Customs GNRS 2011 The Customs Then & Now Show... my story.

I'm very happy too see this. I have no words for what Rik is doing, its fantastic!

 

The initial goal of this show was to give the audience a journey into the history of the Custom Car. We wanted to have Custom Cars from all era's, to show the differences and updates each Custom Car era had to offer. But along the way it was decided that the focus would be on the early times of Customizing. The 1940's and the 1950's. And we did ended up with the most Custom Cars from this era – which is perfectly fine with me since I personally feel these are the best times in customizing.



But overall, I thing we still succeeded in giving a very good feel of how the custom cars evolved in the later part of the 1950's to the more wild Show car type of cars. Cars as the Aztec with its over the top but still very pleasing design where the beginning of the show cars as Reactor, Trendero and the Roth Cars that where on Display. The Larry Watson display was perfect to show that in the late 1950's and early 1960's it was not all over the top styling. With Paint and mild custom bodywork you could still drive a fantastic Custom Car. Steve Gonzales his 1950 Mercury was picked for its important roll it played in brining back the Custom Cars in the 1970's. The car was styled as if it could have been built in the 1950's. which was a lot different than what we where seeing in the 1960's where new styles and techniques where developed. In the 1980's the custom cars where still mostly based on the designs of the 1940's and 1950's. Cars as John D'Agostino's 1940 Mercury Stardust was clearly based on the Nick Matranga 1940 Mercury, but built with a slight modern twist, and above all moderns technologies.
In the 1980's and 1990's there where several Custom Car designers that incorporated more modern ideas to turn the 1940's and 1950's cars into a whole new style of Custom Cars. Harry Bradley did a series of wonderful Modernized Custom Car designs in Custom Rodder Magazine. And Dave Crook worked with Harry on several project cars. One of them was the fantastic Job One 1947 Ford Convertible. A car which was a delight to look at.... from every angle. Mike Young's 1960 Chevy by Gary Howard fits in this category as well. A lot of body work, and some of it very mild, but all to create the ultimate effect. In the last decade or so we see a lot of cars being built that are very much based on the same style as that was so popular in the 1940's and the 1950's. Cars as the John Fisher 1936 Ford Coupe, and Jeff Nepple's 1950 Mercury.

From the start we had planned to also include some (or at least one) Coach built Customs. An Delahaye, or Bugatti, or similar type of cars. These cars are known to be the inspiration for the early Custom Car builders. But the cars we wanted to have where not available anymore the closer we got to the show date. And unfortunately the team was unable to find a replacement car.
But what we did have was an unique car that is on the edge of Hot Rod and Custom Car. Tim Cunha had offered his Harry Westergard built 1932 Ford Roadster to us very early on. And I thought it would a perfect car for the show, to show the humble beginning of the Custom Car. I could see this Hot Rodder driving up to Harry Westergard, and both of them starting to discuss how they could improve on the lines of the Hot Rod. Using a V shaped Windshield of an late 1930's Car and using a nice rounded removable top with details like set in license plate, this car is to me an early sample of Customizing. And it also shows that Hot Rods and Custom Cars can go together very well. Tim had a lot of work done on the car to get it ready for the show. A new top was constructed using old material, to fit with the them, and an old Mercedes interior was used for the upholstery of the car, which now looks like it is still the original interior done in the 1940's. And I also want to thank Tim for brining the Vern Simons 1936 Ford Roadster.. another Harry Westergard Custom.








Here is a photo I took of Vern's 1936 Ford that has the belt-line filled in. The paint has cracked, which created an interesting effect on the mirrored image of the Idzardi's Dick Fowler 1938 Coupe.



One car that I know a lot of people looked forward to see was the Barris built Snooky Janich 1941 Ford... and I was one of them for sure.

I knew the car was going to be shown in dark gray primer, originally the plan was to have it as good as finished. But several events early on made sure that that idealistic plan could not be made. So instead the twin brothers Mallory concentrated on doing as much as they good. And the way it sat at the show was not perfect... and both steve and George knew that. But what a delight it was to see it at the show after not being seen for so many decades. And what a pleasure it was to see people staring at it for the whole long weekend. People wanting to talk to the owners to know more about it.

Below you can see a nice side shot of the car, and wow.... what a profile. The Barrises sure knew how to get this hard to chop short door to look good.
The stance is not perfect on it yet, it needs to be dropped more. But first the two inches to wide 1946 Ford front axle needs to be replaced by a narrower 1941 Units. Something Steve told me nobody had told him about. They just found out days prior to the show when they started to assemble the car to get ready for the show, that the axle was to wide, and the wheels would rub the fenders, and the car would not be able to steer. So it was raised, to make sure it could be maneuvered. Next on the agenda is finding the right parts, to fix this.






Its a bit hard to see in this photo, but they had painted the dash in the body color. Jaguar Green A wonderful deep green color with just the right amount of small metallics in it. I love that Steering wheel.




The front seat was also finished and shows how the rest of the interior will be done.

 

Rik,

Thanks for the post and telling the story.

Axle, Jeff and Rik, you guys really did a great job.

Thanks again.

 

Axle, Rik, Jeff, John Buck and crew..........thank you for the memories. I loved the music, the cars, the people. What a show.

 

Axle created a very nice floor plan that started at the 1940's customs at the front entrance, and slowely mved to the 1950's towards the center of the building. After the bench lane the later part of the 1950's and the Larry Watson sectionwas put in, and then it went on to the 1960's, 70's and 80's and all the way in the back the samples of the 90's and 2000's could be seen.
This way it was like you would travel in time, when walking from front to rear.

The photo below taken from the first floor office shows the front of the building where the customs from the 1940's where gathered. Kurt's 1941 Cadillac and Buick sitting next to each other, both with Carson top was a spectacular sight... from each angle.







I first met Bill Worden – the owner of the Barris built Ralph Testa 1950 Mercury Convertible – at the Sacramento Autorama. And there we taked a lot about his car, and many other custom and life related things. It was really good to see Bill again at this Customs Then & Now event. Ad bill also told me one new thing that I did not know about his Mercury.
When Bill restored the car he had to find some new Buikc taillights, since the original once where to damaged to be used. Easy parts to find was Bills thought. Well they where not to hard to find, but when he was trying to fit them he noticed they would absolutely not fit the body like the originals had fit. So did Barris use different lights than the 1949 Buick units Bill had bought? When Bill started to compare the units he found out that Barris had modified, reshaped the back portion of the taillight surround to follow the body. So thats what Bill had to do to... and then have the surround replated again...

 

Rik, thanks a million for identifying all these wonderful cars for us dumbasses!

You're the best History teacher I've ever had!

 

My sentiments exactly, I would have given my left nut to be there but no takers ...but I knew Riks coverage would be the next best thing to being there , not just in regards to his pics , but the whole feeling and atmosphere of the event ,thanks Rik!!!

 

He's good, but I say thanks to Rik's English teacher too. For someone who learned English as a second language, he writes and speaks it better than most of we Americans.

 

Hey Rik, Excellent job, Very well done.

It was good to finally meet you. Wish I had time to talk to you but i was a little bit bussy at that time. By any chance did you take any pics of the Olds ? if so I would like to see them.

Rick Erickson of ExK
Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
www.exkustom.com

 

"My good friend Augie came also all the way from Texas... and he showed me this photo of the Lanny Ericson 1956 Chevy. The photo was taken in 1958....
Its so great to meet all these people that bring such great stuff with them. Thanks for showing Augie".

 

Rik...good to see you again last weekend. You looked like a kid in a candy store who accidentally got locked in after hours!

Building 9 was even better than I'd hoped....so many fantastic customs, many of my favorites which I never expected to see in person. The Ogden Buick....OH MY, I must have spent a couple of hours staring at it and taking photos.

Keep up the fantastic work...you're doing a great service to us leadheads around the world.

Bryan

 

I really really wished i was there, i would be glued to the Ogden/Pisano/Barry Mazza buick and take huge amounts of pictures of it, i must say to few pictures of the buick in all the gnrs threads, i think there should be an gnrs thread only covering all photos taken on it

as i own an 1941 buick super convertible i will make into something simular, if anyone has any pics from gnrs of it feel free to mail me or for everyonesake also post here on hamb.... rocket394@gmx.com

cheers daemon

 

Rik...

Many, many thanks for your words, pictures, and thoughts on the entire experience of the show.

AND, thank you for all you do keeping the Kustom Faith Alive with research, pix, and, posts, and your superb website !

Your friend,

Jonnie King www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

Rik,

I was great to see you at the GNRS, and thanks for posting the shot of the snapshot that Lanny brought with him. The three of us from Texas had a great time ... just a shame that we didn't have more time to look at the cars. I am amazed at all the people that Lanny knew at the show -- just being introduced to them and having them recall what went on years ago was a real treat.

Like most of the country outside California, we are up to our eyeballs in snow [and here in North Texas, ice as well]; after having wonderful weather at the GNRS, driving home we encountered blizzard conditions --- but being able to make the show made it all worthwhile.

If anything could have improved on the "Then" customs, it would have been having Lanny's 56 Chevy in the group .... but based on comments by buckd on page 5 it is not ready to be shown.

Augie

 

When I first stumbled onto the HAMB back in 2008 after buying my Merc, little did I know that some guy from the Netherlands has spent thousands of hours researching cars, digitizing and hosting pics, and also helping to organize epic car shows that 20 years from now we'll look back in awe.

Hats off Rik (and the other guys of course), without your passion for customs we'd never have your amazing archive and knowledge. If you are ever coming through Chicago you've got a place to bunk down and I'll get my Dutch American wife to make bitterballen or whatever they are called.

 

Funny you should mention John Buck. One of my 7th grade science students here in Spokane told me her dad was gone for a few weeks helping her uncle with his car shows. I asked her, "Who's your uncle?" She replied, "John Buck". Apparently, he and her dad are actually just really close friends, but it's weird to have that connection to the GNRS in my 7th grade classroom here in Spokane, WA.

 

Talking about John Buck.

On Thursday John asked me if I could do one more of the Custom Cars Then & Now display Cards. I had made those at home in the Netherlands, and send John the pdf files to have them printed. At home I was 100% sure I had done them all, we all checked, and yep they where all done. Well turns out I had forgotten one, The Golden Bird T-Bird. Before I left home I had created an pdf file of this sigh with everything but the words and photo of the car... just in case.
John had his pc in his office on the first floor in building #4, and had CS2 running on it. At home I work on a Mac with CS4, so it took some time to adjust. I had to be on the phone with one of Johns assistance who was in their head quarter. John loaned me his I-phone and went off to do other stuff.
I recreated the Display Card and while doing that his phone went like every two seconds. If it was not an incoming call, it was a text message, or email, it looked like the whole nation was looking for John Buck.
John kept walking in and out of the office and talking to at least a dozen people in the time I was there.
I have seen people with a lot on their mind running a business, but I had never seen anything like this before. The man had so many things on his mind each moment I saw him, and always took time to talk to people, and made new arrangements, or fixing problems.... He was everywhere at the same time.. and of coarse never around when you needed him

My hat of to John Buck for creating this event the way he did.


This was one of the very few moments that I saw John relax for about a minute. During the performance of Jimmy Vaughan at the Hall of Fame Lunch. But even during the lunch John and his two assistance sitting next to him worked to get all things organized. (thats Luke Karosi on the left)





Okay... and now back to some cars. Some detail shots I made.

 

Hi Rik, AWESOME show you, Axle,John Buck et al put on !! Really awesome...so would have loved to be there! Think you guys may have turned me into a taildragger fan...my Fleetmaster (the one you kindly photoshopped for me) may well be draggin its hiney all over town after all PB

 

It was fantastic to be able to walk around the Norman E Timbs streamliner. Especially with Kurt's two fantastic early Customs sitting behind it.
The body work on the Streamliner is unbelievable, very hard to believe that this two part body was created in the late 1940's using "primitive" tools over a hand made wooden buck.




It was a spectacular sight to see the back portion of the body open up to show the fantastic engine.







Another car that I was looking forward to see was the Jerry Yatch 1940 Mercury. I had really hoped that the current owners would have removed the incredibly chap looking and above all very ugly fake hubcaps and replaced them with some better looking once since the Pebble Beach show. But unfortunately that was not the case.



The hubcaps made looking at this car kind of hard. One of the other custom car owners even offered me a screw driver so that I could pop them of... but I passed... which I now perhaps secret!
It makes you wonder why the car was not restored back to the version in the 1953 photo which was shown on its display board. With Cadillac Sombrero's and fender skirts... or at least with some real hubcaps. Which give the car a completely different look.



But after a while, I decided not to look at the hubcaps and to enjoy the car for what it really is... and then this one is really nice. The welded up trunk make the car look really smooth. And the panoramic rear window is really unique.

 

Thank you for doing this report. To everyone involved in the event, thank you also. Great cars are like great music, timeless and forever.

 

Rik,first I would like to thank you, Axle, Luke , Denis O and all involved for assembling what had to be a cast of characters the likes never seen before under one roof. It was like going to a hollywood movie premier and these were all the cast members of the movie. The car's I read about and always dreamed of seeing was like waking up to a gift at Christmas, being able to see the Hirohata merc was indescribable. Again thank you for all the efforts you put into this. And it was a pleasure to meet you for the first time. ( By the way we are going with black )

 

rik...thank you for the winter long odyssey....I followed your and axle's chronicle of this show building and developing and was moved to attend. Despite personal turmoil I persevered and made the trip. It was a weekend too short...too full....and TO remember. My deepest thanks and appreciation for all your hard work and to all the photographers who added their time to my experience. I have been home a week now and still keep looking for more on the show...found this thread and read through. I hope to see more vintage rooms from you guys at future shows....please don't stop here....thank you so much and keep up the great work of keeping the past of this phenomenal art form so fresh and inspiring.!!!

 

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for posting this Rikster,your photos and writings were EXCELLENT

 

Thankyou Rik.

M

 

It's like seeing the cast of an old movie only they're young like when they made the movie!

 

Rikster, thanks for the coverage and your efforts. I am glad the Yatch Merc made it. Axle called me trying to contact the owners, and I knew the car was at the 3 dog museum, but I thought the Myers still owned it. Axle called me trying to contact the owners and he finally got through and now the west coast has seen the car that won the Autorama year after year. The efforts you guys made to make this happen are much appreciated.
This Merc, I first saw at the very first Autorama, and it hooked me into cars, big time. It is also a tribute to Bill HInes, who always specialized in straight bodywork and black cars.
Thanks

 

Rik, Thanks for this thread and thanks to all involved in the show. Lots of just jaw dropping stuff, but I would love to see more of the Tommy Lee roadster, I have seen the odd picture, but somehow I can't get my head round that car, from the shots I have seen it looks amazing but still can't visualise it as a whole, it haunts me!
If Steeve Coonan is listening, I would love to see a full feature in Rodders Journal.
Thanks again.

 

Here are a few more photos of the tommy Lee Roadster... Fantastic car.


The guy who drove the car into the building gives you a good idea of the size of the car... pretty small.... but large at the same time









The Hidden headlights are a really neat feature on this car.
I took a really good look at the grille, and event held my hand inside to see how they where done. Its "L" shaped metal, probably shaped over a wooden buck, or with a special tool, then smoothed and chrome plated. The top portion of each grille bar had a satin finish.




The grille bars flow outwards towards the doors.

The Custom windshield has an indent on the sides than make it look like it has some small vent windows, but that is just an impression. The A-Pillars are actually quite thick... perhaps done to make it extra strong?

 

Those headlight doors look they are from a Cord.

BB

 

In fact.. the whole front fender looks like it could have started as a Cord unit.