What's hard to believe is we are in 2020 and STILL not driving awesome bubbletop cars with sweeping fins and chrome! ......or flying about in our Jetson's cars for that matter.
I sent Jeff a msg today after seeing a link on fb with his chevy on Ebay. He said it was a long story but he no longer has the 58 and hasn't for awhile. Said he knows who has it and will be going to see him soon. He said Ralph's chevy was in Greenbay, but it's been a couple of years since he"s seen it. He said Ralph sold it when he got his Merc finished. Jeff has Ralph's Merc Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks for the updates and the pics, Debb! The pictures remind me of when I first laid eyes on the Schindel's customs at the Leadsled Spectacular back in 2000. Man that was a great show! Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago! E
I just came across this photo someone posted on the KKOA FB page. It's a small photo and I have no idea how recent this is but maybe the '64 is still around.... And no, I'm still not on Facebook. I do look at a couple pages there from time to time though.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 201. 1953 Chevy Bel Air Owner: Ron Hepding Baltimore, Maryland This week's custom is another of those that seemed to stay primarily on the east side of the country. I watch hours of video every week and I never saw Mr. Hepding's fine custom at any Leadsled Spectacular. This doesn't mean that Ron didn't take his Chevy to KKOA events though. He seemed to prefer taking the car to Sled Scene East instead. He was a regular there, and from what I've read in my research, he was there many, many times. A picture of the car was sent in to the KKOA and it was chosen for the first KKOA book printed in 1993. It was featured on page 32. Ron's Chevy was around quite a while, and this was shown as once again for the second KKOA book printed in 2003, a picture was sent in. This time the car was featured on page 126 with a very nice write up on the car's features and history. If you read the write up from the 2003 KKOA book, you will see that the car was purchased in 1987, but didn't make it's custom debut until the 1991 Sled Scene East show. I have a few Sled Scene East DVDs, and there is quite a bit of good footage of the '53 at Sled Scene East in 1992. The car's paint was astounding, and the body mods were mostly on the mild side (with the exception of the chopped top), but with that paint none of that really mattered. In this first shot from '92, you can see a host of textbook custom body modifications including frenched headlights, rounded hood corners, a 13 tooth '53 Chevy grille with '57 Chevy turn signals and a shaved bumper. Note the beautiful mile deep paint! The next image is a little blurry, but you can see more custom work with a shaved trunk lid, Packard taillights and the shaved rear bumper bolts to match the front. How about those license plates? "I'M HEP". Ron definitely was hep, and his car was outstanding! Here is a shot of the Packard taillights neatly grafted in. Sorry about the pic quality. Mr. Hepding returned to Sled Scene in 1993. Again the car was seen numerous times on the DVD looking sharp! In fact, it looked so good at the '93 show, the car went home with Best Paint honors of the show! Quite an accomplishment considering the large amount of beautiful cars at the show that weekend! Here's a shot of Mrs. Hepding showing off the hard earned award. Sorry, the "Best Paint" on the engraved plaque would not photograph in a still shot. Here is one of the final shots from the 1993 DVD. It's a shot of the Chevy cruising toward the gate after the closing ceremonies. Man, what a car! I once again saw the car briefly on the '94 video. It looked unchanged and there were very few shots of it, so I didn't take any more pictures. In the write up from the second KKOA book, it mentioned that at SSE in 1996, the Hepding's Chevy won the Sam Radoff award for Sculptural Excellence. This is indeed another feather in the cap for the owners of this fine sled. If you read more of the write up, it talks about the front of the car being heavily damaged by an accident with a deer in 2000. The car needed some frame repair as well as the sheet metal work. After everything was reworked, the entire car was stripped down and repainted, but with a new twist. Ghost scallops were added to add even more beauty to the car. I also found a few mentions of the Hepding's car in the KKOA's Trendsetter. In the issues that talked about Sled Scene East, the car was mentioned as attending the show in 2002 and 2005. There were a few black and white pictures, but they were so small that you really couldn't make out the Hepding Chevy very clearly. I tried to blow them up, but they just blurred as they got larger. Well a sighting is a sighting I guess. After the 2005 mention, I found nothing else on the car, but, it seems I've seen it recently. Every year for the Custom Car Revival, there are dozens of great pictures that all of our custom faithful post. It seems to me that Mr. Hepding had his gorgeous Chevy at the show one year, or maybe more. I searched every CCR post I could find, and if it was posted, I couldn't find it. I hope that one of you out there that frequents the CCR and have a better memory than me will remember and post a few quality pictures if it was indeed there. Maybe I have the CCR confused with another east coast show that it was at. It just seems to me like I've seen it somewhere here on the HAMB within the last few years. Hopefully my memory is somewhat accurate and the Hepding Chevy was at a recent show, or maybe it was just a dream.......... I hope everyone out there is well. Like I mentioned last week, here in the Mile High City the winter doldrums are in full effect. But hey, we are one week closer to springtime than we were last Tuesday, right? 'Til next week, take care everybody! E
@Moriarity I pulled the photo out of that post for easier viewing. Nice shot of a beautiful car. You can just see the ghost scallops on the lower front fender and door. I blew it up and could make them out on the rear quarters and hood. Wonder why he has "Mercury" lake pipe caps.....
Thanks for the information and posting a pic guys! I knew I'd seen the car here at one time. Thanks for restoring my faith in my sanity (lol)! E
Stole some pictures that were taken by Grant "Wildman" Deffinbaugh a while back. Found Ron's Facebook and I see he has 4 or 5 mutual friends with me. I'll ask some questions. 2013 - Looks like the car was being used in some sort of contest. and again in 2014
You guys can cuss Facebook and honestly some of it's well deserved, but it can be a valuable networking resource at times. This is one of those times. According to a Baltimore local - He sold his '53 after he built a '50 Ford club coupe. That Ford was sold three or four years ago. According to my sources the '53 is still in the Baltimore area.
Great info John. Way to dig! I've never seen the shoebox before--it is stunning! Do my eyes deceive me? Is it sectioned? E
ED, I`ve been to every one of the CCR`s in Indy except the first. It hasn`t been there that I remember. If it had, I`d have a picture of it.
I figured one of you guys that go to the CCR all the time would know for sure. @Moriarity with @Sancho's help found a great picture of the Chevy at a show posted here on the HAMB. Turns out it was some other show and not the CCR. E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 202. 1953 Oldsmobile "Lucille" Owner: Larry Rosalie ? ? ? ? ?, New York This week's custom is another east coast car that didn't make it very far west. It seems it was only on the scene for short time, and throughout my video research it was only at three different shows in the early 90s. The first time I saw the car on video was at the Leadsled Spectacular in Holland, Michigan in 1992. There were only a few glimpses of the car here and there, but with the unique customs modifications I'm sure it was the same car. The owner of this Olds was a busy guy in 1992. Earlier in the year, he dragged his custom to Gettysburg for Sled Scene East. It was there where the best video footage was shot. The car had a lot of body modifications and it made it a little hard to tell what year Olds it was. The most notable change was the addition of canted quads. It's hard to tell in these pictures, but the car had a mild scallop job. On video, the scallops looked to be a dark or navy blue. The car took on an asymmetrical theme. Notice that there was a hood scoop on the passenger side of the hood, but none on the driver's side. Going around to the rear of the car, there were custom taillights that resembled the taillights of the famous "Moonglow". I don't know if the lenses were custom made, or if they were possibly cut down Chrysler units. You'll notice the asymmetrical theme continues on with a split "bar" off to the side on the rear window of the Carson top. Not only was the rear window asymmetrical, the frenched license plate was off to the right side, too. Rolled rear pan looks nice as well. In the old tradition of naming your custom or putting a witty saying on the back like in the 50s, this car was no exception. The trunk lid read "This is your Father's Olds". This was a play on advertising as years ago Oldsmobile used a slogan something like "This isn't your Father's Oldsmobile" or something like that. I can't say for sure if it was done to keep the asymmetrical theme going, but the car had a pair of antennas frenched in on the right side just under where the quarter windows would be if the car was still a sedan or hard top. The scallop outline was a nice touch. As far as the interior goes, there wasn't much video shot of it, but judging by the dash, the car was definitely a '53--unless the dash was changed out. The dash in a '54 is slightly different. From the little video shot of the interior, the interior looked to be white tuck 'n' roll. The last sighting I found of the car was at Sled Scene East in 1994. The car was shown in a few quick passing shots that I couldn't get a clean picture of. The Olds looked pretty much unchanged. After '94, I found no more footage. My magazine search was fruitless as I searched for this car in any east coast show coverage. I seem to remember a front shot of the car showing the scallop on the front fender with a detailed shot of the quads, but I couldn't find it. It sure is a shame that lately all I've been able to find are very small bits and pieces of some great customs. I hope that everyone is still enjoying the cars, and with some luck, the builders and owners of these cool sleds will come to the forefront. All we can do is keep chipping away at custom history. I hope everyone had a great week and the winter blues aren't getting you down. I know I keep saying it, but summer's comin'! We'll see you next week! E
I have a little update. I was looking through a stack of old KOA Styleline magazines today and I came across a nice bit of information. In the January/February 1998 issue of the Styleline on page 27, there were quite a few good pictures of customs at the 4th Annual KOA Southern Leadsled Nationals. In the mix of pictures, there was a picture of the '53 Olds better known as "Lucille", and the owner was Larry Rosalie. Still can't find what town Larry lived in, but at least we have a little more to go on. E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 203. 1958 Chevy Biscayne "Mild Thing" Owner: Cecil Hall West Plains, Missouri This week's custom was (is?) owned by a gentleman that as far as I know is still around, and for many years he was the Missouri state colonel for the KKOA, Mr. Cecil Hall. I can't say that I've ever met him, but I've read plenty about him over the years through my research and other ways. I looked through all the KKOA Trendsetter news letters that I have, and as far as the state colonel lists go, I found Cecil on the list as early as 1999, and as late as 2006. That's as recent as my Trendsetter news letters go. Way back around 1997, he was a big part of Lo Bux Custom Car Club. They had a great website that I frequented all the time. This was a time when car websites like "The Big Blue Car", "Shenanigan's" and a few others I'm forgetting were going strong. It is through those websites that I eventually found the HAMB. The first place I recall seeing Cecil's '58 was on the 1993 Leadsled Spectacular video shot in Springfield, Ohio. The car was on the DVD quite a bit, whether it was posted up in the fairgrounds looking sharp, or prowling around the fairgrounds. Something about a blue scalloped '58 that gets me every time! The next sighting was really kind of a chance thing, as Cecil took his '58 to the Huntsville, Alabama Leadsled Spectacular in 1994. Attendance was way down that year, yet Cecil faithfully attended and looked to have a great time. At one time during the video, he pulled up to "How cool can you cruise" in his '58 Chevy and hopped out in a get up looking like Minnie Pearl, complete with big hat price tag and all! I didn't do any still photos from '93 or '94 this week as I came across some great information on the car from books and magazines, so I'm hoping that you guys will post more later. There was a very nice member write up in the KOA Styleline newsletter. It was in the September/October 1999 issue on page 12. Every issue, the KOA would do a small feature and write up about one or two of their members and their cars. Unfortunately the picture of the Chevy is in black and white, but you can still tell the car was very cool! The other place I found a second great write up and a color photo was in the 2nd KKOA book published in 2003. Cecil submitted the same photo as the one used in the Styleline with the relevant car information and the KKOA wisely chose to put his car in the book on page 124. Glad for you all to finally be able to see the car in color. If you read both paragraphs from each publication, you can get a feel of how much of a custom guy Cecil is. He's a guy that did the lion's share of the work on his car himself, and he liked to travel to custom shows, logging hundreds of miles in the car in the 90s. After the '94 Leadsled, it wasn't on any of the videos or DVDs I have of the show into the early 2000s. I don't know if the car still looks the same or even if Mr. Hall owns it anymore. I can't recall ever seeing it at a Spectacular that I've been to as Salina and Wichita aren't super far from Missouri. I do know for a fact that Mr. Hall has a great Youtube channel that has many, many photo collaboration type videos with tons of pictures from quite a few custom shows all over the midwest. I can't say for sure how recent they are, but it hasn't been a super long time. Glad to see that Cecil was still enjoying the custom lifestyle as recently as a few years ago. Let's hope that Cecil is still out there with his cool '58 cruising, taking pictures and having fun! Just a quick kudos to all of you custom faithful that have started the recent 1980s KKOA threads on the board. I've been reading along and really enjoying the pics. Haven't done much commenting as I've been under the weather the last week or so, so my computer time has gone way down. Once I shake this flu bug or whatever I have, I'm sure I'll have much more to say. Stay well! See you next week! E
I know there was a later version of the 58 that had a wilder scallop job. I also know that he now has a 68 Dodge car that is customized.
I don’t know Cecil or if he still has his Chevy but I have definitely checked out his YouTube channel. I took some screenshots of his car from a couple of his videos. It looks like he redid the Chevy at some point. The car sports a different paint job here and has the newer Missouri license plates on it. These licenses plates are from the late 90s early 2000s.
After looking online I found Cecils Facebook page and he confirms that he did sell his Chevy. This is his current Kustom.
Great information guys! I really like the scallops on the second version of the '58. Thanks for letting us know Mr. Hall sold his Chevy @Sum54ford. I couldn't have parted with it! The cool finned '58(?) Chrysler sitting by the Chevy in one of the pictures must have been owned by a friend of Cecil. It was cruising around with the Chevy on the DVD shot at the Leadsled in '94. Man @John B, I've seen the Chrysler at the Leadsled a few times. Since my late friend Charlie was always a Mopar man first and foremost, every time I see a Mopar sled I check it out. A few years back when me and Mitch were walking around the show, we saw the Chrysler. We talked over how Charlie would have loved the car, and how the scallop job looked like a sample of his work. We stopped and talked to the owner for a few minutes letting him know how much we liked his car, and telling him about Charlie. Super nice guy. It had to be Cecil. I'm ashamed to say I didn't get his name or give him mine, but I'll guarantee this--if I see the Chrysler at the show this year, I'm going to make it a point to walk up to Cecil, introduce myself and thank him for his dedication to customs! E
Cecil's reply to me - "I sold the '58 Chevy around 2006-7 to Larry Jewell of southern Missouri who wanted it for a relative, found out later he was buying it to put on a used car lot in Mtn Home AR, scallops were removed and car was repainted flat blue, with racing stripes. lost track of the Mild Thing after that. 1995 we build a '67 Chrysler Newport called Becky Sue Project C that went to a number of KKOA events for a number of years, current vehicles includes a '68 Dodge Polara with of course scallops and a '27 Ford T Roadster built to resemble a 1950 build I am still a Colonel in the KKOA and more recently named vice president in the Pharoahs Car Club International, inducted into the Pharoahs Hall of Fame 2019"
What Ever Happened To.......? number 204. 1956 Ford Convertible "Kool Bee" Owners: Paul and Deanna Boucher Manchester, New Hampshire This week's custom is one that I've been researching for sometime without much luck. It seems I've seen the car more frequently than what I found on my video research. Maybe I'm confusing my KKOA videos with some old Lead East or other east coast shows I've seen on video somewhere. The first time I saw the Boucher's Ford was in the first KKOA book on page 83. Seeing the car in black and white, it took me a while to figure out that this was the black and yellow Ford I found on video. The one thing I can appreciate is that Paul wasn't afraid to get rid of some trim. He nosed and decked the car as well as ditching the door handles. We talk about it all the time in our custom discussions here on the HAMB how many "customs" we see are basically a restored stocker with all the trim still on it. If you talk to a lot of (non HAMB) car guys, there's always a few that talk about how many of these cars are too valuable blah, blah, blah so the trim is left on in case someone wants to return it to stock. The heck with that. Grind, weld, fill, prime and on to beautiful custom paint! The only video I found on the '56 was at the 1990 Leadsled Spectacular shot in Holland, Michigan. The car was filmed a few different times, some shots of it parked, and others of it cruising the show. The car definitely had the east coast style going on, and with the Bouchers being from New Hampshire, that's almost as far east as you can go! The tube grille is always a nice choice on a '55 or '56 Ford custom. Notice the hood is shaved. Out back the east coast requisite Connie kit is in place. I'm guessing the name "Kool Bee" came from the black and yellow color scheme. Could be an old knick name for Paul or Deanna as well. A good question to ask them if our trails ever cross. Here's a few shots of the little bee artwork on the tire cover. Love the Olds taillights! One good close up showing the personalized New Hampshire plate, and a color matched KKOA plaque. Moving to the inside you can see lots of black and yellow paint detail, as well as a color matched interior. I'll close out our pics this week with a few shots of the Ford prowling around the fairgrounds. The first one is a little distance away. And a close up shot of Paul and a friend enjoying a cruise with the top down taking in the summer rays! That's the life, man! I can't say why the Bouchers were only at the show the one year. I'd venture a guess to say they were there other years, but maybe "Kool Bee" missed the eye of the videographer. I was surprised that I didn't see the car at Sled Scene East on the few DVDs I have from that great show. You would think they would have been there. Let's all hope this sweet custom is still on the road. Maybe some of you east coast custom faithful will remember the car, or better yet know Paul and Deanna, and can give us an update. I hope everyone is well. We are in February now, so we are gaining on the warmer weather. I for one can't wait! Keep the faith, spring is coming! Take care and we'll see you next Tuesday! E
The Jalopy Journal
