Folks Of Interest Non-White Custom Car Builders

I don't own a hopping Impala but when I see a car with monsters and skulls painted all over it I still ask why.

 

I know, Right? Heh.. who would ever do THAT!?

 

Being a retired paint & body man of 65+ years. When I went to car shows I always looked at the quality of work that went into the low-riders. The fit and the slick paint jobs showed me that there was a labor of love that they put into these cars that is above a lot of the other car's there.

 

Amen to that. As a friend says, we all like the same thing but in different ways.

 

I know it's not in the "custom car" realm, but certainly within the relevance of the HAMB.

Fred Stone and Tim Woods, of the famous "Stone, Woods & Cook" gasser team were both black men.


Rufus "Brooklyn Heavy" Boyd was also a black man.


I don't think it's out of line to observe that the custom car world is largely "white", however you want to define that. That being said, it has also been my observation and experience that for anyone who is legitimately into this thing of ours, anyone that speaks the language is accepted with open arms regardless of race, color, nationality, creed, age, and so on. It's a tie that binds that seems to cross all boundaries, which is pretty awesome.

 

Me. Japanese-American, emphasis on "American".

 

Well, to tell the family secret, my grandmother was Dutch.

 

I’m part native and have had my ethnicity questioned several times.

as far as I know I’m mostly human

a wise philosopher once said we’re all made from star dust but so is pond scum.

The lowrider magazines had the best looking females at the magazine rack growing up.
Along with the mini truck magazines

I hate mayo

 

As an old man I, too, find myself periodically misspeaking, having to walk it back and give it another go. Just the Hispanic car culture alone is prodigious and rich beyond all measure. And then take a look at the Japanese, as Junji @jnaki, @Mark in Japan and others can attest, both here and in Japan. Ten or fifteen years ago there were Hispanic and Japanese Hambers, before IG etc. The Japanese old American car scene is insane.

Just a few of the old Hispanic Hambers: @low springs @Cochino @Goozgaz @marcoman @D.A.
I especially love the Drag-N-Shop style, the Garcia family from Santa Fe Springs, CA.

 

Yes Jimmy Jones was black but guy's who wanted his skirts made their way to his shop. Probably far better known outside of his home area for what he did than by the locals. There is an article on the net about him and it is pretty interesting. Tells how he would go to the wrecking yard and look for body panels to cut out that had most of the shape for the skirt he wanted to make at the time and then trim and finish shape it into a custom fender skirt.

I remember in the early 70's when I was building my T bucket while working in a Firestone Tire Store one of my black coworkers couldn't get his head around why I wanted to build a bare bones car with just a little body, engine and not a lot else when his Ideal car was a Caprice with a half vinyl top, velvet interior and a a front seat with an armrest so he could drive down the street doing a good gangster lean. That was his idea of custom and he had it all planned out in his head.

I can't remember the names but a time or two in the car hobby you find out that a name you have known as belonging to an accomplished car guy wasn't the race you always thought they were. They just never got in published photos.

I'm going to leave it at that a lot of ethinc groups have modified or "customized" their cars from day one but it isn't what we in the main stream of "that's how they looked in the little books" line of thinking view as customizing.

 

I agree, I’ve lived in Wyoming, West Texas, East Texas, New Mexico, Iowa and Wisconsin, I’ve experienced different ethnic groups cars from low riders to tuned imports.
If you have an open mind you will simply be amazed at the passion people have for their cars. As for low riders being all show and no go BS had my rear spanked by a low rider in a street race.
A lot of these cars have amazing paint, interiors, and fabrication, some are HAMB appropriate some aren’t. At a car show stop by and talk with the people about their cars you may be surprised.
While some of these cars aren’t our cup of tea I don’t see how you can be a car guy and not appreciate these cars.

Dan

 

Not on topic, but you may want to look up Grand Seiko and it's history for a perfection fix.

 

From my lurking for years to my time here now. You sure you're not related to Ed Roth? Maybe alittle out of this world? Agree with the mags. obliviously no disrespect, always enjoy your posts lol

 

Though I truly appreciated being mentioned in the same context with that great American artist, I must state his creations and body of work are light years ahead of mine.
Related? Well where I come from you’re either part Native American or a distant cousin of Elvis.

 

Alright ill give you mork from mork and mindy.

 

I’ve had people tell me I look like Chuck Norris. Seriously. Told some of them he was my brother. Some of them actually believed it.
Elvis who?

 

Blackie Gejeian RIP, is Armenian also, the guy had taste beyond description, he put on one of the coolest rod and custom shows on the planet, I was fortunate to attend it one year while visiting Fresno.
I'm not sure of all his accomplishments but this photo of his ?first? roadster strikes me every time I see it.



"Blackie, born in 1926, started driving his father's Model A at the age of 12. At 14, he locked the rearend. "I learned to drive that car better than anything on the dirt roads. I learned to drive it like (daredevil stunt driver) Joie Chitwood."

The story
Here:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/0810rc-blackie-gejeian/

 

Yam Oka used to be featured in the hot rodding mags back in the early days.

 

Idk how anyone here could have anything but the upmost respect for the lowrider scene. The chrome, paint, interior and attention to detail is so staggering on some of those cars it almost makes ya wanna give up on even trying to make something respectable and clean haha I see em and think ah crap, if I built a show car itd look like a patina ride next to these things! As far as the op question, theres nothing off about it but as others have said, the image that I guess "society" paints of the era is far more white washed than reality and the reality is in the pages of the mags of those years. The diversity is thick as anywhere not only in skin color but hell, in financial status of the builders! The range of show cars...one built by some 19 yr old kid next to one built by a 35 yr old established man well into his career is wild! Where there was a will there was a way and it boggles my brain to see the ingenuity and skill some of these folks mustered with little more than a copy of HRM in their hip pocket and a high school shop class. I spose my short answer to the op is go hop on the fleabay or marketplace and buy 3 or 4 50s car mags, you wont regret it

 

The "Speed Shifters" was an African-American car club in Washington DC in 1955.

Although none became famous custom car builders, they did all the stuff that other clubs did; dechroming, engine swaps, loud exhausts, and street racing.

 

I never cared much for the Lowriders/Hoppers, but I for a long time have wanted to spend an afternoon crawling around under one to see exactly how the dang things worked.
Its very true in racing that its hard to outrun money, because if you dont know something, you pay somebody that does. As far as customs go, a lot of the time the better cars are done by people who have more time than they have money. Some places you cant skimp on money, but a lot of times it boils down to hard work, and time in the dirt.

 

A while ago @Ryan posted "Racing while Black" about an African American stock car team. I ended up buying the book and it was an interesting read.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/racing-while-black.1283404/

Edit: If anyone wants the book they can have it for the cost of book rate postage. PM me if interested.

 

This post was asking for info on Japanese-American car clubs, but didn't get too far
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...in-southern-california.1041723/#post-14994683

 

In the same thought, we can't forget Wendell Scott, the first black NASCAR driver and first black driver to win a NASCAR race.

 

I like this thread!

Personally, I think I understand where the OP is coming from. 70 years ago, the World was a very different place.
So many builders and innovators have been lost to time, and in some cases those individuals were “not white”. Especially groups who were marginalized in the past due to racism or even “Post War” (German and Japanese).

I have some experience with Japan. Their “Car Culture” is really second to none (except maybe Singapore or Malaysia). Most of the stuff is “Off Topic” or not HAMB friendly.

However, lots of Pre War iron in Japan. Also, lots of Kustoms (like Borders Kustoms in Nagoya), and Shige-San in Yokohama at MOONEYES Area-1 has so many cool projects going at any one time.
One shop really stands out though.
Paradise Road in Nagoya is really something!
Junichi Shimodaira builds some really wild stuff! Seeing his 1936 Ford “Bomb” in Japan is really something, and his Kustoms are fabricated all metal.
Ed Roth visited a few times and really respected Junichi-San’s work.
It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but born 30 years earlier… his cars would have been up there with the top stuff in the 50s and 60s.
He’s a really nice guy as well!

My oldest Son has a pretty decent collection of “Back in the Day” built in Japan Kustoms and Hot Rod, archived photos and stories if anyone is interested.

Here are a few photos from a recent visit (2023). Last photo is not mine.

 

Wow, what a cool article! Thanks for sharing!

 

And Jimmy liked to mess with his mainly white customer base…Dave Jenkins ( RIP ) had some great stories…Jimmy did the skirts in his backyard and garage…

Jimmy use to cut sail panels off cars at Bishops wrecking yard off Michigan Ave, still there today, but all the old stuffs long gone..