Ten-shun! Steve and Blair Buster by Patton’s WC-57 Command Car. Buster also owns a pair of six-wheeled Swiss “Pinzgauers.”
If a machine-gun blast, an air horn, and a siren are the response to your friendly wave on a California road, and the driver’s wearing the uniform of a three-star general and accompanied by a woman in nurse’s whites, chances are you’ve just seen Steven and Blair Buster out for a spin.
Buster, president and CEO at $2.9 billion-assets Mechanics Bank, Richmond, goes in for atypical hobbies. While in working in England for another bank, he went fox hunting. When in Singapore, he bought a Harley and participated in a ride that included the Sultan of Brunei. Some weekends you’ll find him with cronies fire cannons—real ones—using old bowling bowls.
Buster also has a keen interest in military vehicles. In 1995 he acquired the front half of a 1942 WC-57 Dodge Command Car. The vehicles somewhat resemble old Jeeps, but are about one and a half times the size. They were used on battlefields by generals to get close to the action and to rally frontline troops.
After the war, the command car had been sold at auction to an Idaho farmer. He removed the rear to refit the vehicle for hauling. The back end, badly rusted, remained on the farm after the rest had been sold. After buying the front section, Buster tracked down the original rear end on the farm.
“We purchased it in 1995 knowing extensive renovation would be required. Never do that!” says Buster. “It took seven years by my restorers, who worked weekends. We had a great relationship. They sent pictures and I sent money. More and more money.” In the end, Buster put more than $35,000 into his project, getting a museum-quality restoration with only two assemblies that aren’t vintage—the brakes, which weren’t great on the original, and power steering, so his wife could drive it.
Along the way, Buster discovered this wasn’t just anybody’s command car. It was one of 11 used during the war by General George S. Patton, Jr., who, coincidentally, came from California.
“Patton was such a colorful character,” says Buster.
Many generals eventually avoided the command cars, Buster says, because German pilots targeted them when it became known they carried “brass.” Buster says his research indicates Patton, known never to hide his presence on a battlefield, didn’t follow the other generals’ lead. Indeed, while the cars were designed to put the brass in back, Patton typically rode shotgun, often standing up with the windshield for support. (The 1970 movie, “Patton,” shows him doing that in an early scene.)
Buster takes the command car out several times a month. The machine gun is a replica of the original 30 caliber gun mounted on the vehicle’s running board. Using an oxygen-propane mix, the replica simulates the blast of the real weapon.
“I feel like I brought a piece of history back,” says Buster.
—Steve Cocheo, executive editor
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