Sorry to hear about Mr. Coleman, @chopolds. Bums me out to hear so many of the older generation are leaving us. Vaya con Dios, Mr. Coleman..........E
The guy with the orange Merc was Gary Ritchie from Avon Lake, OH and the Olds was owned at that time by Scott Morehouse (or maybe Moreland) from the same area. I don't know much about the Olds, but I do know that a local family from Morehead, KY owned the Merc for awhile but have since sold it to a new owner. Gary Ritchie, the guy who owned it when it was painted orange now owns Jim Thompson's old Buick
I loved Joel Sheipe's '51 Olds when I first saw a magazine photo of it in the dim, pre-Internet days. I searched every car book I had trying to identify that great side trim. After about three weeks I realized it was STOCK '51 Olds 98, just shortened!
What Ever Happened To..........? number 54. 1956 Chevy 4 door Owner: Bob Rice Toledo, Ohio This week's W.E.H.T. may not appeal to a lot of people since it's a four door. I understand how so many car guys have always liked two door sedans and hardtops, and the mentality they have that a four door is a family car or a Grandma-mobile and they aren't cool. I'm usually pretty open minded about this debate, and those of you out there that follow my posts know that I don't have a problem with four doors. To me, cool is cool whether it's a two door or four. Custom modifications and the style in which a car is built are the important things. Done right, even a lowly four door sedan can look great. Bob Rice put together this sweet little Chevy in the mid-80s. I really can't say why he chose a four door considering the time it was built. Two doors were still fairly affordable and plentiful. Maybe it belonged to a family member and he decided to go forward with it out of sentiment, or maybe he was just trying to be different. It had the usual things done to it--shaving, nosing, decking, lake pipes, tube grille and so on. There were a few things he did to the car that I really liked. The first is the way he had his upholsterer make a "tarp" or tonneau cover for the back seat. This is something that you see from time to time, although it's not as popular as it once was. That being said, this is one of the few four doors I've ever seen it done on. Definitely an old time touch. The other thing that appealed to me is the fact that the car had a fully detailed 235 inline six with a homemade split manifold. Growing up in a Hispanic family that built lowriders and bombs, the sound of a rappity six is something I never get tired of! Orale! The finishing touch was a tastefully painted two-tone and it was ready to hit the road. Bob was a regular at many KKOA events, and in my video research I saw his car on the '85 Leadsled Spectacular video in Springfield, Ohio, the '92 video in Holland, Michigan and the '93 video back in Springfield, Ohio once again. The last Leadsled Spectacular video I have of the car was shot by my late friend Charlie at the 2002 Spectacular in Lancaster, Ohio, where the car was one of the big winners! I also found footage of it on the '87 Sled Scene East video from Pennsylvania. Bob really drove this car! It was a little harder to find pictures of it, or any information about the car in print, but I did find some. I found a picture of it from one of the James Dean Run shows in Indiana on the Carnut website. Also, it was featured on page 139 of the (2nd) KKOA Commemorative Book printed in 2003. In that article is where his award at the 2002 show is mentioned, as well as an appearance in Custom Rodder in March of 2003. I scanned the page of Custom Rodder that Bob's car was featured on for all to see. Those of you who are regular readers of this thread will notice that Jim Stockton's beautiful '50 Chevy (W.E.H.T. #18) is pictured right below Bob's '56 on that page. One interesting thing that was mentioned in Custom Rodder is that Bob's car was nearly destroyed in a garage fire when it was almost finished. It was damaged, but Bob bravely decided to start over and he rebuilt the car. Gotta give him credit for that. I think a lot of guys would have thrown in the towel! Kudos to Bob for building his '56 Chevy (twice), and for showing us how cool a four door sedan can be! 'Til next week, be good! E
Bob Rice's 56 was always one of my favorite four door customs Yeah this one. Sorry for the bad picture taken at the Piston Power Show a week or two back.
Why would Ed feature a 4-dr Chevy. Because it was a cool car. My dad took a pic of the rear and I got a frontal shot when it was in Holland`s KKOA show.
Don`t ask how I remember this info. I loved it when I first saw it at the Lancaster Ohio KKOA show. It looks like the grille was changed from this one.
@luckystiff posted this photo back in 2004. I noticed in stanlow's shots it is sporting single outlet pipes.
Robert J. "Cruiser Bob" Robert J. Rice, 78, went home to be with the Lord on February 22, 2013. He was born on May 2, 1934, to the late Halice and John Rice in Toledo, Ohio. Bob worked at Todco Division Overhead Door and Kwik-Loc as a spray-painter. He also did lawn maintenance for the Church of St. Andrews for 28 years. Bob and his wife, Sandy, enjoyed going to car shows together, especially James Dean Memorial Run. His life-time passion was collecting various types of toy and model cars. Bob loved working on his custom '56 Chevy. He would tell anyone who would listen to him, the story of how he restored the car with professional help from his late buddy, Mike Chlebowski. Bob loved oldies and country music, especially listening to Alan Jackson.
Thanks for the info, Sancho. Looks like another one of the great custom guys left us a while back..........damn. Rest in peace, Mr. Rice. E
84-85. I lived right next door to the convention center on buffalo Ave. I got to see the Crimson Skull
Bob was another really great guy. He was so proud of his 56 and the way he brought it back after the fire. To show you how nice he was, he "GAVE" Jimmy Washington, a 59 Imperial grill (you know how rare they are), for his 50 Chevy. Just cause he liked him! They became great friends after that, but were only acquainted at that point.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 55. 1959 Buick "Last Kiss" Owner: Paul Brenner Kitchener, Ontario, Canada This week's W.E.H.T. is another fine custom from Canada. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places to research Canadian customs, but information on them is hard to come by. This car was really tough to research and the only pictures I found of it were from my own magazine collection that I scanned. It seems like Paul Brenner was quite the car builder and he owned some very nice cars over the years. A few of his cars were pictured in the Custom Rodder from November '97 that I scanned. At that time, his super slick '59 Buick was his current sled. If you go back and re-read my post about Connie Winkler's '59 Buick (W.E.H.T. #8), you can tell I really like '59-'60 Buicks. Sad thing is, you just don't see many around, custom, stock or otherwise. So, when I do find one, I look it over very close. Paul's car has that crazy east coast vibe that I've always liked that you don't really see anywhere but in the east. In my video research, Paul's Buick made it's first appearance at the '91 Leadsled Spectacular in Hamilton, Ohio, and it was also at the '92 Spectacular in Holland, Michigan. That was it. On the '91 video, Action Video's Bob Huff did a great walk around on the car when it was sitting at a cruise night during the Spectacular at a Burger King. The car had old time lighting in the wheelwells to light up the hubcaps, as well as a crazy set of teardrop knobs mounted on the tops of his frenched antennas that lit up! Only time I've ever seen that. I don't know if the car has hydraulics or air bags, but it sits pretty low. Paul seemed to like to change or upgrade that car a lot, as the paint changed some over the years. At one time it had just scallops, then the name "Last Kiss" was added on the rear quarters. In the '92 video the name was changed to "Tickled Pink". In later pictures it appears that the names were gone and flames were added. Also, early on it had a tube grille that was later changed to a DeSoto grille. It seems like he was always tinkering around with it. I did find a few pictures of it in various KOA Styleline magazines, but the angles always seemed to be the same as the two different pages that I scanned. The last pictures I found of it were in about 2000. I really wish I could have found some color pictures of the car because black and white pictures just don't do it justice. Very few things say 50s like a white and pink car. Those were they days, huh? Well, as Porky used to say, "That's all folks!" See you next week! E
These were taken on Jan. 13, 2010. http://www.flickriver.com/photos/carphotosbyrichard/tags/lastkiss/ Pipes appear to be shrouded with PVC?
As always Sancho, thanks for your hard searching--great photos! PVC shrouding? Hate to be critical of another's car, but that is pretty low budget, even for the most unskilled or cheapest people out there. Maybe that's a 20 foot modification--looks great from 20 feet away, but when you get up close you scratch your head (lol). Lots of changes like I mentioned. In 2010 the tube grille was back. Also, the tunneled headlights are back to stock, and portholes were added to the front fenders. I forgot to mention in the original post that Paul had a very nicely detailed 6 deuce nailhead in the car. Looks like it's still there. I have to say that this car and Hub Harness' '60 Buick have to have the best detailed nailhead powered engine compartments around. Paul's Olds looks like an interesting car as well. Looks like he is still around building and cruising customs. Nice to know..........E
I knew Paul through the Coasters car club when I lived in Ontario, he built some unique and different rides, but I haven't seen him in quite a few years. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here is a closeup shot of the scan from Custom Rodder Ed posted above. And here is a rear photo of the Buick I took in Holland Michigan show either in 90 or 92. It would be interesting to know if he made the hubcaps or was inspired by Jack Hughes.
If the roads in Ontario are anything like they are here, I would hazard the guess that the pvc would be to shield the pipes from gravel.....or dents....
The hubcaps in the scan do look like Jack Hughes caps with blades out past the lip of the wheel. These are made up of a 1957 Cadillac hubcap (with extra blades added between the ribs), the insert from an early '70's Plymouth hubcap, spinner from a 1959 Dodge Royal Lancer and a chrome bullet to finish it off.
I've seen a lot of the Coasters' cars in pictures and magazines, mostly in group shots. Lots of great customs. You just don't see very many big custom clubs like that anymore. By the way @koolkemp, I was looking over your thread early this morning of your custom Ford. Man she is lookin' GREAT! I know what you've been going through and I'm so glad you're still hard at it. Way to go, man! E Thanks for posting the pic of the back of the Buick, Jim. I love the way this car looks from behind. I searched and searched and couldn't find any rear pictures of it. I'd only seen the rear on video. In the video it had scallops on the Connie kit. Your pic just has striping. See, Paul loved to change up his Buick all the time! I'd say that Jack Hughes might have had some influence on those caps. He's the crazy 'cap king! E You know @mr57, that's pretty insightful. Maybe my comment was a little harsh about the way they looked. I can understand about trying to protect your car any way you can. They can get pretty beat up when you drive them a lot! E I've always been a fan of Jack and his crazy hubcaps. He must have had a great stash of hubcaps and parts because he came up with some outrageous and fun styles. People don't seem to build custom 'caps anymore. Most people just buy some re-pop Lancers or something and put them on and roll. I've read Jack's columns in the old KOA magazines for a long time, and drooled over his Olds (a.k.a. Peggy Sue) for years. I know he sold it quite some time ago and I've never heard what became of it. Unfortunately, I only have one picture of Peggy Sue on my computer and it isn't a very good one. I've also wondered about Jack as well. He's one of the custom guys that I've always wanted to meet but I never have. I've been to a handful of KKOA shows over the years and I've never seen him at any of them. I guess my car show travels haven't taken me far enough to the east. Does anyone know if he's still cruising a custom? E
Here is the pic of Jacks Olds before it was chopped. He was the Chaplin for KOA. He had a full head of white hair that was combed back. He always wore a nice button downed shirt that reminded you of fabric from the disco era. Silky. Here is a scan of the style of hubcaps he made. Always had a lot around his car at the KKOA shows. Later he had about a 70 Chevelle, Malibu that was a 4-door that was customized. Fancy hubcaps ,skirts, lowered in the rear and all the usual custom stuff. Can`t seem to find my pic of it.
Great pics, Jim! First time I've ever seen the Olds before it was chopped. I've seen his Chevelle on one of my videos, I think it was at the '87 Spectacular in Springfield, Illinois. It was white, wasn't it? The car looked great, but I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have liked it because it was too different, too new and had too many doors. E
Jack is alive and well and I see him almost everday. Drives a 60 chev Sent from my SM-G900P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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