History Larry Watson Painted Johnny Taylor 1958 Ford Custom

Howard Gribble send me some photos of the Johnny Taylor 1958 Ford Custom that was customized as soon as it left the showroom.
In the May 1963 Rod & Custom magazine this 1958 Ford custom was a cover car and a full spread feature was shown inside. This version was painted by Larry Watson.

I had no idea this car was still around... but these great photos by Howard show it in all it beauty.

As it appeared on the Rod & Custom Cover...






Photos taken at the El Segundo show on August 23rd
All photos by Howard Gribble














Fantastic interior...

 

nice, that car is sweet

 

Car looks great.Appears to be a Eddie Martinez interior.

 

thats a really nice car....

what are the small round pieces between the trim? are they screwed into the body?

 

I finally have seen a kustom I would own. That is a real knockout. Who owns it now?

 

That's a terrific survivor; Great paint and interior.

One look at the work done on this car (circa 1963 paint, interior) and you can see the evolution of the early Socal Bellflower/Lowrider style. Toss some Astro Supremes on it and it's a different car...Though it's not a Chevy.



"what are the small round pieces between the trim?" Cabinet drawer knobs ( a zillion of them ) usually used in grills.

 

Sure looks a lot better than the last time I saw it at Bill Hines.
TwoChops

 

Now that is one sweet custom.

 

Nice car, cool to see that it still is around. Did it have does drawer knobs in the sidetrim in 1963?

 

Who did the restoration? Top notch job!

 

WOW!!! Who restored it or had it restored? It's so great to see these cars saved.

 

Wow:d

 

It was at the El Segundo Main St. show yesterday.

 

Hey TwoChops, how about a little more info. When were those storage pics taken? Who did the restoration?-MIKE

 

wow! nice to see these old kustoms still around!...nicely restored.

 

Good looking Ford. Sure liked the Ford wheels with 60 caps better than the Pep Boys
smoothies.

 

GREAT PICS!!!!!!!!!Glad to see it's still alive.The interior is definitely an Eddie Martinez job;best damn upholsterer that ever lived IMHO.That style with the narrow pleats and the sunken in frieze material are just drop dead gorgeous.

 

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The photos were taken in 1997 -- Bill Hines had a shop right across from Martinez-- they shared a driveway. This was the same time Bill was cloning his original "Bat". Also in storage was a 59 El Camino that Bill had built and a 37 Ford that they made into a convertible. They reworked the outside of the doors and the rear quarters so wood could be installed station wagon style. I asked Bill about the cars, he said he was going to restore them. At the time, I thought he meant he would do the bodywork and Martinez would do the upholstery. I know that the "Bat" , 59 El Camino, and the 37 Ford are finished. So the 58 Ford would have been next in line. That was 11 years ago and lots of things could have changed in that length of time.
TwoChops

 

Watson = my hero!

 

That is a beautiful car! Love the sidetrim!

 

That car drove around my area for years as a black primered "mullet machine" with those 5 spoke wheels and the faded Martinez upholstery. The New interior uses purple tweed instead of "Frieze". The side chrome pieces are individual turned pieces that Bob Barnes at Verne's Chrome replated- he knows a lot about the car.

 

hey,

That's the same '58 that sat outside of Bill's shop when he was off of Park
in Bellflower? Wow! He's since moved from that shop.
The redux of "The Bat" is killer,too!

S****ey Devils C.C.
"Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"

 

Awesome custom of my favorite Ford, the '58!

Thank you Rikster for sharing that...

Joel

 

omg this car rules, every aspect, the scoops the headlights the interior on top of that watson paint

 

Sharp line's, the roof color is dang fine. Thread's are period per-fecto. Watson is ledgend.

 

TwoChops, thanks for the followup.-MIKE

 

Thank you TwoChops for the pre-restoration photos.. those are priceless.

Here are a few scans from the R&C magazine article.

Centre spread...



Cover interior shots... sorry they are so blurry... Printing quality back in the 60's was not as it is today...

 

As a '58 ford owner I must say "YUMMY!"

 

58 ford with waston paint and martinz gut what more could you ask for love it!!

 

I didn't any know that they had smoothies in Cali. Watson is beyond ruler status he is a god. But those wheels just ruin it for me. And I'm from Florida.