Rearview mirrors, louvers gone from hood.... Rear of drip rail looks the same... What about the rocker trim? On La Bamba it appears taller, with a lip at the top. On the red one it's thinner (at least in appearance) with the "lip" at the bottom. Also the vent windows. Were they functional on La Bamba? I can't see the stainless around them, just the divider. You can see it on the inside.....
I took the liberty of "flipping" this pic Ed posted for comparison sake. The angle of the two photos is similar. The red car looks lower in the front as well.
Rear quarter trim gone, shortened front fender trim, also the door trim goes back further (closer to the rear edge of the door). It's the back glass and the relation to the package tray that have me wondering.... Is there by chance a rear photo of the red car? I bet that would clear it up real quick!
That's some great detective work guys! Jim (@stanlow69), I think you found a recent updated version of this car. If not, it's hard to believe that two cars could have such a similar roof line. I think a rear shot would cinch it as @Sancho said. The rear window sits up pretty high for a chopped car. It is a distinguishing characteristic of this Olds. I've mentioned before that I'm kind of a weirdo and like the unusual. That being said, I have to say that I like the yellow version better. To me, the yellow version looks like a car that was built in the 50s and could be seen on the little pages of a Rod & Custom, Hot Rod or one of the other magazines of those times. You know, a sled built by a younger man or a kid that prowled the streets a long time ago in Los Angeles, Omaha, San Antonio or some small country town no one has ever heard of. The burgundy version is beautiful, but it looks like one of those "perfect" Rodder's Journal type cars that we see so much of these days that are carted around on trailers and not driven, used and enjoyed because they are too perfect or too valuable. I hope everybody understands what I'm trying to say here. I'm not bashing perfect sleds or the Rodder's Journal by any means. I enjoy the Rodder's Journal. It is one of the greatest "magazines" ever printed. I also really admire the true craftsmen that build cars like that. I'm always trying to get better at my car building skills so that one day I might have a small amount of talent that these guys have by the truckload. I'm just saying that not everybody has the skills to build cars like these, or can afford to pay the craftsmen that build these awesome machines. A lot of us do the best we can, and enjoy what we are fortunate enough to have even, if it's not perfect. E
It may be the angle of the photos, or the visor, but to my eye it appears that the yellow car has about 3/4" more chop judging by the glass area in the door and quarter window.. Now if it were the other way around, there could be a case for the later version being an update of the earlier one. It just looks to me like the chop is very slightly more on the yellow one. Both very nice, but I do agree that the yellow version better represents those from the little pages we all love and long for again.. Great, great thread! Dave
I vote for the new version too. I would of ditched the rocker chrome or the lakes tho. Having both just doesn' work for me
Dave, I see what you mean. And if trace along the drip rail, it appears to be more bowed or contoured on the red car as opposed to fairly flat on the yellow car. Could be illusion or slight difference in angle though.....
This is at York in 2012. I didn't take a picture of the back. The previous picture looks like Raceway Park.
the mirrors on the red one are horrible ......I can never figure out why a person would do that to an otherwise pretty era correct build
Not sure if it's the paint color or camera angle, but the peak on the hood of the yellow car looks more pronounced compared to the red one. My two cents worth.
I'm going to paraphrase Moriarity...The sun visor on the yellow one is horrible......I can never figure out why a person would do that to an otherwise pretty era correct build. I don't understand the rear view mirrors on the red one either. Mick
More than likely they changed the hood. The yellow car has louvers. ---Maybe he saw the yellow car, and built one similar.
The whole roof line looks different to me, with more takin out of the rear on the yellow one. Lake pipes are also different lengths. Imo 2 different cars Sent from my SM-G955U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Abump for Friday. So I was reading Goodguys December 2017 issue. And I found a chopped Olds. Louvers on the hood. Wide stainless rocker mouldings. Similar drip rails and no wing window stainless. The rear window appears higher. Could it of been on Ebay and shipped to the northwest. And redone by it`s new owner. It is still kinda yellow and the thing that stood out on LaBamba was the area behind the front licence plate. No chrome panel. It looks like it`s missing on this car as well. Is the plate off-set as well. Nnnooooooo, it couldn`t be. And a pic of the original design in Custom Cars from 84. I still love this version. The flames make the car a standout.
Oh wow. The vent window stainless frame (or actually apparent lack thereof) really has me wondering......
Everybody points out minor changes. But wouldn`t you change a few things too after being built 30 to 35 years ago. Like frenched headlights and upgrading trim and deleting trim. Things are a little easier to find these days. We may never know. I think I`d make functional wing windows. Just thought I`d stir the pot up a bit.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 98. 1953 Ford Convertible "Wild Cherry" Owner: John Schumont Plymouth, Michigan This week's W.E.H.T. is a car that seems like it has been around forever. I've seen it on videos and in small pictures in magazine articles covering custom events mostly in the mid-west for years. After much research, it turns out that the build of this car was started in the late 80s, and after four years of construction John was finally able to hit the road and start enjoying his newly finished sled. I watched every video I have of KKOA events this week up to 1994, and I was only able to find John's cool convertible at the Leadsled Spectacular three years. It was there in 1991 in Hamilton, Ohio, again in 1992 in Holland, Michigan and last of all in 1993 in Springfield, Ohio. Keep in mind that I don't have videos for '88, '89 and '90, so he might have been there one of these other years. I did search my magazines that had Leadsled Spectacular coverage in those years and I didn't find any pictures of it. The first year it was in Hamilton, the car was painted garnet red with white scallops covering the heavily massaged body with tons of louvers punched in it. In the '92 video, John must have wanted a change as the car was at the show that year in a very nice shade of green with similar style white scallops as before when the car was garnet red. I wonder what he changed the name to after the Ford was re-painted. The name "Wild Cherry" doesn't work anymore with the car being green. In '93 the car appeared to be the same without any major changes. I did find some nice pictures on Rikster's site taken by Scott Pavey, with the top up and down, all in the red version. I searched and searched but I wasn't able to find a picture of it in the green version. I only saw that version on the videos for '92 and '93. As far as magazine coverage, I guess I've been seeing phantom pictures of this car as I couldn't find any of the multiple pictures I know I've seen somewhere. The car was featured in the first KKOA book on page 143. It wasn't a great picture so I didn't scan it for this week's post. I did however find a great feature article in Tex Smith's Custom Cars Volume 2 number 1 from 1990 about the car that was written by John Schumont himself. There were a lot of great construction photos and interesting text about the build and some super photos of the car when it was finished. It was such a great article that I had to scan all four pages and post them here for all to enjoy. Sorry there seems to be so little information on this week's custom, but sometimes the clues just don't appear that easy. Hopefully, one of you super custom fans out there that regularly follow and post on this thread have a picture of John's car in green--it was very nice! Although the red version was pretty sweet, too! I don't care what color it was in, if I had the great privilege of owning this car, I would drive the wheels off of it! I'm sure you would too, right? See you next week! E
We met the family who owns this car now at the 2017 Ducktail event. The car is still a shade of green with scallops. Sent from my SM-T377P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That's really cool. Other than paint, grill, and hubcaps appears relatively unchanged. Wonder when the mirrors got switched out.... I like the grill treatment in it now better. Very neat car!
x2, especially as they had nice chrome ones on the earlier version. But other than that I prefer the blue version. The grill looks 100 times better now.
Well, that didn't take long....35 minutes from Ed's post to MercDueceMan's post saying its still around and saw it last year. So, now what you guys wanna talk about for the rest of the week? LOL
Thanks for the pic @DANSLED. This is the first time I've seen the car with the new grille. Nice improvement! E Man, what is it with the mirrors on customs? It seems we cover this topic from time to time in our discussions. Like @Surfcityrocker mentioned, the chrome ones on it were nice. Go figure..........E That's funny Doc! It's amazing how fast we can get answers about customs here on the HAMB. The custom folks here are definitely a well educated and loyal bunch, and they know their stuff! Now maybe we can talk about world issues, or maybe global warming. How about.............. Nah, I say we stick with customs (lol)! E
....after our "cold" snap last week (I know it's not cold compared to you guys up north), I'm happy with whatever global warming you want to send my way. "That's all I have to say about that." LOL
The man, his wife, their young son and the man's parents were cruising around in the car all Ducktail weekend. Their son/grandson was ate up with custom cars. I expect he was about 11-12 years old and very very knowledgeable about custom cars. I was really impressed with him. He is following right in his dad's and grand dad's footsteps. Sent from my SM-G955U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Man you guys are harsh on add on mirrors. Lighten up a bit. Remember, think happy thoughts. It`s great to see a young kid into customs. Here is a pic my dad took. I like the original grille. It`s not a store bought one that everybody uses. Same way with the hubcaps. And another pic will be posted Friday. Sancho will like it.
In my opinion the original grille is prettier than the "teeth" The only problem with it is that it doesn't fit well. If it fit, it would be my choice for sure. Both the angle and the length seem incorrect to me.
The Jalopy Journal
