Bratton coaches??

Rocky Fluegge

Rocky Fluegge

PCS Member
I was talking to some one and bratton coach works from dallas TX came up. What can you guys tell me about them? Quaility of coach? what years were they made ect. Thanks for what ever info you guys have.
 
We called them.......

Texas Bondo Sculptures. Gosh they were ugly. I had a Buick they built and the back door kept trying to fall off. Real junk they were.
 
Brady is correct these were real junk - Texas Bondo sculptures in the truest meaning of the word. The company B&B Company was established in 1980 or 1981 by Wayland Bratton and Bob Bidell in Duncanville, Texas. Wayland was a former salesman for Summers. They flogged extended station wagons with fiberglass roofs that were glued, screwed and scotch-taped together and adorned with massive coats of Bondo. They were cars sold strictly on price - they were cheap - and made no illusion to offering quality, styling or a warranty longer that ten minutes or or more than six feet out the door of the dealership. Bratton later sold the company to Andy Reed (another former Summers salesman) who renamed it the Century Coach Company. Try as he may Andy was never able to really shed the Texas Bondo sculpture image although he did enhance the quality and appearance of the products. Essentially these were the Trabants of the professional car world.
 
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Found this one online.
 
My question, being that I seem to like all the 'red headed step children', is how many of these are around today.

Even if they were 'bondo sculptures', they had a part in Pro Car history and would be considered rare examples today.

I have never see one and I wonder how many people have seen one recently.
 
Charles E Snyder said:
My question, being that I seem to like all the 'red headed step children', is how many of these are around today.

Even if they were 'bondo sculptures', they had a part in Pro Car history and would be considered rare examples today.

I have never see one and I wonder how many people have seen one recently.
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As long as your not Beaten like the "Red Headed Step Child" your fine !!!

Does anyone one here own one ?? ( the car not a Red Headed Step Child )
 
ok i had to ask about them because i found out about one that could be had pretty cheap. I went to look at it, it was brought up from montana so it was nice and pretty clean no rust underneath. So meaning to say i bought one!!

figured i might detail it out and sell it to some one that just wants a hearse, or i will use it as a beater driver, and drive it till it pukes.

The one that i bought is a 82 cad with the 4100, i know not a good motor, that is why i might go away while it is still running??? Not sure yet? this one is a pooch and is not very fast off the line, but when its going its fine. .

My 92 eagle is a way nicer car, and built way better. But lets face it all these cars are kind of bondo wagons. Just some finished better then others.

I will try to shoot some pictures tommorow and post them up for you guys to see.
 
Sell her while the 4100 is still slugging along!!! Those motors are ticking time bombs just waiting to grenade. I bought my 83 Sedan de Ville a few years ago and got her running to have it throw a rod about a year later. Never abused and never ran low on oil, just a very poorly designed motor. Best thing that could have ever happened to the car though, because after the 4100 puked I put a 350 olds in. ;) Much more reliable and a whole lot more power! :) I've put about 20,000 miles on it since I did the swap.
 
Here's a picture of (then new) one that I got from NCM Professional Car Sales of Minneapolis years ago. To the best of my knowledge, this example was repainted silver and saw service with a few different firms in MN until being retired in the late 1990s. I'm surprised it lasted that long. There are inexpensive, economical cars and then there are downright cheap cars. These fall into the latter catagory.

(Karsnia collection)
 

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Good photo, Tony. Thanks for posting an image of one of these absolutely horrid creations. Boy, does that roof look akward. In the early days, many B&B products were based on altered Oldsmobile station wagons. They later migrated to stretching Buick wagons and building from Cadillac Sedan D'Villes - like this one. A great deal of Bondo went into these cars - probably increasing their weight significantly. Wayland Bratton was a back-slapping Texas "good ol'boy" but, you were inclined to want to take a shower after shaking his hand. You also had to make sure you still had your rings.
 
You can really see......

You can really see what the plywood roof did to the shape of the car in this photo. Flatter than that girlfriend I had in the fifth grade. And As to the bondo content of other professional cars someone mentioned earlier in the thread: The good ones didn't have ANY bondo in them. I don't know about the junk they are turning out now, but everything I have ever owned pre-1977, had absolutely no bondo from the factory. Some lead, but no bondo.
 
Wow... I guess it is a good thing I didn't know about this coach company.

With all the love spoken about the cars, I guess I am glad I was unaware they existed.

Then again, being an 80's company, I wouldn't have been interested in buying one. They have to be a half century old to peak my interest in owning one.

One in good condition, may be oddball enough for Patrick to acquire it for historic purposes or maybe for it's ugliness as mentioned by many. I'm sure it wouldn't cost that much to add it to his collection of odd and unusual coaches.

I hope no one gets any eye infections from looking at these coaches.

Does anyone else feel the love spoken about these cars ? :eek:

NOT !
Darren
 
Allright here is the pics of the one in my drive way. Car is still super dirty and needs to be cleaned up yet. It is just as i got it. Did drive it to work today though.
 

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Tim Koski said:
Sell her while the 4100 is still slugging along!!! Those motors are ticking time bombs just waiting to grenade. I bought my 83 Sedan de Ville a few years ago and got her running to have it throw a rod about a year later. Never abused and never ran low on oil, just a very poorly designed motor. Best thing that could have ever happened to the car though, because after the 4100 puked I put a 350 olds in. ;) Much more reliable and a whole lot more power! :) I've put about 20,000 miles on it since I did the swap.
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Tim,

were you able to use the original trans that was in the cad, with the olds motor? And is it fuel injected still or carb?
 
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