Just figured I'd share this. While out in SoCal with some buddies for the GNRS we stopped at the Early Ford Store in San Dimas where I found this cool metal sign. It's the sign off of the original California Metal Shaping building. Mike didn't really want to sell it but I was persuasive ! For those that don't know, CMS was a metal fab shop that not only built the Monorail cars for Disneyland but shaped roof and fadeaway fender panels for some of the more famous Custom car builders of the 40s-50's as well as Track noses and race car bodies in the 40's-50's. If anyone has a picture of the CMS building with this sign on it please post it !
This thread has a picture of the original building. The sign is not the same at the time of the picture. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106219
California Metal Shaping was owned by Bill Honda. He had one of the most beautiful original '32 Ford roadsters I have ever seen. Here is a thread about CMS. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106219
Outstanding, you noted the custom work that they did, seem to remember that they built the curved window frames for the Matranga Merc and the Hirohito Merc...
I wondered who bought it. I was there and saw it sitting in the center by the counter and asked about it, said the owner was at a swap meet and I could call Monday. Called Monday and it was gone. Congrats!!! (Damn I wanted that bad)
Good time being part of the acquisition, sure put a highlight on this years trip. Glad to see it came home with no damage!!!
The one car that, in my eyes, was the real start of the Custom Car movement as we know it. The So-California Plating Co. 1935 Ford designed by George DuVall and created by DuVall, Kurtis Chad Schultz, George Thomas Top Shop and Jimmy Summers. Oh and this one also has a set of Woodlite headlamps… hidden behind the front fenders, just showing the small opening. https://www.customcarchronicle.com/custom-history/history-of-the-early-custom-car/#.XVC9trJ96M8
A large part of So. California Plating’s business was constructing and plating midget racecar grills and accessories. To advertise the business DeBell customized his delivery vehicles, outfitting them with whitewall tires, wheel discs, V-windshields and custom chrome grills and bumpers designed by DuVall. His front-end treatment on So. California Plating’s 1931 Ford pickup has been credited with inspiring the grille found on the 1933-34 Terraplane (manufactured by Hudson). Influenced by the designs of Harley Earl, George began creating custom bumpers and grilles (for 1930s Fords) and in late 1935 was put in charge of customizing the Plating Co.’s new delivery vehicle, a 1935 Ford Phaeton. The striking vehicle featured an extended wheelbase (by 12 in.), filled-in rear doors and a flat rear floor which was accessed by a lift-up rear hatch constructed by Chad Schultz of Joe Newell's body shop. Chad didn't work for Marcel Delay, I was Newell's body shop
http://www.coachbuilt.com/des/d/duvall/duvall.htm lots of history, I remember the names but it's been tooo many years
At some point it became clear to Kingston that it would be easier to remanufacture than to restore. Besides, then he could turn out two or three cars of the same type at once, not just one. These early car bodies were fabricated once, often on inexpensive wooden dies. It could be done the same way again. Kingston's infatuation with brand -new, old time bodies eventually led him to the right place. Just east of downtown Los Angeles stands a bland brick building, shrouded by smog and bypassed by progress. A small sign out front reads, "California Metal Shaping." Inside, old-time auto body artisans are still shaping bodies the Same way they did in 1935, using hammers and dies that date back to the dawn of .the automotive age. California Metal Shaping has been hammering out bodies for the Indianapolis 500 for 40 years. On the side, they've been shaping bodies and fenders for California's most prestigious custom body builders. The original Packard Darrin was shaped here, and Dutch is still a frequent visitor. Incredible as it may seem, the craftsmen who shaped custom cars in the days of fenders and runningboards are still working for California Metal Shaping. They'll turn out a Duesenberg fender (or a whole Duesenberg body) just as surely as they did it two generations ago. "Who's to say their work isn't original," said Kingston. "Ws the same people shaping the same bodies in the same building, using the same hammers." Only they're working in a 4()..year time warp, giving you an instant color video replay of the last great days of the custom body era. There is probably no place like California Metal Shaping in the country, if not the world. If Kingston could buy it, he could fabricate old-time cars all over again. "I really didn't expect to buy the place," says Kingston. "But I approached the owner anyway. Reluctantly, he agreed to sell for double the value of the machines. Along with a long-time friend, Bill Honda, Kingston soon found himself co-owner of California Metal Shaping. Honda, who is mainly a Ford enthusiast, manages the plant, while Kingston finishes up the restorations in Lancaster. .
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