Yeah, Ron wasn't happy about doing mine either. Well, I guess he was happy to do it, since he chose to for some reason, but he sure let me know he didn't enjoy it. LOL That project and outlining the scallops on my Watson Caddy desk....two jobs he never let me forget in his Ron sort of way that weren't fun. LOL
Jack used the following magazine was part of the i research material to build the Hirohata. Thinking about all of the details that was done perfectly to build this clone is amazing. Doug Thompson was a very gifted customizer.
Jack was very honored the clone was included in the Motor Trend 100 Years of the Automobile magazine.
Pictures below were taken when a storm came thru on a Sunday afternoon. It was severe, so some of the cars drove into a building for safety. When the sun came out Jack was ready to head home, so he started to back out of the building. He had a couple of guys helping him maneuver his way and when he got out of the building all of the sudden guys started yelling Stop! Stop!! Don't move!! Jack was afraid he was going to back into a post, trash can maybe a car, he had not idea what was the problem. Jack got out of his Merc and was pleasantly surprised that photographers were doing all of the yelling. They wanted to make sure they captured this kool pic. Jack was relieved the reflection was causing all of the yelling.
Most of the stuff that was in Jack's photo album were articles about the cloned Hirohata. I'll start posting more on a daily basis. I wasn't going to share the articles but decided it is important history and we believe it needs to be shared. Thank you fore the kind words and hope you continue to enjoy the thread.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share this with us and to Jack Walker and Doug Thompson for all they did to make such a beautiful car come to life with just memories and a few pictures. And those water reflection pictures are amazing! A true moment in time.
Incredible shots @straykatkustoms, these are your images? Thanks for sharing Jack's collection and his memories. There are clones and clones that really nail it...this is one of those...as mentioned a side by side of it and the original would be stereoscopiclly interesting. Thanks to the others chiming in to add to the history. Nice to see the Customs up front and center as the Culture was a diversified mix of greatness...
Thank you, it was fun scanning them. Reminded me when I was a kid looking through the Sears Christmas catalog. I hadn't seen it either. Jack told me it was an original picture that Barris gave him.
That was published a long time ago, 65 yrs at least probably more like 70 yrs. That's Hirohata himself
That was published a long time ago, 65 yrs at least probably more like 70 yrs. That's Hirohata himself
Mick, thank you for posting and keeping the history alive. I was fortunate enough to get to meet Jack and make friends with him back in the early 90s. Heres a pic of the Merc at one of the first Goodguys events in Des Moines Ia. I was sad to hear of Jacks passing he will be greatly missed.
Been going though letters and articles in Jacks scrap book. Some are repetitive but I'll post the ones that I think are interesting to read. Here is a article from the KOA Style line magazine.
The opportunity to talk about kustoms doesn't happen around here very often. When it is time for the Starbird show, it never disappoints. I look forward to it every year because I get to feed my Kustom addiction. This year I heard an interesting comment about the Hirohata clone. We were talking about the popularity of the original Hirohata. During the discussion, a gentleman said the original Hirohata had a significant boost because of all the exposure of Jack’s Hirohata clone. It is a very interesting thought. I've never taken the time before to think about how much Jacks clone played with the popularity of the Hirohata. While I was walking around, I ran into John D'Agostino. I mentioned the comment to him because I was curious to get a west coast opinion. John agreed, said without a doubt the Hirohata clone assisted the popularity of the original. Why? Because Jack aggressively showed the Merc all over the country for many years and all the worldwide magazine coverage. It was seen by more people than the original Hirohata. Because of the clone’s success, it created continued popularity about the original. Very interesting discussion and was kool to hear the important role Jack Walker played within our Kustom hobby.
I will never forget waling into the Hangin' Dice Nats (have I told this story already? LOL) in '87 somehow oblivious to the fact that jack and Doug had built the clone and just about dying thinking, "Oh my gosh!!! The Hirohata Merc HERE in Arkansas!!!" Lol Oh to be young and ill informed again. Haha. Was so incredible to be able to walk up to it and study the heck out of it all weekend. You are right, no doubt the clone really helped light the fire of the custom resurgence...or at least poured a heaping pile of gasoline on it. I still can't imagine the dedication and effort that took at the time. It's no small feat now as I pluck away at my own version, but today we have so much more information and an infinite amount of reference pictures and technology at our finger tips to figure out measurements, colors, find parts, etc. that didn't exist then. The article mentioned racking up long distance charges....remember when a phone call out of town was a REAL expense?!
The Jalopy Journal
