Customs GNRS 2011 The Customs Then & Now Show... my story.

Here is another photo of Steve Stanford signing the GNRS catalog. One girl came up to Steve and asked if he could draw a 1931 Ford Coupe for here boyfriend - who could not make it to the show. Sure.. and steve made a very nice quick drawing of a fast driving high boy coupe... Great guy. And I finally got to meet him, shacked hand and had a very – way to – short talk with him.

 

No Shawnee...

 

Rik, it was great meetin ya and Ill get the Kelly Puckett pics to ya as soon as I get the OK!!!! Thats me in your pic talkin to Bill with Lefty behind me. Man what a show!!!!

 

Wow! Great show coverage for sure!

As everyone else said, it is so good that you were involved in the making of this event. Definitely a milestone.

Thank you!
Steve

 

A great job posting all these pictures and the well written captions/explanations. Some truly great great stuff here, Thank you for the effort...

 

Axle, You're a better person then I not to have mentioned Trace, the Long Beach Motorama Promotor, by name in your post. Definitely tells ya alot about his character.

 

Thanks Rik..GREAT job as usual from you....Kudos to the rest of the crew

 

Here is a 1951 Motorama Plaque that Wally Welch won with his 1950 Mercury. The car was then still in the Lime gold Ayala Version. (I could not get the glare out of the photo, lights above etc... oh well.)




And here are two more photos from the Wally Welch Photo Album.







Here is a nice photo of the Jimmy Vaughan Ford with the Lee Pratt Shoebox behind it (trunk) Both cars where cleaned and detailed on Wednesday. The smooth concrete floor makes it look like there is water on it...



Days before the show we where still not 100% sure the Wally Welch Mercury would be at the show. But this photo taken on Wednesday show it arrived among the first. ANd I was very happy it did. I love this car.




Steve and George Mallory had decided to take the Snooky Janich back to its very first version with the Bumper Guard taillights. This meant that the 1939 Chevy taillights which where molded into the sides of the rear fender had to be removed, and the hole filled.






Here are the removed taillights.



My good friend Augie came also all the way from Texas... and he showed me this photo of the Lanny Ericson 1956 Chevy. The photo was taken in 1958....
Its so great to meet all these people that bring such great stuff with them. Thanks for showing Augie.










On Friday I also got to meet my good friend Paul Kelly from Australia. I have been emailing with Paul for many years and we both had to fly around the world to finally meet.... It sure was good to hang out with you Paul... and also your with your son Steve...




And on Friday I also got to meet in person with Barry Mazza and his wife. Same here I know Barry for years, have emailed with him a thousand times, but before this we had never met. What a nice guy.. and remember Barry had sort of two cars in the building. His own Aztec, and Kurt McKormick's 1941 Buick which he restored and improved.




I took some photos of the Aztec when it was fresh out of the Museum, and getting ready to drive to building #9. It was so good to see this car in person. There is so much going on on this car. And the details on it are really fantastic.




Barry was also responsible for the final look on this car, not owned by Kurt.
It was also very good to finally meet Kurt. Thanks for the stories and info. Kurt had three cars at the event... and while I was taking photos of the first car out of the trailer, the Ogden Buick, he was preparing the Westergard Cadillac to be pulled out.

 

Thanks, that is pretty darn close to Kansas City.

http://www.tomstrongman.com/Steve Mallory/Index.htm

I thought that I knew them, but with some of the "events" in KC I chat with a TON of guys it sorta' blurs......or it could be the beer.

Thanks again for your story and the pix.

 

Great to read Rik's story and all the kind and enthusiastic comments. It definitely makes up for missing him when he was far-far-away in building 9 (custom car heaven). Seeing all those pictures make me seriously proud (and now I understand why he spend so much time behind his computer NOT working on our assignments for our joint communication advise and graphic design business. And why he was rushing of to his room, mumbling something about: 'having a new idea/finishing an extra banner/trying to reach an owner'). It's simply impossible to not fall in love with all those wonderful cars and those skilled and out-of-the boxing working and thinking builders.

Living in one house with Rik means being surrounded with stacks of magazines, shields, funny t-shirts, posters and pictures. As a (slightly snobbish art historian I surely notice that our house is filled with Custom Car history. But never (and I'm profoundly sorry for this...) took it as serious as I would regard a painting in the Whitney Museum.

But every time Rik is away doing Custom Car things I have to explain the whole 'Custom Car idea' to Dutch people (most of them never even heard of it). And this time I even got a Hamb account and saw all the images of this amazing building 9 and read the raving reviews. And when I saw them all together I was struck by the sheer beauty of all those magnificent cars. It certainly ended the snobbery! (did I already told you I was sorry for that?)

It's good to have Rik back. Not in the least because - as you'll probably don't know - Rik is a very good cook (and I'm not). And I've been given a wonderful present: Custom Car love.

 

Thanks Rik for great coverage of a great show. Wish it was coming to the Sacramento Autorama. Is It?????

 

Rik-- Nice seeing you again and keep posting your great photos
and stories.
TwoChops

 

I am lucky to be able to tell her that each night before we go to sleep. Thanks for the complement.

Jay

P.S. To Axle and the rest of the gang we had a great time at the show, thanks for including "The Kart Hauler".

 

Rik,

Thanks for all that you did to make this display a reality. I really wanted to meet you while we were out there but things were hectic all weekend. I tried to catch up to you at the meet & greet but as you know it was a mad house. Anyway, keep up the great work in the future and hopefully we will get to meet soon.

Jim

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to put this thread together for all of us. The pictures and story are terrific and take a bit of the disapointment out of not being able to attend (although I wouldn't have missed the birth of my son for anything) Your passion and dedication to the Custom Car movement is inspirational and very much appreciated by all of us who love these cars so much. I can't wait to see the rest of your post on this historic event.

 

RIK, it was mind blowing the amount of history in this one building. Thanks to all those who worked so hard for a few of us to enjoy for such a short amount of time, I spent almost my whole weekend in that building, I can't imagine anything that would top this display. It was very nice meeting you and thank you for all you do ! I know its alot of work................

 

Thanks for the pictures and captations Rik! I have been waiting and looking forward to your pics. That side shot of the wally welch merc makes me feel good

was the Sam Barris 49 merc at the show? have'nt seen any pics in other threads...

Ken.

 

Thanks for sharing Rik. Living the dream.
--mika

 

Hell of a job you guys did and thanks for the coverage Rik

 

Rik it was an honor to meet you in person. Your knowledge is inspiring! And Luke great seeing you again, and how far you've gone with Kustoms Illustrated. Wow! Axle thanks a million for letting us participate with a trophy. This will go down in history. -Tony aka Flash (Alter Boys).

 

No kidding. I saw this take place and was dumbfounded. I wonder if Harold Johnson, Duane Steck, or Larry Watson behaved that way back then?

Rik, what a marvelous article you have just written, and your photos are extraordinary . You are truly an asset to the hamb. It was a pleasure meeting you - if only for a moment. Didn't want to disrupt as you looked preoccupied and overwhelmed . Looking forward to seeing more of your photo's. Cheers, Rog

 

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!

So fucking FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much Rik.

 

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Thanks for your pics and story Rickster, you guys did a fantastic job.

 

i just wanted to say thanks to everyone invloved with the greatest kustom display ever,had our share of problems getting there and getting caught in the snow storm in new mexico coming home. but to have my purple stude included in that display was my greatest birthday gift ever and to meet so many great people, i still sit here and think"WOW".....thanks...DAVE --BACKSTREET KUSTOMS

 

Rik,
Thank you for all your hard work and effort puting this event together, (along with Axle, Luke, and Jeff) it was greatly appreciated by us all! It was nice to finaly meet and chat, if only for a little while. The cars, music, lighting, and atmosphere, in this building was perfect! Thank you again. - Dave

 

Rik, great to meet you. Thanks for everything you did to make the event happen. I really appreciate your and Axle's effort. It was a smashing success and an experience I'll never forget.

 

Had I known that I would have asked for some "mazza pine" not sure how to spell it, Roger

 

Thank You for a great weekend! And I know Watson would have been proud of his display! Again thanks for a weekend I will never forget!

John

 

Rikster: GReat Story, well said.
YOU SHOULD BE PROUD.
Enjoy that smile..................

 

Rik, it was great to meet you. Thanks to all of those that put this event together. When Kustombuick and I heard about it we had to go and it was not a disappointment. Everytime i look at the special plaques that were made I will have fond memories.

We spent hours shooting pictures of the Kustoms and then several more just walking and digesting what we were seeing. Just wish the lighting was alittle brighter to get better pictures and I would have been able to be inside with no people to get the good shots..

After taking this in, I believe customs are meant to be seen in a show sitting, like hotrods should be seen on the street or dragstrip... only hope this can happen again as most historic customs are located...