Moose, your skills are amazing. I am glad that you find it so rewarding as to share with us all so freely.
Thanks for bringing that over here (and for indulging my request in the first place)! I meant to post it here but got distracted...
Have no information on the Dodge, but unfortunately Guy passed in 2013. http://www.hutchnews.com/obituaries/guy-root/article_39758d2c-58dd-57b7-8285-e885470b8485.html I also think he was from Bucklin, Ks. not Emporia. The FO (Ford) County on the plates back this up. Bucklin is over by Dodge City.
It sold at the Petersen Museum Classic Car Auction 2003 for 17,600! http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1939-DODGE-CUSTOM-BUSINESS-COUPE-19924
I think Guy was friends with Ernie Baker from Wichita. I think I remember them cruising together in 84 at the Des Moines show
I much preferred the yellow and scallop version rather than the pearl pink. If it made it to 2003, surely it's still around somewhere, but going by the wheels, I'm gonna guess it continued onto a hot rod path rather than still a tail dragger.
A few years ago I posted this pic. You can see where it was stapled to my wall in the garage. Back then, you rarely saw a Mopar customized. It was nice to see a non-typical style of car show up at events.
Boy, lots to catch up on. Bummer that Guy has left us. So many of the original KKOA members are gone. Nice to see the Dodge is still around, too bad it is so street roddy (is that a word?) now. The yellow version was also my favorite, Doc. Hey Mark, funny you mentioned Ernie Baker being friends with Guy as Ernie passed away recently also. On a side note, just wanted to tell all the guys that visit this post regularly that I finally got to meet face to face this weekend at the Leadsled, that it was a pleasure to meet you all. Nice to put faces with names and spend some time together talking customs. Great bunch of guys that really know their stuff. Awesome weekend! We have to do it again very soon! E
Wow, I wish I had seen this thread before I attended the Leadsleds this year. I was bored today (not many cars) and did a search on the 87 Leadsleds That led to this thread. That was the first year I took the 56 Chevy (and all the family shown in the avatar). I was trying to see if there was some way to find an 87 shirt (mine seems long gone) that I could display next year when the Chevy will celebrate the 30 anniversary of attending the event.
Sorry I didn't get to see you too, Doug. Hopefully we'll get to hang out one of these days real soon! Wish you could have found this thread before the show as well, beltguy. You could have hung out with us on the corner where we try to park every year. We had a nice bull session going all weekend! Lots of kustom and leadsled stories and memories being recalled. Kool that you were at the '87 Spectacular. Getting an old shirt might be pretty hard. You might try Ebay. Or, another thing you might try is if you are a KKOA member, you can post a want ad for free on their website. You never know, a long time member might have an old shirt they are willing to part with. Good luck on your search! E
I talked to Jerry's daughter to see if she had any ideas on the shirt. I am a member and will put an ad in the magazine. Where were you guys parked and what kind of cars. Bet I walked by you many times.
Back to the concept of this thread, each time I go to the Leadsleds, I think about the Ray Bozarth's Buick that Merle Berg built. What a great car that was. Ray had Merle convert his grandma's 4 door Buick into a thing of beauty. It was at several of the events. The story is here: http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/beautiful_custom_cars/merl_berg/merl_berg_50_buick/ Here is a photo I lifted from that page:
Ray still owns the Buick and it's still alive and well in the same great condition. One of my all time favorites.
I am sure glad to hear that Ray is still around. I had been told that he passed away several years ago.
Custom Car Revival 2014: (he still had not interest in selling it to me, despite my repeated requests over the last 10 years or so. LOL)
Ray has attend the Salina show just about every year. His Buick had been there in the past along with Myrna`s chopped 57 Olds. He also had taken his 40`s Plymouth pickup which he traded for a 51 Vicky. This year he took his very traditional Model A Hot Rod that was built way back when.
I didn't take one of my cars this year, but I hung out with @PasoJohn and his '64 Chevy wagon. We parked next to Danny and Marissa Cuellar and their awesome chopped '56 Chevy truck. We were on a corner right by the Oakdale Park pool. E
I sat and talked with the Bozarths for a while on Saturday evening at the host hotel. Great conversations about the "good ol' days" since they were around the show scene a lot back then, as well as now. Definitely seasoned kustom folks..........E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 17. 1960 Chevy Impala Owner: Ted Saumer Prior Lake, Minnesota Maybe I'm just still tired from the thrash last week getting ready for the Leadsleds and then the long drive, or things are just getting tougher. Information on these cars is like pulling teeth lately (like that one, Doc? lol). This week's car I know I've seen a lot somewhere, but I couldn't dig up as much information about it as I would have liked, but here's what I found. This 1960 Impala was built by Ted Saumer in Minnesota in the early 80's. It is very mild, but the mods he chose to do to the car were excellent. It has all the typical shaving, frenched antennas and a tube grille with two headlights removed. He was running very deep chrome reverse wheels with Cal Custom spider caps and lake pipes. The car was very straight and had a super traditional set of flames put on it. I couldn't find a picture of the car from the rear, but it had '59 Pontiac units installed. I found another picture of a'60 with the same taillight treatment just to give an idea of what it looked like. According to my research, he attended every Leadsled up to '84. The car was in the '84 video and that's where you could see the excellent use of the '59 Pontiac taillights. Ted was also interviewed on the video, and that's where he mentioned the car was powered by a 348. After the '84 video, I was only able to find it on the '86 video, and that's the last I found of it on a tape or DVD. Couldn't find any magazine coverage of it at all either. Maybe Ted sold it and built another car, or he just quit attending KKOA events or moved on to fishing or something. With the car scene being as huge as it is in Minnesota, I can't imagine that the car just disappeared. Hopefully it's in a garage somewhere waiting to be brought out again and cruised until the tires fall off. At least that's all we can hope, right? Until next Tuesday..........E
Ed, Ted did not build this car. Dale Laroche was the one that painted it. Ted bought the car finished. This cat was sold by Ted Saumer to a guy in Japan in about 1987 or 88
Thanks for the information. Too bad it's overseas. Explains the reason it disappeared in the late 80's. E
It looks like both pic`s were taken the same day in Des Moines at the 82 KKOA Show. If you look close, the first pic has a guy walking towards the car with no shirt. The second pic has the guy walking away from the car. I wonder what the time difference between the two pics are by two different people. See the for sale sign, I wonder if he owned it then.
I believe the car was owned by Don Malinkovich then....I think Ted bought it in 83/84... Ed, next time you do a car from Mn and that era PM me first. It is a shame this one had to come to such an abrupt end. Maybe you can do yet another this week?????
Sharp eye Jim. I think you are right about both pictures being taken on the same day at the same show. I don't have much information about the first two Leadsleds in '81 and '82 as it seems there are no videos that I've been able to find. Also, magazine coverage of those events was very small, and with the magazines that covered the shows, it seems that the same "famous" cars were all that were pictured. I'll definitely contact you the next time I cover a Minnesota car. I don't think I'll have time to do another car this week. Looks like a long work schedule, and my weekend is full of things I need to get done. Never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.........E
Shirtless guy in the first pic has a full beard.... seems like guys rarely wore shirts then. E, I would like to thank you for the time and effort you put into this thread. This is one that I have a very deep interest in and I know what you put into it. THANKS.
If you look closely at the 2nd picture it appears that there's 2 shirtless guys walking away side by side.