Yes an amazing amount of work, but was it successful? Being a mordoor it has that look of being stepped on,,, The same amount of work on a two door and this car would have been 'known' for many years. Do you think someone might see these photos and desire to find the car or to remake it?? Again, amazing work, but.
I really have a thing for cars like this one. It would be bad*** (to me at least) to have a clone. I think it's cool the way it sits. But then again I have odd taste in stuff.....
What should also be mentioned here, is that car was sold so John North could buy a new '57 Ford from Fitzgerald Ford in Rockville CT. That '57 Ford would come to be known as The White Pearl
....Being in Rod and Custom mag would be a pretty good sign of success in my opinion and we are talking about it almost 60 years later so that isnt too bad. To be honest, If it had been a 2 door, Im not sure it would have stood out enough to have gotten a mention today.
I like the car...but it really does need a hood....doesn't look ''finished'' with so much happening in the engine compartment.....and the rear bumper looks 'uneven'....it might be the angle of the camera shot, but the doors look ''off-kilter'' just above the running boards, like it wasn't lined up right and appears rounded. It's probably not, but it gives the impression.---------just a humble opinion of course!...I like the car...lot of work went into it for sure
This car treads the fine line between a custom and a hot rod. The hot rod parts being the lack of a hood to show of the mill and the slightly downward rake(California) of the stance which by the time of this build was starting to creep into the custom world as well. Contrary to what revisionists have said, there where a lot more 4 door customs then admitted. By 1957 this would have been closer to an older style of custom(The use of a 36 Ford with the LaSalle grill and the molded headlights) then what was then being done. And truthfully even as a hot rod the Flathead was already becoming p***e' as well. A little less of a chop and a different rear bumper wouldn't break my heart but all in all I wouldn't kick it out of the garage for dripping oil. Torchie
I don't usually step into these discussions to disparage a guy's work, especially when the work was completed when I was still a toddler, but this thing just has some details that ruin its looks for me. The lack of a hood breaks what could have otherwise been the nice lines of the car and leaves a cluttered looking engine compartment exposed, those spotlights are just clutter to my eye, and as others have mentioned the rear bumper looks like it's sagging or something. Then again, I'm a snot-nosed punk with such bad taste I don't even like flatheads very much, so my opinions in such matters may be safely disregarded.
After reading the coments on improvings the car need. All theese improvments is what often make newbuilt cars in old style look newbuilt. And that without to start nutpicking. Most of the cars built today are often to perfect in stance and finnish compare to how its was. And the reason its that we have 60 years of try and error to learn from that they havent. And if you read the Rod&Custom in late 50-early 60 the staff there didnt like the direction hotrods and customs where going.
John North was 22 when this car was featured. Figure it probably took a year or two to build, now it doesn't seem so old when figuring the original vision was probably conceived in 55, in fact probably a little radical. This car was the genesis of what became the car club "The Rockville Choppers". With North being the president, and some employees of Townline joining the club. A year later North's '57 ford was popping up in all the magazines, so I'm pretty sure he had his finger on the pulse of what was cool. The car was well respected locally, like it or not.
It's called individualism. Too many people have the "short peter syndrome". They're afraid to stand out in a crowd. If it doesn't look just like the popular model, then they might be criticized. We can't have that ,can we. I apologize. Just tired of the people who can't think for themselves.
IIRC it was 1953 or 54 my friends dad had a 36 fordor chopped Up roughly for a pickup truck. Had the Lasalle grille and 37 headlights. Just a winter junker. There were some custom fordors back then.
J. Ukrop... Interesting thread...thanks for starting it ! I have my original copy of that issue from when I was in High School in '57. It's a two-page spread, and as Spence mentions, at that time doing "4 Doors" was a rarity...the Coupes/2 Doors got all of the Rod & Custom action. That's one of the reasons he featured this one. And, to turn the "mind set" back almost 60 years ago, the amount of work he did on that car in those days was labor-intensive for sure. Yes, North still could have done some things differently...but I'd bet he didn't see any dupes of his ride at any of his Cruise night gatherings ! Jonnie www.legends.thewwbc.net
Due to some family issues I have been away from the HAMB/JJournal for several months, things are changing. While cruising around I noted this "Nostalgia" thread, the '36 sedan with the Lasalle grille and Chevy truck head lighs caught my attention. In 1952 I caught the Ford bug, my previous cars were Chevy's. I had known about the '36 coupe since I was in the seventh grade, it belonged to one of my teachers. The car was in very nice shape when I bought it for $125., odometer showed 51K, original black paint and upholstery. I went right to work customizing the coupe. Brakes were changed to '41 Ford hydraulics, the trans was upgraded to a '41 column shift. The next modification was '37 DeSoto bumpers with a slight chop to the spare tire mount to lay it down a little closer to the body. It was not to long before I discovered an article in one of the custom mags featuring '36 Fords with Chevy truck headlights frenched into the fenders with Packard and/or Lasalle grilles. I did the Chevy headlights, however, I did not french them into the fenders, I carefully scribed them into the fenders, bolting them in-place in lieu of welding. By 1954 things changed in my life, I was out of high school, working to make a living so I never got around the doing the grille swap.. In 1955 I started to have the original mohair upholstery changed to black/white tug-roll naugahide. The upholster did such a poor job on the doors, causing me to not move forward with that project. The car still has all of it's original mohair, did chrome the dash tho. My avatar over on the Ford Barn Forum is my '36 Ford, taken in about 1961, By then the Ford had been repainted once, black like it was originally. The DeSoto bumpers have been changed in favor of originals. Looking closely at the attached pix you will note the Chevy headlights on the front fenders. If you look closely at my Avatar you will note that the gear shift is column mounted on the left side.
Rik posted this on the Custom Car Chronicle: Jamie Couture shared this on the New England Hot Rod and Kustom Historical Society Facebook page. “Before he had the “White Pearl” ’57 Ford Kustom, John North of the Rockville Choppers had this *****in ’36 Ford Sedan! The top was buzzed 4″ in the front 5″ in the back,the 36 grill was swapped in favor of a ’39 Lasalle unit and ’40 Chevy Headlights were used. The car got its go from a hopped up flathead with an Isky can,weiand heads and an offy 3 pot intake. The car was featured in Rod & Custom magazine July 1957. Spence Murray Photographed it at the state Capitol in Hartford CT.”
The Jalopy Journal
