Folks Of Interest RIP ... Tony "50Fraud" Miller

Only knew Tony through the HAMB his ‘56 befuddled me at first as I prefer the fancier trim as well as a ‘56 grille. However once I realized he wanted to strip it down to the basic design beauty of the body and not the jewelry I certainly got his point!

His ‘50 conversion I love as well. Cleaning up the canvas... Very tasteful and classy in his builds. A lot of guys just don’t have “ the Eye” and though well done they don’t have what Tony had.

Yes condolences to family.

 

followed every step of the '40 build, absolutely phenomenal. His '56 was also very impressive, very subtle car, IIRC it also had a t-bird hood scoop. And Lincoln premier wheelcovers, like what ford would have done if they did a '55 "dream car" to showcase the new roof line. Very subtle. I always liked talking to him online, we pm'ed a lot, very cool guy.

 

Condolences..he was a nice guy with a great sense for clean design. We first met a quarter century ago, when he saw my newly acquired, then dark green, 51 club coupe parked next to El Camino Real at my Millbrae office. I saw him from my window, went down, and we started talking. He introduced me to West Coast Kustoms, and we often visited more at their Cruisin’ Nationals event. He will be missed.

 

My sincere condolences to his family and friends.. God Speed.. RIP

 

RIP Tony. Always impeccable taste.

 

Damn man, he has been a staple here as long as I've been here. He was one of the guys, you always saw his posts. You never know the person behind the keyboard but that's how it is. Always always a cool dude.

Cruise on, 50Fraud.... thanks for everything you shared.

 

Breaks mine too

I, like many others, “met” Tony via his posts here in the HAMB … but then around 2009 (or 2010), I met him in person at the Goodguys West Coast Nats event in Pleasanton … Over the years, I ran into him at several other GGs events, and at the West Coast Kustoms events in Paso Robles, & at the GNRS in Pomona … We always had a great conversation about his latest “project” or “finished” car.

 

God Bless Tony and all his family. We had some discussions about his very nice 40 convt and my tub

 

So sorry to hear, I admired his style.

 

I'm so sorry to hear of Tony's recent passing, he was a stand up guy and was all in favor of me taking over as the moderators of the old farts club which Tony had started.

Tony will be missed by many. HRP

 

TOMORROW WOULD HAVE BEEN TONY'S BIRTHDAY....

 

Tony was a good guy... passionate about his hot rods and customs with an eye for detail. RIP buddy, Sam

 

Happy birthday in heaven, Tony.

 

It is a '51 Victoria.

 

. . . made to look like a '50 Victoria in the 1990s (via several subtle & tasteful customizations) . . . Tony always referred to it as a 1950.5 Ford Victoria . . . and then in 2021, Tony had @DRD57 make some "not-so-subtle" changes:

Let's Chop 50FRAUD
​

 

It has been a few weeks since Derek contacted me and told me that Tony passed away. I’m still having a hard time getting my thoughts together to write this. Tony was a dear friend and I’ll miss him greatly.

I first met Tony on one of the earlier River City Reliability Runs back in the late 90’s or early 2000’s. The generator on the flathead in his 34 pickup was having trouble keeping the Optima battery full of smoke so, I think I gave him a jump to get it going again. We became fast friends after that and got together at shows & runs all over Southern California, sometimes even doing road trips to destinations farther out. Hanging out at cars shows it quickly became apparent that we had nearly identical tastes in the styling, details and even colors chosen on cars.

Tony was developing the concept for his 40 convertible about the time I opened my shop back in 08 and he asked if I’d be interested in doing any part of it. I said that I’d do the whole thing if he wanted me to. Neither of us had any idea what we were getting into but, we were committed to doing whatever it took to see his vision to completion. Tony was a delight to work with on every aspect of that project. We spent a lot of time going over every detail and had a lot of fun along the way. Somewhere in there we found time to swap the engine and trans out in the 56 Victoria and later, when Tony was getting itchy for another project, he brought 50Fraud up for a roof redesign. Tony loved having the cars, driving them and talking to people about the modifications that were done but, his real joy was in doing the design and then seeing that design come to life.

Tony was very intelligent, articulate, well read, had a great sense of humor, an incredible vocabulary and was always a wellspring of interesting stories and anecdotes from his well lived life. He was a great friend and it breaks my heart that he’s gone.

 

Well said Don. I didn't know Tony that well, but always enjoyed our conversations at shows.
Tony was one of the good guys. So sorry for your loss.

 

Hello HAMBers. Just wanted to let folks know that a memorial show for Tony will be held at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire in Los Angeles from 8:00AM to roughly 11:00AM on August 17th. If you need any more detail, let me know here or shoot me an email: dschwartz75@gmail.com.

 

Don, it's funny you mention the River City Reliability Runs; Pops and I did one in that same '34 Ford truck. Didn't have any car trouble on that drive, and sure as hell was fun. Plus, the ending at the Petersen was the inspiration for having Tony's memorial show there.

 

That thread's reactions kinda surprised Tony - a ton of posts to the positive (which he found really satisfying and reinforced for him what a following the car had) and many that were, well, not so positive.

 

A family member came up with this: please feel free to share as you will.

 

REMINDER....Tony's memorial this Saturday at the Peterson Museum. Should be plenty of HAMBers there.
8am-11

 

I'm sorry to not be able to attend the memorial on Saturday.
I never met Tony in person, but I cheered him on in the 50fraud top chop era, when some were not able to understand his vision.

 

It was small, but the people who showed up, were all friends of Tony's.
His girlfriend, daughter and son were there and some of his close friends.
HAMBers;
Crazydaddyo-Dan Bridges
RPU-Paul Toler
Craiger
Ron Cole
Me-Bad Bob
Crazybackyardbuilder
Rob-36Coupe
Don-35 Pickup, and his buddy
Don Dillard-who chopped Tony's Shoebox, and built his '40 Ford Custom

 

Thanks, Bob. We appreciate you. I know that there were a few other incognito HAMBers in attendance, as well. I used to enjoy making Tony laugh while walking several car shows with him. He's missed

 

YEP, I CAN'T REMEMBER ALL OF THE HAMBERS NAMES. i DON'T KNOW EVERYBODY, LOL.

 

RIP, I really admired his work, wish I could have met him.

 

Thought I'd say this here: the '40 Ford (referenced above in this thread) is now officially donated to the Petersen Museum in Tony's honor. As a family, we're really glad this could happen, and we hope it helps preserve some of his contribution to the world of traditional hot rods and customs.