Customs Customs gone wrong

I wonder if there is a custom that is universally admired... as in, no one has ever expressed any dislike for it. Personal preferences are so broad that it's hard to imagine you could find one that is 100% admired. After that, it's just a matter of what percentage of people like the design. You take that shorty 57 wagon to any mid-American car show and guaranteed that percentage of people that think its cool would be greater than 0%.

 

Just so there is no confusion I really Like Bill's

Just so there is no confusion I really like Bill's '55. I bet it's a blast to drive. That said I meant no disrespect to
@Bill's Auto Works or any of his really great cars.

 

While I'm sure this thread was a jab at awkward modern era built customs you gotta remember back in the day there was a lot of awkward custom stuff going on. The pleasing ones everyone thinks of from back in the day were commonly the minority. Gotta remember quad RECTANGLE headlights on forties and fifties rods was a popular fad in the early sixties. Or cars like this. I forget the story on it but apparently has some prestige. Yet built now you'd think they were on drugs lol. So basically awkward IS traditional lol

 

May I offer a suggestion

 

I dig it.

but I cut a bus in half.

Sometimes ya just build stuff cause ya like building. Or out of junk ya got laying around.

ya never build crap to please the folks not involved with it.

 

O/T Mopar in the back looks good.

 

With a custom car it would be impossible to please everyone . It’s like artwork .

the Mona Lisa painting is world renown as a masterpiece , what I saw was one of my aunts from Italy with a greasy face and hair from working the fields all day ! Nothing special in my minds eye .
But to the vast majority a priceless work of art .

that weirdo with the Cambles soup cans in the 60’s …. I dunno , to me it looked like the flyer the local grocer puts out on Thursdays for the week end specials . To others Mr. Funny hair with the big glasses changed society .

then there’s the all black square that sold for millions a few years ago , painted by some potato from behind the iron curtain . Again cutting edge stuff that I could done with a paint roller in 15 minutes .

I hope you can see I’m being sarcastic and a bit of an ass in describing these pieces of art work . To me there ridiculous!!

Custom cars are the same , where I see beauty some will see stupidity and vice versa .


@Rickybop I was not trying to make fun of anyone’s car , but seriously asking why shorties with the proportions so off ??

iff the entire car was shortened proportionally , it might work , but just the passenger compartment shortened and the rest of the car ( hood trunk ) left long it looks weird, just wondering why and where this style came from .

anyways

here’s a stupid car to make fun of .

 

Most of the Corvettes in that other thread would fit in here!
One notable exception would be Mark’s car. Why it? It’s not over the top with loaded junk from a bunch of other cars. It’s subtle, you really have to look at it to see what’s been changed, it doesn’t just jump in your face and scream “Look at me!”

Sometimes less is more!

 

No such thing as a bad custom

only folks that don’t like what they see.

 

I know this is going to be a wildly unpopular option, but for me it's the whole back end of the Hirohata Merc.

The rear window doesn't flow with lines of the quarter windows, and the quarter panels and taillights don't flow. It's like the taillights are big old blisters hanging out of the quarter panels.

But I am pretty sure when Sam Barris built it his first thought wasn't "In 70 some odd years what it a guy in Upstate NY going to think of this car?"

 

To each his own, but some of these Street Freaks are LOVED! The Corvair wagon was shown somewhere needing a resto, but had survived. That rat powered '56, I've no idea where it went, have seen a few thru the years.

 

@Robert J. Palmer I agree, the rear window I could let pass but the tail lights looked like an after thought once the quarter was shaped or a miscommunication when building the quarters, guy building quarters thought the guy on the phone with the tail lights said 16" inches tall not 6".... then once the tail lights showed up in the mail it was too late, so a quick fix and there you go...

..

 

Yeah I guy I know shortened his ‘57. Not y cup of tea.

 

That is how I worry my Plymouth would look if i french the headlights myself....

 

I think they just couldn't find a decent 2 door donor. Crewcab tri-fives (or anything) were never really worth much, so not a lot lost was the thinking at the time....IMO

 

I don't know about that. I think my buddy Harry's chopped 55 looks pretty good. I am 6' 2" and I was surprised when I rode in it with how much headroom it has. And yes, I blacked out the offending wheels so that the photo would not get deleted.

 

I like the 4 door shorties! The wagons I think look the best! But too each their own.

 

This compared to
This

look astatically night and day. They are both Iowa cars and the workmanship on the two tone wagon didn't appear to look bad. But the gold car looks proportional. The front fenders have been shortened as well as the back roof and the wheel base looks more proportional. Did the gold car also get narrowed? Who knows they may have been done by the same person and as long as the owners are happy with them, life is great. But when you first look at one and you wonder what were they thinking, it is fairly safe to say they missed the mark. The gold one, while not everyone's cup of tea, is clear what the builder was thinking and he hit his target. Just my 2¢

 

I often use the analogy that building race cars, hot rod, and customs (kustoms?) is like making chili.

Every region has its own style, and each person has their own taste their for will put their own spin on that style.

Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s wrong, now there are cases of poor taste but that doesn’t necessarily mean poor craftsmanship.

 

Good God that’s ugly

 

As a kid, Ed Roth got me Loving Hot Rods. When I see one of those shorties. I think all they need are some Big rear tries, a straight axle, and a big supercharged motor.

 

Plenty of shortys out there.

 

One more

 

In Australia there is a 1962 Holden with the front section of the front fenders and hood chrome trim as rear body and the big chrome rear light units and fins grafted to the front as headlight units. The whole car is to OT for a pic but both ends should do as examples. First pic is new rear ( was a front ) and second pic is new front . ( was a rear with fins )

View attachment 5981986

 

This one almost looks like an Austin Mini.

 

That would be one opinion, another may be:
No such thing as a good custom, only folks that like the form of automotive mutilation they see.

I still stand by your right to mutilate your vehicle however you see fit. I don't have to like it, and you don't have to like what I've done with my vehicle.

 

To chop or not to chop , to suffer the cuts and burns of outrageous sawzalls and welders….

 

This is what I was saying , still weird looking to me , but it’s in proportion, put some long wheelie bars on it and have it be a wheel stander exhibit car !!!!

moriarity posted his revel model , both are similar in the entire car’s proportions have been cut down so it “ works “