May 28, 2014 at 3:34 p.m.
Local family's 1924 Buick receives national recognition
Local family's 1924 Buick receives national recognition
By By Kyle Rogers-
The particular 1924 Buick depicted should look especially familiar to longtime residents of the Northwoods. Oregon may be the backdrop in the logo but, since its first restoration in 1963, the car has been kept in Rhinelander and has made countless appearances in area parades and car shows.
Rob Swearingen is the car's present caretaker. His grandfather, Mark, bought the car in 1958 as a "project."
"He literally brought it home in pieces in bushel baskets," Rob said. "He bought it for $35 from this mother of these kids who had taken it apart but then went into the service and never did anything with it. He always told the story of how he could never find all the parts. He went back to this house a couple of times. He found the pistons in a refrigerator out behind the garage. And for the longest time, he couldn't find the steering wheel. He finally said to the mother, 'You know, I have everything I need except for the steering wheel.' She started thinking and went up to one of the boys' rooms and there was the steering wheel. They were using it to hang their neck ties."
It took five years to complete the initial restoration.
"My grandfather worked at the paper mill, so he would come home at night and work on his old Buick," Rob said. "Everybody in the family thought he was crazy."
In 1963, the same year Rob was born, the car made its first appearance in Rhinelander's Fourth of July parade. Since then it has been a staple at parades in Rhinelander as well as the surrounding area.
"It was the favorite car of Mayor Joe Bloom," Rob said. "Anytime he was in a parade, he always made sure he rode in that car because he liked it. Grandpa always used to laugh because he would show up to these parades, and the parade officials would find him somewhere four or five blocks down and wave him up to the front because that's the car the mayor wanted to ride in."
"It hasn't missed very many parades," Rob added. "It was out a couple years while we were having the car restored the second time. Since then it's been all over, between car shows and the parades. I've taken it on several tours. During these meets, after the meet they'll organize a pre-war tour. (My wife, Amy, and I) toured Indiana after the national meet in South Bend last year. We took a couple days. Just Amy, me and the car along with a group of other people. It's a lot of fun."
In addition to being featured in the logo for the 2014 national meet, the Swearingens' 1924 Buick will be the focus of a piece in the July issue of the Buick Bugle, a monthly publication put out by the club. The two-page spread has photos of the car from 1958, when it was still just a collection of parts, to the present day. It also shows how the car has remained in the Swearingen family all these years. In one photo, Rob can be seen sitting in the passenger seat of the car alongside his grandfather during a parade in Phillips in the early 1970s. In another photo the two can be seen with the car more than three decades later in 2008, a few months before the older Swearingen died at the age of 90.
"There's a picture of me in that car almost yearly," Rob said. "I have pictures of my kids growing up with it too."
The special place the 1924 Buick has within the Swearingen family is why Rob, his father, Dick, and his three uncles, Randy, Tom and John, officially bought the car from his grandfather in the early 1990s.
"Grandpa was getting up in age and he kind of mentioned at one point that he was thinking about selling it. That didn't sit well with me because I grew up in that car," Rob said. "So we got our heads together and our checkbooks together and we bought the car from grandpa. The deal was it still stayed at his house and in his garage so he could drive it anytime he wanted. The point was it was in the family."
Rob has become the caretaker for the family Buick in the years since.
"It kind of skipped a generation," he said. "My three uncles and dad, they all liked the car but to them it was always their dad's car, so they never got a chance to enjoy it themselves in the way I have."
During the years following the joint purchase, with the help of Gene Wendt of Crown Point Classics, the car underwent another full restoration, its first since 1963. Included this time was the addition of a top to the car.
"I found a guy in Neenah who did that," Rob said. "I took grandpa with me to pick up the car and he was all smiles because he had never seen the car with the top on. It was something he hadn't been able to do himself. He was pretty proud of that car. When we took it to (the car show in) Iola after it was fully restored again, he stood next to it the entire day. He wouldn't let it out of his sight. If people wanted to talk about the car, he was holding court."
It was around the beginning of the second restoration that Rob also joined the Buick Club of America.
"There are about seven others listed with the club across the nation, same car, same engine. So I got to know a couple of these guys which was beneficial for restoration tips," Rob said.
It is also what developed the connections that eventually led to the car being prominently featured as part of the upcoming national meet, which will run July 25 and 26 in Portland.
"I got to know some of these people, and then I went to a few of the national meets and started meeting more people," Rob said. "So this car was out there. You don't see too many of them at the shows and this is not the first time it's been photographed for the Buick Bugle, though this is the first time it has had a full feature. (People with the club) knew it was out there and they were looking for a 90-year-old car for the 2014 meet, so they called me."
The logistical challenges of transporting the car all the way to Oregon will prevent the Swearingens' 1924 Buick from actually being in attendance at this year's national meet. Rob said fortunately merchandise featuring the 2014 logo was already on sale a year ago at the national meet in Indiana and he was able to stock up for family and friends. With the usual array of local car shows and parades, the Buick's summer appearance schedule will still be plenty full though.
"The fact that the car got national recognition is kind of a nice tribute to grandpa. This car is really a part of Rhinelander history," Rob said.
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