History What Ever Happened to..........?

Ramble on stanlow!
I love reading these posts....

 

I know where that light blue 60 poncho is. It is sitting in Pontiac Illinois outside at an old gas station. It has a pancaked hood and trunk, custom console but they ruined it with those wagon Queen family truckster headlights.

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OK you guys, does anybody have any info on the currant status of Earls Pearl 55 Chev custom?

 

I tried looking it up. Man there was some drama with it around 2008. It was on ebay in 2013 and the auction apparently ended early. I can't find anything after that.

 

I was looking at the pic on the top right without my cheaters on, and I thought "GOOD GOD! A merc with a straight axle and jackmans on the front!!".

 

Now that's funny! Thanks for starting my day with a good chuckle, @falcongeorge. E

 

after I got my glasses and realized what I was looking at, it gave me a pretty good laugh too.

 

So Mark, what did he do to it? Parts car or very ambitious project? Some guys really like a challenge. E

 

Wow...............! E

 

Mark is this the Merc. I took these at the Back to the Fiffties in about 2002, I think. I loved the frenched in Rat Fink in the trunk lid.

 

Haha! I remember thinking the same thing when I bought the magazine new!


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the pleasures of being over fifty and half blind!

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 48.

1956 Chevy
Owner: Jerry Vallance
Hamilton, Ohio

This week's custom is a car that I swear I've seen a lot more than I was able to find. We've discussed here how tri-five Chevys have become too valuable to cut up nowadays and more radical ones are getting far and few in-between. Thankfully in the 80s, that mentality hadn't come around yet.
Jerry Vallance owned this beautiful chopped black '56 Chevy that seemed to be around the scene only for a short time. It was easy to mistake this car as Ron Channel's awesome chopped red '56 (W.E.H.T. #35) with a new coat of black paint and some trim changes. Not the case. These were two separate cars. (If you go back to the W.E.H.T. #35 of Ron Channel's '56 you will see that his car was eventually re-painted in black and was seen in for sale ads within the last few years. @Moriarity dug up that information.)
Jerry's black '56 was chopped, but not as much as Ron's. It featured unique dual side trim and a molded front end with a 'Vette grille and a '57 Chevy (car) bumper. Also, the headlights were frenched without the use of a chrome headlight ring. Definitely an unusual look.
In my research, it seems that Jerry only took his car to two Leadsleds, '83 and '85, which both happened to be in Springfield, Ohio. I guess he never ventured too far from home. As far as magazine coverage, in my collection, I was only able to find a small picture of it in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Volume 2 number 2 from 1984 on page 22. It was in their coverage of the '83 Spectacular. I'm sure this car was a magazine feature, but if I have it, I couldn't find it.
I did find a few great pictures of it on @Rikster's site that were taken by @KustomLincolnLady and Scott Pavey. I could only find pictures of it from the front. I hope someone has a few from the rear as I can't recall what the back looks like. Even on the videos, the car was only shot from the front.
It sure is funny how such a super looking custom crashed the party and then quietly snuck off never to be seen again. Let's all hope that it's hiding out somewhere waiting to be discovered, dusted off and cruised like all sleds should be!
Let's keep looking, they're still out there--although the price tags are getting up there!
Have a great week. See you next Tuesday! E

 

Found some info in this thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-jim-walker-kustoms.53942/
Says it was in June 1984 Street Rodder.

 

Built by Charlie Brewer.

 

Found this on Instagram. @kustoms_by_brewer
"The car was built in '58 and the current owner bought it in the mid 60's from the original owner. The car sat until the early 80's when my dad completely rebuilt the car because it had been stored outside. Then it went back into storage in the early 90's and I'm getting the car in March from the same owner to redo it again so it can get out and get some fresh air."

Lots of photos of it on that Instagram site. Neat to see the first version prior to the chop. I didn't know that one had been around so long.

 

Here`s the scan from Street Rodder. I always liked this issue. It`s one of my favorites.

 

Here`s a picture I have of his car. Sancho, look how similar the picture is to Scott Paveys.

 

Pre-chop photos:

 

Thanks for all the great information and photos, Sancho! A lot of different angles and super interior shots. I look at pictures of cars like this and I wonder why anybody that is financially able to buy and build a tri-five Chevy nowadays chooses to go mostly stock. I understand they have become valuable, but if done right, the car will be loved, become timeless and will be valuable anyway. Oh well..........

Thanks for posting the cover of that Street Rodder, Jim. I remember my good friend Todd I grew up with had that issue way back when. That's where I saw it. We always talked about building cars like this when we were kids.
Todd was on his way to building something like this as he had collected and rebuilt a drivetrain. Originally he was a Mopar guy, but when prices of Mopar cars, engines and general parts started to get out of reach, he switched to Chevys. He knew his way around a small block Chevy!
He went through a four bolt main SBC and put all the goodies in it. It was going to be stout! He also rebuilt a turbo 400 and had the pair all set-up and ready to go. He was searching for an old something-or-other to put it all in. He was pretty much open to anything, but he really wanted a pre-70 Chevy of some sort. He always said "Just because it's low, doesn't mean it has to be slow!" He wanted his custom to "Haul ass!"
Well, the search ended on July 2, 2010. He had been having dental issues and got a severe infection. He was never one to take very good care of himself, and he thought it would go away. The infection worked its way into his blood stream and he got very sick on July 1st. A day later he was gone.
He was one of the toughest guys I knew. Definitely didn't want to tangle with him--especially after he had some Jack Daniels in him. Too bad he never got to build his dream sled. I miss him.

Thanks again for posting that issue, Jim. I'm going to search one out and buy it for my collection. E

 

No need to search for it, I`ll send you my extra copy.

 

Any chance of seeing pics of the tequila sunrise in the street rodder issue there .

 

Awesome! E