So I know the topic of chop v. unchopped has been beaten to death on here. but I recently bought a copy of 'Kustomland'. Good book, nice photography. Well put together. Something that really struck me was the amount of unchopped cars featured in it. Specifically 49-51 fords. Paul Sobek's 50 sedan, Junior Conway's 49, Paul Richards 50 vert. All unchopped. All with lots of nice custom features and paint. So I guess the question this raises in my mind is how many chopped customs were there running around in the 50s? We all know the famous mercs, buster litton's shoebox, etc. But were these really the norm? Or did most guys rely on simpler custom tricks (grills, mouldings, etc) and some sweet Watson style paint? I don't think every shoebox in the 50s had a 5" in the front 6" in the back chop like we see today, right? I'm just curious as to what the trends were then, and how they compare to what we see billed as 50s style customs today. Leeched from Rikster:
i think that everything, and every trend, gets exaggerated with time. the lowness of hot rods is a good example. a low car, and a heavily chopped top, stand out alot, and thats what people seem to see first, then tend to expand on the obvious first. also a top-chop was and is a big undertakin for the average joe. and from what i know, paint wasnt such an expensive thing back then as it is now. and cuttin your springs was an at home thing as opposed to the whole mustang 2 crap
yeah, right? unchopped, REAL low. lots of mods. custom, mild custom, radical custom whatever. yet all 3 of the cars in the book look so 'right'. esp the conway. there was another 50s car, owner escapes me now. green with scoops behind the wheels, guy worked for barris. was unchopped then chopped. almost looked better chopped.
Lots of the shoebox customs were coupes,and the trend now is chopped 2 door sedans. I really like the un-chopped coupes that are customs.That being said,I have one of each.
Was that the Goulart (spelling?) Ford. The scoops behind the wheel wells were stainless too. It had that well done canted quad front end? I don't remember that one being chopped though. From Rikster's archive:
50shoe, I see what saying but most of the cars you named and the book Kustomland are more focused on the period of say 1954 thru early sixties. During these years especially after Watson started showing what he could do. The more radical Kustoms were actually starting to fade away.At least mercs and shoeboxes were.At this time most guys were just getting the paint jobs, wheels and lowering just like you said.If you look back at the early mercs,they say the last of the original kustom mercs was Buddy Alcorns and he was finished in 1954 or 55. After this, people were realizing that they didnt have to go through such extreme changes to make their car a Kustom.
so radical customs were generally 54 or before. OK. makes sense. you can really see how the later 50s impalas, t-birds etc, just needed some paint and were 'custom', so I imagine very few of those were chopped. so limit it to mercs and early 50s fords and chebbies. I wonder how many were chopped/radical customs? too bad there is no census data for cars in the 50s....
I will say this.Its amazing how few chopped shoeboxes from the 50s were tudors with that conventional slant post chop that weve become so accustomed to seeing today.As a matter of fact I can only think of 3 and two of them were unknown to most people.As a matter of fact,of all the chopped shoeboxes chopped in the 50s and early 60s,I can only think of 2 with slanted posts,maybe thats cause I just woke up.
Pat Ganahl & Harry Bradley covered this well years ago. Sam Barris was a visionary via Westergaard. Then Dutch Darrin and Raymond Loewy started givin' people the style they wanted. Then Exner delivered mass- cool with the forward look. His '57's made everything else LOOK not so cool.
The coolest unchopped coupes ever besides Juniors were the one in the 1959 Custom Cars annual and Steve Anglins buot by Charlie Brewer in the early 80s.
Mine's not chopped and I like it. I think they stand out a little more. I once had a guy ask me what I did to make the windows so big. I just stood there and looked at him. Besides, when it does break down and has to go on a trailer, I can't fit my fat ass through the window.
Jeffsled and 00MACK... exactly what I was getting at/asking. thanks. I was thinking of it this way, take 10 custom cars (or 100) in the 50s, how many would be chopped? how many with custom paint/trim only, etc... just something I was thinking about, esp in comparison to what we see today. 00MACK, is/was that your car? thats a nice chop. not overdone. like the straight B-pillars.
My friend Joe and I did it when we were 20.Its his and it tought him how to do everything.Hes blockin it for paint as we speak.
awesome. are those chevy teeth in front? post up some pics when its done. something about the size/shape of the windows with the slope of the rear roof flows real nice.
Is it me or is there something "off" about the windshield and front of the top on this car. I am, by no means, a kustom historian, but, it almost looks like it has a 52 Ford windshield grafted onto it.
It is a 1952-54 Ford windshield, and the front of the roof, too. A radical custom that isn't technically "chopped"! To answer another question, by the mid-to-late 1950s "glass area" was the hot thing, which meant no more mail-slot chopped cars. I have one from around 1955 or '56 and they ask both Barris brothers and a few other customizers what they want to see on the new cars and MOST of them say something about "a lot of glass." Look at dream car drawings of that era and you see very thin roofs sitting up high high high. I suppose it looked very new after years of what we now call traditional kustoms (which must have just looked outdated to their eyes).
The first unchopped custom that always comes to mind is Junior Conways ford. I have always loved that car. If you don't have the kustomland book you need to go buy it because it is awesome. As for chopping cars these days only chop it if you plan on keeping it for a long time. Because if you go to sell it seems like unchopped cars bring more money and might be easier to sell.
Uh .... let me see ... so you're sayin' if it is chopped it is shit??? (Sorry, couldn't resist. Useta get a similar statement from Harley riders once in a while ... they always looked confused when I responded.
Well I ,ve seen both chopped and non-chopped cars that are cool. I think it has more to do with style and workmanship than the size of the windows
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