What Ever Happened To..........? number 140. 1953 Ford Victoria "Heart Aches" Owner: Robert Himmelberger Reading, Pennsylvania This week's custom is yet another that took a lot of research without a whole lot of results. I watched every KKOA video I have and I never found the car at any Leadsled Spectacular. Like a few of the cars I've featured recently, Mr. Himmelberger was an eastern custom guy and he never seemed to venture very far west. That being said, he attended the KKOA's Sled Scene East many times. The first time I saw the Ford on video was for the 1987 Sled Scene East. The only shot I found of the car was on the beginning of the tape where Rowdie was parked on the side of the main road filming cars going to the show. Robert cruised by the camera in his Ford but really the only way to recognize it then was the radical rolled front pan and grille combo he built. The car was in gray primer and it still had the stock height metal top on it. Fast forward to the 1991 Sled Scene East and Robert was there again with his Ford. The 1991 video I watch is one that someone posted on YouTube. Unfortunately it was shot in black and white, but you can tell it was Robert's '53. By this time the car had its chopped Carson top done and it was painted a medium color. It was way different than in '87, and a lot of work had been done to the car to change it up. I found the car again on the 1992 video, finally getting to see it in color. It was a nice red that almost looked like kandy but not quite. It had a multitude of body mods including frenched antennas and headlights, shaved everything and some wild custom taillights. They were a tear drop shape that looked to have a home made lens. The Carson top was very well done and the crowning touch was the crazy diamond shaped rear window. In '93 Robert was again at Sled Scene East in the '53. The car was pretty much the same as in '92, the main difference being the right rear taillight area being in primer. He must have had a minor fender bender and it hadn't been repainted yet. He wasn't going to let a primer spot keep him from going to the show and having a good time! I do have a copy of the '94 Sled Scene East show, but I couldn't find the car on it. I guess Robert didn't make it that year. After the '93 S.S.E. I found no more video of the car. In my picture search, I didn't find much. Like I've mentioned before, there just doesn't seem to be very many pictures of the cars that attended Sled Scene East over the years in cyber space. I wonder why that is? I did find one good picture of the car on Rikster's site by an unknown photographer. In it you can see the great red paint that is quite a contrast to the nice white top. The car had a great east coast look to it, although I thought it was unusual the car didn't have skirts on it. Gorgeous car none-the-less. As far as printed material goes, I was only able to find Mr. Himmelberger's Ford in the first KKOA book (1993) on page 176. There was a great rundown of the car and it states that Robert owned the car quite sometime before it finally made it all the way to being a great sled. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but I've mentioned before that I really don't like taking still pictures of video on my computer screen. Since pictures can be hard to find I'll do it on occasion just to help everyone recognize these fine automobiles. I apologize for the quality of the pics, but all the transferring process causes some loss of photo quality. Here is a picture of Robert's taillight on the '53. This was from the 1992 video. Here you can see the unique shape of the taillight. In this picture I was trying to catch the name of the car "Heart Aches" lettered on the dash board. Note the chrome console face the gauges are in, as well as the drive-in speaker and the chain steering wheel. This shot was also from the '92 DVD. Here is a better shot of the dash again from 1992. In this picture you can see how Robert painted the face of his speedometer to look like a jukebox, and a better view of the steering wheel. Here is a shot of the rear of the Ford from the '93 video. You can see the primer spot. This really shows the shape of the taillight very well. Sorry for the blurry shots. They are the best I could get. Here we are some 25 or so years later and to me Robert's car looks timeless. Could have been built in 1958, 1998 or finished up last week. Its so sad the way these cars just seem to fade away from the public eye. Is the Himmelberger '53 still out there? I for one sure hope so! Before I close tonight, I want to be one of the first to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. If you take your kids (or grandkids) out for some goodies, be careful and have a great time! Easy on the sugar guys--its the gift that keeps on giving (or gaining lol)! Have fun! Until next week, Trick or Treat! E
By the way, I just noticed this thread is 100 pages now. Still going strong, here's to another 100 pages and hopefully more! Thanks again Ed for all your effort!
And with over 240,000 views. I just bought a wooden steering wheel like the one posted above at U-Pull-It this past Saturday. I love the wide variety of cars you feature also. You never know what`s next.
No kidding! 20 minutes from initial post to current pics.....can't even get the police out to file a report in that amount of time. "Sorry guys, I called Sancho...the case is already closed." LOL Been out of pocket for a while but just got caught all back up. Thanks for your effort every week Ed. I never cease to be amazed but what the rest of you guys find...between Sancho's searches, Jim's pics on his walls and the memories of the rest of you guys, I sit in awe every week!
Be careful, he might delete the pic cause the mirrors are off topic. Just kidding. No pic`s of this car, but I do have one of the Red chopped Ford Sedan with white scallops sitting next to it in the first pic.
And then listed last night! https://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Ford-...e:g:7JUAAOSwGoBb2Hkv:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true
man, who ever put the steering wheel on that car needs to have their tools taken away from them....probably the same idiot that put those damned mirrors on it....
Man @Sancho, you've done it again! Such great pictures! From the video it looked like the speedometer was just painted, but it is an actual CD player mounted in the spot where the speedo was--wow! Nice to see a clear interior shot as well. Looks like a lot of changes to the interior, but not enough to make it unrecognizable. I've never seen the back seat area of the car before. I like that a lot! It looks like only a kid or a real short person could ride back there, but who cares? Sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort to look cool, right? I wonder how long it has been the purple, or is it dark blue? I think it still looks sharp! This is one car I'd buy if I had the means. But then again, I see at least half a dozen cars for sale every few days that I'd buy if I could (lol)! I never thought this thread would last this long. Who would have guessed that we would have 100 pages of custom pictures and chatter and over 240,000 views? Thanks for the kudos guys! I'm glad everyone has stuck around. Yes I do the research, but without all the help of you custom faithful this thread would have conked out a long time ago. What with the pictures you find or have tucked away, as well as information on owners and these cars and neat stories of going to shows with a lot of these folks, it has made this thread an adventure! It makes me jealous of a lot of you lucky guys that got to be there and see all this history first hand as it unfolded. Many of us only read about it in magazines or are hearing about what happened back then through all the great road stories you share now. Like I've said before, it wouldn't keep going without your participation, input and even just popping in to read what's been posted by everyone. So I must give all of YOU a heart felt THANK YOU! E
That is so strange! When I do a feature on a car, its usually because I got on a roll and the information for that car flowed good and there is finally enough information to post it. Sometimes this takes months, other times a few hours, it just depends. The fact that this car just came up on Ebay is a strange coincidence. There have also been a few times when I'll post a car and it turns out the owner/builder has just recently passed away. (Most of this information is due to the superb efforts of @Sancho's research--thanks again!) So when this type of thing happens all a person could do is scratch their head and wonder, "Did we just cross over into the Twilight Zone?" Happy Halloween all! E
Is that carpet on the headliner? Matches the capet on the floor boards [emoji15] Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I used to see Heart Aches pretty regularly when I lived in the Reading, PA area. I seem to remember a silver grey or green paint job on it in the late nineties.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 141. 1951 Chevy Business Coupe Owners: Carroll Beard and Jerry Bennett Jr. Crofton, Maryland I'm sure there are many of you out there that can remember an exact time when you saw a car and fell in love. It might have been at a car show, looking at pictures on the internet or flipping through the pages of a magazine. Remember those? Well, this week's car is one of those cars that I fell for way back when. I remember one evening way back in 1993 looking for a new magazine to buy at the newsstand. There wasn't much that looked interesting to me until this blue suede Chevy jumped off the magazine cover at me. I had to buy it because back then American Rodder was in a sealed plastic bag sitting on the shelf at the magazine rack. You only got a sneak peek and you didn't get to see the whole enchilada until you laid your hard earned bread on the counter for the new rag. I did buy the magazine and the little Chevy definitely didn't disappoint! I remember reading the article time after time and studying all the details of each picture hoping to one day have a Chevy business coupe of my own. I searched for months and months for an elusive business coupe and had no luck. It seemed like when I found one it was too far gone to bring back, or there was a title problem or the most common thing (at least for me), I just didn't have enough money to buy it. The months of searching eventually turned into years and as time went by life got in the way and the awesome blue coupe just faded away into the old memory banks. I try to buy DVDs or video tapes of custom car shows when I can--especially KKOA, KOA, West Coast Customs and Lead East. I have to admit they can be scarce, but they are worth the purchase price once they arrive. A few months ago I bought some Sled Scene East DVDs off of Ebay. I have been watching them quite a bit, and they have been a great resource for cars for the "What Ever Happened To..........?" thread. I've seen many new customs that I've never laid eyes on, as well as some old favorites. Many looking the way I remember them, but a few that had been redone or changed up a bit. About two weekends ago I was watching one of the DVDs, and this little Chevy cruised in front of the camera. I almost fell off my computer chair! Oh my goodness, there it was! That same little baby blue suede Chevy that turned my head over 25 years ago! I instantly remembered the magazine article and how crazy I was about that car. Okay, time to search through my old American Rodders and dig up that article. It took me longer to find than I thought. After searching for a few days without having any luck, I started to think the magazine was one of the many I lost in my basement flood a number of years ago. After much searching I was down to my last box of magazines. These ones weren't in any particular order and there was a mismatch of many different ones. Duplicate Rod & Customs, Hot Rod, Car Craft and a nice fat stack of, you guessed it, American Rodder. I looked at the contents page of each of them and became re-acquainted with many great cars I'd forgotten about. Finally, after going through more than half of the pile, I found it! May 1993, such a great issue. I flipped to the article and there I was, back in '93 dreaming of a Chevy busy coupe. Beard and Bennett put together this tasty Chevy which is really pretty mild. Overall I think it is the appealing simple style and the color that really do it for me. This is really a car that a basic back yard builder could pull off. Incidentally, the Chevy was at Sled Scene East in 1992. On the DVD it was pulling into the parking lot where the Sock Hop was happening that night. There were just a few shots of it, but who cares? I knew every detail from the article and just seeing the car in motion made my day! Out of my collection of videos, this is the only one I found the Chevy on. I guess it's the only time it was at a KKOA show (at least where the sharp eye of the video camera captured it)! I've been searching the internet for two weeks now and I haven't found any pictures of it anywhere. I guess this is a rare one guys! I'm pretty sure that if you've seen the American Rodder article (May 1993 pages 61-64), or another feature of it in another magazine or were lucky enough to see it at a show somewhere, you will remember it. You have to remember that in 1993, colored suede customs were something you just didn't see every day. Maybe that's why this car stood out for me, it was just so different at that time. It definitely helped me build the love and respect for mild customs in a nice slick coat of suede! I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween. On to the next holiday. Man, it will be Thanksgiving before we know it! 2018 has flown by, huh? Until next Tuesday, take care! E
When I was a young teen (1979ish) there was a guy in my Dad's club with a sorta twin to that Chevy. Except it was flat pink, and it was a slopeback with Moon discs. But close...
Oh man, two days and Sancho hasn't found anything on it yet? Tough car this week Ed! It's a pretty one, though.
I knew information on this car would be tough to find Doc (@drdave). I didn't find much other than seeing it on video and the magazine article. That doesn't mean much though as Bill is our own super sleuth and can find some great obscure stuff! If @Sancho didn't find anything the car must have gone to Mars or something (lol)! E
Sorry everyone. Had some stuff blow up at work....(not literally) I did look a LOT for this one. Came up empty. Hard with these mild cars......
Well I know what I will be doing tonight...flipping through old magazine's....when ever any one of you guys brings up the " can't find anything on this one " it's like flashing the Bat signal to Bat man or something ....off I go flipping through my piles of magazine's ...looking online no way I do it the flipping way.... I enjoy it and it helps keep all of that stuff fresh in the head so I can share with other's...finger get a bit raw....so I will get flipping and see what I can dig up.... I got this from a American Rodder Feb.94 ....Hell that was only the 5th magazine I flipped.... Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
