The FIN MAN (a.k.a. Bruce Kunz) is a St. Louis, Missouri native who has been a car nut since he was old enough to get behind the wheel of a pedal car. Others may talk about it, but Bruce lived it - the "golden age" of American automobiles when fins ruled and size DID count.

Automotive Roots
Bruce's father, Charlie Kunz, opened a full service Mobilgas "filling station" and car repair business in 1946 after returning from the Panama Canal project where he worked installing giant diesel engines manufactured by Busch-Sulzer Diesel Engine Company of St. Louis. Bruce started working with his father at Han-De Super Service (so named for its location at the corner of Hanley Road and Delmar Boulevard in University City, Missouri) after school and on Saturdays as soon as he was big enough to hold a gas pump nozzle.

Charlie Kunz operated his service station for nearly thirty years then sold his share to his partner and went into car sales for a string of local Oldsmobile dealers including, McKelvey, McKelvey-Kessler, Yates and finally Carlson. He retired from Carlson at the age of 75.

The "Car Kid"
Before he was old enough to drive, Bruce was highly fascinated by the big rigs of the fifties and sixties. He would often ride his bike down Hall Street in north St. Louis, camera in hand, hoping to find some interesting eighteen wheelers for subject matter. He claimed he could tell the difference between a Mack Thermodyne engine and a GMC Detroit Diesel and a Cummin’s, just by listening to them drive down the road.

After winning a drawing contest in first grade, he became interested in art and design (he later pursued these interests in his college studies). Even before reaching those magical teen years, Bruce wrote letters to companies like Mack, Peterbuilt, Kenworth and others, asking for sales brochures and literature on their models. The manufacturers responded by mailing catalogs and brochures to the "car kid" who used them to draw his own illustrations to scale.

Bruce graduated from McCluer Senior High School in June of 1964.

Over the years, Bruce has repaired, detailed, delivered parts for, sold, installed stereos in, and sold advertising for cars in different jobs he has held. Bruce began writing articles and stories about collectible cars while working in the production department at Trader Publishing. The branch manager used Bruce’s stories as "filler" when there was extra space.

In the fall of 2002, an old friend at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Bruce. His contact informed him that Bob Francis, who had written the Old Car Column for the Post for many years, had taken ill. The newspaper asked Bruce if he would be interested in filling in until Bob got well again. He jumped at the chance and filled in for about six weeks until Bob returned to the keyboard. A year later, Bob once again became ill, this time succumbing to his heart illness and passing on to that salvage yard in the sky. The Post called Bruce again and he has been writing the Old Car Column ever since.

Bruce Kunz is a current or past member of the Society of Automotive Historians; the St. Louis Chapter of the Buick Club of America; the Monte Carlo Owners Association of America; the Vintage Thunderbird Club of America; the Cadillac/LaSalle Club; the Imperial Owners Club; the Edsel Club and the Buick Club of America.

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Email me if you would like to share your old car story or suggest a subject for an article.
the_fin_man@msn.com

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