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”

 

Arguing about the beauty or ugliness of a custom car is like Arguing about your favorite color, kinda pointless

 

I keep waiting for the "Ugliest rods of the 50s" thread. Can't imagine that would stay up long.

 

Gassers fit that description

 

The Phantom Corsair is a rebodied 37 Cord Built by Bowman and Schwartz that was owned by Herb Schriner, not at all ugly, it's a beauty.

 

Love the Phantom Corsair. Cool car, very cool story behind it.

 

I don't think anyone falts the quality of Frank Maratta's work on customs. When he built the 39 or rebuilt it for the nth time the whole idea was to max out points on the judging sheet. I've still got the ISCA judging sheet from 1982 at the Chevy=GMC truckin Nationals in Ogden that was the only time my truck was ever judged with a judging sheet in a show. The sheet shows available or max points for each and every mod of the vehicle if it is a rod or custom. The mod doesn't have to be a proper mod that fits in with the build to get points.

 

This reminds me of the Kustom/Kemp arguments from the '70's; when, as has been noted, decently done customs kept getting ever more outrageous shit done to them. Show promoters really had too much say

 

Agreed! In the eye of the beholder!

Ben