Hey all! Since the powers that be were kind enough to give off topic car conversation a home, I thought why not start a thread where people can chime in and post pictures of their "late model" customs. Over the years I have seen many cool customs that were never able to be posted here on the HAMB because they were too new for the traditional year cutoff. Mick (@straykatkustoms) started the iconic Kustom Blues thread over on the main board years ago, so now here's our chance to do it here with cars AFTER 1965 (or so). Hopefully this thread will get going like the original, although it may take more time as there just don't seem to be many people building later model cars in "traditional" custom style. I'll get things going with a few of my own late models and a few of my favorites, and anyone else can feel free to follow. With all that being said, let's get going and see where we end up, ok? Here's my friend Mitch's '92 Buick Roadmaster. The crazy paint scheme was copied from our late friend Charlie's '64 Chrysler 300. He did a suede/scallop job on the car back around 1991 and it wasn't too well received. People thought it was a waste of time and materials to do it, and he said he did it as a nod to Larry Watson, and it looked better than the tired ol' paint the car had on it. Charlie was a man ahead of his time as you see elaborate suede jobs all the time now. Charlie called the 300 "Nadean", hence the name "Nadine Too" on Mitch's Buick. Here's Mitch taking a few pictures of the Buick just back fresh from the pinstriper after a complete re-do last July. Here's a picture of my '89 Mercury Grand Marquis taken at last year's Leadsled Spectacular by @twotallokie. One more sitting in Mitch's back yard as we were working on other things. Here's my old '79 C10. Circa 2008. Here's one of my all time favorite late models. The late Jim Stanley's (@stanlow69) '69 Caprice. I don't know who took this pic, but it was posted by Mark (@Moriarity) in the thread remembering Jim after he passed away. Here's the last one for now. How about a '67 Galaxie with a '68 LTD front clip? This one hails from New Jersey. East coast style all the way. Well, that's a start anyway. I'll post more later. Now you guys can dig into the memory banks of your computers and post up what you have. Talk to you soon! E
Ok guys, one more before bedtime. Those of you that followed along on the "What Ever Happened To..........?" thread will remember Jim Noble and his custom shoebox known as "Sh-Boom". He was an icon of kustoms in Ohio where he lived. His car was W.E.H.T. #106. Here's the write-up from the thread if you want to refresh your memory. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-79#post-12481023 Sometime in the early 2000s Jim parted with his beloved "Sh-Boom". From what I've heard from some of his friends and stuff I've read, he started to miss the car and decided to build something similar. I would guess that in his mind trying to replicate his shoebox would take a lot of time and money, and being in his 60s he decided to do something else that would be more time effective. He decided to build a "bird in a box" as @John B called it, and the car really looked a lot like his original "Sh-Boom". I'll admit I never liked the idea of putting shoebox fiberglass panels over a modern T-Bird, but Jim's turned out pretty damned cool in my humble opinion. Sadly, Jim passed away in July of 2015. About a year ago Jim's Sh-Boom II as I like to call it went up for auction on Ebay. For the amount of money and time that Jim spent building it, it sold for a song. I sure hope the new owner continues to give it the TLC it deserves. I'll post more late model pics in a day or two. 'Til then, take care! E
Dude, it's GREAT seeing you here!!! Nice rides ALL!!! Lee Pratt's cool El Camino comes to mind right away, hard to to find pics.....
Thanks @Bdamfino! Happy to be on the scene. I might have some pics of Lee's (@El Pratt) El. Give me some time and I'll see what I can come up with. Maybe my good friends @Sancho or @PasoJohn can help out with that. Both know lots about (k)customs and have big photo collections. E
Didn't the original Sh-boom end up in Michigan with a guy named Bob Fryz? He also built other cars with the same livery and also called sh-boom I think.
When is I saw the thread I immediately thought of Jim’s Caprice and would have posted it if it wasn’t posted already.
That's a great picture of Jim's car @Sancho! The fact that you took it makes it that much more special. Man, I miss him..........E Dig the pictures of the '69 @richards69impala. Somewhere Jim Stanley is smiling! E
Ok @Bdamfino, I dug around and I could only find a few pictures of Lee's (@El Pratt) El Camino. I know I had more but they must have been on another computer. When you do this stuff for a long time like I have, it seems like eventually everything just all melts together. So, here's what I have. This first picture was in the Custom Rodder Fall '91 issue on page 56 in their coverage of the 10th Anniversary of the Paso Robles show. This is the better of the two pictures I have. The last picture I have was once again found in Custom Rodder. This time in the Winter '92 issue on page 44 in their coverage of the '92 Leadsled Spectacular in Holland, Michigan. Sorry the pictures are so grainy. Technically the El Camino could have been posted on the main board since it's a '64, but it's a cool addition to this thread. Maybe someone else will post better pics later. E
One more for tonight. Just trying to get this thread rolling. You guys that followed the W.E.H.T. thread will remember Jack Hughes. In case you don't know about Jack, he is the guy from Ohio that builds wild hubcaps to go on customs. But his real claim to fame was his incredible '50 Olds affectionately known as "Peggy Sue". Jack's '50 Olds was W.E.H.T. #166. We covered it way back in April of 2019. Here is the link if you wanted to read a little history of Jack and "Peggy Sue". https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-117#post-13060661 After the '50 was sold, Jack built a wild '60 Impala that as far as I know, he still owns. But, I think before he had either of these cars, he had a mildly customized '70 Malibu four door. He took it to the Leadsled Spectacular in 1987 in Springfield, Illinois. It can be seen in the fairground cruise as they drove around and filmed the cars, but it was only a brief glance. Thanks to Jim Stanley and his love for late models, he took a picture of the car and sent me a copy of years ago. It's a great shot of the car with hubcaps laid on the ground by it for sale. Way back in '87 Jack was already in the hubcap game. I absolutely dig this car. If I could find a cheap '70 Malibu four door sedan I'd clone this car, but sadly, even four doors of these cars have gotten ridiculously expensive today. Looking at this it makes you wonder why more cars like this weren't being built back when lowly more doors like this were cheap. What vision Jack had, and what a cruiser this car must have been. Just another reason why "late is great"! Talk to y'all later! E
Thanks Mick (@straykatkustoms )! Glad you found the thread. I hope it grows and grows. With any luck maybe it will become the largest collection of "traditional style" customs from 1965 (or so) forward on the 'net. I look forward to seeing what neat cars you come up with! E
OG Lil E, sorry I hadn't got back sooner. My magazine collection is a mess, so digging thru is a TASK!! Got some to share from March 1997 and January 1998 issued of Custom Rodder. I only have a Android, so not the best. Love that Lee Pratt Camino! So subtle, like all his rides!
I'm trying to learn how to get pics the right way!! Apologies.... Ron Box's near '58 Cad Coupe DeVille on a '86 chassis!
You're collection may be more organized than mine, I know somewhere I have both a '96 issue of RnC(October?)...and a issue of Hot Rod circa '15-'16 with a picture of Larry Watson's '72 Ranchero.....featured in 1973 film "Outrage" starring Robert Culp, an old hot ridder himself!
@Bdamfino, haven't found any of those pics, but I know I've seen pictures of Watson's cherry baby blue '72 or so Ranchero. I believe that was what he owned when we lost him. E
I haven't been posting much on this thread as I'm trying to pace myself since I don't have a huge number of pictures of cars like this. Like they say, "Always leave them wanting more.........." (lol)! Anyway, here's the car for today. This is "RADCAD" out of Kansas. The first few of these pictures are courtesy of the Carnut website. These last two pics are pictures I took of the car at the Leadsled Spectacular back in 2006. I got to look at the car in person and the bodywork and paint were very good! In my pics the owner was cruising up to get his award from Jerry Titus. E
I took this picture at a car show in Minnesota in around 1988. It went up for sale about 4 years ago for $3500. I called on it and it sold fast. It had a filled trunk lid.
At the KKOA in 1982 the years were 1935-1959 so the Mustang was a late model. This was at the 2nd KKOA Spectacular in Des Moines Iowa. This was the Late models area. The black chopped 71 EL Camino was the guy who painted my 58 Plymouth in the winter 91-92. Small world
The Jalopy Journal
