Today, Rob Ida is resurrecting the old Asbury Park Rod and Custom show. I found out on Facebook the beginning of this week, so I guess it was finalized last minute. LOTS of famous cars going to be there! Winfield's blown Ardun roadster,, the Battlebird, the Jimmy Summers Ford, recently restored, Bob Ida's Hemi powered race car, and MORE! I'm just parking outside with the 61 Do dge. Hope to see more NJ guys attend, even though it's last minute!
Last Sunday, Rob called me and told me abut what he was doing here, apologized about how last minute it was, and asked me if I could bring my 61 Olds down to the show. Not only is Rob a good friend, but he's also a guy that really understands what's cool and has a great perspective on things. Of course I was in. For those who may not be familiar, Asbury Park is a small beach community down the Jersey Shore. Though it has a rich history (even Johnny Cash owned a hotel there), past decades have been unkind to the area and it was generally a place you tried to stay away from. However, in the last 10-15 years, Asbury Park has undergone a tremendous renaissance of gentrification, with new development and restoration of older historic buildings. With the Stone Pony, Wonderbar and other venues continuing throughout, AP is probably the epicenter of the NJ music scene. Though the historic Convention Hall is undergoing a large-scale renovation, Rob was able to get approval for a few cars inside, a few cars on the outside of the building off street, and then street parking for the rest. The Convention Hall itself is a magnificent building, a unique venue for a car show by today's standards. That said, it was home to the Customs by the Sea show hosted by the Haulin' Gents car club in the early 1960s, which continued into the early 1990s. So the idea to bring it back in the original venue is killer and I was stoked to be a part of it. I'll make a photo dump here and I apologize for the lack of cohesion. My 61 Olds Super 88 John Peter's awesome 37 Ford coupe Neat Chevy hot rod out on the street Wild Dodge custom with Lincoln grill and 331 Hemi power Chopped shoebox Super nice 61 Pontiac Brian Wisnieski's Cadillac powered 32 Sedan Chopped 53 Chevy
The Convention Center from above. Here you can see the cool roof of the old Howard Johnson (now a swanky new restaurant) to the right and the Wonderbar across the street. The boardwalk passes straight through the Convention Center. Chris Rusbach's awesome chopped 41 Ford. For those unfamiliar with this car, it was Chris' Dad's (Harry Rusbach, Sr.) daily driver, and he drove it hard chopped and static droppd to work every day for years. Unfortunately, Harry passed away from cancer when Chris was only 13. The car stayed around the area but off the road, and years later Chris was able to buy the car back and him and his brother Harry were able to finish it. The Rusbach family are great people and friends, and are part of the fabric of the NJ custom car scene. Jimmy Summers Ford coupe
Jimmy Summers coupe. What great lines on this car. Rich Stuck's battlebird The Ray Cass 39 Ford, now owned by Mel Stultz (of TROG notoriety). This fantastic car has been well documented here on the HAMB and here it is looking wonderful as ever. The Gene Winfield 32 Roadster with SCoT blown, Ardun flathead, owned by Rob Ida. Bob Ida's blown and injected "Hemi-Healy"
There’s some fabulous cars there. Thanks for the pics. Place looks worth a visit too. Do you reckon Bob Ida intended to spell Healey wrong?
This was built by the Idas as a exact replica of the car Bob built and raced in the 1960's, so I'm sure it was intentional. The crazy thing is they bought the car to build a replica, and it wound up being the actual car Bob scrapped decades earlier.
The original iteration of the Customs by the Sea show included both rods and customs, so I see no reason to deviate from that here. The focus of the cars inside was that of a traditional style, more in line with the era, and I think that was achieved. It's also important to take this event in the context of what it is and what's going on. This is not a "car show" so to speak, where the people who attend it are there specifically to see old cars, and perhaps only a specific genre at that. This event was held in a public place, for free, for the benefit of the community, exposing people who are very much NOT car people of any variety, to hot rods and customs. I think that's awesome. Most importantly, the event went off without issue. No fights, no police, no complaints...nothing. In that sense, it's a massive success and a stepping stone to hopefully even bigger and better events in the future. When events like this take place, it takes getting not only car people on board, but large private corporations that own these massive venues, as well as local government. A lot of people need to say "yes" before it happens, and to get this group together on a week's notice is nothing short of incredible, IMHO. Lastly, this event is the latest production that has been part of "The Circuit", another informal gathering that the Idas have been working on bringing back into existence. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a very active cruise scene in Asbury Park called the Circuit, where cars would informally meet and cruise a certain set of streets. Over time this died out, but Rob and friends have been working over the last few years to revitalize the cruise scene in AP, which includes all types of vehicles from traditional to late model, foreign and domestic. The goal being that car people can come and informally gather in harmony and mutual respect for each other and their automotive preferences, to promote the hobby as a whole. For those interested, it goes down every Thursday evening around Wonderbar.
That's awesome! I think it's in a HotRodDeluxe magazine with Big John's 37 maroon coupe its really nice .
seems like it used to be a custom show with a separate section for hot rods at least that is what this 10 year old thread said, I don't mean to argue, the name just confuses me now when it seems that there were far more hot rods and race cars than there were customs..... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/kustoms-at-kustoms-by-the-sea.946020/
Yeah, even that show was just a side dish to The Race of Gentlemen. I was at that show with my 57 Ford and lots of other great cars. The presumed point of that show was a place for the traditionally styled cars to show that did not meet the strict criteria of TROG. Specifically, virtually all post-war customs, and rods with OHV engines. The show that they're trying to resurrect is the Customs by the Sea that was put on by the Haulin Gents car club. That was an indoor show on the eastern show circuit that took place in the AP Convention Hall. I think the first one was around 1960 or 1961. Here are some pics from the web that were taken at the 1964 show. The X-Sonic was there, but there were a good mix of both rods and customs at the event. I think it's fair to say that the aspiration would be to bring back the show to the original venue and with cars of a similar era. But as previously mentioned, Asbury Park and The Circuit has a rich history of cruising and car culture dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. There was even a guy from Asbury Park you may have heard of who wrote a song with the line, "Sprung from cages on Highway 9, chrome wheeled, fuel injected..." I think he may have even had a hit record or two. Well, Route 9 is about a 10 minute drive from downtown AP. The Circuit now seeks to bring back that car culture to the area, and so far it has been a success. You can read more about it here. https://www.go2jo.com/_content/html_pages/AP-Circuit/the-circuit.html
Big John's 37 is crazy nice and despite him driving it all over the place, somehow looks just as good as it did years ago. John might also be the nicest man on the planet.
That's what the story said about him too! Love the suede maroon with the off white rims.I always said why have it if ya don't drive it.My dad had 8 cars from a '22 t to an '04 ssr they always just sat. Now the '59 caddy needs rear main cuz it shrunk up and leaks .And it's a 74k mile all original car gramps bought it new . never painted it's mint. That seems like an awesome show !!!
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