500 that a friend had bought.
I really liked the story when I looked into it about George S. Brauks. He used to build/modify his own cars and sell them after a while to get the funds for a new project.

Quote

By Robert D. Cunningham: The images in the recent Saint Louis Miniature Motoring Mystery article are rare images of the 1934 Brauks coupe. George S. Brauks was an engineer and carriage builder in St. Louis, Missouri, and an early adaptor of the automobile. He made local news in June 1904 when he steered his automobile into the path of an oncoming street car. The force of the collision spun his automobile around and threw his family members into the street. His wife and several children were rushed to the hospital, some with serious injuries.
The lead image is from an unattributed newspaper article about Brauks, who is posing with his 1928 Model “Four” roadster. Note that the overall size of the car and the wheels and brakes are the same as the later 1934 coupe. Photo courtesy of Robert D. Cunningham.

Nevertheless, Brauks remained smitten by the automobile and in 1910, he and his partners, E.B. Campell and Alfred A. Wagner, established The Lindell Motor and Auto Parts Mfg. Co. He built more than a dozen cars between 1898 and 1938. He built a roadster of similar proportions in 1928. It featured the same general proportions as the little coupe, used the same hand-built wheel design, and rolled on a wheelbase of 86 inches and tread of 46. It was powered by a 4-cylinder engine capable of 60 miles per hour while achieving fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon.

The 1934 Brauks coupe was a more modernized version of the earlier 1928 Model “Four” roadster. The photos where taken at his shop in Saint Louis, Missouri six years later in 1941.

Since it was constructed of used bits and pieces, the roadster cost Brauks just $185 to build. He and his wife drove the tiny car to the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. He was encouraged to shop around for manufacturing investors and he claimed it could be produced and distributed for roughly $385 per car, but he never seriously entertained the idea. (By comparison, the slightly smaller American Austin debuted for around $410 in 1930.)

1937 Brauks 8 coupe used a narrowed 1937 Hudson Terraplane body with Desoto rear sheet metal. Braucks made his our foundry patterns for the 115 c.i. L-head eight-cylinder block and head and machined and fabricated most of the engine himself.

Several years ago, Brauks’s final creation appeared for sale on ebay. The owner had no idea what it was, but it, too, was of similar proportion and was created by drastically narrowing and shortening a 1937 Hudson Terraplane and mating it to DeSoto rear sheet metal. The Brauks 8, as it was called, was powered by a unique straight eight engine of Brauks’s own design. Images courtesy of Desert Classics.

Editors note: With George S. Brauks engineering and auto parts manufacturing background it is possible he may have built the engines and some of the mechanical components for the earlier cars. We are hopeful that our readers will be able to uncover more information about Brauks’s creations in the future.