Customs chopped black 57 chrysler custom?

I Dig it
I love that car, but I think I hate the owner.

 

I don't hate McEuen for owning the car ... but I do begrudge him a bit for keeping it locked up in a warehouse.

McEuen first showed it at the Grand National (Oakland) Roadster Show in the 80's (right after the Powell / Burnett team completed the "re-do").

The photos in the "THE DARK SECRET" article were taken at Rod Powell's Picnic in 1990. As Rod posted in the Top Custom thread: "At my show in 1990 Joe Wilhelm was our special guest. Bill McEuen was kind enough to allow us to display the car as a tribute to his craftsmanship.

The last time I saw it was at the 1996-97 Oakland Museum of California exhibition Hot Rods and Customs: The Men and Machines of California's Car Culture.

Unfortunately, I have heard of no other sightings of the car since January of 1997.

I did find that more recent pic on McEuen's Apsen Film Society / Kontikihale website ... but photographs just don't do the car justice ...

THIS MILESTONE CUSTOM NEEDS TO BE SHARED WITH THE MASSES!!!!!

 

Hemi32

This is my all time favorite. Bring it back up as much as you want. I never get tired of it.

I remember Cliff and his crew cruising John's Drive-In when the car was low and black before it was chopped. Then I watched the customizing at Wilhelms shop.

What made it work was that it was clean and simple. He didn't even take off the door handles. It was a young man's car that was built on a budget. It was a daily driver. It was in all the shows but it was down on the drag almost everytime I went cruising to San Jose.

Getting to be involved in the restoration was quite a deal. I was so proud to be able to work on one of Wilhem's finest Customs. I did it in Black nitro lacquer. Back in the day when paint work was sensible.

We never did figure out the windshield. Wilhelm said it was the original glass cut down. Inman agreed. I have never seen another one that was chopped with that style of front glass.

.
RodP

 

holey moley it's 11:55 on a school night. I saw this and thought I will email HEMI 32 since he must see this post when in fact it was he who brought it up from the archives.

hey Toddo... wassup? what hapened to Wilhelm?? I got pics of that car at the Oakland show. as a matter of fact I think it was you that called me and said it was the last day of the show ON THE LAST DAY.

haven't seen it since. it sucks when a historically significant car sits in a garage and never gets out. hint, hint, hint.

 

@RodP,

Glad to oblige ... it's one of my all time favorite subjects too!

... and no, I didn't forget ... I still "owe" you those scans of my father's photos from the day we picked up the car in Fresno and trailered it to your shop. I still haven't got around to scanning them ... but when I do, I'll make 'em high resolution (high quality) so it would be best if I burned the images to a CD picture disc and mailed it to you (PM me your address).

Todd (Bruce's "kid")

 

Mike ... what are you waiting for? ... it's not too late ... go find those prints ... fire-up your scanner ... and post 'em here!

oh ... and congrats on your 3000th post ... that's some kinda HAMB milestone isn't it? ... it is to me (a lowly Grenade Inspector) ... but then again, I contend that the quality of a post counts more than the quantity ... but I digress ... back to the Inman Chrysler!

 

nice shot of the coupe. what year is that?

 

ahhhh...

 

Like Rod Powell,Cliff Inman's '57 Chrysler is my all time favorite custom.Rod and I were from the same town-Salinas,Ca. and have been friends for 50+ years.When the car was built by Joe Wilhelm,Joe's shop was down the street from John's Drive In on Stockton St.John's was the place to be if you had a Custom and Inman's Chrysler was a front row car.I also remember in the Summer seeing him with his car dragging the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.What a sensation it created.What makes this car so special is the restraint Wilhelm used in knowing when to stop when the look was achieved.

 

Very influential people really dig this car...RodP, TexasTramp

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200332

 

When Rod Powell got the owner to bring the Chrysler to his picnic in 90 was the one and only time I got to meet Joe Wilhelm. I couldn't get away from the car mostly because I couldn't believe I was really standing beside it and looking at it in real life. I guess Joe noticed my hanging around it because he come over to me and we struck up a conversation.. It was a little hard for me to talk to him at first because along with standing beside "THAT CHRYSLER" I was also having to fight off the cold chills I was having, knowing I was really talking to "JOE WILHELM"! Damn, this was complete sensory overload for me. He showed me all the things he had done and explained the reasons and manner he had done them. He was so passionate about that car which had he had built nearly 30 years earlier that if I hadn't have know better I would have thought he had just finished it. In the relatively short time we we talked, he didn't know it but he was giving me a look inside the personality of the Joe Wilhelm that I already had such a respect for. That Chrysler and Mr Joe Wilhelm's passion are a very real part of what drives me every single day to continue to do what I do far a living.

 

Thank you for posting that Gary. That was quite a day wasn't it? Joe was a great guy.
Do you remember who drove the car to the show from my shop? I forgot.
RodP

 

@skullcracker: Thanks for this link ... I remembered reading that thread about Gary Howard (with his take on the Inman/Wilhelm Chrysler) ... but for the life of me, couldn't find it the other morning ... I guess I didn't realize it was one of Ryan's Blogs (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=1145).

Gary (@texastramp): Thanks for your contribution to this revived thread ... and for this from Ryan's Blog:

"A little later on I found the Cliff Inman '57 Chrysler that Joe Wilhelm built. That car is probably as close to a "perfect" custom as I've ever seen. I just admired Joe so much for keeping the car so simple and beautiful. Sure, he did some weird stuff later on but as a whole his portfolio is inspiring. And he did everything on his own terms in a little shop behind his house - never succumbing to the financial forces that a lot of other guys did."

The Cliff Inman '57 Chrysler was one of Joe Wilhelm's best. Dig on the
graceful sweep between the headlights and the tips of the fins. Smart.​

After praising Wilhelm and describing the passion filled conversation the two had, Gary finally broke down with one of my favorite quotes. Ever. "Hell, I guess I just said it. I look up to Joe Wilhelm."

I look up to Joe Wilhelm too!

 

Pretty hard to beat that car in terms of simple style.....classy, understated, very tasteful....
This car is one of the reasons I love late 50's MoPars.....

 

THAT'S THE STORY! It's all coming back now...

thanks for the update, and the PM, Todd!

Sam.

 

@SamIyam - You're welcome! ... and welcome back to this thread ... after 3 years & 11 months

 

As I (& others) have mentioned before, the Inman Chrysler was part of the Oakland Museum of California's "Hot Rods and Customs: The Men and Machines of California's Car Culture" exhibition which ran from September 21st 1996 to January 5th 1997.

Here's an excerpt from page 63 of the exhibit's souvenir book ... written by Michael Dorbin (co-curtator of the exhibition):

The elegant black lacquered '57 Chrysler in this exhibition was modified twice for San Jose rodding enthusiast Clif Inman, a Willow Glen High School alumnus who caught rodding fever hanging out at Tut's Auto Supply on Lincoln Avenue. Inman, now a global computer expert, had in the late '50s seen a sleek, slinky '57 Chrysler cruising John's Drive-In, San Jose's premier rodding hang-out. Selling his hot rod Olds, he bought a '57 in 1960 and took it directly to Wilhelm for installation of quad headlamps, a tube grille, custom hub caps and lowering. The car was in an accident two years later and Inman was back: "fix the quarter panel, and while you're at it, chop the top." To retain the long, low smooth lines, Wilhelm not only took three and one-half inches out of the top, but installed a '58 Dodge front window and a '61 Comet rear window and frenched in the taillights. The vehicle was a 1963-64 Grand National custom champion at the Oakland Roadster Show and a custom Sweepstakes winner at the Sacramento Autorama. Inman sold the coupe to a Fresno party in 1965. Then it was purchased in the early '80s by filmmaker and record producer McEuen, whose collection also includes other period customs. Noted custom designer Rod Powell assisted in the vehicle's restoration to its sleek, gleaming 1962 showcase condition.

 

Here's a little higher resolution scan of the 1964 Andy Southard Jr. (@AndySS) photograph (reprinted on page 62 of the "Hot Rods and Customs: The Men and Machines of California's Car Culture" exhibition's souvenir book):



I really think I could just sit and look at this Wilhelm Custom all day long!
There's not one aspect, feature, or modification I would ever change about it ... Simple Perfection!

 

Here is another Mopar that I took a couple shots of last year at the Rebel Run in Ohio.
It was supposed to have been built back years ago.

http://www.pyrocars.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=5&pos=18

 

I think the Inman car also might have influenced the builder of this car, in a similar way it might have influenced the car you mentioned from the rebel run.



I can't believe I went to that Oakland Museum show and didn't bring a camera! What was I thinking!! Also at the show, was art by Rod Powell. The art was drawings on small pieces of paper. They had the wildest ideas and concepts in the little drawings.

I do recall seeing the Inman Chrysler, it was displayed with it's passenger side against a wall and you could take in the whole car from the driver's side. One thing that really stood out was the black lacquer paint. Most of the other cars in the exhibit had the latest technology paint and it was cool to see that old lacquer paint. It wasn't as glistening as the other modern paints, but it had a nostalgic appearance to it that I can't describe.

 

@mikes51: As you are probably aware, the gold car with scallops is the "Golden Sunrise" '58 Chrysler that the great Gene Winfield built & painted (orange/white fade job) for Richard Zocchi in 1979 [Click HERE for pics] ... In 1982, he sold to @John D'Agostino.

I don't know if Gene would admit it, but IMHO his "Golden Sunrise" '58 Chrysler was undoubtedly influenced by the (Joe Wilhelm built) Inman '57 Chrysler.

In the May 2004 "Big turnout in San Jose tonight....Cruise pics" thread, you pointed out:

Over the years, the Golden Sunrise '58 somehow made its way into the hands of Bob Fryz (of Michigan) sporting a tubular bar grille and the Art Himsl HoK Gold w/ scallops paint job {that I assume "Sal" is responsible for?}.

Here's a few more recent pics of Winfield's "Golden Sunrise" ...

@ the 2005 Goodguys Nats in Columbus



in the Gene Winfield display @ the 2008 Detroit Autorama​

@Rikster has a whole bunch of pics of "Golden Sunrise" through the years ... Just click HERE.

 

Wow, those are all beautiful examples... but the Wilhelm built one just sucks me in.

 

is that gold one the same one that was kind of a turquoise greenish blue for a while?

 

I remembered the camera but there was no flash photography allowed. I was only able to get a few before I got busted.

I wish somebody would put that exhibit back together.

 

I think so, it was some blue/purple shade as I recall with Billet wheels and low profile blackwall tires.

 

Interesting thread.......Anybody have a photo of Meador's current 300 to compare with this one?

 

Meadors is a '56 300B ... totally different body style (no Virgil Exner big fins) ... and although a very nice car, I wouldn't really consider it a "Custom" in the same sense as the Inman '57 (Gary's '56 300B is not chopped).

I've posted on the HAMB about Gary's (Boyd built) '56 Chrysler 300B ... and you'll find a pic and/or a link to several pics of it in those two threads:

• any info on Gary Meadors chrysler 300?
• First "muscle car"? '54 Buick Century

... and there's a few pics of it in the Gary Meadors 300 thread.

 

that would be one of the most beautiful Kustoms ever built all in proportion and it's a MOPAR.I read about the car in a hotrod mag from the 60s here in New Zealand I think I still have the mag somewhere.Like it in black better.

 

FYI ...

The "Inman '57 Chrysler" built by Joe Wilhelm in the early 60's has always been BLACK (and in nitrocellulose lacquer).

The orange & white fade ... and later House of Kolor Gold w/ white scallops custom is a totally different car ... it's the "Golden Sunrise '58 Chrysler" built by Gene Winfield in the early 80's.

 

Hemi32, did you post this previously? I ran into it on my hard drive.