History The Sargenti '56: Part 2

I too love the look of that '56. Its crazy to know it only existed that short a time.That thing deserves to be replicated...it flows!

 

I even like it better without the Lancer style caps! What a bad ass rig. You are not alone, I have lusted over this image for years. ~sololobo~

 

That reminds me of another 56....

 

There's an article on Angelo Cagnacci's 51 Chevy in the current issue 36 of TRKI.

This is how it looks today (pic from: http://www.rodandkulture.com/stories_detail.php?a=6)

 

Bittersweet to find out the story on that '56. There are a few cars in Southard's book that I'd love to recreate, Sargenti's '56 being one of the top ones.

I wholeheartedly agree with sololobo the car looks much better sans the lancer caps.

 

"A “custom” car often doesn’t look right sitting at stock altitude – especially a mild custom with little more than a garish paint job to make its mark. At stock height, the Chevrolet just looked awkward. Sargenti threw in the towel and painted the car in a cheap white enamel."

WTF? That guy must have had some serious balls to paint over that pretty cool green paint job. I don't think I could do it.

 

Those guys may have considered the paint "amateurish" and nothing special, but it would be hard to improve on that layout. I've always been drawn to this one as well.

 

Thanks Ryan for getting a bit more information out on one of my all time favorite paint jobs. I say "paint job" because that is what made the car and the picture so memorable. That same paint applied to any of several cars running around our neighborhood at that time would have had the same impact. Donn Varner had a unique style that has never been duplicated with any success by other custom painters. He is the one guy that got me hooked on becoming a custom painter. Perhaps this article will turn up a bit more information on Greg's "56 Chev.

 

Great article. I love that car. Everything about it is great

 

When I said "amateurish" I meant many of the hot shot painters of today would consider it amateurish. Most of the show cars at that time would be picked apart by the perfectionists in the current custom paint "industry".
In those days paint wasn't buried in the high gloss plastic looking clear coats of today. We were inventing the process of custom painting. The auto paint stores would let us 16 year old kids go in back and mix our own colors. We screwed up a lot but that was part of the process.

 

Ryan, as I started to read your piece, I had the same thought about the car as Rod did, even before I got to Rod's input….any of us who have been into customs for over fifty years know that these were just cars, not the "historical" icons they may or may not have become in the future (like now!). That said, I owned Andy's book since it came out and have always liked the flow of the scallops on that car.

Here's why Andy din't worry about whether it was clean or not: He was merely taking photos for his own collection; he didn't know that he would publish a book 25 years later and that shot would be in it!

Andy Southard deserves a great deal of credit not for all the great documentation that he did, but also for having the foresight to publish it when he did.

 

Well stated, Rod.

 

One of my favorites as well! When I first looked at that shot in Andy's book I wondered what it would look with a set of Lancer caps wouldn't you know that's what it had. Looks great to my eyes!

While the finish up-close may have been "amateurish" the layout and the way those curves flow over the contours of the car is pure genius.

 

Ryan Find yourself an almost new 1956 Chevrolet and we could make it happen.

 

Since seeing the photo of this '56 years ago I've often wondered why you don't see more mild custom tri-five Chevy's? One of my favorites as well. Thanks for shedding some more light on this lost custom!

 

Yup, it would look nice next to Lee's Nomad perhaps sitting in a Mel's
Drive In somewhere. If I remember right the paint took about two weeks to do. Don was in the Army and worked on it after hours.

 

"But wait… What’s the story with that chopped Chevrolet? Rod says it belonged to Angelo Cagnacci – the uncle of Greg Lazzarini. He gave no more hints than that, but already I’m thinking about those Olds headlights, that chop, the rake… I wonder if it was ever finished? I wonder what he did for a front-end? Color? Caps?"

Lazzerini still owns the car.

 

And we certainly appreciate what you guys invented.

Not that I don't marvel in the level of perfection that today's painters are capable of, but I prefer the stuff that looks more like something that an average guy did out of creative passion, for himself or for another average guy. Sort of the same reason I like to see people who aren't afraid to bring their in-progress home built cars to a show. It makes me feel more motivated - like 'hey, I could do that' - Perfect is beyond my abilities/resources and turns me off.

Then occasionally one of those average guys pulls off a masterpiece, like that particular paint layout.

 

That is a very nice 56 . Thanks for posting . Keep on digging up the lost and forgotten Kustoms . The chopped Chevy is nice also hope someone can shed more light on it also.

 

Thanks for posting This Ryan. I am not a big 55,56,57 chev fan either but they sure can make a nice custom when done right.

 

Cool car Ryan...Here is 1956 Chevy that we built for a good friend, David James about 20 years ago. It was based on a car Gene Winefied had built back in the day. Gene gave us a lot of input on building this car. It was not a clone but very similar. The orig. car Gene built got crushed. Car took us about year to build. very long list of body modifications,you have to see in person and look close. I do have lots more pic. have to dig them out. I am told David still owns the car and I think it is now is all silver and minus the continental kit. Just thought I would share.

Between my father and I we have over 40 years of pic and now that I got a little extra time In life I have been thinking about starting a thread and posting some of them for all to enjoy... tons of Kustoms and Hot Rods !!!!!!!!

I am not really sure how to post the pics any larger. Any help with that would be greatly appreciate. Thanks,Tom

 

The dark green paint is all one shade of green, while the light green has shades of a gold color, I remember a Corvette around 1969 that had a green paint job that changed color to gold in the sunlight, what is this paint called? I do have a 56 Chevy 4dr ht that I would love to replicate this paint job on.

 

Don't forget to lose the hood bird on any '55 or '56.

 

This is a nice one. Former saskatchewan car, now in Michigan I believe.

 

My thought ,too.I appreciate finished cars like anybody,but sometimes it's nice to see a well done car that you know wasn't a checkbook project.

 

Lee's Nomad, the "new" Cochran '56 and Hollingsworth's 57 all in a line would be epic and perhaps the trifecta of tri-5 mild customs.