Customs What are 1950's period correct custom touches?

Forgive me if there is a thread out there that answers this . I am looking for specifics for example. Are padded inner wheelwells from the 50's or early 60's ? Teardrop recessed antennas a 50's touch ? Lake pipes 1,2,3 port from the 50's . Iam sure you know what I mean . Was there candy paint in the 50,s ? or was all the early paint jobs solid colors in laquer? Lets here some opinions on this matter . Fire away !

 

The 50's were a time of change for Kustoms. The whole idea of Kustomizing a vehicle was to stand out from the other Fords, Chevys, Mercs, Buicks, and Olds. Remember there weren't a lot of choices from the Manufactures so things like chopped tops, sectioning, grill swaps, tail lights swaps, etc were done to look different. Many of the early to mid 50's Kustoms were almost understated with as Barris called them "organic" paint jobs, greens, eggplant, bronze, black, all popular. As the 50's progressed the cars came Kustom from the factory and were difficult to tastefully modify other than simple grill swaps, nose, deck, shaving...aka the mild Kustom..those modifications and scalloped and paneled paint job were popular from around 58-61... Than things went nutty and things were changed for nothing other than to be totally different...didn't day anything about good taste...just different.

 

There is no hard and fast answer here. Trends changed rapidly, what was the latest thing one year could be out of date next year.
First year for candy paint, I think 1957? First year for metalflake, 1961? Both new inventions at the time.
You could get a stack of old magazines from the fifties and sixties and study them but you would still only know the trends of the particular area they were from, like southern California or in a few cases, New York.

 

big difference from early 50's to late 50's

 

Go here and start looking. Be prepared to spend some time.

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/beautiful_custom_cars/

 

50's. As an expression it gets thrown around a lot. But really, as already said, it was a time of rapid change and the difference between early to late 1950's was huge. So you really need to nail down what 50's you are talking about.

Then add regional differences etc. into the mix and the water gets even muddier.

Oh, and not everything was good back then either. That's why the cl***ics can pretty well be counted with two hands. Maybe one.

 

Yes K-13 you are right . Time will be whiled away on Riksters site for sure . Thanks to all for their input . Anyone else care to add their 2 cents worth . All comments appreciated .

 

just to add fuel to the fire,
Was channeled and unchopped an east coast thing?
When and where did the tail down/ taildragger look start?

 

Some more fuel to the fire. Came across an article in a 58 rod magazine and they talked about ' best street rod ' category at a judging event. I always thought the term 'street rod' was a 70's thing.

 

Thanks guys . The more fuel the better !!

 

Wow this site is awesome! Thanks!

 

Rik has a website/forum dedicated to Customs as well:
http://www.customcarchronicle.com/

 

sunken antennas, definitely a 60s touch, same with padded wheel wells (altho you may find some early versions)....lakers with multiple outlets are more of a 80s and 90s touch (which should be avoided)....somebody decided that if (1) was good then (2) or (3) would be even better....take a look at the Watson cars....a lot of them had lakers, but NO multiple outlets......

 

back in 1959 louvered hoods were popular.price per louver was 35 cents

 

That's probably because a magazine started with that as it's name in the 70's. "Street Rodder" just used the moniker given to a modified car that had creature comforts. Hot Rods were race inspired cars. In my opinion, HOT RODS don't have full interiors, radios, heaters, A/C, cup holders, etc. All that **** adds weight. Hot Rods were made for one MAIN purpose. Going fast. That meant stripping all that **** off. Street Rods were for the guys that sacrificed a little speed to ride in comfort.

I chuckle, when I hear or read "hot rod" and see a Vintage Air setup and a full on leather interior with a Panasonic 200 watt stereo system or a thread on MP3 set ups and cup holders. There are a LOT of street rods on this site. Tossing on a set of WWW's and a flame job, do NOT make a car a HOT ROD.

But this is off topic for this thread. Back to 50's CUSTOM touches.

 

Lowered would be the only "definite" from there its all selective to region and personal taste.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I have a photo from a SoCal car show somewhere around here that is from '58 and it has a Street Rod section in the show, big ***ed sign marking the territory.

like you I always thought that it was a '70s term as well, I had never really heard it before then but it was evidently used.

As for '50s custom touches first you would need to define a specific part of the decade, the '50s saw more morphing in the custom arena then any other decade.

 

The general public had a bad (incorrect) image of the term hotrod. Street rod was a term use in the 70s to instill a positive image of our sport. Streetroding veered off away from the hotrod look that we all love. Today the term street rod that I liked so well back in the 70s has taken on a negative image for me. I fell in love with hotrods back in the late 50s (the little pages could be hidden in your English book at school). The look and modifications to a hotrod morphed as to the year and location of the build. it is impossible to really categorize the modification with any certainty. I pick a year and style then research those characteristics that fit your date and location.

 

Thanks for the input fellas . We are moving away from the intended topic of this thread . My original idea was what were the custom builders of the early 50's into . We have had some good responces from knowledgeable fellas for sure . Maybe the topic is tapped out as once scrutinized ,what we thought were early 50's were actually late 50's early 60's . I am after early 50's for my current build , 51 Buick . Thanks to all , Andy..

 

As I remember it, the early '50s were pretty much a continuation of ideas from the late '40s, clean, simple, no frills like padded fender wells, frenched lakes pipes, etc. Later, as the custom shops competed for car show trophies, they added stuff, like frenched radio antennas, lakes pipes, and into the mid-50s' some really bad ideas came, color chrome, door pulls on grilles, and then, quad headlights, which sometimes got retro-fitted to existing customs, ruining them, in my opinion.

So as the post above said, there was a big difference between the early and late '50s custom trends.

 

Channeled cars were popular on the east coast because it gave a sports car look. In California you occasionally saw channeled customs but not fenderless coupes or roadsters like you saw back east.

I believe this was because of racing rules on the dry lakes and at Bonneville that specified a "stock" car must be "unaltered in height width or contour" in other words, a channeled car went into the streamliner category.

So, guys would not channel a hot rod because they were planning on going to the dry lakes or Bonneville, or wanted people to think they were.

 

So there were no chopped, channeled or fenderless cars at the lakes or Bonneville in the late 40's or early 50's? Really?

Mick

 

awl1950,

If you look at early '40s builds you are pretty much looking at early '50s builds. Fadeway fenders on boat fender cars were popular in certain parts of the country as well and grafted in grills from higher end cars.

For your Buick opalescent paint would have been cutting edge as well as a gentleman's chop, rounded corners and nosed and decked. I don't recall seeing many pics of frenched lights yet for early '50s cars. Chromed stuff was cool though if the builder had the cash or lived near or worked at the Mare island naval ship yard. I remember a late '40s Chebby (I want to say '46 or '47) that showed every year @ the Cow Palace in San Francisco in the later 50s that had a chromed dashboard (yep the entire thing) that i was really impressed with and the old man always said that that guy hadn't changed that car since he built it and he built it before I was born which would have been later 40s or earlier '50s.

I hope that is of some help to you.

 

Thanks for the info P and B . Seeing that I have already started the frenched headlights I will have to leave well enough alone. Nosed and decked I have . 4 inch chop I have . Chrome will have to wait , Thanks for your input , we;; appreciated !Andy

 

And here I always thought East coast cars were channeled because the bottoms were rusted away.

 

Door handles were removed. And louvers were popular

 

Likely how it was thought of Bobert LOL!

 

Here's another web site for you kustomrama

http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?***le=Main_Page


Posted from Austinrod

 

BTTT

 

Sounds like Joe Bailons Miss Elegance