The same 1933 Buick that Earl Tindall coveted as a boy is now a prized possession
By: Molly Petrilla
WEST WINDSOR Growing up in West Windsor, Earl Tindall coveted one thing above all others: his neighbor’s 1933 Buick.
Day after day, he was drawn to its sleek black exterior, its mohair seats and, most of all, its large chrome-encased headlights.
"I always remembered those big headlights," he says. "As a kid, that was what really stuck out at me."
And now, in an event he aptly describes as "coming full circle," those headlights along with the rest of the car belong to him.
As a child, Mr. Tindall lived on Old Trenton Road, across the street from three women who shared the house that now serves as Mercer County Park’s main office building.
He often visited the women, two of whom were sisters and taught in Trenton.
On July 3, 1933 the same year Mr. Tindall was born one of those women, Hanna Foster, purchased a new Buick at Brock’s Garage in Trenton for $1,238.75.
During the following decade, Mr. Tindall fell in love with it.
"I would go across the street and look at it," he says. "We couldn’t afford a car like that."
More than 60 years later, he was out to dinner with some friends and thought back to the car he’d always admired.
"I said, ‘I wonder what ever happened to that Buick,’" he recalled.
Incredibly, one of his dinner companions had the answer.
"The guy said his brother had it," he explained. "He had bought it from the ladies across the street back in the ’70s."
This past summer, the car’s new owner passed away, and Mr. Tindall was the first in line to buy it though he won’t reveal how much he paid.
But driving home that day in August, he finally got to ride in the car he’d daydreamed about so often as a child.
"Driving it back here was the first time I ever rode in it," he says. "I don’t think I ever asked to ride in it as a kid, but I wanted to."
The Buick contains all its original comforts including the mohair seats and chrome headlights, and it has just over 53,700 miles on it.
Mr. Tindall says he drives it only on sunny days, preferably when the weather is warm.
"It rides very nice," he says. "It’s so long in the front it feels like ‘Driving Miss Daisy.’"
He also took his new vehicle to a car show in October, and says he plans to attend more of them in the future and possibly drive it in parades as well.
"There are a lot of people from the area who know the car or who know of the car," he says. "They were pretty amazed that it’s still around.
"It’s a unique opportunity," he adds. "It’s like it’s gone full circle and it’s come back home again."
A lifelong West Windsor resident, Mr. Tindall graduated from Princeton High School in 1952. Partway into his college career, he left school to come back home and save the family farm after his father passed away.
For several decades, he farmed corn, soybeans, tomatoes for Campbell’s Soup and, about a decade ago, he sold his farm to developers.
"Earl is the story of West Windsor. He’s descended from the original settlers to this area," said his son-in-law, Peter Demas.
"They don’t make them like that anymore the man or the car."

