Driving Around in History (VIDEO)

Classic American cars are not just Brian Dee's hobby; they are his passion, his social activity and his livelihood. Two weeks ago a rarity arrived his front door - a 1963 26-foot, eight-door Checker Aerobus. Only 2200 of these were made between 1963 and 1977 and only about 40 remain, according to the vehicles owner, Yorktown resident Michael Pincus.

“I’ve had some really crazy stuff but this is probably the most unique,” Dee said, standing amongst dozens of car show trophies and photos of past projects in his shop.

Pincus bought the Aerobus earlier this month from someone in North Carolina after finding it on Ebay.  It originally served as an Airport Limousine in San Diego, California.

“It is a piece of American history. It was built here. It is cool and different,” Dee said.

The Mohegan Lake resident has been working on old cars since he was a teenager and has owned Brian’s Automotive on Washington Street in Peekskill for the last 13 years.

Dee’s passion and expertise makes his shop one of the few around that car history buffs like Pincus can turn to for work on something like a 1963 Aerobus, or the 1981 Checker Taxi that Dee will also work on for Pincus.

“A lot of people have no interest in working on (old cars),” Pincus said.

“Brian is a rare breed. It requires a specialty to fix the antique cars and he is one of the few people in the area that specializes in that. A lot of the other places work on new cars and the computer equipment in new cars is different than in older ones.”

“And he was just as excited about the Aerobus as I was and arranged to have it shipped up here for me.”   

Dee, a car fanatic since pouring over hotrod and racing magazines as a kid, considers his business a place for classic car buffs to gather and form a community.

“A bunch of people who have something in common hang out together,” Dee said. He explained that he and his customers form friendships, go to car shops together, hang out and even take vacations together.

Dee has even sacrificed a pinky to his passion for classic cars.

Last March as Dee was working under a car the rear end of a car swung down towards his chest. As he jumped back to avoid a major blow, he instinctively put his hands forward, which resulted in the loss of the tip of his pinky.

Although the doctors could have sewn it back up, Dee chose to keep his pinky tip in a cup of ice in his freezer and have the finger heal without it.

“It is the worst injury I ever got, but I only missed an hour and a half of work.”

“I can close it now and it doesn’t bother me,” Dee said, explaining if it was repaired he wouldn’t have been able to bend the pinky at all, something that would have seriously prevented him from doing what he loves.

Pincus’ aerobus has a 350 turbo engine and drum brakes all around it with only 200,000 miles on it. Dee will be putting in new brakes, reupholstering the interior and doing some general clean up, all processes that require the use of a functioning pinky.

While Dee draws classic car business from across the tri-state area, only about half of his business comes from old history buffs. The other half is regular car repairs and maintenance.

To visit Dee and take a look at some cool old vehicles, like the Checker Taxi, the Aerobus and an old Volkswagen Beetle, visit the shop at 897 Washington Street. Also, view our video above.

To read more about the Aerobus click here and to find out about the New York City taxi, one of the few remaining that actually served as a taxi-cab, click here.

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