Customs Why are customs dying?

Headed to CCR this weekend and there will be 200 of the nicest customs around. The problem is that I am not sure there are too many more out there.

Some of the custom guys were talking on another thread about it being a dying art. Why is that?

In this day and age there are more super fabricators than ever before. Is it the cost deterring the younger guys? I am a newbie to customs and I am 53.

I am trying to hang with the older guys because they seem to be the carriers of the torch, so to speak.

I will say that I have a new appreciation for the skill and labor involved. I could build 3 hot rods in the time that I can build my 55 Ford.

 

Part of it is lack of coverage. Part of it is that it takes, as you alluded to, skill and labor that is different from building hot rods. Part of it is people (civilians and car guys alike) don't see the difference between billet-laden "resto-mods" (whatever the heck that means) and a true custom.
When you get to Indy, sit down and talk with Mick Bryan. He has thought about this a lot and discussed it with a whole lot of people. He has some good insight into this very subject.
I also think about how customs (kustoms) were pretty much dead when KKOA came along in '80.
https://kustomkempsofamerica.com/history.htm

Have fun. Wish I was going.

 

Most young people don't have access to the tools and no way to get the knowledge. Shop class isn't really a thing anymore. Some schools have a shop class but it's not a free elective if they do. A lot of schools cram so many subjects into a day that classes are only 45 minutes long. What can you learn in 45 minutes of shop class?

Couple that with the fact that school kids have less and less free time each year as more schoolwork is piled on them and you just don't see a lot of kids building cars in their backyards. Those backyard tinkerers were the kids in the 40s and 50s that grew up to build kustoms.

My little brother just got out of high school. In his last couple years he was at school 8 am to 5 pm 5 days a week, and he'd get home from school just to have to do 4-5 hours worth of essays, worksheets etc. then go to bed, wake up and do it all over again. I graduated about 9 years ago and my experience wasn't that different. Young people don't have time for cars.

Also, when a kustom deteriorates to the point where it needs restoration, it's a much harder task to get it back on the road than an unmodified car, so people who are looking to get into cars and expand their skillset don't usually jump on older kustoms even if they're available cheaply. That means custom cars tend to stay in the big money circles which further lessens their availability.

 

Mick has spent a lot of time chatting with me. I appreciate the mentorship. Unfortunately, his work schedule knocked him out of the show.

 

have you seen how ugly the new cars are, that younger folks like to buy?

There seems to be a huge generation gap, in many ways....

enjoy the neat old cars while you can.

 

I wonder about the driveablity of some (not all) customs. Around here if you can't keep up with modern traffic, as most hot rods can, it's frustrating with today's ruthless drivers. "Low and Slow" doesn't seem to fit in.

 

I have always been a custom fan, and I believe they are on decline, IMHO it's cost to build a exceptional car the likes of the more famous cars from the past, I would think the mild customs are still affordable to build but the majority of the younger guys, 30-40 year old's are not interested in hot rods or customs.
HRP

 

I think you are pretty close.

 

I’d go 18,500 so you could make a little….

 

Say you are going to build the epitome of customs, a 50 Merc. Compared to a 32 Ford hot rod, you will spend 500% more time searching parts to get the body back into shape before you can even make your first modification. Nobody makes repro fenders, quarters, or trim, let alone a good rocker panel which every single unbuilt Merc out there will need.

Then, try to find the traditional parts used in customizing that Merc. How many Desoto grilles are sitting out there unused yet? How many 53 Buick side trim sets? Try to even find a nice set of 52 Ford headlight rings. Can't just pick up a catalog and order these things.

Then, as has been said above, the work to put it all together with skill is also over the top. It's easy to chop the top of a 32 Ford, but making a Merc top straight after you have cut a line across five feet of smooth sheetmetal is almost impossible. Takes a lot of patience, training, and determination.

 

I think when the customizing was in its heyday, guys were buying fairly new cars and dropping them off at George Barris or Larry Watson’s. Not a lot to choose from these days.

I still think it’s doable on a budget. A buddy sent me a link to a car on IG that was a 54 Chevy that was chopped and had the Packard tail lights already installed and they wanted like $9000 for it. Still a straight 6 car, but it seemed like a deal to me.


As far as Mercuries go, I have seen some nice unchopped cars pretty reasonably lately. Sure they were all original, but still priced cheap enough to buy. I mean, come on, kids are dropping $25K on a Razor and 80k on a pickup to pull them…..I don’t think money plays into as much as we would like to think. Financing on the other hand, may.

 

Serious Customs, require as stated serious commitment. Plus like the blues they are an aquired taste. Much easier to go mild custom or even a full fendered hotrod. When I built my 54 Chevy I had plans to clone the Bill Hoffman car. But, I got it on the road and had way too much fun with it to tear it down and start over. So, it stayed with bigs, littles and cheater slicks

 

I did think about that. I told my buddy “ As long as it’s not a rolling sculpture”….

 

I guess my 2 cents as one of the really younger custom fans at 29, is a combo of whats been stated above. Costs and parts availability are right at the top. Back when I was in middle school and early high school before we bought Taboo back, I was dead serious about collecting parts to build a clone of the car and even just a decade ago all the parts needed to do the car was near impossible to find and pretty much out of reach for most people on prices. Even today I would like to build another custom, but costs just keep going up.

I will then the next thing is just a disconnect and a somewhat lack of imagination. I am mainly referring to more full and radical customs over mild, but my age group is used to just being able to buy a body kit for their tuner and have (in their mind) a instant custom car. Where a old school full custom needs alot of work and imagination and a good amount of engineering skills to work through all the various modifications and alot of the younger crowd just don't have the patience.

I will say though that alot of the younger crowd likes customs as when ever Taboo goes out alot of younger people are drawn to the car, its just the disconnect of what it takes to build a car like that and when they do see how much it takes, then thats where you loose them.

As stated about by others as well, customs are just in the faces of the younger group. I know I would always have to go looking for custom stuff growing up. When it comes to TV shows and on Youtube its mainly pro touring or taking old junk cars and dumping 1000+hp motors and going drag racing. Matt at Iron Trap is one of the few that does a great job and doing traditional stuff, even though its primarily hot rods over customs, but its about the most in your face vintage thing right now.

 

How do I add 1000 likes to this comment? Thats my biggest complaint with my car buddies around my age. To me they also need shiny paint and not looking like its just been pulled out of a field.

 

I might have to argue that they are dying... Heck, I have a 17 year old son that is studying up all he can on traditional kustoms and “gets it”. I might also somewhat argue that they don’t have to be more expensive to build than a hot rod. I promise I can build a kool kustom for less money than I can my idea of a cool hot rod. Kustoms can get away with being “never finished” even easier than a hot rod in my opinion. Just think how much money you can save not having to build a hopped up motor for a kustom that you will never raise the hood on anyway? I also see more driveable kustoms than I do hot rods mostly because drivetrain can be about anything and no one will ever know. Maybe some of this is because I have a background in bodywork and paint, but I think folks like @straykatkustoms and several others are helping keep it alive and passing it on to next generations. I do agree that it has likely always been the smallest group of car guys and likely always will be. That’s what makes it so kool.

 

Today appreciation of custom modifications seems limited to aficionados who know what the stock car looked like. Even a nose and deck job is lost on a civilian who doesn't know what a hood ornament ever looked like. Probably too, the cost of body and paint materials anymore is a barrier for the home customizer, reducing the overall number of creations. So there’s a small audience (or market) for the “investment”, but I guess like any art form, the work has to be for your own kool factor and those who can dig it.

 

I agree. My 55 is boring,as far as the power plant goes, But, it will be super reliable and the hood stays shut…..always.

It’s acceptable to be working on a custom while driving it, so tinted sealer is the choice of many.

 

I have been Working on my Merc. for the Last 40 year's & its slowly getting
There because Life has been getting in the Way & My Merc. is a Street Rod
and mild custom and will always be like that.!

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

I think customs are the next big thing. I’m getting older and fatter and don’t fit so well inside a Model A. At 59, I’m in the unique position of being between generations. When they came up with the baby boomer name the cutoff was 1960. Then gen X came along, starting at 1964. Hey, what about me? The point is, the guys that had money in the’80’s and got into the custom revival are well into retirement and not attending as many shows. The cars are still out there, and sadly, in reality many will be for sale in the next few years.
The other reality is money. Most of us had a financial setback in the crash of 2008 and the rebuilding is slow. Some guys my age may think they have the money, but then that trophy wife comes into the picture and sadly, in reality that costs buku bucks.
That leaves the X’s. The time is right to get their older, fatty asses into the nice comfortable seat of a mild custom, with plenty of room for the kiddos. Add AC and nice paint and you get buy-in from the wife (original or trophy). The time is right. It will be all custom all the time.

 

I’m right there with ya.

 

If you look at 'traditional customs', you'll see Packard Clipper taillights, '57 Buick grills, '55 Pontiac side trim, '56 Cad bumpers, '59 DeSoto headlight doors, etc. Where do you find these things today, and at what cost? What do you use instead, '09 Honda taillights, '16 Toyota bumpers, '02 Ford Taurus grille? The parts for a traditional custom are not (for the most part) reproduced so you first have to find good original stuff, then compete with restorers in the bidding war (can you sell a kidney?). You have to have the bodywork skills to pull it off, or find a bodyman/shop to do it (can you sell another kidney?). Custom work is not pull-and-replace like collision repair work, so finding a shop to take on a job is not easy. Customs have always been a smaller segment of the hobby, and in 'the old days' were usually owner-built by a guy that had talent and worked in the body and fender trade. Not too many of those guys around. There are some VERY talented metal guys on here, but how many are interested in creating a piece of art vs building something to drive (and face it: most customs don't get driven). Also, I think a of of guys in the hobby like to build cars, and once they are done, sell and find another project: the market for customs is much smaller than hot rods. JMHO, YOMV