Bon Metz was a custom car builder back in the 1950s. In my opinion, he was one of the most underrated customizers,,,,,He turned out some incredible work,,including working on the R&C dream truck and modifying/updating the barris built golden sahara....but his greatest achievement in my opinion was the designing and construction of his incredible 1950 buick fastback kustom...this car had so many great modifications done to it,,,,,it was voted top custom of the year by one of the "little books"..(R&C i believe),,,,,,,i just love the car,,(although a slight chop would make the car flow a little better in my opinion),,,,,,i was just sitting here wondering if anyone here has any more information on the man and/or the car?....is he still alive?...did the car survive?..if so, where is it?.....i believe his shop was located in indiana,,i know we have a bunch of hambers from there,,maybe some of you guys can shed some light on the topic....i searched here and online, but info on the guy is pretty scarce.......here are a few pics of the buick i found on riksters site,,(sorry for the small size)
Rodders Journal just did a feature on him, Written by Spence Murry. Bob Passed away at age 77 in 1997, Was a true metal man.
wow!!...really?? is it in the latest issue? gotta get that,,,will probably answer a lot of my questions, knowing the rodders journal..... did the article happen to mention what ever happened to the buick?
He's from shelbyville. His son-in-law and his grandson still have shops there, although more just collision shops. My mom went to school with his daughter in the 60s and she still is around too. I remember him from when I was a kid cruising around town in a boat tail roadster. I know in his old shop there is one of his unfinished projects but it's not that Buick.
Geez, I remember reading his stuff in Rod and Custom in the '60's, he's gotta be about a hundred and twenty years old now, no?
He was recently at Starbirds museum and is doing fine. I hope he doesn't see the inconsiderate post above.
After college, I opened the Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Shelbyville and worked with all of the body shops in town for a couple of years. I am still friends with the Yantiss' who had a body shop next door to Metz shop if I recall correctly. He was still doing custom work there in the early 90's...or someone was. Supposedly work is still going on in there...
Well the article does discuss exactly what you are looking for, go grab a copy, I wont spoil it for you! Its an excellant artical on an amazing builder.
There is a good article on Metz in the August 1992 Rod and Custom called The Finmaster. It's by John Lee (Research by Greg Sharp).
agreed.,,,,,,,,, i just bought the rodders journal today so i can read about him,,,, can't wait to read the article,,the pictures are just fantastic too.. his work was just amazing,,,,mostly metal-finished too,,,he didnt like to use much lead, etc..and he DROVE his cars regularly until someone pestered him enough for him to sell it...
The Jalopy Journal
