I can relate, Mark. I think Colorado is one of the hail capitals of the world. Your story reminds me of my first Leadsled in Wichita in 2000. I'm sure you recall the wild weather there that weekend as well. We were all sitting around the host hotel around 5 on Friday. My friend Charlie was watching the sky and commenting on how he thought it looked like bad weather was on the way. In my Buick, my CB has a weather band, so he asked if he could listen to it to see what was up. Sure enough, there were tornado warnings in effect, as well as heavy rain and possible hail. Charlie said we'd better haul ass over to the car wash just up the street from the host hotel. Nobody else seemed to be paying attention, but we decided to take Charlie's advice and we cruised over to the car wash. It was a fairly large car wash, so we each took a stall and got out to chat. At that time, except for us, the car wash was empty. We all stood around talking for about 10 or 15 minutes, when the wind and heavy rain hit. No hail or tornadoes, thankfully. Charlie was ahead of the curve and his foresight got us a great shelter from the storm. A few minutes later cars started screaming into the car wash to take cover. Needless to say it filled up in an instant. I remember a guy that went by the name Lowlife Tom here on the HAMB way back in the early days. I don't know if he is still on here or not--he may go by another name now. Anyway, he had a beautiful '63 Galaxie that was done up 60's style with a Winfield style fade paint job. Beautiful car! He had pulled into the car wash a few minutes after us. We went over and talked to him for a few minutes until the wind and rain came. When the storm hit, we all took cover in our cars to wait out the storm. I don't know the exact details of what happened, but I got the short story from Tom later on after the storm was over. Apparently, the guy in this hot rod Willy's pickup was all worked up over the storm and the pouring rain. He sped into the car wash for cover and he thought he could fit in the stall behind Tom's Galaxie, which he almost did. Problem was, he drove into the stall too fast and with wet tires he couldn't stop fast enough and he hit he back of Tom's Galaxie! It wasn't a terribly hard hit, but just enough to dent the trunk lid on the Galaxie, right about where the white and blue on the fade met. Tom was a very even tempered guy and he was very calm about the whole thing. Tom said he was just happy the guy had insurance and was very apologetic and nice about the whole incident. Wonder what ever happened to Tom? Ahhhh, the adventures of road trips..........E
For a kid that lived in Montana all his life and only saw cars like this in magazines this is an incredibly interesting and historical thread! THANK YOU!
You're welcome Chaz. I can't take all the credit though. There are a lot of guys on here with a wealth of custom information to share that have really helped make this thread roll! E Hey Sancho, that's great! Haven't "seen" him around here in years. Does he still have the Galaxie? E
Ed, the car wasn`t wrecked until this version. The Orange car. As I mentioned before, he drove it a lot. On his way back from Texas Goodguys, he hit a bridge abutment. The car was sold to a guy in Lincoln Nebraska who has a Hot Rod shop. He was able to find fenders and a hood. But came up short with a bumper and a grille. And bought a 55-56 Merc bumper and grille combo from the same guy. He wasn`t sure if it would blend in well. I think it is pleasing to the eye. The color looks good too.The last I knew, It is for sale.
^ Was that at Salina this year?!? Is it the same one Mickey was looking over in the host hotel parking lot the night we had our "1st Annual Kustom Konference"?
It was at Salina this year, Sancho. Jim is the one that told me about it. I honestly don't remember seeing it there--how I missed it I'll never know! This Merc sure has had an interesting life the past two or three decades. Amazing how a car can transform and make the rounds over the years..........E
Doug, it was in the host hotel parking lot Saturday night. It was what started the whole "top 20 Mercury kustoms" discussion..... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/your-top-twenty-1949-50-51-mercurys.1038429/ That Mercury pulled in and parked not far from where we were sitting. Some of us walked over with Mickey to check it out because he said at one point he thought about using that bumper on his Merc.
The conference was Friday night. I walked into it either before the Hall f Famers awards or during the intermission on Friday night. Just a few guys hanging out at the host hotel talking about customs(like we did all weekend long). The subject of Your Top 20 came up. And on the Hamb (Mickey) Penned the name The First Annual Custom Conference.
Well I'll be dipped! Too funny that we all looked at that car during the show and here it was a WEHT. So how many does that make that are confirmed still around of the 40 so far? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Good question, Doc. I guess since we are up to 40, a review would be good. I went through very quickly and here's what I came up with. Keep in mind I'm only including cars that someone knows the car's whereabouts, seen at a show or in print fairly recently. I might have missed a few, so if I did, just post it up and I'll add it to the list. Surprisingly enough, we've discovered that quite a few of these great customs are still around. The number ahead of the owner and car year and model is the W.E.H.T. number. #1 Dick Crouthers '50 Merc #2 George Beluscsak '50 Merc #3 Dean Bordner '50 Ford #7 George West '51 Merc #8 Connie Winkler '59 Buick #10 George DeSomma '53 Ford #13 Jim Wilkins '51 Ford "'Lil Miss Vicky" #14 Jerry and Mavis Newman '55 Buick "Pink Panther" #18 Jim Stockton '50 Chevy Convertible #19 Butch Tucker '36 Ford Tudor Sedan #21 Ted Coffeen '56 Pontiac "Party Doll" #30 Johnny Jones '54 Merc "Low Comotion" #33 Don Boeke '57 Ford "Shboom" #35 Ron Channel '56 Chevy #39 Roger Weller '54 Buick #40 John Schmidt '50 Merc "Twilight Zone" A quick view of the stats shows that 17 of the 40 are still around (that we know of). Great researching and hunting everyone! Glad to know that so many of these fine cars are still around. This doesn't account for all the sleds that are still hiding in garages, barns and car ports all over the country. We know they're out there, and the search continues..........E
With a few days off for the Christmas holiday, here are the pictures of the most interesting fenderskirts-rear quarters I`ve seen. You can see them on the 54Delray post on the teal version of the Weir Merc. It would be interesting to see them off the car. And who was the craftsman who fabricated them.
I would think the First Annual Kustom Konference would be far more interesting than the Hall of famers awards.
I wonder if those were made out of those fiberglass lower quarters they used to make. no matter how they did it I wonder how they were held on? and I bet it took at least 2 guys to put em on!!
Those skirts are definitely a work of art. Amazing how no fender skirt lines cleans up the whole look of it. They remind me of the skirts on Ed Lepold's sensational Merc--they are just a little sneakier than Ed's. Here's a great picture of Ed's Merc taken by Mark at the 2016 CCR. E
I`m a Custom buff. So I enjoy it every year. Where else can you hear George Barris, Bill Hines, Gene Winfield, Harold Murphy, John D Augistino, Darryl Starbird, and many others all talk about Customs. Some have passed on, So I enjoy the conversations of the ones still around whenever I get a chance. I think a lot of people get used to seeing the same people at that show every year in Salina. And they don`t understand how lucky they are to experience it firsthand. And to see all the custom cars that show up. That's why I don`t miss that show. And that`s why I never miss the Friday night Hall of Famers awards. Also, I enjoy seeing who gets inducted into the Hall of Fame as well.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 41. 1952 Ford Owner: John Abee Fenton, Michigan Well, here we are, the last Tuesday of 2016. I can't believe how fast the year went. The older generation in my family has always said that the years start going by faster the older you get, and as much as I hate to admit it, they're right! For the last W.E.H.T. of 2016 I chose a car that is one of my personal favorites, but how I found it was pretty much an accident. In my weekly research for this thread, I came across the article this car was in quite a while back. I wrote myself a note about it to remind myself to keep my eyes open for magazine and video information on the car and I've been trying to find more information about it ever since. I discovered this sled in a small blurb about it in the short lived LeRoi Tex Smith's Custom Car Magazine, Volume 1 #2 from November/December 1989 in their coverage of the St. Ignace, Michigan show. The car attended the show in the summer of '89 and made quite an impression. The body mods are pure east coast style, and they were pulled off to perfection. Strange thing is, the car was built in San Rafael, California! According to the article, the car was originally built in the late 50s by Hal Hutchens for Burt Hamrol. It was featured in several magazines including Hot Rod in November 1959. Somehow the car ended up in Massachusetts and Bob McCormick found the car in 1978 and bought it. The amazing thing is the car was almost completely unchanged from when it was a magazine feature. It still had the same paint on it as well as the Oldsmobile mill and a 1937 LaSalle floorshift transmission! Now, it seems to me that in all my video watching and magazine research that I do every week, I've seen this car somewhere before, besides the Custom Car Magazine article. I just can't say where. I watched all my videos and DVDS and I couldn't find it. My magazine search also found nothing. The best I can figure is that since the car is yellow and has similar styling to the George DeSomma '53 Ford (W.E.H.T. #10) and the Johnny Jones '54 Merc known as "Low Comotion" (W.E.H.T. #30), that I thought I saw it on video but it was one of these other two customs. I can't say for sure that it ever attended a KKOA show, but it seems likely that it was there at one time or another. I guess it's lucky that I managed to find the little piece on it in a fairly obscure magazine. I did find a few nice photos on Rikster's site taken by Scott Pavey. They look like they might have been taken at a Leadsled Spectacular, but I can't say when they were shot or even if it was at a Spectacular. I'm just glad the pictures exist. I'd be willing to bet that since the car ended up on the east coast, it has hit a lot of shows there over the years like Lead East and hasn't disappeared completely. I'm hoping that someone out there recognizes it or has seen it recently, especially you east coast custom guys. It is definitely one cool custom that I hope is still prowling the streets! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and is still relaxing and enjoying this holiday week. Let me be one of the first to wish everyone a Happy New Year! See you next week! E
OG! My man! Life has been very interesting for me for the last 5 years, but it is oh so much better now. Next time I am in town, I am looking you up.
I'm with you @carhunter59. I think this looks like a '52-'54 Ford, too. I've had a few PMs saying how I goofed and this is a '52-'54 Ford body. According to the article I found on the car, it was listed as a '50, but since I couldn't find any more information on the car, I'm just going by what I read. Does anybody have the November '59 issue of Hot Rod? That might clear things up. I used to have that issue, but it was destroyed in a flood I mentioned a while back. E
Ill look see if i have the 59 issue , relooking at the car is definitely a 52 to 54 , with a chopped top.removed rain gutters and rear portion of roof would be off the 1950 ford. Ive owned 3 ford customs all 1953 and one had the same roof treatment when i bought it .
Ok I found it. The Burt Hamrol ford in hot rod looks nothing like the yellow car pictured above. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I sure am sorry guys. It looks like the article I found on this Ford is full of mistakes. I hope someone out there knows the real story on this car so we can clear it all up. E I'll have to look around @kidcampbell71, but I think this car was still around in the last 20 years or so. I'll see what I can find..........E
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