A Custom or Kustom is a car that has had major body modifications done like chopping, smoothing, decking etc. Gene Winfield said that a custom has to be chopped channelled or sectioned to get his attention as a Custom/Kustom My Avatar is a Custom
Ok,after 10 pages of conversation and some excellent opinion, I want to throw this into the mix. A lot of custom car history involved promotion. Larry Watson was a promoter of his talents. (K)Customizing with paint was a trend or fad that he executed and promoted. Custom car magazines wrote many articles, and sold advertising space for the promoters of the trend. George Barris also was known to promote his shop, took pictures of modifications, wrote and sold articles to the (K)Custom Magazines. And established a service to Hollywood “elites” for their desire to have the latest and greatest on two/four wheels. Lots of things were $old as Kustom, scalloped paint/Lace/Flames/Panel paint as example, that on a bone stock bodied car doesn’t make it a true Kustom. Without body mods, in my opinion, it’s not Kustom. At one time Metallic paint was unique,until firemist metallic, then Metalflake. My point is (K)Custom paint doesn’t create (K)car. I’m done. Who’s next? Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
It is, and we all know it is with just a glance. That's part of what makes it great. It's a carefully detailed, wildly custom painted nearly stock Impala - that was invited to be displayed at the Customs Then and Now event at GNRS. I'll let you take it up with them. In my opinion, it is so uniquely tasteful and built with such excellent craftsmanship that it gets away with obliterating the rules. On the flip side, I can find lots of cars with three body mods that I would never call a custom. It goes both ways.
It is not what they think they have, its about what the "game", (hobby), thinks they have which is the whole point of my original post.
Well, the replies clearly illustrate there is no consensus........it is what you think it is unless you are part of an organization or competition that has a set of standards that must be adhered to in order to participate. The hobby, fortunately, is an exercise in free expression....which is as it should be....imo. Ray
One a website based on studying and preserving history what they thought is the only thing that matters.
A worthy discussion, but of course, it's not necessary to argue too strongly about it. I speak for myself, but I think also for most of us here. Any "rules" about hot rods or customs that I espouse are more often than not, more to do with MY ability... or inability... to stay within traditional parameters in the attempt to emulate what hot rodders and customizers of the past have done. Concerning what anybody else builds... I might wince... I might laugh... I might throw up in my throat a little bit. I might never want it in my garage. But I doubt that I would actually hate it. Okay, maybe with some exceptions LOL. Just kidding. I think of how I want to build my Chrysler. Maybe I want to do some custom body modifications. But maybe I don't want it sitting so low to the ground, as most customs do. Not gasser high, but an aggressive stance with a slightly nose high attitude. Will it be considered to be a hot rod or a custom? Or neither? That would suck... LOL. I've actually worried about whether I would put my build in the traditional hot rod or traditional custom forum. Will it be custom enough to be considered a custom? It'll have a big block in a 4-speed, but is it too big and heavy to be considered a hot rod? Will the sky fall down? How about IF I ever get this ball rolling, I just put it on the general discussion board, and the mods will eventually make the decision for me. Problem solved. LOL Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Well Hnstray has posted: Well, the replies clearly illustrate there is no consensus, which was expected on my part at least. So I went trough all the posts at this point, counted yes vs no, (trick paint custom?). This was kind of a challenge and of course I only counted one persons opinion once, and omitted a lot of others because of not really giving an opinion, just kind of beating around the bush. So if someone wants to do the same I sure you won't come up with my numbers. So the purely arbitrary numbers are: Trick paint does not a custom make, 18...………….,Trick paint does a custom make, 6. Thanks all for your interest and input, you all can now return to your regularly scheduled program.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-earl-bruce-300- sl.1060464/ https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Von_Dutch Just some paint and pinstripes accepted by a custom culture.
A real interesting read: http://www.letterville.com/articles/bob_burns/vondutch/............enjoy as truly have. You may have to type it in, link did not work for me. entitled the Life of Von Dutch
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