Hey Mike, Thanks for clearing that up about the Tubs in question. I was thinking they were different, but couldn't remember when Joe first built his. The blue one is also bass ass. Thanks for getting Joe's tub back on the road and taking good care of it. I was in awe of it at last years LA Roadsters show! Rik, I really like the way you are presenting Watson's Photo's. I don't know if it was noted on this thread yet, but I have always loved the Watson Logo you are using. It is comprised of the work of two greats; The Watson silhouette is the work of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and the Lettering is by Von Dutch. Such a cool thread! -Aaron
Thanks Aaron, but the credit for getting the car back on the road goes to George Goodrich, formerly from Oceanside, CA. He started putting the car back together in 1971 and finally got it on the road in 2003 (family, life, etc. sometimes get in the way of building hot rods). I bought it from George in 2005 when he moved to Hawaii. I did what amounted to some "shakedown" sorting out for long distance driving, but George had already done all of the hard work. The current drivetrain consits of a 2.0 Pinto 4cyl, C4 and a beautiful, chromed and narrowed Columbia rear axle. I plan to un-ass the Pinto bits in favor of a '56 Chevy 265 with '58 Vette fuel injection and an aluminum powerglide (or maybe a 4 speed!), repaint it like Joe did, and I'll have a buddy of mine re-create the '32 Chevy top (I have all the original bows and irons, and the're in perfect shape). Mike Oh ya, and thanks Rikster for this killer thread.
More bikes... This is a nice photo taken by Larry with one of his many painted bikes in the front, and his 1962 Caddy in the back. The caddy is now painted black with a silver top, its final version shortly before he sold it. By then he had also removed the dummy Spotlights, added single thin line white wall's and removed the Buick wires. Ford Custom Pick up in front of the Watson DeCarr shop. Not visable in this photo, but when this photo was taken the Ed Schelhaas sign was repainted with the Bill DeCarr sign. As for the Ford Pick Up... This is the Ford truck that Barris built for Johnny Zupan (thanks Ralph Ascencio). Larry later re-painted it in pearl white with fogging in green and gold green around the edges. Not one of Larry's finest moments...
Over-exposed and pretty worn snapshot of Larry's Grapevine interior. Taken at night with a very bright flash... But I love photos like this taken at a lower angle than ussual, showing details you would otherwise never see... Another snapshot from te Larry Watson Album. This time a mild custom 1959 Ford Ranchero. Shaved, tube grille, lowered, spotlights and a singe color Larry Watson paintjob in an off white pearl color. All I know about the owner is that his last name is Jones...
Another black and white photos from the Larry Watson Collection. Pretty rare for this collection since most of the material is just like Larry's work very colorful. This however is one very nice black and white photo of Larry's Grapevine at Rose Hills Memorial park. Larry Watson painted this 1963 Pontiac in a wonderful Candy red, after the body was stripped of its emblems. Larry must have painted douzens of mild custom like this, with only some body trim removal and lowered suspension. This car even runs the stock hubcaps... well they added some custom bullest which make them looks custom. Very smooth mild custom, which would not cost much to built then, or now.
Larry Watson painted this 1963 Pontiac in a wonderful Candy red, after the body was stripped of its emblems. Larry must have painted douzens of mild custom like this, with only some body trim removal and lowered suspension. This car even runs the stock hubcaps... well they added some custom bullest which make them looks custom. Very smooth mild custom, which would not cost much to built then, or now. [/QUOTE] This appears to have the factory-optional 8-lug aluminum wheels with a little improvement. Nice car ... I always loved the Pontiacs from this era. Thanks for posting.
Talk about radical !! looks like they wanted to fit a 60 Ford grille or stuff like that ! it would really be interesting to see more of it...done or not ! Thanks again for sharing that amazing collection, and more of all, explaining the story behind those pics !
Mike, your plans sound great. I'll echo what others have said, and say thanks for keeping this landmark car on the road. Hope I find it out at the Roadster show; planning to go Saturday, and I'd really like to see it.
Another snapshot form the Larry Watson files... I have no info on this T-Bird, or the 1940 Ford Coupe parked next to it. The Ford Coupe comes back in several other photos as well. mildly customized with 46-48 Ford bumpers and none stock headlights. The T-Birds looks to be pretty much stock except for the added Spotlights. Perhaps getting ready for a Watson paint job? Larry painted this 1958 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible in a very bright platinum pearl white. Perhaps even so bright that the camera could not deal to well with it... hence the over-exposed car and under-exposed back ground of this nice snapshot. The car is only very mildly custmized with some of the trim removed, but other than that very much the way it came from the factory. The locations is in front of the Peanut House at Larry's 9012 Rosecrans Blvd. shop in Bellflower.
On post 248 with the green Triumph (scalloped rear fender), does anyone have anymore pics of it or where I can get a full scan of this picture? I own the bike now and Im trying to collect as many pictures of the bike as possible. I have a few magazines it was in back in the day but from what I understand it was in alot of places (hence,this photo)...Any help would be aprreciated
I have one more photo of this bike... but also just a detail shot, not from the whole bike. Can you show us some more photos of the bike from your collection, and perhaps how it now looks.
For Rik and anyone else who's interested ,the Jockey journal had a thread on cwheelin's great show bike find -http://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69599 It's nice to see that more of the bikes history has unfolded here in its lime green fadeaway paint -my guess is that this must be the original paint scheme. Cheers RM
I really like the way the lettering on the tires on this Thunderbird has been picked out in white. Was this a special kind of tyre, or was the white lettering added after as I have noticed it on a few cars both in this thread and elsewhere?
Awesome, it is so cool to see how many different paint schemes it had. I never seen it in this color. The tank is tiny (maybe 1/2 gallon). I am not good at posting picture links but I will put some in my profile. Thanks again for any input.
Here are the pics as I have seen in some magazines and the last one is where the grandson had put some flames on it
Im a big fan of the green but the pics of the multi colored ones I think really set it off. I just about found every part to put it back the way it was (just need a pirelli ribbed front tire) and then its off to paint and some chrome that is peeling. The green is super nice and would be easier to duplicate but I think most have seen it in the other color
I'd have to agree with Nads. If the bike still had the wild paint job I'd leave it, but I like the earlier '60s fogged paint job it's more striking. Really neat find! -Aaron
A company named Ed Cholakian Enterprises used to run ads in many of the custom and rod magazines back in the late 50's -60's for a product for detailing tires. It was a paint stick or crayon for highlighting the lettering ... sort of copied the painted lettering on racing tires of the 50's. As I recall, it was offered in various colors. Ed Cholakian Enterprises is still in business in Los Angeles ... specializes in parts for Cadillacs of the 1940's and 50's.
Mike and Aaron plus others. Mike thanks for the credit on the touring. Never got credit for bringing Rotar back to life either but thats life. I am bad at getting pictures on this site, can you guys search for "Mystery Car" here for a thread i put up recently but went nowhere, and find the pics of my latest t that is almost done. More is done since the pics there and i will try to put more up. I am doing this all alone here in oceanside as i know of no rodders around and probably because i am too busy between hawaii and here. Still have 2 roth vehicles to finish. Let me know what you think? Thanks George Goodrich G
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