yuck! horrible! oh wait, you're talking about the tiger right ? I was looking at the triumph in the background.. most of them have rotted away over here ( thank god.. )
That car would be cool if it wasnt so over the top. It looks like they started doing some neat things to it and thought it looked good and didnt know were to stop. I wish i knew you were going the the Charity thing i would have tried to meet you. Me and Yngrodder were there. Nick
[ QUOTE ] It looks like they started doing some neat things to it and thought it looked good and didnt know were to stop. Nick [/ QUOTE ] My thoughts exactly.
The look on the faces of the family in the last picture says it all. Wouldn't take much to fix it though. TZ
It's got too much going on for my taste, I perfer simple and clean. Yeah, and the tiger needs to go, I hate the big stuffed animal in my car thing.......................... almost as much as cry-baby dolls on the bumper.
Restraint. Some have it. Most don't. Ditch the tiger, the lakes, and the flames and it'd be a clean, cool kustom.
I like it alot, but I know what you mean if you dont like it. Id be proud to drive it any day minus the tiger. Anyone know what color it is?
Yes, You need to say more. What in particular do you not like about it? It's a "traditional '50's Kustom". A bit gaudy and over the top style wise, especially if you really like a car that really does have about as much style ecitement as a "shoebox", stock. If you are a "hotrodder" at heart and mind you may not understand "Kustoms" in the first place. Hotrodding is about racing within mechanical cl*** rules. Kustomizing is about always seeking to change æsthetic "rules" OK, I'll say something about it. I don't like the ghost flames or any flames on a "kustom" and it really doesn't need any pinstriping either. I think the antenna needs a more discrete location and better thought out "hole" than the one in the 1/4 panel. Maybe something scoopy like the fender port holes. I like the colors. I do like the way the bumpers are similar in style keeping the front and rear looking like they really are the same car. I also like the theme of threes, in the spears above the really nice headlight scoops and in front of the skirts and the three portholes and three outlet lakes pipes. I think that could have been carried into the hubcaps by using three blades on the spinners instead of four, or maybe switch to three blade Fiesta caps. Also, those portholes would look better without the striping as already mentioned and spread out a bit and have one of those spears like in the skirts installed in each porthole. I even don't mind the spotlights because they appear to be REAL ones! The TIGER. It's maybe a bit of nostalgia dating back to "Put a Tiger In Your Tank" ads. People usta hang tiger tails out of there gas doors if they used Esso/Enco gas.... Or he just bought it for his daughter or girlfriend in the "women's craft area" of the swap meet and didn't want to put it in the dirty trunk?
[ QUOTE ] Yes, You need to say more. What in particular do you not like about it? It's a "traditional '50's Kustom". [/ QUOTE ] .............KIDS! Watcha' gonna' do wid 'em??
I'll admit I liked the car a bit more when it was first introduced. That was, I'm guessing about 10 years ago. It had a two tone blue on light blue paint. No flames or pinstriping. Without the flames, that curved breakline/trim detail on the side really showed. It flowed nicely down into alignment with the front of the rear skirts. The flaired rocker panel and it's alignment with the curved front of the lakers is an orignal and nice detail. The car was also alot lower 10 years ago. It's interesting how the extra paint, color change, and stance can really affect the car. Still a nice custom IMHO, I just would return it back to it's original, simpler version if I owned it.
Glad to see someone else remembers the car, Mike51! The car was built by Doug Thompson...who also did the Hirohata Merc clone, and the Larry Cochran 51 Chevy, the brown/cinnamon one that Jack Walker now owns. After building some really tasty cars, Doug brought this one out to debut at the KKOA leaddsled one year. I wondered about some of the 'choices' he made when building it. Doug said he built the car with a lot of input from the owner, Ed Guffey, and the car kinda matches his personality! A bit over the edge, and outrageous. I appreciate that. It may not be politically correct, but it's kind of cool to have a builder really in tune with the car's owner, and build it to suit his personality, instead of a traditional "formula". Of course the car did look better without all the flames, striping, and doo-dads shown here! Does it have a new owner? I saw it again, at the Turkey Run a couple years ago...but the car originally was in the Midwest.
There was a guy here that had a '59 caddy that was always at the shows. The car was completely stock and not all that nice (even had some rust showing around the edges). He must have had 300 Smirf dolls that he would put all over the car while it was parked. Nothing else, just the Smirfs. He would then sit in the front seat, go to sleep, and stay that way until the end of the show. When he was awake he was telling everyone that would listen how hard it was to collect all of the stuffed toys. I haven't seen him for a couple of years, hope the trend continues. Frank
You guys think this is bad ,doesnt anyone remember the 51 Merc convert Thompson built in the 60s with the headlights removed with a 58 T-Bird grill shell?The car also had some big pontoons or some **** on it. It is the only chopped Merc that was so heinus that I tried like hell to forget more trhan I remembered about it. I do know that the car was just re done using all the best garbage you could buy out of any 21st century rod magazine.
I dunno, the car is a little busy but looks alright. Lose the ghostflames and keeping it a single color would clean it up nicley.
I would like someone (who was there at the time) to explain how and why this stuffed animal trend got started (in the '50's?). I think it is just about the most un-cool, nerdy thing that could be done at a car show. Was it a way to get the ladies involved? I'm sorry if this offends any old timers, but please explain.
When i was growing up in late'50's it was a big deal to win a stuffed animal at the various summer carnivals. Of course if you won a stuffed toy esp a BIG one some girl would "be your friend" if you gave it to her... and when you got your first car, the girls would show off their "trophys "to the other girls(see what my boyfriend won for me)it still holds true today, look at any state fair and some guy will spend $20- $50 bucks to impress his girl
[ QUOTE ] I would like someone (who was there at the time) to explain how and why this stuffed animal trend got started (in the '50's?). I think it is just about the most un-cool, nerdy thing that could be done at a car show. Was it a way to get the ladies involved? I'm sorry if this offends any old timers, but please explain. [/ QUOTE ] Well neither my dad nor my grandfather had any of that ****e on or around their cars back in the day ('48-'62) but they were more hot rod/racer than custom guys. I could be way off but it seems to me that I started seeing it a lot in the '70s with those god awful velour interiors that were popular then. It does seem to have gotten exponentially worse. I put that tiger and things like it in the same category as having the color keyed 'oil', 'gas', and 'water' cans. Show me your car, don't build a friggin' diorama around it. LOL
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