WIX Archives

"An Arizona Buffalo" or " That's a Dusey!"

Posted by Lowell on Sat Jan 04, 2003 01:33:02 PM

The Brewster Buffalo in Arizona story resurfaces again. Has anyone heard something about it being in a Quonset type building at the bottom of a small cliff?
Here?s the deal, though sketchy? A former employer in Boise, Idaho dealt as a broker in antique automobiles in 1992-93. I went to work for them for awhile and with my knowledge of antique and warbird aircraft, they added that to their company brokerage advertising. The commission-only wages and other factors led me to look for other work after a very frustrating 10 months or so. There were many stories I could tell but another time?
One of our usually reliable classic and muscle car contacts had leads on several warbirds he said in North American lakes, in Russia, and some in a Midwest pole barn. His dad had some big name Soviet friends/contacts. There were lots of wild goose chases in this work, but his particular leads were not necessarily among them. The cash flow to support the recoveries he proposed just never was there. One of his stories was about a freight truck delivery either he or an associate had made that last year to a remote Arizona hermit. This freight apparently needed off-loading in a place that other visitors would not normally see. Here?s where the story got rich?(or could have!)?. The old guy had a Dusenberg, the holy grail of antique autos, sitting barely visible in an old chicken coop. The truck driver noted that he likely had been the only one to see it in many years. He made some kind of offer on it and it was accepted verbally if he could return with the cash. The driver said he would be on the road with commitments for several weeks but that he would be back immediately after that. Supposedly upon his quickest possible return some four weeks later (you know what?s coming?) he arrived to find out a big money Las Vegas casino had already bought it and shipped it out. It had sat there for 50 to 60 years and in a few short weeks of getting the money and spare time together the driver lost it. I know the feeling, it has happened to me on a lesser scale several times.
Anyway, what has all of this to do with a Buffalo in a Quonset hut? Some time after I left the brokerage I got a call one day (Spring 1993?) from the not very warbird knowledgeable former boss. ?What is a Brewster Buffalo and what would one be worth??, he asked. Of course I gave him the news that this was one of the rarest of all warbirds, and a very significant, even if not successful, piece of World War II history. Value of a real Brewster in good shape would be very very high. He, after a few days and much prodding, and my giving him all the Brewster Buffalo materials and some books I had (which I never saw again), said that the above antique auto finder was the source of the information. It was in a Quonset hut type building at the bottom of a small cliff I was told. I was not given much in the way of specifics because all they could see was $$$ and I was no longer an employee but they said something about my $20K commission if they ended up getting it. I took that with a grain of salt?you?d have to know the guy I guess. Anyway, as the story developed there were supposedly more aircraft at this location with the Brewster, at least one or two were also fighters.
After several months I heard no more and never got my books back but it was fun while it lasted. I have often wondered if there was a tie to the Duisenberg hermit in Arizona. The Lewis Meyers or Louis Meyers (which is it really?) story sure has some similarities.
Any ideas?

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