Features The Ugliest Kustoms of the 50s

Frank Maratta owned New England Auto Body he was a very skilled body man a couple examples of his other work.

There was a story on that 39 Merc that I don’t recall as to why he built it.

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He was also a drag racer his Model A “The Rake”




As well as owning and operating a speed shop.

 

One of the rules imposed by many/most car shows was that you could not reenter the same car year after year unless it was changed significantly from the previous year. As many customizers could not afford a new car each year, they had to modify the car annually, and that led to customs getting uglier each year. An originally clean looking custom would become busier each year with more and more modifications with each successive year of showings.

 

Yeah, but if enough car owners said, "I like my car just the way it is, so fuck off", the promoters would have run out of cars.
To me, its kind of sick that the promoters, who invested the least money, called the shots.

 

I just saw the Parisienne II a couple weeks ago that Joe Sulpy built. His was built out of a 59 Plymouth IIRC, but it goes to show you just how heavily customized the car was where one that started with a 54 Ford and the other a 59 Plymouth could eventually end up looking about the same. This one never really bothered me. I don't think it's the most attractive custom ever, but I also don't think it's hideous.

 

That Merc is still around and still looks great. Owned by none other than Anthony White, 00MAck on the HAMB

 

. . . and I think that when some of the shows used a numerical system in judging cars with a number for each modification to get a total for the "winner" led to "overdoneness".

 

Frank sounds cool! Amusing write-up here.

 

I like the Moon Rocket. It was pretty fast too.

 

Hello this is JC Whitney what would you like to order today?.....Yes

 

The Gaylord ?

 

"The most pronounced example of this is in the second story, where the man is made penniless by his automobile and is eventually consumed by it."

Yeah... sound familiar to anyone here...?

 

Not a lot (if any) body mods, but the winner for most bolt-on geegaws and dodads from Warshawsky/ J.C. Whitney, Western Auto, and Pop’s Used Auto Parts.

“All Juked Up”