The British Invasion

Pete Brainerd is just crazy about English wheels

Story and photos by Jim Murtagh

Pete Brainerd has a fondness for British automobiles, and at Brainerd’s Garage in Stony Creek, he specializes in their repair and restoration. Growing up around cars and working in the shop alongside his dad and uncles, Brainerd reckons he was a “gearhead” from the start.

Spend just a few minutes in the shop, and you will quickly conclude that this is not your typical automotive garage. Some things are immediately obvious, like the early 1900’s automobile hanging from the roof trusses. You just don’t see that in most garages.

Other items take a few moments to register, like the quiet. The incessant whining of air tools stripping lug nuts off tires is absent. Missing from view is the myriad of high-tech diagnostic gadgetry, like the wheel alignment machines and computer engine analyzers, which generally line the perimeter of most shops.

Instead, the walls of this garage are cluttered with old cars covered in blankets. A quick peak beneath the coverings reveals something even less common, a 1937 Rolls-Royce and a 1938 Bentley, both partially disassembled and both on the path to restoration glory.

Not all cars in Pete Brainerd's Stony Creek garage are British. Here, a beautifully restored Ford gleams under the shop lights.

Clues to uncover Brainerd’s passion are all over the shop. The sign on the front façade of the building sports the famous Bentley “Flying B” logo which has been transformed into the symbol for Brainerd’s Garage. There are numerous plaques and ribbons from The British Classic Motorcar Show adorning his office walls. And if that wasn’t enough, then certainly the extensive library of books with titles like Rolls-Royce: The Elegance Continues, Rolls-Royce in America, or Bentley: Fifty Yeas of the Marquee is all you need to see.

Sitting at his desk, beneath a photograph of his grandfather, Pete Brainerd recounts his family history. He tells a story of an eight year old boy, who was entrusted to a ship captain, and who made the journey to America without any family in 1640. He describes the three story hotel his great-grandfather operated at the entrance to Stony Creek in the mid-1800’s, and how the business acumen of his grandfather built the Brainerd General Store, the largest general store in the 1880’s between New Haven and New London.

As the horse and carriage yielded to the automobile, his grandfather Frank Elmer Brainerd branched out from his general store and started repairing cars. In 1920, the barn which once housed the horses and tack for the Brainerd House Hotel, was enlarged and became home to Brainerd’s Garage.

Brainerd vividly recalls where his fondness for British cars came from. “I remember when the first MGTD landed in Pine Orchard. I lusted after it! By ’53, I bought an MGTD, drove it, raced it and enjoyed it.”

The Air Force interrupted any aspirations of Brainerd’s racing future, and after serving a tour in England, he returned to the States with a wife, two children and a station wagon. He would eventually retire from the Air Force after 38 years of service as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Brainerd’s passion for British automobiles spilled over into the shop, and he became an authority on their repair and maintenance. Working on these exotic imports requires a large library of reference books, lots of specialty tools, as well as decades of hands on experience. Brainerd recalls far too many cars that have come into his shop after they were supposedly “fixed” by less experienced mechanics.

Pete Brainerd and his son Stuart measure the cylinders on a classic Chevrolet engine.

While the garage specializes in British cars, they do work on all makes and years. Brainerd repeats a recent conversation he had with his son while they were cleaning parts together for a 1935 Chevrolet pickup. He tells his son Stuart “I was doing this sixty odd years ago, exactly this and in exactly the same spot.”

Brainerd can often be seen driving his 1935 Rolls-Royce Cabriolet Deville around town and to antique car shows. This award winning restoration is his personal time machine for when he drives it, he says, “It takes me back to when I had my first MG, and whenever you saw another sports car on the road, especially an MG, there was always the “hi” sign.”

When asked to describe the ride in these luxury vehicles he responds “I’m going to shatter all the illusions – it’s a car.” And when people ask him why he dare drive it around, he responds “It’s a car.”

Just as a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley is not your typical car, Pete Brainerd is not your typical mechanic, and Brainerd’s Garage is not your typical repair shop. The same precision and craftsmanship that went into these automobiles at the factory, is exactly what Brainerd and his son put into their repairs today.