Hi Guy's I have been MIA for awhile, stuff has just been crazy. Going to catch up. Just wanted to update you also. A few months ago I found out the Pontiac is now in an American car collection and still in the UK. Sounds like it will be stuffed away again [emoji849] Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
OG LiL E, nice comments about Milwaukee. I am a New Yorker my self but lived there for fifteen years. I still go back in the summer to visit my girlfriend and others. The Night Owle is still there. Unfortunately Brew town Pres. (Bob Slavens) passed away a few years ago. I believe that's his Mercury in the corner of the picture of the restaurant that you posted. He was the president of the Brew Town Cruisers car club for many years. A real nice guy. You are right about Milwaukee, it was a great town. When I moved there in the early eighty's it was like still being in the 50ths. I purchased a 40 Mercury from Connie Winkler when I first got there and we became good friends even thought he got me in a lot of trouble with my wife because of that car . Great memories
Thanks for the update, buick boy. In the full swing of the custom renaissance, Milwaukee sounds like it was a great place to be, just like many other towns in that timeframe. I'm saddened to hear about Bob's passing. This explains why he has been absent here in our custom discussions. I had many great HAMB conversations with him. Bob left big shoes to fill, but I wonder if anyone took over the reigns at the Brewtown Cruisers. It's a great club and I'd hate to see it go away. We have lost another great custom enthusiast. I'm sure he is missed by his family and friends. My belated condolences to all those close to him. Rest in peace Mr. Slavens..........E
I did a little searching around and I see that the Brewtown Cruisers' website is still up and running, and it shows that Ron Maleu is the president. Seems like they've continued on. Good to see. Those of you custom faithful up in Wisconsin and those surrounding areas need to be sure to support them when they have get togethers. We need to support clubs like this before they all disappear. I'm including a link to their website as it has a large amount of custom pictures--especially '49-'51 Mercurys, and I know we all love pictures of those Mercurys, don't we? E http://www.brewtowncruisers.com/
What Ever Happened To..........? number 252. 1947 DeSoto Four Door Sedan Owner: Bob Smith Springfield, Missouri There is a small group of custom enthusiasts out there that don't seem to mind a challenge. These folks aren't afraid to take an "unloved" body style or make of car and do wonders with it. Let's face it, it's easy to make a Ford, Chevy or Mercury look great as customs, but there are many cars out there that most people would pass on because pulling it off is a big task. Over the years there have been a number of customs built that may leave people scratching their heads wondering why. It seems like these odd customs were more plentiful back in the little book days, as it seems like in almost every issue of whatever little book name you preferred, there was a one off sled. I guess this could be because there were still plenty of these types of cars around. They could be had cheap and you could hop in and drive them. All these many years later many have gone the way of the crusher and the streets that were once full of them are empty. The old Mopars have always been a favorite of mine, mostly because of my long friendship with my old buddy Charlie. When I met him way back around 1990, he was the Mopar man of Englewood. He always had a yard full of 'em. Anything from the 40s all the way to the land yacht days of the 70s. One time I asked him why the Mopar was his car of choice. He went on to tell me that the old GMs and Fords and Mercurys were too expensive. He said he had offers to drag off old Plymouths, Dodges and DeSotos all the time. He could never pass up a cheap Mopar, and it seems like nine times out of ten he could get those old hulks up and driving in no time at all! I remember he had an old DeSoto four door sedan for quite sometime. I believe it was a '46, but it could have been a '47. The car was in really good shape cosmetically and it actually ran! The old flathead 6 would fire up after sitting for months on end without hesitation. The problem was that it had the old "Fluid Drive" transmission that was shot. Charlie often thought about putting another inline in the car, but the project never developed. He kicked around the idea of a slant 6, but after many round table discussions Charlie, me and many of the guys always thought it would be pretty difficult to pull off. The other option was a Chevy 250 and a Turbo 350, but he just couldn't wrap his mind around putting a Chevy engine in a Mopar. The last time we talked about a driveline swap it sounded like a Jeep (AMC) 258 driveline was going to be the plan. Before the project really got going Charlie had a major set back to the project. One night we had a bad windstorm here in town, and the wind blew over an old cottonwood tree in Charlie's back yard. This tree was huge! Luckily it missed Charlie's house, garage and his other cars, but the poor old DeSoto wasn't so lucky. The tree fell dead center on the roof of the car and smashed the top down to the door tops! Now that was a big heavy tree to do that. I've worked on some of those old Mopars before, and the metal on them is very thick and strong. After seeing the damage to the car we were all relieved no one was hurt. Even after the DeSoto was basically crushed, it still took a while for Charlie to admit the car was now too messed up to fix up, and after Charlie removed every part he could save, he reluctantly had it hauled off to the crusher. Back in 2000 when we decided to head down to Wichita for the 20th Leadsled Spectacular, we were all so excited for the trip it seemed like the time to go would never arrive. We counted down the days to go (which is something we still do) and the day finally arrived. We had an eventful trip that I've discussed at length here on the HAMB many times. What an adventure! One of the most memorable things from our first day down there was when Charlie saw a chopped '47 DeSoto limo cruise into our hotel parking lot just minutes after we arrived. The old DeSoto rolled by and Charlie almost fell over. I was the closest one standing to him and he excitedly said "See Homie, I told you a DeSoto could be cool!" He then put his big arm around my neck (like Dad's do) and kinda shook me and repeated the line. He caught me off guard and the Coke that I was drinking was nearly full. The shaking caused the pop to fizz up and go all over. We both got a soda bath. It was pretty funny! Those ol' Mopars really made an impression on my good friend! The car I'm talking about isn't the feature car tonight, but I've included a few pictures of it to get the ball rolling. The owner's name escapes me (I swear my mind is turning to mush), but if I'm not mistaken the car was from Michigan. This was the limo style body, which was the same car that Mr. Cunningham drove on Happy Days. The car still looks pretty much the same today as back in 2000, and it is a proven road warrior as I've seen it at shows all over the place, whether in person, in magazines or on videos. Tonight's DeSoto isn't the limousine body style, but it had the cool fastback style roofline as the big body, plus it had the rear suicide doors that have always had a cool factor all their own. The car was actually pretty mild, but with such an unusual body style a person wouldn't have to do too much as seeing another one as a custom would be quite rare. Bob Smith's car first appeared at the '86 Leadsled Spectacular, which happened to be in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri. In the first shots of it tonight, you can see the car had shaved door handles and hood ornament. The headlights were frenched and peaked, and the front bumper looks to molded, or painted body color to appear that way. Dummy spots and triple cap lake pipes are a few of the custom goodies added to the car. Moving to the back of the car, you can see the trunk lid was shaved and pinstriped, and a rolled pan was added. The plate mount was extended outward, and custom taillights that I still haven't been able to identify were added. It's hard to see, but some neat little bumperettes were added under the lights for protection. It's hard to beat the beautiful dashboards of many old cars. There was so much design style and chrome they were just breathtaking! This DeSoto's dash doesn't disappoint with plenty of chrome all around. The dash reminds me of an old jukebox! Neat to see Mr. Smith still had the stock steering wheel in use. In 1987 the Leadsled hit the road once again, landing in another Springfield, but this time in Illinois. Bob attended once again, and was on the video just moments in as Rowdie caught the cars on the road headed toward the fairgrounds. At the '87 Spectacular they did something that I've never seen on any other Leadsled video. The entry way was blocked off with street signs, and a cord with streamers (like the ones you see with triangular flags on them flying over small car dealerships). The mayor of Springfield did a little welcome speech while shaking Jerry Titus' hand, then Jerry cuts the cord and the barriers are moved and the waiting customs are allowed to enter the 'grounds. The song by The Sensations "Let Me In" starts to play. This is one of my favorite moments from my collection of car show videos. Bob was patiently waiting in line, and his car was one of the first into the show. You'll notice that new for '87 was gray or silver paint around the area where the side windows were. Nice touch. During the convertible cruise through the fairgrounds, there were a few good shots of the DeSoto sitting in the show. The car was among good company as it was sitting next to Bill Moore's legendary sled "Earth Angel". You will notice in the rear shot of the car, the pinstriping is no longer on the trunk. Bob's DeSoto must have made an impression on the KKOA brass as the car was featured in two different photos in the Kemp Gazette (Volume 4 Number 1 from 1988) covering the show. The first picture on page 12 was one of a line of customs rolling into the fairgrounds searching for a parking spot. You'll notice Bill Moore is following Bob's DeSoto in this shot. The next shot is from the same Kemp Gazette, only this time on page 15. This is one of the better pictures of the car, and this is where I finally tracked down Bob Smith as the owner. The last Leadsled appearance I found of Mr. Smith and his fine '47 was at the 1988 show in Holland Michigan. The car looked to be the same as in '87. In the last picture I have tonight, we get a better view of the plain trunklid with no striping. I guess it's fitting that the last picture tonight is of the back of the car, as this is the last shot I was able to find of the car. What became of this orphaned hump back? Did Mr. Smith sell it? Did it find new life over seas somewhere? Maybe a restorer got it and put it back to stock (I hope not)! So where is this unique car? Maybe someone will know! I hope everyone remembered the special person in their life for Valentine's Day, other wise you may be getting the cold shoulder in more ways than one. What I mean about that is, how about this crazy frigid weather? I see that our friends down South in Texas are even feeling the effects of the cold. What is going on? I know it gets chilly down there but not like this. What are they saying about global warming again? I hear about it all the time, but the winters still seem plenty cold to me. Maybe I'm just missing something. I tell you what I am missing, and that's summertime. It can't get here soon enough for me, and I'm sure many of you out there feel the same! 'Til next week, y'all stay warm! E
I am pretty sure this is the same car. It belongs to John Merriman from Holland Mi. Known him for years.
John Merriman, now the light bulb goes on. I knew his name but I just couldn't find it in the ol' memory banks. Thanks for the help, Debb! E Great pics as always Jim. Thanks for sharing! E
I have to tell you that this car is one of my earliest memories of 50's era cars, and definitely one of the ones that planted the seeds for me. Growing up with a single mom, she recognized that I liked playing with Hot Wheels cars as a kid, but nobody in our family was even remotely into cars of any kind. So she'd take me to a local cruise night on Wednesdays at the Inman Grove shopping center, we'd have a meal from Burger King, and we'd look at the cars. Wild Bill was in the area and always used to show up, and the '56 was all decked out with the etched glass, fuzzy dice, an best of all flamethrowers. That was the coolest shit I had ever seen in my 6 year old life. I'm pretty sure he lived in the Gillette, NJ area. I thought I figured out where he lived when I drove past a house with a radically chopped Nova in the driveway with flamethrowers on my way to my first job after college. Everything he had was over-the-top with the flamethrowers. But that had to be at least 12 years ago. I haven't seen him or the cars in the very long time.
The 56 ford is in the middle east now .And is purple and white .Not sure about the nova or bill havent seen him in years .
Very cool story. The things Moms do for their kids can be truly amazing! This just goes to show, whether we know it or not, that the car you have may be making an impression on a kid that lights a flame that will burn forever. I'll go ahead and adjust the heading of Bill's W.E.H.T. #197 heading for his hometown. Bummer that everyone has lost touch with "Wild Bill", as I'm sure he'd love to read about the impression he made on a kid, that turned him into a big time custom adult. I love hearing stories like this! Thanks for sharing Joe! E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 253. 1952 Chevy "Ramblin' Rose" Owner: Perry Miller Hartford City, Indiana This week's custom is different from most of the cars we've covered as it has no fender skirts. I am a big time fan of fender skirts, and I make no bones about it. I check out discussion after discussion here on the HAMB where people debate whether cars (and trucks) look right with skirts or not. I rarely give an opinion, as I'm crazy about them. This is only my personal opinion, and if you like 'em fine, if not, that's fine too. But, my sleds will always have them. Perry Miller put together this sharp Chevy, with the help of a talented guy named Dave Skaggs. I don't know if Perry ever took the car to the Spectacular in primer or during the "in the process stage", but I do know that once completed, he dragged his cool chopped Chevy to the Leadsled Spectacular three consecutive years. The first year was in 1987, when the show was in Springfield, Illinois. Rowdie caught quite a few good clips of footage of the car, showing many of the unique custom modifications. When you first look at the car, the low roofline jumps out at you. Whoever chopped this car did an excellent job, giving the car a killer profile! My first shots tonight will be two that were taken as Rowdie panned the car from the side. I couldn't capture a clean frozen still of the car from the side in one shot, so hopefully this will give you the feel of the great lines of this Chevy from the side. The next shot shows the front of Perry's Chevy. Nicely frenched headlights, cool frenched and molded turn signal assemblies, a filled and peaked hood with rounded hood corners and a large dose of louvers. Topping off the front of the Chevy was a unique grille giving you a rolling textbook on customizing tricks. I'll give more details on the grille soon. As we get a look at the rear of the Chevy, there are more unique custom tricks. The shaved trunk is obvious, but the louvered panel between the trunk and bumper is very different. You don't see that panel louvered very often, as making it weather proof can be a nightmare! Here's a closer detailed shot of the slightly frenched Corvette taillights. Nice! Here's a look at the artwork on the lower front fenders where the car was christened "Ramblin' Rose". The color on the car looks way brighter and more pink in this picture than the others. I blame a tired old video tape. The car was a much deeper looking (kandy?) brandywine. I'm guessing that this is Mr. Perry Miller "hisself", doing some clean up getting the "Rose" ready for the show and shine. In the Kemp Gazette's coverage of the '87 Spectacular (Volume 4 Number 1--1988), there was a nice shot of Perry's car on page 12. Here it explains how the bodywork was done by Dave Skaggs. It also mentions that the grille was built by him as well, containing 29 teeth that were made from milled aluminum. A time consuming effort I'm sure that looked terrific! By the way, there was a typo in the photo's caption calling Perry's hometown Harford City, Indiana. I looked it up on my trusty map while doing my research, and it turns out Perry was from Hartford City. The "t" was left out. Not trying to nitpick, just trying to get the record straight. The next year the '52 ended up at the Spectacular again. In '88 the show travelled to Holland, Michigan. The car looked unchanged, but we get more nice shots of the car, including some details missed the year before. To start off the '88 coverage, we have a nice 3/4 front view.......... And a nice 3/4 rear view. Next is a shot that I took a still picture of to show the depth and reflection of the paint this Chevy had. If you look close, you can see a flamed car in the reflection, right under where "Ramblin" Rose" was lettered on the side. The mile deep, dark brandywine was gorgeous! Another detail on this Chevy was the addition of reversed louvers in the rear quarters just ahead of the rear wheel hump and above the chrome trim on the rocker panel. This is a neat little detail that most people might miss. For the interior there was a generous amount of tuck'n'roll, and a beach towel thrown over the seat to maybe keep it clean, or to prevent a seat burn from the hot Michigan summer sun. White tuck'n'roll is hard to beat in the quest for the true 50s style! The last Leadsled sighting I found on the Miller '52 was at the '89 Spectacular in Davenport, Iowa. I actually found no video footage of the car at the show that year, but I did see a photo and caption of it again in the Kemp Gazette. It was in a late 1989 issue, Volume 5 Number 9 on page 22 in the KKOA's coverage of the show. Here it mentions that Perry's hard work and faithful travel to the Leadsled Spectacular earned him one of the big awards at the show that year. Very well deserved! The story of this Chevy kinda fades away a little after this, but I know I saw a picture of this car right here on the HAMB within the last handful of years. I think, and I could be wrong on this, but I think the picture I saw was at one of the James Dean shows in Indiana. I can't say what year it was, or who took it, but I remember it was a shot of the car from the rear. It was still brandywine, and it still had the Corvette taillights and the distinctive louvered dovetail. In the shot there was a man sitting in a lawn chair behind the car, and it had a "For Sale" sign in one of the tiny quarter windows. Man, I wish I could remember who took the shot. I think I had it saved on one of my old dead computers, but that stuff is long gone now. I'm thinking this was either a picture that @Ron or our own @KustomLincolnLady Debb might have taken as they are usually at the James Dean shows. They always seem to make it a point to attend as they are Indiana folks, so it isn't a terribly long trip to attend. Maybe another Midwestern kustom person will remember the Chevy as well, and someone will have some nice clear shots of it to share. I know this car is still out there, so lets find it, ok? Yesterday it was a nice day here, and today it was for a while until the darn wind came up. It was a nice little break between snowstorms. It seems like such a long time ago now that we could all go to shows, or anywhere for that matter, with "normal" conditions before this whole illness thing came along. Let's keep hoping for a better future, and some old fashioned pre-2020 car fun. Hang in there everyone! See you soon! E
Ed, that car is a regular at James Dean Run. Hartford City is only 15 20 mins. away from the show. The paint on it is top notch, nice car. This is pic is from Carnut site.
Nice pic DANSLED, thanks for posting! I searched Carnut for a picture of this car but came up empty. Nice find. I agree, it is a quality sled! I'm hoping that Debb (@KustomLincolnLady) or @Ron will chime in as they hit the Indiana car scene pretty hard every year. If anyone has more pics or information, it will be one of them. E
Wow, I was just checking out @DANSLED's pic again, and I noticed it has a nicely detailed inline six with what looks to be a triple carb setup. This just adds to the coolness. I wonder if it has that wonderful inline six split manifold sound. This type of thing takes cars like this over the top for me! E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 254. 1956 Ford Owner: Randy Ruzicka St. Louis, Missouri The "one hit wonder". All of us that grew up in almost any era and spent any time listening to the radio can remember a band coming along with a catchy song and it topped the charts. Then, almost as fast as the song went to the top, it dropped off the charts and the band was never heard from again. Strange how that happens. Tonight's feature car is a lot like that. It came on the scene, and seemed to quickly disappear. Randy Ruzicka put together this neat little '56 Ford and decided to take it to the 1991 Leadsled Spectacular in Hamilton, Ohio. When you take a quick look at the car it looks pretty mild, but it isn't until you take a closer look that you realize this subtle sled is actually more wild. I think the fact that it's a shade of turquoise that looks like the color these Fords came in way back in the 50s makes it look more mild than it is. I don't know if this Ford had the Crown Victoria trim on it to begin with, or it was added by Randy. I personally can't recall ever seeing a Ford two door sedan with that trim, but Ford may have put it on a few of them. A closer look at the front end shows the stock grille with the vertical bars blacked out, giving the appearance of a tube grille. The hood was shaved, and the headlights were molded. After checking out the front of the Ford, I guess the first big thing that jumps out is the chopped top. Looking closer you not only see the top was chopped, but it was a top complete with rear window from a '57 Buick mated to the Ford. With a little closer shot of the rear of the '56, you'll notice that the body bumps from the Buick roof are continued on to the trunk of the Ford. Nice touch that I'm sure was quite a bit of extra work. Here's another shot of the rear where you can see the shaved trunk, frenched license plate and cool fins. Notice the semi-rare '56 Ford rear bumper with exhaust slots and the tips peeking out. I've always thought this was one of the neatest options on '55 and '56 Fords. In the next shot you can see how the taillight buckets were molded and the taillights were frenched into them. The lights appear to be '56 Oldsmobile units. Here's a little clearer shot, showing the factory "cutouts" of the Olds taillights. These pictures of Mr. Ruzicka's Ford were all stills taken from Video "Bob" Huff's video of the '91 Leadsled. They were taken from the short video clip of the car, and unfortunately it wasn't on the video anywhere else. Other investigating only turned up one other picture of the car, again from the '91 Spectacular. This picture was in the Custom Rodder Winter Edition from 1992 on page 38. Back when Custom Rodder got up and going again around 1990, they only put out four quarterly copies of the magazine a year. Spring, summer, winter and fall. I remember thinking how loooong it seemed between issues. Eventually they put out a magazine every other month, but they ever made it to monthly before they folded in 2007. Man, I can't believe Custom Rodder has been gone that long! It was a great magazine, especially in the beginning with great how to articles that revealed many of the mysteries of custom modifications. I really miss it. Sorry, I kinda went off track there. The picture of Randy's '56 showed a nice shot of the rear of the Ford, as well as an inset picture of the nicely modified and detailed engine. There were no other shots of it at all. The caption on the picture mentions that the car's interior was not yet completed, and I've never been able to find any shots of the interior, before or after. Thankfully the caption revealed that Randy Ruzicka was the owner of the car and where he was from, otherwise this would have ended up one of our "wildcard" customs that we never seem to find out who the owner was or where he was from. Sorry gang, but the only real good photo I found of the car was in black and white. After the '91 Spectacular I couldn't find anything more on the car. I even went back to other Leadsled Spectacular videos and looked through magazines hoping to find a shot of this Ford in primer, maybe in the background of the video tape or in another picture but I never found anything else. Maybe one of our Missouri or surrounding area custom faithful will remember the car and will have a shot or two to share. I think this one may be a long shot as it only seemed to be around the KKOA for that one show. I think the Buick roof would be a dead giveaway for anyone who spotted the car, as I've never seen another '55 or '56 Ford with a Buick top. There might be another one out there like it, but I highly doubt it. As for Mr. Ruzicka, I think if anyone knew him they would remember him, maybe just for his unique last name. When I found it, I'd never heard the name Ruzicka before. And with that, I think that about wraps it up for this week. I hope some of these clues will lead us to more information about the "one hit wonder" '56 Ford of Randy Ruzicka. It was a beautiful day here in Denver. For the first time in months I was able to shed some of my winter gear when I worked outside. Also when I walked this evening, I was able to wear a ball cap and not my usual beanie (stocking cap). With the time change a few short weeks away, as well as St. Patrick's Day, it seems like Spring is finally just around the corner. But, with that being said I have to be cautious, as March is known as the Denver area's snowiest month. We still could get blasted with another snow storm that drops a foot or two of snow! Hopefully not, but I'm not going to worry about that. I plan on enjoying the next few days as the weather is supposed to be well into the 60s. We'll be cruising again real soon! You guys have a wonderful week! Take care! E
Cool kustom choice for W.E.H.T, Ed. Thanks for posting. Curious, what Crown Victoria trim are you referring to? I'm not seeing it.
Thanks for the props Bill. Happy to do it! Maybe I'm not calling it the right thing, but it's the trim that starts on the front fender and dips down the door and runs to the rear of the car. My friend Charlie used to call it "the check mark trim". A number of years ago Mitch had a '56 Ford two door Mainline sedan and the trim was way different and not as fancy. I guess that's because the Mainline was a cheapie model, where the Crown was the top-of-the-line. I'm sure Ford used different trim on different models, or a customer that liked certain trim might have been able to special order their choice of trim on their car. Don't you miss seeing real chrome trim on cars? New cars all look like jelly beans that are different colors. Olds cars rule! E
Wow, the light just went on. You must be talking about the trim over the top of the roof from a Crown Victoria, Bill (@54delray). I guess that was a little confusing in the feature post. Sorry about the confusion and for completely missing the point. I guess I'm still not completely awake (lol). Sorry..........E
I’m from St. Louis and know people that knew of the car and apparently Randy sold it but not sure where it ended up.
Great rear 3/4 shot @Sum54ford . Really shows the nice chop, not overdone. Those extended leaned back "fins" sure give it some 'motion' Yep @OG lil E, I was asking about the Crown roof trim, totally unique to the Crown Victoria model. The side trim you referred to was on all Fairlanes, be it Club Sedan (this car), Town Sedan (a four door) Sunliner (ragtop), aforementioned Crown Victoria as well as 2 dr (Parklane) and 4 dr wagons. As you suspected, different side trim on Customline and Mainline Fords. Let's go HAMBer's ... What ever happened to this cool kustom Ford?
Thanks for posting the great pic @Sum54ford! Nice to see a clear color shot. Such a sharp car! E Thanks for the input Bill! Your fin description of this Ford is dead on! Also, thanks for taking the time to explain the trim on these Fords. This is where my Dad was an invaluable source on things like this. He was like a walking encyclopedia on cars before about 1970. I sure miss him..........E
Just noticed a neat little modification ... the body line on the lower quarter panel. Stock formation just follows the front edge of the fenderskirt, then straight back until it fades out before reaching the back of the car. Mr Ruzicka extended that body line forward on the quarter panel. I looks like he may have worked a scoop into the new leading edge, be it functional or not, I don't know.
The Jalopy Journal
