Finding A Safer Hobby After A Controlled Airplane Crash

 

So, what do you do after you’ve spent four years building an airplane, fly it to Florida and then crash it in a field? If you’re like Jerry Gray of Belgrade, Montana, you look for something that won’t leave the ground.  Jerry’s plane, a Kitfox was a project he started in 1998.

The airplane Jerry built before he got into hot rods and fifites cars!

Jerry poses beside the airplane he built before he got into hot rods and fifties cars.

In 2002, he flew to the Sun ‘N Fun air show in Florida and had a great time enjoying the freedom of the airways. When he returned home, he thought he’d land at his father-in-law’s short grass runway between his house/business and the rural road.

Jerry, You need to find a safer hobby! – Suzy Gray

Making a nice approach over the fence and about to flare the plane to land, he decided to do a go-around again and then land.  That turned out to be a bad decision – full throttle up, between the power lines on the left and the road on right, he realized he was in “ground effect” about thirty feet above ground and could not resume forward flight speed.

The Crash

On the verge of a stall, he passed the end of the runway, staring at the power lines in front of him. He quickly put the nose of plane downward and made a controlled crash landing.  Always aware of the possibility of fire, Jerry immediately bailed out of the plane.  Unfortunately, his wife, Suzy, had watched the whole event from her office window.

The airplane was “totaled” and Jerry ended up with back and shoulder issues, but it could have been worse. When he recuperated, Jerry’s wife suggested that he should find a safer hobby, something like maybe building or restoring a car. “Jerry, you need to find a safer hobby,” she said. The insurance company kicked in for the totaled airplane and he started looking for a ’32 Ford Vicky.

Jerry's '32 Ford. It eventually went to Hawaii

Jerry and his driver for a number of years, his ’32 Ford sedan. It eventually went to the big island of Hawaii.

Problem was, there wasn’t a decent project car around, so he purchased a Downs deuce sedan body. He purchased a TCI frame, a Chevrolet Ramjet 350 CI engine with a 700-R-4 behind it.  Wire wheels, two-tone paint, leather interior, Vintage Air A/C and cruise control made a great driving combination and four years and a lot of miles later, Jerry decided he needed something a little more comfortable. His deuce was sold and it made the long trip to Hawaii while Jerry had some extra cash to play with.

Something Different

Searching the internet and ebay for something unique, he wanted some kind of out-of-the-ordinary vehicle. One of his requisites was it needed to have a longer wheelbase than his deuce, something like a heavier road car with some trunk space, and maybe a large rear seat – possibly something from the 1950’s.

Looking good now, the body was removed from the stock chassis and set atop a new Morrison chassis.

Jerry found the 1952 Buick Roadmaster in Norfolk, Nebraska. It’d been resting in field since about 1964. Over the years, the property owner decided to “collect” old cars and the Buick was one of several. Jerry liked the look and knew the Roadmaster was the top of the line model in ’52, powered by a huge straight eight engine and automatic transmission. Jerry bought it for a mere $1,500 and all that original equipment was about to change.

The first thing Jerry did was pull the body and measure the chassis for an Art Morrison frame. Problem was, Morrison had never built a chassis for a ’52 Buick so Jerry had to provide all the measurements for them. The finished chassis showed up in a crate, including body mounts – Jerry had to trim them to fit and then had his friend Stacy weld them to the new frame.

Once attached, the body was set back onto the frame in his oversized workspace. Jerry found the body wasn’t too bad except for the fact the car had been in an accident at one point in its life as there was significant body damage and repair discovered in the right door and rocker panel. His friend, Brett, at McGinley Motorsports did the repair on the door and both rear fenders as well.

The rest of the car required some additional work – the front and rear floorboards had to be replaced because of open side windows and Nebraska snow but all else was just surface rust -in other words, not typical of Nebraska since they use salt on their winter roads. It was obvious the car didn’t get a lot of winter driving and that made the build just that much easier. Jerry purchased a small sandblaster and started cleaning off old paint.

Big Buick pushes the Roadmaster along the highways of this country very well.

Big 455ci Buick engine pushes the Roadmaster along the highways of this country very well. Throttle body injection adds to the drivability of the car.

Wanting to keep the Buick all Buick, Jerry chose a 455ci Buick engine and sent it out to have it rebuilt. The new engine got a .30 over bore, a new Comp cam, a throttle body injection unit and a 700R-4 transmission running into a Strange disc brake rear axle. For rolling stock he chose 15 inch Truspoke wire wheels and Coker wide whitewalls.

Doing It Yourself

No stranger to doing body work, Jerry did the balance of dents, body repair and paint prep over the course of approximately four months. The body wasn’t terribly rough and that made the work enjoyable. When the final coat of primer was blocked out, Jerry donned the mask and sprayed the PPG Desert Rose metallic on the body and then two-toned it with Copper metallic on the roof. Three coats of clear and a week of polishing gave the Buick its lustre.

The dash was repainted in the new body color. Column is ididit and the stock wheel was adapted to it.

With the car nearly finished, it was time for the interior. Jerry delivered the car to Mike Wood’s Upholstery shop in Bozeman. Mike did the interior in two-tones of Naugahyde that set off the exterior colors of the car. The dash was repainted body color instead of the standard black GM used to put on dashes back then. A near stock steering wheel sits atop an Ididit tilt column compliments of an adapter Jerry built to accept the wheel.

Ogden Chrome in Ogden, Utah, did all the rechroming of parts on the Buick and Jerry said he nearly had to take out a loan to pay for it. However, paying for that was preferable to paying hospital bills from an airplane crash.

The chassis Jerry built and put under his Deuce.

Jerry says his hobby is safer than flying and he and his wife Suzy like to go rod running in the Buick, combining car shows with sight – seeing. The Buick was finished and road worthy in the spring of 2013 and since then, they’ve logged over 40,000 miles in three years. To say Jerry and Suzy are flying again might be an understatement.

About the author

Roger Jetter

Roger’s interests in cars started at 14 with a ’40 Ford pick-up until he bought his first ’57 Chevy at age 16. That car is featured in the first two books he’s written about the 1960’s and growing up in the Midwest. He’s authored several more books as well and has built several cars over the years that have received major coverage in magazines and won plenty of awards. His current build is a 1948 Cadillac Sedanet, although his current 'driver' is a '55 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.
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