History Larry Watson's Personal Photo Collection

I am ready for some more pictures, Bring them on.

 

Larry Watson photo of his 1959 Cadillac a few days after he he bought it brand new. When this photo was taken Larry had the car already lowered by BEar Alignment shop which was located close to Larry's shop. Bill DeCarr was asked to removed the emblems, shave the handles and round the door corners. Its hard to see in the photo but Larry had already painted the top in silver with very fine metallic powder added as a base. Which was followed by carefully applied chrome tape followed by many coats of clear to get the top smooth. After this photo was taken Larry and his helpers would prep the body and Larry would paint the car first in bright white pearl. And later tape off the outlines and follow with Candy red.








Larry Watson's personal transport in late 1959 parked in front oh his shop at Rosecrans Blvd. probably just another work day for Larry. The Peanut House was a bar located next door to Larry. Larry's 1959 Cadillac is just so right. Perfect color, perfect width outline, perfect stance… Larry mentioned this shop - which he had from 1959 till early 1960 - was his most busy shop. He had at least 6 guys working for him to keep up with the demand of Custom Paint work. No wonder with a car like Larry's 1959 Cadillac sitting in front of the shop.









And today's Larry Watson photo is this black and white photo of Larry's Personal 1957 Cadillac Brougham. The photo was most likely taken by James Potter for the 1961 Restyle Your Car booklet James was going to do. The car is seen here in its first version. The extended and peaked fins look really amazing on this car. All the body work on it was done by Larry's friend Bill DeCarr.

 

Great pics!

 

Rik....I'm 65. This is my Favorite Thread on the HAMB. I'm on everyday and your efforts alone would keep me coming back to the HAMB. Watson represents to me, the finest hour of Custom Cars. I caught the bug when I was 10 years old...1956, and grew into adulthood and the hobby during the following decade. Watson and Mild Customs are the epicenter of my personal interest. Please keep the posts coming, and Thank you for all your effort. Trust me, it is appreciated more than you know. I'd love to see cars like these return and the number of bagged, Primered, severely chopped and Spiderwebbed lookalike cars diminish. Not always, but more often than not, "less is more"......Centurion9

 

One of my favorites, but I never noticed the rare Cadillac Sabre Wheels on it before. Sometimes you can find things in a black-and-white photo that you miss in color.

 

Thanks Ric. I am subscribed to this thread and look forward to every new posting of yours.
I was not a custom appreciator until your thread. I am now a true believer and feel Larry was a true genius!
Please continue to post Larry's work!

 

Rikster, glad you have posting these photos and a lot of the history showing Larry Watsons good taste and painting skills. I just found this thread today, but I've gone through all 38 pages of it. I've been a Watson fan since I first saw his panel painted T-bird on the cover of the Custom Cars 1959 Annual, and that was way back in 1959! I still have my copy, along with the rest from 57 thru 62.

Many thanks for taking the time to give us this slice of Watson history.

 

Rik,
Over the last 2-3 days I have read this entire thread (all 39 pages) and have thoroughly enjoyed every word I have read and every photo I have seen.

I'm sure it takes a great deal of time for you to add more and more posts, all with fantastic photos, but believe me it is greatly appreciated.

Please keep posting.

Brad

 

I bet if any of those Jags survived they are now restored to stock.

 

Thats what was cool about Watson's stuff was most of them were mild customs and the star was the paint job.

 

Rik, thanks for continuing to post these pictures. I'm still blown away by not only the sheer volume of cars he painted, but by the originality, style and unique execution of each one.

 

Just plane an simple awesome! You're the king Rik. Thanks for everything you're doing..
Do you know by any chance, when the bellflower pipes were used first and by who?

Klaus

 

Awesome!

 

Rik,

Thanks for all of the time you take to post Watson's photos and for the historical information you caption with the photos. Thanks to my dad, I learned about Watson's work at a very young age. I only wish I could have been around back in the day. I hope you will continue posting as I appreciate the visual and written info very much and look forward to seeing your posts. I personally think this thread should have a sticky so it is permanently at the top of the list. Todd

 

Thanks Rik. Wow. Would love to see more of Doug Carney's '63 Grand Prix.

 

I have shown some photos of Dennis Morgan's 1958 Chevy Impala before. The car was first painted in candy green with gold outlines. Then later it was completely repainted in candy green. But here is an interior photo of Dennis his car when Larry had painted it in lime gold with a silver top. The photo was taken at Larry's Rosecrans Blvd shop somewhere in 1960-61. And the interior shows a typical Custom Car interior from the era. Upholstered in dark green with whith tuck&roll inserts, drk green carpets with white piping. Not visible in this photo is a full bar in the back seat. Larry painted the dash in pearl white and fogged the edges with lime gold, the body color.










Larry Watson photo of Don Loster's 1959 Ford Galaxy taken in late 1964 or early 1965. The car had some nice body work done by the Martinez Brothers which included new front and rear pans. deeply tunneled custom taillights removal of most of the chrome, smoothed body and an integrated lake pipe cover to the lower rocker panels. Don Loster had his own business in hydraulics so he put his own hydraulic system on his car to get it low to the ground. The interior on Don's Ford was done by Joe Perez in gray leatherette and white “button tufted” fabric. Larry Watson first painted Don's Ford in a candy Fuchsia over a Platinum Pearl underboss. The top was done in silver with chrome tape on the c -pillars. But in this photo we see the car with its second paint job which Larry did in an extremely brilliant Lime with Murano Pearl with gold highlights. The top remained the same as the previous version. Finishing touches are the Buick Skylark wire wheels but the and the General Dual 90’s white wall tires. These tires came with three thin white lines, the middle stripe was blacked out to give it a unique two-stripe treatment.








A great view of David C. Martin's Buick powered 1929 Model A roadster at the Artesia Blvd. The shop that was share by Bill DeCarr who was responsible for the body work on this car and Larry Watson who did the great looking lime gold paint job on this Hot Rod.

 

Love that lime on the 59!

 

Almost assuredly. And a damn shame.

 

Bob Horak's Thunderbird was mildly customized before it was painted in a brilliant shade of lavender pearl at Larry's Firestone Blvd. shop in Downey. These mid 60's Thunderbirds do not need a lot to look good. And Bob's car had it all. Dechromed, lowered on thin white wall and the best paint job in town. Looks at the neat sports cars in the lot across the street. The photo was taken in April 1968.








This enlarged small section of a photo from the Larry Watson Collection shows the parking space next to the Bill DeCarr/Watson shop at Artesia Blvd. shop. The car for which the photo was taken (purple T-Bird) is nice… but the cars in the background are perhaps even more interesting. It shows the Johnny Zupan Ayala/Barris built 1949 Mercury that was at Bill's shop for more work, and an unidentified 1946-48 Ford convertible with what looks like a 1951 Ford Hart Top grafted on. Very interesting custom work with the top left stock height custom taillights, and not visible in this photo a front end styled with 1960 Ford elements in mind. Johnny's car was at the Bill DeCarr shop for the quad headlights and Studebaker pans which have been installed in this photo, although very hard to see. In the back ground we can see Larry's paint booth with the doors wide open and the vent shaft on top of it.









I have no info on this great looking mild 1949-50 Chevy sedan from the Larry Watson Personal Collection. Most likely Larry did paint the car in this great color. From what I can see in the photo I think this must have been done early on in his career perhaps 1958, or early 1959. The Spotlights look to be the real deal, and not the Dummy's that where used later on. The hubcaps could be 1957 Plymouth units with aftermarket full spinners, or perhaps the whole hubcap was aftermarket as well. Those where very popular aftermarket caps that where produced by a few companies. The body is mildly dechromed and the interior is done in white and color matching horizontal tuck&roll. A nice mild custom in this slightly fuzzy photo with brilliant colors.

 

Thanks again Rik. Great photos and history here, brings back good memories of my teenage years!

 

Rik,

The enlarged photo pf the two customs up against the wall is an example of why you are the best. Your knowledge of customs combined with your talent for detective work turns a nice photo of a T-Bird into a great photo of custom history.

Thanks again for all you do.

51wagon

 

Any input on the origin of the bellflower pipes?

 

That car had to shine like the devil in the sun. Its a color I would never think to use but it works so perfectly.....WOW!

 

And the way the paint schemes accentuated and highlighted the lines of those mostly '50's beauties.
Thanks Rikster for keeping up the effort.

 

Rikster this thread is one of the very few reasons why I still hang around here. This is just amazing, thank you so much for sharing this with all of us!

 

Another unidentified Chevy mild custom is this 1951 model from the Larry Watson Collection. Just a nice very mildly customized Chevy with most likely a Larry Watson paint job in candy raspberry done in the later part of the 1950's.








In 2009 I used the inset photo of this 1956 Chevy in an article I did on some Larry Watson painted Customs in Kustoms Illustrated #21. I used this large photo as well, but only very small since back then I only had a very poor image shot from Larry's Museum wall. The car was unidentified back then and unfortunately, three years later I still have no info on who the owner was of this really great looking 1956 Chevy. I guess one of many Larry Watson painted Custom Cars that nobody knows who owned them. I have never seen this car in any show coverage, or period magazine. To bad since I think its a really nicely done mild custom that has it all from mild body work, perfect grille change and of course the perfect Larry Watson outline paint job in pearl white and blue green. Custom Tuck&Roll interior with horizontal pleats, lake pipes and custom hubcaps with three bar spinner, most likely aftermarket units. Somebody recognizes it? The large photo comes from Larry Watson's personal Collection and the inset photo is from my own collection.









This old faded and cracked photo of this 1949 Ford convertible was taken in front of Bill DeCarr's old shop. The photo taken before 1960 shows a very mildly unidentified 1949 Ford Convertible. The only "customizing visible in this photo are the addition of the 1955 Ford hubcaps, not much. There are a few photos of this car in Larry's Collection over a period of time, and the car looks pretty much the same in all those photos. So most likely the car belonged to a friend of Larry or Bill.

 

It just amazes me the volume and quality of Larry Watson's work. I mean so many beautiful and brightly painted cars. Were the streets just a constant car show everyday? It is just breath taking.

 

I wonder if anyone knows an exact or estimate of the total amount? This thread shows what a unique and legendary man Larry was and his un-ending creations.
I will say it again, thank you Rikster for documenting it all.

 

That name change was also a possibly unintentional play on words:
Bill DeCarr = Build the Car!