1949 Buick Century Norm Moore style.

Owner Norm Moore will not be around to read this. He had own the car for 30 years, collected parts and worked with it but then one day he received his diagnosis. He immediately picked up the phone and rang his friends and car builder Remo Adkins.
– Finish it Remo, he said.  by Lars Krantz.  Translation Ellen Kay Krantz.

Norm Moore found the car of his dreams in Ohio 30 years ago. A young woman was selling her grandfather’s car. Norm had always liked Buick and used to drive a -42.
– I want my cars to pop out, Norm tells me in a telephone interview.
-I had lots of ideas for the -49. As soon as I bought it, I started collecting parts. The project hasn’t switched directions throughout the years. The coarse was set from the get go and hasn’t changed even if the tempo has been low at times. 

The car was chopped during the nineties in Ohio. When the time came to move down to the Florida sun Norm drove the car. A distance of 1200 miles in a half done project.

Years came and went, Norm collected more items but then one day the bad news came. He was diagnosed with a blood disease. 

 

The unnecessary stuff was sorted from the good stuff and then the phone rang at Rod & Speed shop, Cape Coral Florida, owned by Remo Adkins. The message was short:
– Finish the car.
That was three years ago. Worldkustom meets up with Remo in the shop. The Buick is parked outside. Remo looks happy. As the circumstances are explained to us we understand his joy and also his first question.

– How quickly can this be published?
The Buick is built of an interesting recipe written by owner Norm Moore. The chassis is actually from an 1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88 which means a variety of great features like a modern driving feeling, disc brakes and a modern rear axle without the integrated cardan of a Buick.

The rear axle is a ten bolted Chevy axle. The donator-Oldsmobile had already been purchased and Norm got down to business right away.

Traditionally, mild colors is a safe bet to make on these types of cars but that safe was not Norm’s ball game. He made a bald choice and went with black and candy and it turned out great.

Remo is self-taught.
– I was an errand boy for my father he says, or naaw, he didn’t say that.
-I was a beer- and tool getter, is the exact quote.

The whole family was car builders and Remo was taught old-school with tin and gas welding. As the frame got decorated with a pretty body and received some nice air bellows Remo went to town on the sides.

Twenty years earlier the surfacing exhaust would only have run along just the one side. But as Norm entered this custom shop it took one day before an identical exhaust ran along the other side as well.

Norm named the car Fireball which is a steady theme from interior to license plate. When it was time for paint they went straight to Remo’s house for some hi-tech computer sketching. Norm liked black and cherry red.
– It’s supposed to stand out, he said. 

 

The computer color in reality turned out PPG black broken into panels of Wine Berry Candy. Although it was a project for a friend the fast pace started showing on Norm’s bank account. The fenders were not chromed but chrome color painted.

The Engine, a 401 Nailhead was previously renovated but Norm had in his collection to the car a six carburetor intake and six Strombergs’. Remo sighed but was not about to let his buddy down. Later on they collectively gathered hubcaps and wheels.

14 inch Cragar SST rims hidden underneath Plymouth Sport Fury hubcaps from 1967 were color matched. Fender skirts were welded shut so when it’s time for a wheel change there’s bad news. Gotta start by removing the rear axle.

Led-light indicators in the headlights were just one of those clean, smart, handsome details which leave no fuss on the fenders. Easy breezy in Florida that hasn’t got those notorious vehicle inspections. Should pass inspection here as well if rhyme and reason applied to the laws in Sweden.

Norm also wanted to extend fenders which were accomplished by an upright pull and also a put-down of a two-inch strip. He had a blueprint all the time. He had the plan, the part, the compassion and the knowledge. Ha had the interior from a 1965 Thunderbird which was adapted to fit the Buick. Remo made the handlebar with parts from different models but the wheel staid in place.

Three years passed. The car was done and ready to roll standing gloriously outside the shop like a custom thoroughbred. But Norm was no longer strong. The visits had been fewer and fewer to devolve into reports by phone.
Then suddenly one day he showed up at the shop. He took a seat in his newly built Fireball, turned the key and let the six carburetors blend the fuel vapors and ignite the Nailhead. He pushed the gas a few times, waited and increased the air bellows a bit.

He then proceeded by closing the door, declutch, put in first gear and felt the car of his dreams emerge from the shop’s concrete floor.

On the other side of the garage doors the impressions came to life. The windshield was filled with roads and streets and the dark asphalt came rushing towards him. He smiled. He’d done it. He had fulfilled his dream.

The car was perfect and it took him forward just as he had dreamt. He shifted gears, listened to the sounds, looked around in the coupe. Slid his hand across the new Thunderbird interior. Yep, this was good, really good.

When he returned and pulled to a stop in front of the shop the comments spontaneously hailed from other traficants, visitors and bystanders.
-Nice car, what year is it? Have you chopped it? What motor do you have?
He was delighted. Took the keys out and handed them to Remo. That was the first and only time Norm Moore drove his car.

– I’m glad you’re doing a feature, he said over the phone to Worldkustom from the sickbed.
– I wanted it to stand out.
The car was taken to a car show and  got best in show. Norm was there in person to collect the price.

When you are reading this Norm is no longer with us. He left us ten days after the interview.

Worldkustom is proud to bring Norm’s Buick and his story into the future.