Don't know if this car has been discussed before ( and I know eBay links are frowned on ), but I just came across this listing this morning. https://m.ebay.com/itm/1957-Other-M...653505?hash=item3639e6af81:g:z54AAOSwMPxbfGxG
Larry Simonetti was a member of the NJ Renegades car club.. A lot of famous East Coast cars were. Larry first built a 60 Pontiac, which was white, with a gorgeous orange interior, and a fade-away to orange on the lower half of the car. Later, it was bought by Burt Zwieble, and shown at Gettysburg and Lead East. The 59 was Larry's second old car build (he also had a chopped late model Chevy truck when he first joined the Renegades). Not sure where it went, but Larry then built a 46 (7 or 8) Pontiac fastback, called "Easy Money" It had a REAL 100$ bill clearcoated onto the top of one of the fenders ( Larry said that a striper wanted 300$ to paint one on, so he put a real one on, cheaper!). This one was two shades of green, like money. It had leopard spot inserts in the upholstery. Larry was a great guy, wit really cool cars, Now living on the Jersey shore, retired.
I remember that Pontiac, from an outdoor show in Fredericksburg, Va. Lots of clever, subtle mods. Some wide louver/vents in the lower fenders, '60 Buick headlights, and tricky raised front wheel openings. And I agree...that burnt orange interior was gorgeous! Any pictures?
That's the one I remember, Sancho, and assume to be the one to which chopolds referred. In its earlier day, it had a white paint job, with a nicely done orange fade on the rockers. Now, check out those raised front front wheel openings. Trick!...No? Such a unique and beautiful Kustom! Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the post @chopolds! I knew one of you east coast "originals" would know something. Your post helped a few more pieces of the custom puzzle fall into place. The white and orange '60 chopolds mentioned is one of the cars I've been hunting down information on for a long time for this thread. I understand what you mean @Sancho, I've been looking for online pictures of the Pontiac for ages--no luck either. I knew the '60 Pontiac (that I now know was Mr. Simonutti's--thanks @chopolds!) was at the 1985 Leadsled in Springfield, Ohio. On the video Rowdie gathered four custom '60 Pontiacs that were at the show and had one of his gals interview them. I dug out the video and re-watched the interview to make sure I had the names straight. Two of the Ponchos stood out. The first was Larry's white and orange '60. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet that it was sitting on Supremes. A custom sitting on Supremes in the 80s was almost unheard of! The other '60 was all white sitting on Cragar or Rocket five spokes with skinny whitewalls. The owner of this car was Jack Quigley (sic?). It was hard to tell the name of the town he said he was from--it sounded like Tremolo, New Jersey. I looked at my trusty map and found no such place, so one of you 'Jersey folks may know what town he was from. Mr. Quigley was wearing a purple Kustom Knights of New Jersey T-shirt. He said he owned the car for three years and this was his first Spectacular (1985). Larry mentioned that he had owned his '60 for two years and that the 1985 Spectacular was his first as well. So there you have a little sidebar of information about Larry Simonutti and his other custom, a '60 Pontiac. Once I get more information gathered, I'll do a feature on that car in this thread in the future. E
Ed, I have a pic of his 60 with orange on the bottom. And also of his 59 but it`s behind my pallet rack on the top row next to the ceiling. My boy borrowed my ladder so the picture will stay on the wall. I took the picture at the KKOA show in Holland Michigan. It`s interesting you mentioned a 59 in this weeks feature. Last week, A guy I know asked me about buying an original unrestored hardtop that ran and drove. He told me the price and I advised he should buy it. He took my advice and ran over and bought it. He understood what I was talking about when I explained to him if it was a 57 Chevy hardtop, would it be worth that price. It even has power windows and a power seat with the continental kit(Chevys version).
So, we were also talking about the DeRosa Chevy coupe. Here's a shot of it, with builder Donn Lowe, and his good friend and fellow 'Amazing' custom builder, Dave Crook.
And a while ago, I told the story about the Jimmy Nolan, and his 2 customs, the sectioned 4 door Merc that Manny Bastiao found and restored (with some help from yours truly), and the Fordillac. Here it is directly after Donn Lowe finished restoring it, for it's new owner. Holland MI Leadsled late 80's.
Jack Quigley lives in Emerson, n.j. he was a member of the kustom knights. not into customs anymore, he's big into Harleys now.
I'm late to the party (been out of town), but I loved that '59 when I saw it in the mag, but man I really, really, REALLY loved the 60 Pontiac. Had Mopar (?) swivel seats in it. Cool to know both were by the same guy.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 131. 1951 Mercury "Yester Years Dreams" Owner: Wyatt Lockman Mansfield, Ohio This week's custom is the perfect example of a 50s mild custom. Very simple and clean style with all the great modifications. It's another one of the many where I've mentioned that this was the kind of custom that a high school kid or a young family man would have been able to build himself at home. This car had frenched headlights and factory taillights, shaved door handles, hood and trunk, shortened factory side trim as well as lake pipes and dummy spots. The '53 Olds flipper caps were a nice choice, and the name "Yester Years Dreams" on the bottoms of the front fenders were a nice touch as well. Wyatt took his mild Merc to the 1984 Leadsled Spectacular in Des Moines, Iowa. I found it in the video pretty much as it is in the photo I'm going to post, the only difference being the lettering on the front fenders hadn't been done yet. Wyatt also made the journey to the Leadsled in 1985 which was held in Springfield, Ohio. The new lettering on the bottoms of the fenders were the only change I could see. Wyatt was interviewed by one of Rowdie's gals where he gave a nice rundown on the car. The interviewer mentioned she heard he was in a club for senior citizens. He laughed and said in order to be a member of the Kustom Kemps of Ohio you had to have gray hair and a big belly. She asked how you get the big belly and he said from drinking beer. Funny answer. Seems like he had a great sense of humor. One of my many favorite shots from the 1985 video is when Rowdie had his video camera set up so he could catch the cars coming through the fairground gates, and with a quick swing to the left, he could film the cars as they came around the corner on the faiground road on the side. In one shot Wyatt came to the corner of that side road and made a slow "California" stop and rolled slowly in front of the camera. Right behind him was Ernie Roth in his awesome '51 Mercury "Low & Lovely" (W.E.H.T. #5). Following Ernie was Neil Borella in his "Statutory Grape" '51 Merc (W.E.H.T. #81), and taking the rear was Joel Sheipe in his wild gold pearl over lime green '50 Mercury (W.E.H.T. #53). That is some serious Mercury action in that shot. You Merc guys kill it man! This is the only picture I could find of Wyatt's Merc, and up until a few weeks ago when @Moriarity posted the great pics from the 1985 KKOA photo album he purchased on Ebay, I was unable to find any pictures of it. Thanks for posting the pic Mark! In my search in books and magazines for pictures of this subtle beauty, I was unable to find anything. I guess in the mid 80s the over-the-top radical chopped Mercs overshadowed the more sneaky mild custom Mercurys and they just weren't put in magazines as much. Shame as I'm sure there were many more mild Mercurys at the shows back then that we never got to see and may never see again. I did find this custom in the '84 and '85 video, but after that I never saw it again. The car may have ended up going the more wild route with a chopped top and a color change, but I didn't find any evidence of that. What ever happened to Wyatt and his subtle green cruiser? Does anyone know? I hope everyone had a great Labor Day. Tough to get back in the swing of things, huh? Man, this summer went by fast. Winter will be here before we know it. Ughhhh! See you guys next week! E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 132. 1959 Chevy Impala "La Bamba" Owner: Danny Maxwell Glenville, West Virginia As we roll on in this thread, you faithful followers might have noticed that there has been a noticeable drop of pictures and history on these fine cars the last number of weeks. This isn't because of the lack of research, but due to the fact that as the deeper we get into these customs and the more obscure they are, the information is much, much harder to find. I hope everyone is still following along even though the content has been on the thin side lately. When the information just isn't out there to be found, all we can do is forge forward and share the information we do find. Anyway, on to W.E.H.T. #132. This week's sled is another one that information has been very tough to find. It is a very nice custom that leans towards the east coast style and pulls it off nicely. It has many traditional mods including a louvered hood and shaved door handles. Cruiser skirts always look good on '59 Chevys and I'm a big fan of Continental kits. As I researched this car, I was really amazed as to how many '59 (and '60) Impalas there were built in the east coast style during the early days of the KKOA. It made it tough to follow along as I had to research if a certain car was a different one, or the same car in a new coat of paint. Danny's '59 was a nice shade of red that looked like kandy to me, although in print it stated the car was bright red. I was only able to find the car in print in the first KKOA book from 1993 on page 132. It gave a quick rundown on the car, but unfortunately the only picture of it was in black and white. In the text from the KKOA book, Danny says that he was a member of the KKOA since 1982. I thought it was strange that in my video research, the only video the car was on was in the 1993 Leadsled Spectacular video filmed in Springfield, Ohio. Maybe he was a member but didn't have the '59 yet or it was still under construction. In that video there is a quick shot of the car and the red really stood out and looked super. Also, the "La Bamba" on the cruiser skirts set this car apart from all the other '59s with Connie kits and cruisers. I searched the internet for months and I was never able to find any pictures of this car at all. Shame as its a treat for the eyes in color. Let's all hope that some pictures come up and more information about Mr. Maxwell is found as well. I hope everyone out there took a moment today to remember those that lost their lives 17 years ago on 9/11. Hard to believe it has been that long, but we still remember. Gone but not forgotten.......... You all take care out there. See you next time! E
I just wanted to say that I for one still always look forward to your thread each week. While I have only had info on one of these, many of them are from my “formative” years. Being 43, my folks took me to all the Springfield and Hamilton KKOA and we did the KOA double date events. Some of them also made the James Dean/Rebel Run/Ducktail events. These sleds and my Dad’s small stack of “little books” cemented my love of customs. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks @Cincinnati Slim! You are so lucky to have been able to attend so many of these events with your folks. You all must have had a ball! Glad you're still following along! E
I went to carnut.com to look for this weeks car and ended up finding a pic of the airmobile 59 taken by Elden at the 1996 kkoa show.
Looks like Danny still had it in 2010... These are apparently from the Doo Wop Run 2010. Found them here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...scayne-belair-pics.245934/page-6#post-5936297
Thanks for posting @Sancho! Great pics! The '59 looks great in the two tone. Nice to see "recent" pics. E
And to your other point... Believe me when I say that even though I didn't reply or find anything on Wyatt Lockman's Mercury, it definitely was NOT due to lack of trying. I always try to find whatever I can on these cars. Wyatt's is so mild which makes it harder. There are no identifying features that stand out. Remember all the transitional photos @stanlow69 posted of the "I Cut It" Mercury? Even after all it's gone through, there is no doubt that the high trunk line (among other details) identifies it. A mild car with a couple later alterations and you'd never know or recognize it, especially if it changed paint colors. And I hate to say it but one that mild could even have been restored to stock!?! I also would like to take the opportunity to thank Ed again! @OG lil E Thanks for the work you put into this thread. I am glad to see it has lasted, hopefully it will keep going for some time. Also thanks to EVERYONE who has contributed in any way. This is one of my favorite threads and I (as well as several others) look forward to it every week.
I hope that when I mentioned that pictures and information on the featured customs was thin lately wasn't an insult to anyone. I just meant that some of these cars are so obscure and so much time has passed that the history on them is beginning to fade away not to be found by anyone. We have a select few that took pictures back then and submitted them to sites like Rikster has, but really there weren't that many photos taken especially of cars that weren't famous. Back then film was expensive and then it had to be developed which was another expense. Jim (@stanlow69) has explained a few times how he managed to buy film and develop pictures on his little (then) teenage budget, but it was tough. Let alone that he has managed to hang on to those photos for many years. So cool! I'm sure more pictures are out there, but many belong to older folks who may not be computer savvy or on the HAMB at all. It would greatly help us with the history of these sleds if people like this were here to add pictures they have and share information they remember. But again, many of the older folks just aren't into the technology of computers. I know quite a few seniors that have no interest in computers or smart phones so they have no way to share their knowledge here. That's why when I'm at shows I seek out the older guys that have a custom and take the time to sit and talk with them a while. A lot of times it turns out that they had another custom a number of years back and they went to the shows we recall all the time. Also, they might remember a lot of the cars we remember and the people who built them. Besides, a lot of these old timers enjoy sitting and visiting. Not always about cars but other things as well. Many may not have a lot of friends to sit and visit with and it is always quality time spent visiting with someone who has "been there and done that". I can think of at least half a dozen older customizers that have been mentioned in our thread that guys have said are still around, but have no computer interest. These are the guys we really need to seek out and see if they can share their photos and take notes of their stories before the day comes when they are taken from us to another place. We have lost so many and with them their vast knowledge is gone as well. So sad.......... I also wanted to take a second to thank everyone for sticking around and posting your pictures and comments and sharing your knowledge and memories. YOU guys are the ones who have helped push this thread along. Guys like @Sancho, @Moriarity, Jim (@stanlow69), @John B, Bill (@54delray), @drdave, Mick (@straykatkustoms) and @PasoJohn just to name a few. There are so many I couldn't even try to name you all--you know who you are! So thanks and let's hope we can find many more cool customs and their owners/builders to enjoy rediscovering! E
Wow, that is quite a compliment @Chaz! Thanks a lot! E Not the case at all Bill. I know if you don't find much information it isn't because you're not trying, but because the information just isn't out there! E
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