There are people who consider street rodding to be a hobby and there are some who view it as a sport, but when it carries into three generations, it becomes known as a family tradition.
In 1972, at the tender age of 14, Middletown, Indiana, native Cole Buttry invested $150 into a '34 Chevy five-window coupe, and with the help of his father, he hauled the old Bow Tie home. The car was in pretty rough shape and in such a complete state of disassembly that it required four more truckloads to have it all end up in one spot.
The process of transforming the battered old Chevy into a proper street rod took Bill Buttry and his son until 1975 before 17-year-old Cole could hit the streets. He ran the '34 Chevy for almost 10 years while he worked on his next street rod project-a Model T roadster. As it turned out, Cole's T was magazine material and ended up making the cover of the November '94 issue of STREET RODDER. During this era, Cole married and the couple had two sons, Riley and Carey. Cole's '34 Chevy had a good 10-year run, and with the roadster finished, it was time to park the '34 and let it rest.
As a young child, Riley loved street rods, and more specifically, he developed a fondness for his dad's inactive '34 Chevy. Riley told us that, even as a young boy, he dreamed about building the '34. When Riley turned 14, he and his dad tore into the '34's body and frame. They worked on the Chevy for three years, getting it into running shape and ready to roll by his 17th birthday. In 2001, after a successive series of long, hard nights trying to meet the crunch, Riley drove the '34 to the Nationals in flat black primer.
The next year, at the 2002 Street Rod Nationals, Riley, along with the help of his dad, made major mechanical improvements on the old Chevy, but the '34's finish was still a black suede color with the addition of flames. Getting ready for 2003, the big push for Riley and company was to get the '34 into gloss paint. The entire Buttry family, from Cole and Carey to Riley himself, was in on the nasty job of stripping the Chevy's body and fenders down to the bare metal, then bodyworking the vintage tin into shape. Every step from start to finish on the '34's paint was handled in the Buttrys' home shop. Riley chose Dark Cloisonn Blue from a PPG color chart and then had it matched in Martin Senior paint. Riley and Cole shared the chores of hosing it on, and then color sanding and wheeling it out. By the time the '03 Nationals rolled around, Riley's Chevy was in paint, but sans a completed interior.