History Bo Huff 1961 Pontiac Ventura

Does anyone know where that car is now? I'd also like to see more photos of it but, it was built during the Fotki/Photobucket days and, photos of it are hard to find online.

Thanks

 

Wow….i usually don’t even consider going to one of the big auctions because the prices, I assumed, were out of my league. $23k for that car seams like a steal when you consider what it would cost you to build it using your free labor and just parts and materials. That assumes one even has all of the skills required. That should have been one happy buyer (and perhaps unhappy seller).

 

Thank you for your reply. This helps for sure!

I wonder when and why it was repainted? It was black with a silver roof, and covered with flames.

 

I'd say thar Moriarity nailed it. Traditional customs can be a hard sell if they aren't on the iconic custom list to begin with.
after that you are just the keeper/preserver because you can never make it your own without catching more flack than a wwii bomber over germany. Some guys have caught hell because they faithfully restored a custom to as close to as it was first known but now it doesn't have the chipped metalflake that ______________ put on it in the 60's even though a recognized metalflake expert painted it this time. the lost originality bs.

 

It still looks good, BUT... I loved the original version Bo worked on. I still think Bo Huff isn't given enough credit thru traditionalists...

 

Even iconic customs sell low - I still can't believe that Harry Bradley's La Jolla went for around 20k. Think that was in 2010 or so.

 

23k seems about right for an auction like that.

 

Did Mr Huff repaint it or was this done later? I think that crazy 1st paintjob was cooler.

 

I did the exact same thing. I asked if anyone knew of its where abouts bit didn't see where it had sold at an auction, looking like a totally different car.

Again, thank you very much.

I did the exact same thing. I asked if anyone knew of its where abouts, but didn't see where it had sold at an auction, looking like a totally different car.

Again, thank you very much.

 

As much as I love the car I was never a fan of the current color combination. The first version that was black with all of the custom paint was more appealing, IMHO. It's a mild car when it comes to mods, so the wild paint seems to work well.

 

I think I've come to appreciate his work more as I've gotten older than I did when it was first coming out. He was definitely a risk taker stylistically, so in that regards, I don't necessarily know if I'd classify his builds as traditional, as much as maybe more "traditionally inspired" or "Neo-traditional". The constant barrage of coverage from Ol Skool Rodz at the time raised his profile, but on the other hand, was also sort of off-putting. That said, he certainly had some hits, and built some real good looking cars.

 

I think that affiliation with OSR in it's heyday sort of gave him a bad name these parts.....but one of his earlier builds was a neat little T bucket that made Rods and Customs @ Random in '69 or '70.

 

Back in 2002 eight of us took four rods out to the Salt Flats from St. Louis. We hooke up with another rodder in Blanding who suggested we stop at Bo Huff's shop on the way north. What an experlience. He was extreemly gracious. Took time to show us around both his museum where he kept cars he had built and rented out to the movie industry and his shop where he had several builds in progress. The shop was small, not much bigger than a double garage and most of the work was being done by hand. I remember that he only used lacquer paint. Two days later he showed up at the Salt Flats with a couple of his employees and spent two days with us. For several years after that I would run into him at various shows around the country. He always remembered us and usually had a beer of two while sitting around talking. A great guy, down to earth. Glad we stopped at his shop that day.

 

way better looking in black.

 

A custom car is a personalized vision, that may not appeal to enough biders to raise the price. This one does little for me color wise. It becomes hard to resell to the masses, because of heritage. One would be crucified it they repainted it to get a return on their investment, and it would not be cost effective. So it's back to custom car enthusiasts who knows his work and love this car to buy it. It only takes two at an auction to raise the price.