Looking For Mom's T-bird

Every thought is appreciated because it is a clue to solving my mystery.

 

This really cracks me up. According to the book Classic Customs and Lead Sleds, there is a picture of Larry Watson in 1958 posing with that T-bird.

Caption reads " Here is Larry Watson posing with his '58 Thunderbird in 1958. This was the car that would get him into more magazines then any other custom he ever painted. THe panel-paint job became part of his trademark, and here the T-Bird had been painted with faded panels-in-panels."

There is a new picture of that T-bird in the book with Larry posed next to it. Current owner is Gary Niemo and Larry Watson helped repaint it for the resto. It's now a black car with metallic blue/silver panels.

Good book......awesome painter......I've got a soft spot for the 58 Pontiac and Impala he did.
Brandy

 

Wow, are you kidding me?!

 

I added more info to my original post and there is a whole lot more in the book....

No honey, I don't tend to have a funny bone.

SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK!
ha
Brandy

 

Larry Watson was 19 when he sold the Grapevine and bought the T-Bird in 1957. He picked her up from the dealer and took her to his shop which was next door to the Barris Brothers. Bill Hines and Bill Carr did all the body work on the car such as taking the door handles off, chrome trim and lowered it.

First car he did a panel job on and the car that gave him his boost to fame. First time he painted it was a candy burgundy with silver pearl base and did panels that followed the car. He later redid it with more panels and pinstriping. He gave it up after he bought a 59 Caddy brand new and did the same thing too.

Brandy

 

But the car she showed us in the first post has door handles...I think this car was duplicated many times, as I've seen this paint style on many of them...Maybe he did one for himself first and a second or more for others??

 

I'm confused.....or maybe everyone else is?

From what I see, this is NOT the same t-bird Watson became famous for. This is a different one in the same style.

Brandy says the picture above is what the car looked like at a later date, after Watson repainted it.

But Tiffany here says her mom bought it brand new....so it wouldn't have been Watson's car.

So.....do what now?

 

Any good book store (Borders?) may have a copy of "The Rodders Journal". May be pricy but high quality photos and glossy paper.

Remember though that the one in TRJ is a clone and is a 1960 model as stated in the mag.

 

Unless HER information is wrong? Here is a pic of the WATSON's car as it currently sits AND when Watson owned it.......taken from the book.

 

Oh and that ol cad standing next to it is Watson himself.

You can see Watson's DID NOT have handles. Theres most of his customs for himself and others in the book but no clones of the T-bird? There is a color picture of Watson with the car in 58....but it's MAD hard to capture since it's got a lovely red tint to it and I don't have a flatbed scanner.

 

How's this scenerio?

Mom's a car gal

Mom goes to car show see's Watsons Bird

Mom tells Watson "I want one like it"

Watson says "Buy one and bring it over"

Mom complys and 3 or 4 weeks later she's driving her "Watson Clone"

 

Yeah, Watson panel-painted a lot of T-birds, Tiffany, and when people say "the T-bird" they mean his '58...it was the first of its kind, showing that the term "custom" could be applied on a ride that largely accentuates a car's lines rather than reworking them through lots of fancy body work. Your mom's car was/is a different car than that fist '58.

The Rodder's Journal story was about a guy (Richard Glymph) that saw Watson's first car, "the" '58, decided on the spot to be a custom painter, and now, 40 years down the road, bought his own "squarebird" and gave it a very similar treatment to the one that changed his life. Oh, Thunderbirds from 58-60 are sometimes called Squarebirds It certainly isn't your mom's old car (Glymph's was almost bone stock until a few years ago).

There were a lot of Watson cars that had that style of paintjob, and even more "tributes" and "clones" over the years. Something to try, if you have a few dollars, is to post as detailed an ad as you can in Auto Trader or Hemming's Motor News. The kind of guy that would buy a Watson car and store it is probably (but not certainly) a collector with some cash, and they'd be checking those magazines for another car to pick up. That hypothetical guy's hypothetical friends might see it too, and know the car you mean.

A DMV search would give you real answers, but I have no idea how complicated or legally possible such a search would be.

Best of luck to you.

 

That's funny. I was thinkin geesh he's got LOTS of women posed next to his cars. hmmm!

Dmv is good if she has old registration such as a vin number AND if the car's been registered lately. I'd contact Watson himself......he seems to have a thing for the ladies, I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping out AND he might have some FUN stories about your mum.

 

Is this the pic you were talkin about Brandy?!

 

Dang you rock! That's the car after Watson re-painted it the second time round. You can tell it has more panels on it then in the picture with him, the car and some sweety pie.

Pontiac people are so wonderful.

Brandy

 

Found this in the book "The American Custom Car" Look whats goin into the shop, top right!

 

I

I so much appreciate all the dialog.
As a follow-up, I just want everybody to know that I took Brandy's advice about an hour before receiving it... I just found (and called) a man named Gene Winfield, who my internet research indicated would lead me to Larry Watson. As I write, Gene is on his way to some car shindig that Watson might actually be attending as well. Winfield, who also seems to have a thing for the ladies, now knows the whole T-Bird mystery and I'm sure he is totally blown away that I found his cell phone number and called him and will be telling the story countless times at tonight's shindig. He asked me to e-mail him a copy of the photo, and a photo of myself too . Nevertheless, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he and his cronies will help me find Watson and ultimately the man who owns the car my mother once owned. Between Winfield and Jalopy Journal, this mystery will be solved. I can't thank everyone enough for all the help I had in one day. I've been asking Kevin Lee for months to run an ad or something in Rod and Custom to track down the R & C article and the mystery man with the T-Bird, and I can't believe how much progress I've made in one day on this Internet car chat site... Again, thank you all. Stay tuned. Positive vibes, please...

 

[he asked me to e-mail him a copy of the photo, and a photo of myself too .QUOTE]


So how much do you REALLY look like your mom?

 

Just an FYI, Winfield and Watson were and still are some of the top names in customizing. They rank right up there with the Barris'. Im glad that neither of them have turned into crabby old men by now. I hope you can find your moms old T-bird, I know the HAMB has already helped out one lady-type find her relatives old car. I think I may poke around see what I can as well.

 

Some guy named Gene Winfield? haha yer cute! I was going to suggest Barris but Winfields a NICE man........and he likes the ladies.
Good luck!
Brandy

 

I don't dye my hair platinum blonde like she did. But if Watson remembers her, he'll probably think he's seeing a ghost.

 

NICE!

 

Thanks, and yep, I'm learning about this custom car culture in one day, so I realize me saying "some guy named Gene Winfield" is like saying "some guy named Gerry Lopez" when I refer to surfing... I'm getting it slowly. I now see I lucked out and got a hold of one of the legends as he was driving down the freeway in So Cal hollering into the phone, "Huh?! What?! You're breaking up, wait a minute while we turn this corner..."

 

Larry Watson still is "the Man". Look at the attachments for the reasons why. And that 1996 article depicts Watson's "personal" bird that he started the whole panel paint-craze with(among other things), which has never died. That article blew my mind almost 10 years ago.

So, if your moms was "the" Watson bird with a repaint, you can buy it but it is now restored to it's first version, resplendent in candy purple over silver pearl-but the purple is a little dark if you ask me. Oh yeah, it was for sale for a while like 60 g's

Did she live in downey? If she did she must have dated Larry, since he only dated the prettiest girls in downey. He is not easy to track down-somewhere in the deep 909 last I heard. But he has an excellent memory.

I'll ask him if I see him anytime soon.

 

Gene will charm the socks off the lady for sure, he's an expert at more than one type of bodywork.

 

HAMBer , FoMoCo MoFo has been painting his Squarebird Watson style, over the past two months.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v95/fomoco_mofos/Rbird.jpg


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77010&highlight=squarebird

perhaps you should go find him, take some pics and post them for us to judge how much you look like mum!!!!!! Platinum Blonde hair dye optional. lol

 

Kultureshoq has one copy of March 2001 Custom Rodder left

 

Watsons original squarebird owned, now by Gary Niemie as described earlier by Brandy , is currently on display at the Petersen Museum

 

Hot diggity does he! He even got ME to pose......and we all know my hate for cameras.

Harpoon that's AWESOME! You posted the Chevy and Pontiac........help me I'm in LOVE!

Leave it up to a Kiwi to know more.

Brandy