look who i ran into at world of wheels today!!!!! sorry for the cruddy pics he was hard at work chopping a top. i briefly got to talk to him, hes a pretty cool guy.
Who is that guy? He most be some B@d a$$ customizer, he did'nt even take his hat off, when he talked to the one-and-only Gene Winfield. Maby it's just me but I Would have taken it off before I even shook his hand. It might be me that is a little off. Nice work on the car it turns out better and better everytime you post pictures!
WOW!!! Am I glad I clicked this thread. Just spent the last several hours reading and taking in all 19 pages. Thanks a million for sharing this great story, Cabong. What you did shortening up those Plymouth grill pieces is brilliant. Putting the Pontiac center in there, genious. And for Leland to recognize that and give his stamp of approval, its like it was meant to be. Since Leland is reading this, let it be known that I tip my hat to you for your service to this great country. Better yet, I salute you with a blast of the twice pipes on my 6 cylinder, 54 Chevy that is my avatar. I know that will make you smile, since thats what you originally ran in your '50. One of the top ten sounds in the free world, the burble and braaaaappp of a split 6 Chevy. Best wishes to you and your family. I can't wait to see the payoff to this story, when you are riding in a beatiful kustom. Looking at the first shots of the car that were posted, with the Olds trim and the curved glass (56 Ford), it really takes on the appearance of the low production 53 Oldsmobile Fiesta. Just wondering if you've considered the Fiesta paint scheme, where the paint break line is the stainless quarter trim. Sounds like you are leaning body one color, then top another. Looking forward to all the future updates on this one. Bill H
gene had about 7 guys with him and boy he was putting them to work! it was really great watching him, I wonder if he knows about this thread. I was gonna tell him if I talked to him, but I figured I shouldn't be the one to break the news since i didn't have a hand in the project.
Gene does take time to talk with people. Last year at Autorama he brought the part he had just shaped into the crowd and explained the process. I have seen him a few time in Detroit and at the Syracuse Nationals. He showed a genuine interest in one of my builds. The year I finished it I stopped by to say hello and he remembered our conversation the year before and complimented me on the build. If you really want to get his attention, Gene is a bit of a ladies man. Last year while talking to my son and I he asked me to take a picture of him with my sons fiancé and her friend. The guy is a real inspiration. I certainly hope when I am his age in 20 years that I have the same energy and motivation that he has.
I don't think this will happen as he is non stop. I have seen him work 72 hours with only about 7 hrs sleep. At the time he was 82. He is the hardest working man on the planet, bar none!! When he goes, they need to do DNA, blood work etc and find out what he has that us peasants don't. Then they need to inject all humans with it. Then we will be a Super human species!!
yeah i just didnt get to talk to him personally for long, but it was really cool everytime he pulled out a tool he would come up to the front and show everybody what it was and what he was gonna use it for. i really loved watching him it was definetly the only good part about the show (there was NOTHING traditional there)
Gene proves that chasing chicks n banging dollys (both kinds) is the secret to eternal youth! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Hopefully you don't find to many issues when you get into prepping for paint. having restored a number of old custom's. It can be a bit of an eye opener when you start removeing 60 year's of multible paint job's and body work . I hope you get the project done while Leland is still with us. but no matter what, the joy you have given this wonderful man is priceless!!!!!!
Hey All.......Just a quick note about Gene....I have NEVER heard anyone speak negatively about Gene Winfield. He is really a class act. I noted in the pics above that he was welding with a torch. Man-O-man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It doesn't get more traditional than that. Last week I was showing Leland the posts, and while he was checking them out, grin'n like a Chessire cat, I turned away and called Gene. Now remember, Leland has not spoken with Gene for probably 40 years. I put Gene on speaker and handed the phone to Leland. Holy crap!!!! I had to turn away to hide my tears, just as I have now talking about it... (sentimental 'ol fool comes to mind). They chatted for about 15 minutes, two great people in their own right. I'm meeting with a paint guy this morning to go over the plans. I gotta tellya, life keeps going in circles. I was sitting with Leland and his bride at lunchtime yesterday when an old fellow wheels up to us and starts yak'n to Leland. Pretty soon he looks at me and says, and who might you be?? I introduced myself and he does the same. Turns out his son is the guy I bought a highly modified 235 from several years ago, and then bought the '51 sloper to wrap around it. The fellow himself had restored cars his entire career. Great gearhead!!!!!!! Wait, it gits better. He then tells me his grandsons name. Check it out. His grandson is the guy I meeting with in an hour to go over the paint and body. I had no idea..... Everything just keeps going full circle....Also while I was there, an old friend of Leland and Margene comes in. He sold the '54 Chev that Lelands 216 went into, and now we have the history up 'till about 5 years back. Sleuthing continues!!!!!!!
Just chiming in after reading the whole thread, but not real sure what to say. Happy to see a classic coming back, but what is truly astounding is the amount of contact between Leland, Gene and the folks restoring the car. And then it gets better as they chase down the original engine? Really? That stuff doesn't just happen, there's some kind of cosmic 'right-ness' to all this. Looking forward to many updates, but mostly looking forward to a video of the first time Leland and his wife see the car again. Unbelievable project, thanks for sharing it in such detail.
What is really great about this project, beyond the personal part of the story, is that one doesn't have to spend a half million bucks to build or restore a good custom. Most car folks I know are not impressed with the high dollar, cookie cutter cars that are becoming the rule more than the exception. Keep up the good work guys!
Okay, here's the deal.......Nobody says high to my pal Leland, I post the following picture!!!! I really can't believe that someone in their right mind would paint this wonderfull Merc bumper. I think I've found the color. Lot's of posts suggested talking to Gene about what to do. He mentioned Titian Red (1955 Buick). But, he said if it was up to him it would be purple. So, here it is. The pic doesn't really show it well, but it is a blue base, with red and violet toners and fine silver metallic. I'm going to spray one of Nick's Plymouth fenders (that'l be fun) to see what it looks like. It's a base coat/clear coat, and not one of the fancy three or four stage types, although we will probaby use a basecoat, as the color s pretty transparent. Anyone done that with a similar color? I smuggled the can into the facility where Leland and his bride live, and got quite the reaction from Leland. He said, rather stoutly, don't ask me again, that IS the color I want. DONE!!!!!! Nick is doing the last of the welding, on the front bumper, tomorrow, and the San Francisco Sled will hit the paint shop in a about a week. YAHOOOO....... By the way, Nick needs an "aaaaaaaahh", 'cause he fell and smacked his elbo real hard. Split it open, and caused some real shit and discontent.... Thought I'd better elaborate a tad on Nick's fall. He walked around the corner of his garage with his hands full, and the daytime temp was warm enough to have melted the snow, but now it was below freezing. The resulting water had frozen, creating a black ice situation. Next thing Nick knew, his feet were above his head. OUCH!!!!!!! It's healing, but slowly....
That's the color I was talking about in an earlier post on this subject. Purple with a blue base. We used to call it "Burple".LOL It's gonna look great. Torchie.
Leland, I've enjoyed reading about you and your car. It is quite a story and a good one. Salute to Cabong and Nick for doing this! I think your color choice is right on the mark and it should look great with the chrome highlights. I hope you and the wife get to enjoy some time riding in the new version bringing back old memories and making some new ones. And thanks for your service to our country. I got to work with Gene at the KC World of Wheels last February helping to chop a 40 Ford convertible. Gene is a blast to work with and does like the ladies. He is back in KC this weekend chopping another car. Found out he doesn't care for Barris to much so you can get to him by mentioning Barris's influence on customs, funny stuff. We only had one tape measure to work with and two or three of us kept mentioning that Barris had at least two tapes. Always produced a frown from Gene who usually is wearing a smile. Again, thanks for sharing your story.
Hey Torchie, You're perzacully correctomundo!!!!!!! I used the visual image of that color, and the little 32 in the next post along with the carnival glass, and went to the paint store, several times. I have no fingerprints left from turning pages. Then there it was. It's a tad strange, as the little specks of red and blue don't really show up 'till the flash is on it. Otherwise all you see is the color and the fine silver metallic, which is more like pearl. Thanks for the input you guys!!!!!!
As a guy who has known Lee and Margene since the early 80's when we were in the same car club, I can confirm that Lee is a standup guy and a hoot to be around. And Bruce, you are a saint for involving both of them in every aspect of finishing their dream. My hat is off to you! I hope your painter is quick (but good). Can't wait to see the smile on Lee and Margene's faces when they see and get to take a long summer evening cruise in that gorgeous Chevy.
It's going to be great cabong Interesting seeing it as a metallic as I always saw it used as a non-metallic color. But it's that blue based purple that does it. Like a very deeeep grape color. Hard to put into words but you know it when you see it. And you are "Correctomundo" about it looking like Pearl. Even in the can. You just can't beat the "Jewel" tones when it comes to a custom. This car is going to be stunning!! I hope to see it in person some day. Torchie.
Wow! Looks like a missed a bit! Finally finished moving.... the only thing worse than moving, is MOVING A GARAGE! Love the color! Hope Leland and his wife love it too! I am going to lose my mind if you guy's pull off FINDING........and BUYING the original Stovebolt for the Kustom Chev! THAT is a reunion that needs to happen! Beautiful work and great story so far. I am having a lot of fun following along! My interests in cars (and planes, bikes, boats, etc) is all over the board, but this is one of those stories that stands right up there with the BEST of the BEST for discovering and preserving/ restoring an old racecar/ fighter plane/ motorcycle.... Even better that you are finishing the car as intended with the two men that started it!!!!!!! Just amazing!
I believe that I'd mentioned the lack of a door gap between the drivers door and the quarter. Well, I finally grabbed a grinder and whittled down the door edge 'till the gap was okay. Naturally, this split the crimp roll on the edge. Nick was real proud of me!!! Sooo, as usual, Nick to the rescue!!!! He tacked the three edges together where they should be, then proceeded to weld the edge all the way down. This is no small task, since the object is to provide a new door edge without burning out the parent metal (did I just say that). It looks rough, but I can assure you, it's perfect, as usual. Nick is the master!!! I don't know what happened, or when, butwhen the original workk was done the front of the quarter was moved forward just a tad, but just enough to cause shit and discontent with the door. Speaking of the doors, I am reinstalling the old 55 gal drum sized solenoids, and still don't know where to locate the PB's. HELP!!!!!! I couldn't stand to look at that STUPID steering wheel a minute longer. Thanks to a fellow ebayer, here is the replacement. We think it looks pretty darned good. What say you? And do not harrass us over the gauges, They were installed at the same time as the column, when Leland didn't have a say in what was going on. I'd love to turn back the time on several things, but they will just have to wait in line. Nick keeps giving me THAT look, like, first things first.....Okay, Okay!!!!!! Now I'm going to veer of course just for a minute. I realize this isn't custom oriented, but still needs to be said. I spent a long time with Leland and Margene yesterday, and asked a question that went into a great story. I simply asked, how did you guys meet? Simple, right.....WRONG!!!!!! Leland told me about he and a couple buds that used to hang around a nursing school in SF (for the intellectual conversation, of course). That's when the story took a turn. One of his buds called him and said, come down to Pier so 'n so right now. He did, and was told to go stand over there, in a building. He did, and the next thing you know, a guy with scrambled eggs on his lid comes to him and says, seaman or steward. WHAT!!!!!! He had just volunteered to work on a troop ship going to Korea. Now, bear in mind, I'm telling the short version of this great story, as it took a while. His friends had kinda sorta dupped him, but what the heck, they had already signed up. Now, all of these guys had completed their active service obligation, and Leland had even completed his reserve time, but that didn't matter. They felt obligated to give more. Leland was working with his Dad at the time, and asked if it was okay to go. Of course it was.....Well, off to Treasure Island for a physical and "short arm" inspection, and the rest is history. He spent almost a year on the USNS General William Weigal, serving the troops headed for Korea. The stories about that venture are fabulous!!!!!!! But, point is, guys back then were so damned patriotic that it makes you want to stand at attention and salute. Well, that's kinda what I'm doing here. It didn't start out that way, but you just gotta love this guy!!!!!!! Oh, and Margene was talked into cooking a dinner for a bunch of guys that had an apartment near the nursing school she was attending, which just happened to be near where Leland lived with his parents. And, remember, Leland had the cool Chevy at that time....Now Leland was fair, mind you....When Margene graduated and went to work near her parents in North Central California, Leland would spend every other weekend there. Now where do you suppose he spent the alternate weekends. You got it, in Modesto!!!!!!!! Yahoooooo, and a great kustom is born!!!!
Great story from Leland and Margene! It's all part of this cars history. Steering wheel is much better. I would put the button for the solenoids up into the vent on the quarter panel. You would have to fish the wire thru the rocker and up to the hinge side of the door. I had an original Clarkaiser custom that had a quarter panel vent like this one and that's where they were.(Oop's. Don't tell anyone) Door gaps on a custom are critical. I am working on mine right now but in my case it is a matter of adding some material. Torchie.
Great story! I love hearing things like that- it gives me hope that true love actually does exist. I think that the wheel looks great- what is it from? Kudos once again to you gents, you are doing amazing work!
Leland followed in his Father's brush strokes, so to speak. His Dad was a painter, of houses and buildings though, not cars. I have a video that needs to be posted that explains alot of this. As noted before, Leland's Dad bought a 40 Plymouth sedan delivery new. It was his "work truck" for the painting business. Leland learned to drive in this truck, in Golden Gate Park. He ended up with the truck, painted it white, and it can be seen in a previous post parked in front of Winfield's shop in Modesto. He sold the sedan delivery just a few years back. After many years of being in business for himself, Leland went to work for the Golden Gate Bridge Authority, painting on the big span. He retired in the seventies and moved here to Idaho. He continued painting to supliment his retirement, and support his custom. His love of customs started when he learned to drive, and continues to this day. That's the short version. I'm still enjoying the long version, and hope that it continues.
The Jalopy Journal
