1960 Buick Custom Cinnamon

1960 BUICK CUSTOM CINNAMON

Hubert Harness restyled his 1960 Buick in his home garage. The end result looks like it came straight from the 1960′ in a time machine.



[dropcap]In[/dropcap] the late 1980’s Hubert Harness from Kansas wanted to build his ultimate custom car. Something ’60’s, something unique, not based on anything he had seen before, but something that could have been built back in the 1960’s. He started with a car that was in rather good condition so he did not have to spend a lot of time to fix rust and dents but could basically start customizing right away. Hubert did no make any design sketches or anything like that, he just studied the cars lines and those “told” him what needed to be done. The car was planned to be a mild custom, not chopped top or any other major body would would be needed. Just a lot of fine tuning and additions to improve the already very nice body lines on these huge Buicks.



The painted body color of the lower portion of the rear bumper gives the rear a much more elegant look.
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1930’s headlight buckets were used to reshape the rear fenders. In those pods four 1959 Cadillac taillights were tunneled. Notice the 8 small diameter exhaust tips.
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Hub started at the back where he created new rear fender ends with tunneled 1959 Cadillac taillights, two on each side. He used an early 1930’s headlight bucket to which he added large diameter tubing to tunnel the Cadillac lights. This bullet shaped rear fender would end up being the theme for the rest of the car. Everywhere you look this bullet theme comes back again. Something that really binds the car together. The stock chrome lower rear bumper parts where de-chromed so that the stock top portion of the bumper gives the rear a much more refined look. Another theme that can be found on the car are subtile scoops. The first one Hub created was in front of the taillights where the stock body contour was capped off and an opening created, scoop number one! The next scoop was added on the top just above the top of the C-Pillars. The scoop was given the same shape as the once on the rear quarter panels. The third scoop was added on the hood. Here the stock center shape of the hood was cut off and the front section was flipped upside down to create a very elegant scoop. In the center of the opening a small chrome plated bullet was added.



The custom hood scoop and pancaked hood are well designed modifications. The improve the lines of the car, but might go unnoticed due to be very subtile.
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Polished panels under the hood give a hint of the fully detailed and chromed Buick engine. 
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Close up of the hand made headlight buckets that enhance the shape of the front of the car. Each headlight was of course detailed with a small chrome bullet. 
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The headlights were treated to a similar style as what Hub had done at the back, but here he had to hand shape metal to create the look he was looking for. Four headlights were sunken deeply into large diameter tubing which was welded in the new hand shaped pods. The front bumper was cleaned up the same what as the back with the lower section de-chromed leaving just the top thin portion in chrome. The hood was “pancaked” at the front which means that the front portion of the hood was welded to the fenders, and a new smaller hood opening, with rounded corners was created. This restyling leaved the front much cleaner than stock.








The complete body was smoothed, and all the emblems and handles were removed as was the horizontal side trim on the lower quarters. Hub wanted his Buick to have some Buick trademark portholes. For this he used aircraft strut tubing which has a wonderful shape. He cut small sections at an 45 degree angle and welded four of those in a row in to holes cut into the front quarter panels. The way he welded them into the fender leaves each porthole with a small lip and each connects to the one next to it. Hub made it look like it should have come from the factory this way. Later he added a chrome small diameter bullet in each of the openings. The stock vertical curved grille was removed and replaced with a new base Hub created from a 1958 Ford grille mesh cut to fit the Buick opening. On this mesh he added 25 chrome plated bullets. The car was lowered all the same amount all around and customized chrome reverse wheels were added. Each wheel has a body color painted center capped off with an old Cal-Custom spider cap.



The “Buick port holes” on the front quarter panels created from aircraft tubing. The inside of each hole is detailed with a chrome bullet. The lip around the holes give it a factory feel.
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The extremely well detailed Buick Nail-Head V-8 engine with six carburetors. 
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The body work was now finished and it was time to start working on the interior. Hub removed the top portion of the stock dash and used 5 chrome bullets to house a set of Stewart Warner gauges. The center large bullet is actually a dummy spotlights, and the smaller units are taillight housings, Harry Davidson accessory units. Each gauge bod was dressed up with yet another chrome bullet. The steering wheel was replaced with an 1961 Oldsmobile unit to which a chrome bullet was added in the center. The seats were replaced with Chevrolet Super Sport buckets. Hub did most of the work on the car himself in his garage at home. For the upholstery he went to Scott Downing who did an wonderful job sticking with the theme and upholstering everything in white leatherette with period perfect small pleats and white piping. The center sections were upholstered in button tufted copper colored velour. The windows and doors were all replaced with electric controlled units so that the interior door panels could be as clean as possible. However Hub did ad chrome bullets to keep with the theme. The floors were covered in white carpet, not very practical, but it looks extremely good.



Top portion of the dash was removed and Stewart Warner gauges were set in chrome bullets. Steering wheel is 1961 Oldsmobile.
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Four Chevy Grand Sports bucket seats are nicely detailed. Notice the chrome bullets on the side panels.
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The paint work on Hub’s Buick is the other things he decided not to do himself. All the prep work was done in his garage , but when it came time to cover his wonderful body work in Corvette Russet Poly, he asked the help from Justin Fields who did an amazing job. Once the car was put back together Hub nick named the car “Cinnamon” and Hub could start to enjoy it. The car sees a lot of road when Hub travels all over to show the car at local and not so local car shows. The car was finished in the late 1980’s but still looks amazing today.
Most of the photos in this article where taken in the 1990’s by David Myers.



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