History Larry Watson's Personal Photo Collection

Keep it up Rik!

 

Wow!, That's all one should be able to say after being able to see Larry's Personal Pix.
Those Delmer Brink shots are crazy, It's amazing about what happened to these
cars, mind you-this was only about 11yrs after the it won the GNRS.

 

There is not much Custom about this Larry Watson painted 1958 dodge Coronet. But I think its just a fantastic snapshot. The way the two cars are parked, the colors on the Dodge and the Chevy in the background. It was more than likely not meant to be, but I think the composition of the two cars and background is absolutely perfect. Both cars appear to have been painted Candy body's with Pearl tops. But the two cars don't appear on any of the other photos in the collection, so I cant tell for sure.




This photo was taken at Larry Watson's Firestone Blvd shop. Larry did a lot of paint jobs on custom bikes. In this photo two bikes where painted at the same time. One with lace, and the other with some sort of marble effect. I love the primitive paint stands that are covered with loads of special paint... I wonder if those survived as well?

 

great pictures. thanks for sharing

 

Rik,
Did you notice that red car back in the garage behind the marbleized tank?

That looks like a Dual Ghia, a favorite of the Rat Pack; Sinatra, Lawford, Bishop, each bought one, I think. And I have only ever seen one photo of that model with dual headlamps. Most had a single round light or an oval Cibie.

Anyone recognize this car? Was it a custom?

 

Wow!

 

Great eye Dave...

I dont have not been able to find any other photos of this car in Larry's Collection. But it must be a Chrysler Dual Ghia...


Here is an enlargement of that part of the photo showing the car.

 

RiK thanks a million for posting these great pictures, i am speachless & stun from all the great work from Larry Watson

 

This is really a great job, thanks for showing this really neat history lesson...thought it was going to be just a couple of pages long.

 

I lived in Dairy Valley in 55-56. Saw Saints Chev at the Drive-Ins etc...
The Dairy Farmers had money, and a lot of nice cars. Really nice. Wasn't
uncommon to see a Custom 53-54 or a 52 with a v/8 under the hood either.
Did the square Bird of Larry's have a name like some of the other cars did?
Someone told me it did, but I don't remember it having one.
Thanks for all the great pics of the good times

 

Larry's T-Bird was originally call The Vino Piasano, from a bottle of wine sitting on a shelf in the shop, although he later sold T shirts that Diego Garcia called it Vino Pisano. Roger

 

Another Bike photo from the Watson Collection. This time a freshly painted custom frame. Larry painted the super smooth frame in a dark pink and the tank and fenders in a fuchsia pearl. I guess Larry was test fitting the parts to see how the combination of the two tints looked together. Note the rags preventing the paint to scratch when the rear fender was put in position, and where the frame was set on the cardboard on the ground.








Larry Watson also painted a lot of "Foreign" cars. This photo of the Watson Collection shows a very nice Jaguar E-Type which Larry painted in a wonderful Pearl Platinum for owner Bill Frie. Nothing Custom about this one, but the wire wheels and the ultra thin white wall tires look dynamite on this car.








I have shown a few more photos of this really fine 1956 Chevy from the Larry Watson Collection before. But this photo really shows how simple but effective the car was. Larry's purple candy paint job is outstanding, and is even enhanced by the cars all white tuck&roll interior. The emblems where shaved, but that was as far as the customizing on the body went. The rest was done with perfect stance and the right set of wheels/tires and details.

 

Im diggin this chevy right here,nice simple mild custom.

 

Not to often do we see a 1955 Chevy Sedan Delivery done up as a Custom Car. Larry painted this one in an off white pearl with gold flake top and butterscotch candy highlights. The unidentified car sits just right on wide whites and chrome reverse wheel in front of the Bill DeCarr/Watson Artesia blvd somewhere in 1960. The car had some chrome removed, but the door handles and hood ornament stayed in place. The Custom tube grille works well with 1955 Chevies....







I have shown a few more photos of Jerry Fever's Larry Watson painted Model A Roadster before. But this photo from the Watson Collection shows some more details, like the full dressed Flathead engine. I also really like the black wheels and black interior, such a strong contrast with the bright orange/red paint. The year is 1960, in front of the Bill De Carr/Watson Artesia Blvd shop. The shop that Bill took over from Ed Schelhaas, Ed's name was still on the shop when this photo was taken, however not visible in this photo.









Paint detail photos from the Larry Watson Collection. Larry painted this unidentified 1949 Ford Sedan in a peach pear. He connected the headlights and the wind split of the taillights with a double painted pinstripe. He then used his veiling gun and red paint to add the swirling paint detail around the double pin strip. This technique was used mainly in house decorations like lamp shades etc. But Larry used this veiling gun technique on several cars to create some very unique effects.
The car is mildly customized with some trim removal, and a custom side trim.









Snapshot taken by Larry Watson of an unidentivied guy holding a freshly painted bike gas tank. The gastank which is wonderfully shaped with it small scoop at the sides towards the end of the tank was painted pearl white and scalloped in Candy Fuchsia and Metallic Gold. The colors are pretty similar to what Larry Watson used on the Jim Skonzakes Golden Sahara Truck, which I have been shown here some time ago. This truck is sitting on the right site of the photo, so I wonder if perhaps Jim Skonzakes also had a bike done to go with the Golden Sahara... I have not been able to find any photos of the rest of this bike... nor did Jim ever mentioned anything about a bike. But next time when I talk to Jim I will ask and see if he ever had a bike painted by Larry.

 

Very cool pics thanks

 

This travel in Larry's life is dope !

 

I like it!I guess tri-5's do make cool mild customs. It gives me some ideas for my 56 chevy.

 

That '56 Chevy is really cool! Those wheels appear to be chrome reverse with stock '56 dog-dish hubcaps which have had fake two bar knockoffs bolted to them. Never seen that before.

 

Thanks so much for the memories. I remember a few of them from back then.

 

Here is a rather torn up snapshot of the Pinky Richard's 1957 Corvette, but with an earlier Larry Watson paint job. The pinstriped flames that Larry had done where already present on the cove panel. And apparently Pinky like them so much that Larry had to cover that panel up when doing the new paint job and design the new flames to go with the earlier pin striped flames. I always love these partly torn up photos... and even more the fact that Larry hold on to it!.







Another photo of Pinky Richard's 1957 Corvette. This time from the series of snapshots Larry had taken while he was doing the new paint and flames on Pinky's Corvette. Here we can see Larry with a helper shortly after the black flake flames where painted. Not quite sure if Larry is adding some clear to the flames at this point... The helper is blowing air on the car and Larry is standing up against the car so the black flame paint must have been dry then. Anyway it is amazing to see larry with his perfect hair, white socks, and no protection what so ever!







Great snapshot of the the Dean Jeffries 1957 Ford Ranchero Shop Truck when Dean had just started his business. The truck was rolling advertisement for Dean. Special paint, color mixing, lettering and pin striping everything Dean could do was on that truck. This snapshot was taken outside of the Bill DeCarr/Watson Artesia Blvd. shop.








This Tall T coupe was photographed in front of the Watson/DeCarr Artesia Blvd shop in 1960. I have shown one other photos of this car - rear 3/4 view - before. I have no info on the car, no owner and no facts. But we assume that Larry painted the Hot Rod. The car is perfectly styled with a perfect stance, wonderful wheel tire combination, and the painted white suspension parts work really well with the dark fuchsia/maroon paint. And the location with the hay truck makes this again a wonderful snapshot from the Larry Watson Personal Collection.




Not all the photos in Larry's Personal Photo COllection are of cars, bikes, boats etc. There are a few he saved in his shop collection that have people in them, or funny situation. Here is one of his best friend Bill DeCarr. Bill is having fun riding his mini bike in front of his Artesia Blvd shop in 1960.

 

I love the Dean Jeffries Ranchero,great color shot you posted Rik.

 

Talk about the good old days! Check out the price of gas at the station in the background of this picture...............E

 

Rik thanks again for the time to post these great pics,A little off topic but I am seaching for a photo of Larry's Cars he painted gathered together at a Custom Car show in the 60's any clues.From memory their were lots of cars and it was a great image,want to blow it up to poster size.
Cheers Mark

 

Another Bike photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection. Larry went wild on this bike with a base coat of of heavy flake light champaign/lavender color on the frame and details on the tank and rear fender in a dark black metalflake with multi colored candy overlays and silver webbing from the veiling gun. The seat is upholstered in a similar style and colors rainbow metalflake vinyl as Larry's personal 1961 Ford Econoline pick up truck. Possebly done by Joe Perez.








Nice snapshot of Larry's "Grapevine" 1950 Chevy Sedan with Larry's girlfriend at the time Elaine Sterling. The photo was taken at Rose Hill in Whittier, California. And it shows the very neat trunk of Larry's car. There are several more photos of Elaine in this outfit at different locations. So most likely Larry just drove around to nice locations and take photos of here and his car. Possibly after a professional photo shoot for one of the magazines back then.








This fuzzy, faded and stained snapshot was taken in 1959 in front of the old Bill DeCarr body shop, when these cars where brand new. On the left we can see the 1959 Ford Ranchero owned by a guy named Jones, and on the left is the 1959 Chevy El Camino from Fred LeFevre. Both guys must have driven their brand new pick up truck almost straight from the showroom into Bill DeCarr's workshop for some mild custom Body work. The pearl off white on Jones his Ranchero, is the only version photographed by Larry. But Fred's ElCamino we have seen before in later version, after Larry had outlined the car in greens.








I mentioned Larry Watson's 1961 Ford Econoline above. Here is a very much faded snapshot of Larry's Pick Up. LArry's wife at the time Amedee Watson poses on the Joe Perez Silver and black metalflake upholstered tonneau cover. This photo was taken at the Tridents Car Show in Long Beach, where Larry was the Guest of Honor and showed over 40 of his painted cars in the main area.

 

rik, anymore pics of jeffries ranchero that thing is SWEET!!!!!

 

No, not in Larry's Collection. But there is a nice photo of the Ranchero in Jeffries book.

 

Every time this thread pops up I can't wait to see the newest photos of the Larry Watson collection. I've just gone thru the whole thread and am COMPLETELY blown away by the quality of cars. The colors are hypotizing, the attention to detail is amazing. THANK YOU so much Rik for this thread, like everyone else I appreciate your time and effort sharing these pictures with the rest of the world.

Thanks!
Tom - Glass_Packs

 

Rik, always a treat when you've added some more pics to this great thread!

Here's another pic of the Triumph above, scanned from Cycle World 1966. Btw, any Sportsters to look forward to in the "bike file"?

 

Hi, thank you for posting such great pics. I am really interested in seeing more of the bikes, would you consider making a bike thread, possibly on the Jockey Journal if it's too far off topic here? Thanks again.
tombat

 

great thread