Not to take anything from Gary at all,he is truely a great craftman.Just to let out a little secret that needs to be said........ Jimmy Vaughan bought that 54 ford already finished! Yes you heard right, every body mod on that car was done already the grill was done the stance and everything you see. The car was owned by Ziggy of burbank the guys who did the work was the Bruns' team. There are pictures of Jimmy standing in Ziggys front yard with his pink chevy in the backgroundas he is buying the car.Since Jimmy bought the car it was painted and the interior was done and that is a FACT. Jimmy bought that car already as done custom (except interior), the car was in a green basecoat paintjob. So sorry to the people who said that the 54 was there favorite custom to come from Howards shop,but you are actually praising the work of the Bruns' customs.
About 4 years ago when I was doing the chop on my 60 elcamino (this project has been sidetracked for too long!) I had a friend of mine look up garys phone # in the RR phone book.Long story short I asked him a ton of questions about how he did the top and winshield on mike youngs 60. He answered them all, and gave me some pointers on how to do mine.truly a nice down to earth man.
I have to be honest, before I went to the 2008 LSRU, I had never heard of Gary Howard. To say I was "impressed" with his work there is a gross understatement. He has the perfect ability to make everything flow. The green Caddy is sick (loved the piecrust on the back), but the Impala I couldn't walk away from. Hopefully next year I can go on the garage crawl and meet the legend. He is definately someone I admire.
You are correct up to a point on the '54 but I feel like I need to set the record straight. And let me say I am one of the Bruns biggest fans. The Black Dahlia is one of their masterpieces and I am lucky enough to get to see it and drive it whenever I please. Jim Bruns Sr and Jr did the initial work on this car before Jimmie bought it, but once that car got back to Austin and in the hands of Gary Howard, Gary spent at least two years on body modications and mechanical modifaction to the Ford and transformed it into what you see today. The entire front quarters including the headlights have been redone twice. Originally Gary refrenched them and then in the last year lengthened them and used '55 Lincoln Mark II headlight rings. The grill opening was also totally redone to accomodate the chrome trim that is surrounds it now and the grill is new also. The new grill is longer than the original grill that was in the car when Jimmie bought it and Gary also added additional teeth. It is the same grill concept the Bruns originally put in the car, but it has been perfected to fill the opening. The grill that came in the car is hanging on the wall in Gary's garage. The taillights were refrenched and the openings lengthened when Gary started on the car the first time around and then this past year he actually lengthened the entire rear quarters on the Ford and refrenched the taillights again this time using 53 Ford taillight bezels on the outside and '52 Ford parklights on the inside to shape the openings. Gary rounded or redid the rounded corners on the front end to accomdate the new chrome up there around the grill opening and reworked many other aspects of the car to make it one of the most perfect customs out there. So yes in fact the Bruns Custom City did do the initial work on this car, but this custom is a much different car now and the credit goes to Gary Howard for that.
i got the pleasure of going to Austin last month for the first time for a wedding and while i was there my bud and i (reverendjake) decided we had to go hit up all the hot rod shops in town. we ended up getting garys number and gave him a call to ask if we could came see his shop (wich is off the beatin path) he gave us a call back the next day and we went for a visit and i must say gary was one of the most nice persons i have ever met. he had some great cars he was working on and took time to talk to us and even gave us a signed poster. it was a cool day this article was a great read thanks. DONUT!
I just think this thread needs some fresh air. Folks, if you have been on the fence about pitching in after Gary's fire last week, peruse this interview piece and get to know him a bit. Then chip in!
Editor’s Note: This article originally ran on August 8th, 2007. However, I have to wake up early tomorrow morning to investigate an honest-to-goodness barn find (more on that later) and won’t have time to publish anything original before I leave. So, I thought I would bump this old feature to the top as it will become relevant (not to the barn find, but to something else) later this month. Confusing, right? Just read about Gary… You’ll be glad ya did.
Great thread about a great guy who has been building cars for a long time. In the early 70's when I lived in Texas and was hitting a lot of Central Texas rod runs and shows a number of the nicer cars had seen Gary's touch.
The Jalopy Journal
