Kimber's folks sent us this article from the Colorado Springs Gazette, and we want to share it with you all. Buck and his wife Margaret are pictured on the right (from a car tour in 1992.)
ROUTE '66
By CARLYN RAY MITCHELL, CARLYN RAY MITCHELL; carlyn.mitchell@gazette.com
Publication: The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
Date: Friday, July 17 2009
If a car can be family, this 1966 Pontiac Ventura is like a suave favorite uncle with nary a wrinkle to indicate his years.
But it is a bittersweet truth in the Shaver family that this car underwent an extensive face-lift after a March 30 accident that resulted in the death of the family patriarch, 82-year-old Herbert "Buck" Shaver.
Shaver was in his driveway working on another car when a fire ignited, setting him and the garage that stored the Pontiac on fire. He died a month later.
Shaver's friends and family knew the best way to pay tribute would be to restore the car he purchased new 43 years ago and had kept in mint condition ever since.
"We couldn't fix my dad, so the next thing to do was to fix the car," son Bob Shaver said.
A handful of members of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America's Pikes Peak chapter, Shaver's second family, was chosen for their talents - and love of Buck - to bring the Pontiac back to life.
Its paint was cracked and peeling from the heat of the fire. The windows and door panels were off. The new-car smell that had somehow remained for more than four decades was replaced with the heavy odor of smoke.
"It was pretty bare-bones," Bob Shaver said.
For six weeks, Bob Shaver, Lyle Pierson, Mike Davis, Bob Tittel, Herman Harder, Dan Daily and Harold Naber labored to have the car ready to show at this week's VMCCA Western National Tour, which brings a flood of classic cars to the region.
"Knowing him all these years, he would do anything for anybody in the car hobby," Pierson said. "He did so many cars for me - and engines - that I could never repay him. So I was happy to return the favor in a small way."
Had the group not pitched in, Bob Shaver estimated it would have cost as much as $8,000 for the restoration.
Buck Shaver was a lifelong mechanic who learned the trade while serving in the Philippines during World War II.
After returning to his native Colorado, he and his partner, Grier Manning, opened Shaver & Manning 66, a garage on South Nevada Avenue. Shaver then worked at Perkins Motors from the mid-1960s until his retirement.
"He was probably the best mechanic in the club," Davis said.
On the day of the fire, it is believed Shaver was installing a fuel pump on his son's car when it came in contact with a droplight. Gas squirted on Shaver, and there was a spark, igniting a fire, Bob Shaver said.
Buck's wife, Margaret, pulled off his shirt and called 911 while Buck moved a vehicle from the driveway so a firetruck could get to the blaze.
Buck instructed the firefighters to put out the fire in the garage before cans of paint exploded and sat himself on the gurney when paramedics arrived.
Buck Shaver remained in a medically induced coma through his 64th wedding anniversary a week later before he died of an infection.
Shaver's sons and grandchildren plan to continue displaying the car in Shaver's honor.
"That's part of the family. What do you want them to do with it?" Tittel asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment