Folks Of Interest How about photos of old custom shops

We've all seen the pictures of Barris' shop and Larry Watson's shop, but how 'bout the lessor known shops out there. And, do they have a significance in your life. I'll start with this photo taken by none other than Spence Murray when he was with Rod and Custom. I did not know until recently that he took this photo back in about 1955. The '40 Plymouth sedan delivery parked in front belonged to Leland Grantz. Turns out he helped Gene move into this "new shop" from his Mom's chicken coop. Are you still with me ?? Gene did a full custom job on Leland's '50 Chevy convert that he bought new in San Francisco. Did I mention that Leland's father bought the sedan delivery new, for his painting business. Leland learned how to drive in this puppy, and went on to continue the business, still using that truck. Now, if that sedan delivery was in front of the shop, Leland's car was inside, getting some new custom work done..... So what does this have to do with Spence Murray, stay tuned. I called Spence (R.I.P.) a while back and asked why he took that random picture of Gene's shop. Simple he says, I was there to pick up The Dream Truck after Gene did the sectioned hood. Now are you catching the drift. On a day back in 1955, there were two radical customs sitting side by side in Gene Winfield's shop, with the owners of both there. Many years later, I would have the privilege of restoring both of those customs, and becoming very good friends with both of those guys, who are now cavorting with all the rest of the really great guys we have lost in the past few years. Please, do not let the memories fade. Share your stories with every young gearhead you can, to keep these great people from fading away into oblivion....

 

Surely I'm not the only crazy out there that has these pictures. Maybe I am.... So here is Joe Wilhelm's shop back in the early 60's in San Jose. Lot's of great stuff came out of this shop, including an AMBR winner, and a car that was invited to the Pebble Beach Concours, not once, but twice. Luckily, years later, I was fortunate enough to have owned them both. The AMBR winner was the "Wild Dream", and the Pebble Beach runner up was the "Jaguar Royale".... Both were quite controversial, but stunning in their own way..... Also, my wife Nancy bought the '36 "Short Top" Chevy pickup from Joe's widow. It was his shop truck, and as usual, sported it's original paint, a 324" Olds, and a Cad LaSalle tranny. The sign pictured on the building now resides in my shop building..

 

Here's my picture collection, I had that Wilhelm quonset hut picture saved as well. The one above that doesn't have a sign was the Sox and Martin shop, not customs but the reason I saved all these pics is because I was fascinated by how small these buildings were. Most are not some huge complex or even purpose-built, the famous pioneers of the hobby worked out of small garages and repurposed store fronts. They didn't need any massive complexes or fancy buildings to build what they built.

 

Starbird's first shop.

 

BTW, that picture of the Dream Truck by the "bumper bulls" was taken at the Kansas Coliseum north of Wichita. I would guess at the 1980 Leadsled Spectacular.

 

Vern's Body Shop in Beaverton, Oregon. This is where Taboo was originally built the repaired after each of its accidents in 59 and 60.

 

You beat me to it!

Of course, now they are separated and less than a mile apart. One of the bulls is in front of West High on Osage and the other is northwest of the Douglas Street bridge over the Big Arkansas near the Delano District.

 

Correct you are, Sancho !! That was the first KKOA Leadsled event. I lived in Colorado at the time, and decided it would be a great outing for the Dream Truck.....

 

Who can name all those cars at Starbird's shop? Obviously it's the back end of Lil Coffin. What else?

 

Far left is Darryl's Buick. Just to the right of the Lil' Coffin is the Le Perle Thunderbird.

 

Bttt I know there is a thread out there with pics of Chicago-area great customizer, Miles Mesa's shop

 

There are - from Rikster's fotki and a FB page dedicated to the man and his work.

There's tons of pics of his work too. Surprised there isn't a thread about him on the HAMB.

 

My Dad's Body Shop 1940's San Pablo, Ca.

 

My Dad's Shop @ Sunnyvale, Ca approx. 1954

 

Thank you @Phillips I knew I had seen them, just not very good at linking to another thread. Here's one of my favorite Mercs done by Miles. It appeared in black and white in a old issue of Street Rodder. It had a '51-'52 Plymouth 3 tooth grill

 

My Shop early 80's Concord, Ca.

 

is that a scaled down hand built trk like i saw in an old magazine article?

 

Yes, it was featured in January 55 HOTROD , also November 56 ROD & CUSTOM Magazines. 1 pic from each article below

 

THANKS ...!- i knew i had seen that.....

 

I have a few photos that have not been posted yet.