Featured Folks Of Interest Bud Bryan Passes

I haven't seen it on here but Bud Bryan of R&C fame, builder of what might be the perfect 29 highboy all covered in many issues of R&C has p***ed. I just got an e-mail from a mutual friend telling me. I had the privilege of building the ch***is for Bud's last car a 29 highboy roadster pickup on deuce rails. He and I communicated back and forth several times a year and I wondered why I hadn't heard from him for a while?

 

A very familiar name when I was reading hot rod magazines in our school library as a teen in the seventies.
When I should have been in study hall.

Thank you, Bud Brian.
God bless.

Thanks, @krylon32

 

Remembering him from the '70s back in the R&C days.
RIP Bud!

 

Loved his R&C build articles. A true loss.

 

RIP. Read so much of his work, always liked the man, even though I never met him.

 

See end of large thread starting with Rod & Custom Bud Bryan

 

In ‘72 I was in Detroit at the Street Rod Nationals with friends, one of the guys had a ‘40 sedan with a flathead, ‘39 trans and a Halibrand quickchange. Bud took one look and said “All right! You’ve got the whole Megillah there.” A brief encounter and a simple statement but it was still cool that he recognized a young rodder.
Godspeed Bud, and thanks for the memories.

 

Legend RIP

 

Godspeed

 

Bud and Tom Medley were the voice of early style hot rodding in the late '60's and early '70's. Rest In Peace.

 

The roadster build in R&C was my baptism into traditional hotrods and it stuck.
Rest in Peace, Sir.

 

Rest in peace Bud, thank you for all the good articles and for good old R & C.

 

Rest in Peace Bud. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

 

Another hero gone. May he rest in peace.

A link I posted earlier on another thread:
https://www.hotrod.com/news/0812rc-bud-bryan-story

 

Bud drew a line that made the '29 Hi-boy an epic style in rodding.
He also was known for being down to earth.
R.I.P. We won't forget

 

Edward Riley "Bud" Bryan
September 21, 1938 - March 15, 2026​

 

RIP . . . Bud, Tom, Tex, & Andy
​

 

DECEMBER 2008

The Life Of Bud Bryan - The Bud Bryan Story
He Drove The Roads And Talked The Talk
by **** Martin

Simon and Garfunkel's song "Mrs. Robinson," posed the rhetorical question, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" Miffed, Joltin' Joe would often tell his close friends, "I haven't gone anywhere, I'm still here."

"I was raised in Liberal, Kansas," began Bud. "My playground was Uncle Perry's junkyard. He had a Mack bulldog truck with a big A-frame boom, and he would pick up Model As and sling them into railroad gondolas parked on the tracks. He'd lift up the cars and let 'em fly." You might say Bud got hooked on Model As (and their preservation) because of Uncle Perry's glee in giving them the hook. The A-bones were contributing to the war effort overseas.

Bud's world changed, for the better, when he was 5 years old, when he and his mother moved to Southern California in 1943. He lived by the old Long Beach oil fields and tank farm just along Cherry Avenue, not far from the action at Lions Drag Strip and hot rod heaven in Compton.

Bud's first car was a '29 Hudson four-door. "There was a gas station by my house and I used to talk to the old codger who owned it, and I did a little cleaning for him. The Hudson was my reward," he said. "My buddies and I used to sit in the Hudson parked behind his station and BS. It was kind of a meeting place. He wanted to get the Hudson off his property, so he sold it to me for a buck. I was 13."

Bud fired up the hulk (a popular getaway car in the '30s capable of sustained speeds of more than 80 mph) and drove it from the station to the back of his mother's fence.

Noticing a strange automobile sitting on her property, his mom inquired where the old car came from. "I'm not sure, somebody just parked it there," replied Bud. It was hauled off while Bud was in school. "I was heartbroken. Eventually, I fessed up to parking it there."

While attending Jordan High School in Long Beach, Bud worked the graveyard shift at a rubber company to help out his retired mother financially and allow him to afford a '47 Ford. Bud went to his sister's house after he got off work in the morning, cleaned up, and had just enough time to have some toast and get to school in his '47 Ford. This went on until his senior year.

Then, Bud traded the '47 sedan for a '40 coupe with a 3/8x3/8 Flathead: "It had slicks on it, and I was replacing a trans every weekend at my house, my friend Hugh Teitxworth's house, or Chuck Finders' shop. Chuck worked on transmissions in Bellflower and had the world's fastest blown A-G***er. It was a Willys pickup and it was an absolute animal.

"I traded the '40 for a '52 Chevy, which was a mistake. I completely destroyed the front of that '52. I totaled it twice," laughed Bud. "The first time, it was in front of the Clock Drive-In on Lakewood Boulevard messing around. My friend, Hugh, and I were throwing firecrackers out the window. I didn't see the light change-the guy in front of me stopped and I didn't.

"The second time, I was backing out of my girlfriend's driveway, and I sideswiped the neighbor's car. It wasn't just a tender sideswipe-it was a crunching, grinding, shattering affair. I was going so fast, I wiped out both cars. Her dad and the neighbor weren't real happy with me. I bolted on some new sheetmetal and traded it in on a '55 Chevy, which ended up with a custom Cadillac Linton Green lacquer paintjob."


A New Movement
"I got married," continued Bud, "and became an advertising manager in Bakersfield for a large department store in 1963-64. I had a '60 Pontiac Bonneville that barely fit in my little one-car garage.
"Street rodding wasn't a movement yet when Bud came on board," said Tom "Stroker McGurk" Medley. "Bud got the readers interested in driving the heck out of their street rods, because he drove the heck out of his."

And drive he did. By 1971, Bud had become a seasoned veteran of cross-country street rodding, heading to the Street Rod Nationals, this time in Detroit. On that trip, Tom got close and personal riding shotgun in Bud's '29 to and from Motown.

"We started out at night to head home," recalled Tom. "A lot of street rods were heading out, as well. All of a sudden, Bud pulls off by the side of the road and stops. I said, 'What's the matter?' I thought maybe he heard something or it quit. Bud said, 'Look at those fireflies! I've never seen fireflies.' We got out and Bud started taking photos of them. Pretty soon, here comes a whole bunch of street rods. They thought we broke. All of a sudden, we had a slew of guys watching fireflies," laughed Tom.


Greg Sharp
Greg Sharp-the curator at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona- was an LAPD motorcycle officer the first time Bud ever saw him. Greg walked in with his helmet and dark gl***es on, and told Bud's secretary he wanted to speak with Bud Bryan. "Everybody just went, huh?"


Fun Stuff
"That's when I first met Alex Xydias; he was editor of Car Craft. Guess who was his ad salesman? Bill Burke (father of the belly tank). We had a mutual love for cars. Alex was either in my office or I was in his. We were drinking coffee and laughing. It's a wonder we managed to put out monthly publications on time. I was in the company of some of the greatest hot rodders of all time. We all had a mutual love for cars."


Scroungin' a Roadster
Bud built his roadster over a long period of time by scouring the swap meets to acquire tin. Besides, part of the fun was finding that obscure piece. Overheads, automatics, and 9-inchers were the vogue when Bud chose to go old-school. Bryan's highboy could have easily been built in the late '40s with its Flathead, gearbox, and quick-change. Anything but the genuine article was not in the equation.

"My '29 roadster was a statement in true hot rod tradition. I never went to the dry lakes or Bonneville with it, but what I wanted to emulate was those early lakes and Salt Flats racers where the foundation of this sport began.

"I probably started collecting parts in 1968. I came across bits and pieces over a period of time," recalled Bud. "I found the framerails at a swap meet for $18 and started filling the 100 holes in the frame. Then, I found a center K-member and different pieces of the body."


Behind the Scenes
While some legendary rodders had a hand in Bud's roadster, every part on the car was paid for out of Bud's pocket. Sam Foose, Chip's father, was working for Gene Winfield at the time and did the bodywork for Bud in Winfield's shop. Bill Desatoff, an Early Times club member, painted the flawless black lacquer in the family garage. Bryan visited Phil Weiand to write a story on Phil's company. In the process, Bud purchased an intake manifold and heads from the legendary hot rodder/manufacturer.

Bud had the same experience interviewing Barney Navarro in his shop. "I asked Barney if he knew where I could find a block. He said to follow him, and stuffed under a shelf was a brand-new 59AB block wrapped in original Ford Cosmoline that had never run."

Bud's personal life at home had begun to unravel, plus being the editor left little time to devote to his project. Bud had bogged down. Out of the blue, friend Andy Brizio took charge. "Andy helped a lot. He called me and said, 'I'm coming to get your car. I want that thing finished. We're going to get it running. A trailer will be there to pick it up.' Thinking back about Andy's generosity to me, I can honestly say it was and is absolutely unprecedented.

"It was 12 midnight when the phone rang. Who in the world could that be? It was Andy, who said, 'I want you to hear something.' He went, 'Hit it!' I heard the starter and an engine fire. I asked what it was, and he said it was my Flathead. It's the best rump-rump I ever heard."


The True Story Has Never Been Told
"Gray Baskerville (the late ***ociate editor at the time) and I went to Mickey D's to get a burger," began Bud. "On the way back to the Petersen building, I stopped at a light on Sunset Boulevard; the guy behind me didn't. He drove us into the vehicle in front of us. That accordioned the roadster, damaged Gray's left knee, and my '29 was absolutely destroyed. I had it towed to a wrecking yard and later towed it home."
Bud had written off his highboy when Tom Medley, shooting photos of incoming rods at the entrance of the'71 Street Rod Nationals in Detroit, spotted a '29 roadster body heading for the swap meet area. Tom told Bud he had better find the guy and make him an offer.

That moment has stayed with Bud all these years, but the iden***y of the gentleman has not. Bud was in shock, so he never got the man's name. Maybe this story will reunite the two.

What happed to Bud's roadster after that devastating crash? And, what motivated Bud to sell his famous A-bone after beaucoup blood, sweat, and tears spent building it? After all, he had a cherry body that was given to him by that nameless benefactor in Detroit. "There were several guys who wanted to buy my roadster," said Bud. "It was lying in my garage, and I convinced myself to sell it. When I sold the car, the body went with it. I decided that I was going to turn my attention to the Buick, the future family sedan. The destruction of my roadster is what did it-that's what pushed me over the edge."


Jerry Kugel
"Bud was the catalyst for a lot of us in the street rod parts business. Hot rods have been around forever, but the street rod movement was just getting started. Street rods were built for the street, not for El Mirage or Bonneville. Then, Bud just dropped out. He was out of the picture-off the radar screen. He was doing his thing other than cars. I lost track of him for a long time."
After the second cancellation in May 1974, read into Bud's comment what you will: "I'd been to Disneyland twice."

With his A-V8 roadster badly mangled, a marriage that would soon end, and his desk cleared for the last time, Bud left the public eye.

Ironically, on that last cover was the very roadster body (in the background) that was given to Bud in Detroit. It was sitting on the back of a pickup.


Fast Forward
Once Jake and Tom were able to contact Bud by phone, three lost decades were dissolved, as though they never existed. In Jake's case, the timing was perfect for the two to reunite, since an event that Jake attends each year was coming up shortly-Mark Morton's River City Reliability Run.
Interestingly, this was to be the first time (ever) that Mark's event was to begin and end in Central California, instead of ending in Riverside. The travel distance was halfway for both Bud and Jake. Jake drove his fenderless '34 sedan and Bud a transportation car.

"Through Jake, an invitation was extended to me to attend Mark's run that concluded at Harris Ranch (off Interstate 5 in Central California) in 2006," explained Bud. "Mark had provided sack lunches for everyone, and he had one for me, as well. I will never forget that.

"That was the first time I laid eyes on Jake in more than 30 years, and we started looking at the cars. I kept thinking, this is a very important part of me.

"Some of the guys remembered me and embraced me warmly. I can reach out and shake the hands of these men, even though I'm not apart of it anymore. I gotta have a car. A week later, I called Gary Mussman at Cornhusker Ch***is to get the ball rolling."


The Turning Point
What Bud has been doing these many years matters not to this story, except they've melted away memories best forgotten but rekindled the ones that started Bud's juices flowing in the first place-all revolving around street rods.
The important thing is "Highboy" Bryan, as Gray Baskerville called him, has resurfaced. In the process, Bud has begun building a '29 highboy, just like his old one. Frankly, Bud's roadster is the smelling salts that revived him.

"I realized, once again," stated Bud, "that the true enjoyment of a project like this is resurrecting some old bits and pieces that will actually work again. I'm having fun again."

Bud attended the Grand National Roadster Show recently, stopping at the Hop Up booth where he purchased the magazine. Bud asked "Morty" (who was manning the booth) to autograph his publication. Mark wrote: "Bud you have inspired us all for years. Mark Morton." "That really stuck with me," said Bud. "It meant a lot."

It takes an exceptional journalist to energize one's readers, no matter the publication. Bud did that. When he was approached, he was friendly and down to earth, as were his printed words. Specifically, Bud motivated rodders across the country to fill up their tanks, throw in the suitcase, and split.

For those of us who were there, a whole bunch of time has zipped by when Bud banged out his last piece on the Underwood. We're either full-blown seniors now or about to join the club.

We're not ready for the walker yet; we're still building street rods like Jake, going to car shows like Andy Brizio, running Bonneville like Jerry Kugel, and campaigning go-karts like Tom Medley. Although we've aged, we're still kids (with a few gray ones and a jowl or two) playing with our toys.

You might say Bud is that kid in a toy store. He works at Sacramento Vintage Ford in the wiring shop. "I make up early Ford and street rod wiring looms. Great fun," he said.


On a Personal Note
Greg Sharp has helped countless writers with historical information and priceless photographs he's collected over the years. When I called Greg to see if he had any photos of Bud, he was preparing to travel to the NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Even though he was pressed for time, Greg responded with 18 photos, including hand-written notes on each one. "I want to do right by Bud," stated Greg. You certainly did, my friend. Thank you for contributing so much to Bud's story.


Photos













Photos by:Jim Jacobs, Greg Sharp, Bud Bryan, Jay Storer, Jerry Kugel, Hugh Teitsworth, & Andy Brizio​

 

Bud & Jake Jacobs with the Bill Niekamp '29 Ford Roadster (i.e., the 1950 AMBR):

​

 

Bud's "RAT NOT" '29 RPU:

​

 

@HEMI32 Whoa Like, Thank You

 

Well Dang, may he rest in peace. I probably studied most everything he wrote back when I was young rather than just read it. He was a huge influence on my concepts what a hot rod is.

 

Excellent writer, miss his style.

 

Hemi Deuce, Thanks for shedding light on the " mystery" of Bud Bryan. R&C, along with a few others were the "go to" reading in my youth (probably should have been doing school work). I didn't realize at the time, that Bud was writing about and living " the roots of rodding", I mean real gr*** roots stuff. As I look back. I know that's why R&C stands out and one of those responsible was Bud Bryan! Thanks to You and Farewell, Carp.

 

I met Bud & Tom in Detroit 1972..
RIP