Here's a barn find lead.. '57 Oakland Roadster Show winner

If it's so ugly, how in the hell did it win the Oakland trophy?

 

Agree! Its got the trophy to back up "ugly".

It may not be my cup of tea but I accept what he was trying to do. Anyone call yet?

 

"If it's so ugly, how in the hell did it win the Oakland trophy? "


It is definitely polarizing,a love it or hate it thing. I don`t think the trophy could have been for beauty,though. Probably more for it being one of a kind,not to be confused with any other car ever built.

I would say,though,that it is a part of the custom car history,and should be restored to the appearance it had when it did win the trophy.

Lots of other cars that won shows and awards back then are not beautiful to me,but I still think they are worth preserving.

 

What a *****in car. You guys who are saying its ugly are retarded. Thats a piece of history that deserves to be brought back to its former glory. That thing is killer!!!

 

There is no right answer to the East vs West controversy in this discussionof custom cars. The car is **** ugly. As were most of the cars built for show in that era. Of course this is my opinion ,but I will say what I base it on. Growing of age with Hot Rods in the mid 50's on the East Coast, the big car show was the Hartford Autorama put on yearly by Frank Maretta whose famous 40 Ford custom was the poster child of ugly East Coast customs. Granted there were some cars there,( Fred Steel's ' 32 channeled roadster, Eddie Normandy's '32 channeled roadster) which were nice cars then and have never gone out of favor. For the most part the cars I remembered were All ugly and looked much worse than the car they had been created from. I am not including traditional customs that were around at the time and showed up at car shows. but were usually stuck in some dark back corner. In 1960 I was in the military on the West coast. Presidents day weekend was the Oakland Roadster Show AND a Bay area g***er matchup between Pittman Edwards and Stone Woods & Cook. This was enough bait to get 4 of us East Coast guys to drive 1200 mi's in a unfinished '53 Ply conv/Olds V8-Cad Lasalle swap in the middle of the winter. Bad idea there. My memories of the Mecca of car shows at the time was pretty grim. More ugly Show Cars in a house of mirrors buried in an avalanch of Angel Hair. I'm sure anyone with a 60's program could point out that there WERE some nice tradition customs there that year but I do not remember them. Perhaps a Westergard conv does not look so cool filled and surrounded by Angel Hair. I DO remember the huge Roth booth with lines of eager buyers waiting for Roth Tee shirts which were being painted on site by two or three Roth "helpers". Any ways upon leaving the show we walked out on a cold cloudy afternoon to the parking lot and there for free was the car that defined my idea of a Hot Rod to this day. A black hi boy flathead powered '29 A on a '32 frame with it's white top up and sidecurtains on. A timeless car then in 1960 and a timeless car today. Unlike the T bird and most of the show cars of the era no matter what coast they were from..... If some one wants to restore the Bird as it was. great. For someone who would want to change it I would say leave it set. Leave it for some one down the road who might despite all the work and expense want to restore an ugly 50's era Show Car for it's historical significance. As for the match race it was great. Probably fixed but great never the less. Made the trip worhwhile but probably not worth getting back 2 days late on a weekend p***. I think it's a tossup on which Coast had the most ugly late '50's '60's show cars. They both win.

 

Perhaps Acey Deucey is the guy the owner and car are looking for? If you got it you wouldn't bring it back to Spokane, would you?

 

It kind of reminds me of Oration .A really but *** ugly car that should be restored
It is a peace of are history better restored then the s**** yard never to be seen

 

Oldebob,

You said it well,better than I ever could have!


"Any ways upon leaving the show we walked out on a cold cloudy afternoon to the parking lot and there for free was the car that defined my idea of a Hot Rod to this day. A black hi boy flathead powered '29 A on a '32 frame with it's white top up and sidecurtains on. A timeless car then in 1960 and a timeless car today. Unlike the T bird and most of the show cars of the era no matter what coast they were from....."

 

It won it's cl***- like about a MILLION other cars over the years at different shows. They have to be REALLY "Beautiful" to get the big trophy like these past winners!

 

So how much??

 

well it's probably like an old guy told me when he saw my 61 dodge. "you know, these cars weren't this ugly when they were new"

 

God i wish i could afford that i would have it in a heart beat,but you know the drill, wife and kid's need to eat!

 

In the one ad it shows a pic of The Ala Cart next to the OMG Roadster and it shows both ends of the spectrum. No one has been hunting that ugly ***** while the Ala Cart has been redone and also cloned. Any clones out there of that ....thing! I do like the motor.

 

Great history on the car But it looks like it went thru a western auto store with a magnet on it

 

Is the pipe in the background to pump all of the **** and piss away from the display that falls out of people's pantlegs when they see how awesome that thing is?

 

Ugly or beautiful doesent matter a twit. There are million dollar cars out there that I wouldnt own. Thats what makes our hobby so interesting. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.
I hope whoever buys it restores it to same condition it was when shown in '57.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing: That is the most "east coast" west coast custom ever featured in the lil books! You can interpret that however you want.

 

Late 50s-early '60s were all about trophies ... hunt up a judging sheet from that time period, & note there's hundreds of boxes to check for items modified or changed, & the more you changed, the better chance of winning the gold. Taste or beauty had nothing to do with it.
If you think that T-Bird is ugly, hunt up a picture of "Scoopy Doo" ...

 

That car is one of my Favorite custom roadsters, what a beautiful creation it is!!! 50's customs are the best.

 

That sums it up pretty dang good!

 

Finally, some one with the balls to say it right. My sister got me a book on Watson's scalloped cars one year. Jeez, Louise. Some of them were real abortions. I think I liked one car in the whole book. I also remember my first car show, an indoor affair in Indy in the early 60s. I was not amazed, but shocked at how bad some of the designs were. Although they were nicely done and well detailed, they all looked like there had been an explosion in the kitchen cabinet door handle department combined with awful, awkward conflicting contours and "futuristic" parts. Most of the sleds looked far nicer, but seemed to be relegated to second citizen status below the show only creations. And then there was all the chrome tools / jack stands, flood lights with revolving colored gels and angel hair. Strange things happened to your brain at those shows... you were amazed by the few good ones, and then shocked by the rest of the weird stuff so badly you hardly even noticed the drivers and regular hot rods. Even the comp cars on display were cooler than most of those wacky theme show creations. Gary

 

Way to star trek for me but hell it won shows so someone liked it. The cad power plant looks interesting but it looks like the car is without motor right now.When this thing was built I was and still am into the old stuff in the 30's . Just can never go wrong with traditional hot rods.

 

My view too,99% of Customs are ugly but this one was built before a lot of them ( most of which had lots of touches to gain points in judging,taste wasn't considered) and as you say Visionary!
All those who call it ugly, go away ....

 

Do***ented show winner, do***ented compe***ion history, featured in period magazines, and ironclad provenance having been with one owner for what, five decades?

Besides beauty being in the eye of the beholder, the car is wilder and more historically important than what's in most of our garages, and it's great that it still exists. End of story.

Cris

 

I used to see that car in shows when I first started participating. I also remember coming home late one night headed South on the 101 Highway and I saw some strange headlights coming at me. They appeared to each be pointing in a different direction. I knew right away what it was by the headlights. The Anolik T-Bird flew by like a Ed Roth cartoon come to life. It was pretty impressive to an 18 year old in a 39 Chevrolet.

He participated in a lot of shows, won a bunch of awards, and he raced it a lot. No trailer for Anolik, it was driven everywhere. I thought the car was weird then and I still do today, however it did everything a Custom Show Car from those days needed to do. It attracted attention and won awards everywhere it went, and it was fully functional. That was rare for a show car in those days. I remember the owner seemed to enjoy talking about his car and didn't seem to care whether people thought it was beautiful or not. He was having too much fun to worry about being cool.

I vote to restore it to the show winning version.
RodP

 

I vote to restore it to the show winning version.
RodP[/QUOTE]


I totally agree that this car should be put back to its show version... It's awsome that he built it, drove it, raced and showed it!

 

Wow, I can't even believe how many guys want to talk about how ugly it is. If it pulled up next to you at a light your eyes would pop out trying to get a better a look at it. Rods are *****in' but Kustoms are something completely different, they are truely an extension of the builder.. be it good or bad. And a car like this, what ever you think about it, it was ahead of it's time and deserves respect.
I think it's *****in', always have. Someone mentioned that Ranchero cut off? I love that thing too, but I have never claimed to have good taste in cars or in my mouth. My best friend on the other hand hates it. But he is hard core Rod guy, and I'm the Kustom guy, and that is how it will always be. To put it in perspective I have this story I tell, it's about a truck I used to have.
It was called the Abstracta and I loved it, but it was to wild looking for most. It was never finished but it was *****in to pull in anywhere with because it always got the looks. Several years ago I did a bunch of design work on an Airflow show car (the one that sold at Barrett Jackson for $558,000) and the owner had it at a Goodguys show (I think). I pulled in and parked the Abstracta right next to him and walked away.
He was totally offended that my piece of **** was next to his half million dollar car and said something to me. I talked with him for a few minutes and pointed over to the two cars sitting there side by side and there was two equal groups of people checking them out. I made an ****ogy to him that it was like Marilin Monroe and Marilin Manson side by side and that there would always be a crowd to see each of them... His jaw dropped and I walked away.
I guess the point is that it is far easier to not offend anyone with a Hot Rod, but once the line is crossed into Kustom there will always be those that love it, and those that hate it... It's like art. I'm amazed this car still exists, and hope it finds the right person that will return it to it's glory.
And just because........Why hasn't someone done a modern version of it with a modern T-bird? I better get on doodleing that up.

 

Ugly? Eye of the beholder? Wake up. I often wonder what some of the haters have that spew the vomit of what's "right" in all of this world of rods n kustoms we share. I see imagination. I agree with the above who said any one of you haters would strain to get a closer look if it pulled up to a light or into the parking lot show you hang at. Is there some scripture that says what you're supposed to do? I can name a dozen cars from the members here that in many ways simply **** due to lack of individuality or creative thinking. I'd think a Model A coupe could even be made to stand out with dozens of simple and effective changes. I also think hundreds of you would shout "DON'T DO IT" or "LEAVE IT ALONE" or "THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE...". At least one honest response was posted saying "I don't get it" and I'd venture a guess that it could be explained, or perhaps not. The Barris crew built some cars that are hard on the eyes, as did Hines, Roth, Starbird, and many others, even so there's always that spark of unique and individual. How many love the "Lil Coffin"? It's not particularly beautiful but it sure is kool. So's this 'bird. That car restored right sees Pebble Beach. Don't think so? Then you never did "get it".

 

CUSTOMS ? , you build them to please ur self ,stuff the critics I say ,I appreciate the planning,from start to finish,Interesting topic

"I LIKE ALL 'CUSTOMS'.......BUT DONT LOVE THEM ALL"