History Larry Watson's Personal Photo Collection

thanks again Rik for posting the craftsmanship shots i love this stuff. the talent to do that kind of work without a wirefeed welder, the high build primer and body filler we have today is amazing...Dave

 

After Bill DeCarr was finished with the restyling of Red's T-Bird Larry Watson added a completely different paint job to the subtile custom this time. A really elegant coco rust or possibly candy root beer color was chosen. And this in combination with the body changes gave the car a completely different look and feel than the car I showed in the first couple of photos. It looks like the reshaped taillight housings now hold 1961 Mercury Meteor taillights. Personally I think for this version I would have used some elegant hubcaps to suit the rest of the restyling a bit better than the chrome reverse wheels used now. But perhaps this snapshot was taken before the car was completely finished. Something that happened a lot with Larry Watson.

 

Quite a lot nicer! I'm sure the chrome rims received a finishing touch.
Thanks for posting, Rik.

 

Another photo of Red's T-bird shows the front end after the car was restyled by Bill DeCarr and repainted by Larry Watson. The scoop on the hood looks really great and so do the new reshaped front sections of the front fenders. It looks like they used a 1955-56 Chevy Cameo grille insert...

 

Nice mods to this `bird. Thanks again for the photos Rik.

 

Thanks Rik.

 

Oh, man, I love that color on that car as well as the rear end treatment. Very cool! Thanks for sharing these rare shots of Bill and Larry's process.

 

Its interesting how the restyling of the side of the front fender mimics the early falcon bodyline in that area.
How many employees did Watson have? He sure could crank out the work........

 

Another more detailed photo showing the rear of Red's customized T-bird with fresh Larry Watson Candy paint.

 

really good stuff here,Rik
Always enjoy this thread....
Thanks !!

 

You know, the thing that amazes me, is how "little" Bill stripped the paint back to do the new custom touches. Me...I woulda had to strip the paint back a couple of feet to be able to blend it all back in. Maybe I need to learn to be a better welder and not mess stuff up as bad. LOL Really nice car!

 

Rik keep the squarebirds coming

 

The fins look so much like the ones on the 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

 

Everything about this 56 is neat. From the pearls, to the thin white walls. Great picture. plus I just noticed it's a '210' H.T!

 

Wow...A Lucky Lager sign !! Canadien Beer I think

 

At the time of the photo, Lucky Lager was something of a local beer with a brewery in Azusa, CA (Los Angeles area). Lucky Lager was owned by LaBatt's for a number of years , with other Lucky Lager breweries in Victoria, BC and Salt Lake City.

 

This is the last photo I will be sharing of Red's T-Bird in the series of Watson Panel Paint to Bill DeCarr custom body work to Larry Watson Candy paint photos. This front photo shows the nice opening on the scoop Bill created for the car. I'm not quite sure what Bill did to the headlights. The surround has been molded to the front fenders, but there seams to be a stainless, or chrome plated surround around the headlights but I'm having trouble identifying those parts. In any event it does look really good. The owner also decided to remove the bumper guards. But the holes have been left in the bumper, making it look unfinished.
The color on this car is however stunning a very good choice of Larry Watson to paint a custom with such classic and subtile body modifications by his friend Bill in such a classic color. And the setting of the car parked in front of Bill and Larry's Artesia Blvd shop is great as well with the Jeep in the back that we have seen before in some other photos.

 

i think the headlight surrounds are just chromed stock pieces that maybe have the outer edges removed a close up would help

 

Im thinking the same thing...the stock headlight bezels have a single phillips head bolt between the lights at the top...which is hard to see in those photos. But it looks like they may have trimmed the stock bezels and had them chromed. It funny the headlight and tailight treatment looks rather subtle, but thats a decent amount of metal work to pull all that off.

 

I don't have a clue about the headlight bezels either.

The bumper looks good without the guards, but I think when they're removed it reveals a small recess stamped in the lip that is sometimes covered with a bullet in other 'birds that had the guards removed. That's why they look unfinished here.

Question for the metalmen: how difficult would it've been to smooth out those recesses and rechrome the bumper?

 

Im no metal man, but I doubt it would be too hard, rechroming that bumper would cost alot though. I would like to know what Larry used for the bullets to cover up his as I need to do the same on mine

 

This is possibly one of the finest outline paint jobs Larry Watson ever did, at least in my eyes. The simplicity, the size of the outline and the color combinations fir this 1958 Chevy convertible so extremely well. Larry painted this convertible in a fine gold first, then taped of the sectioned he wanted to outline and sprayed the rest of the body in an very deep candy red… The all white tuck & roll interior sets of the paint even more. I love it!

In a photo that I posted a few weeks ago and which was most likely this same car in progress we could see that the body on this 1958 Chevy convertible has been dechromed, and the door handles shaved. Work possibly done by Larry's close friend Bill DeCarr. In this photo we can see that the owner added a set of lake pipes which excess from the quarter panels. The modified side trim is always a instant success on any 1958 Chevy. Its an easy trick where they bulbous front section of the side trim is replaced by a much more elegant section taken from the rear portion of the side trim. The perfect sized white wall tires are decorated with a set of 1959 Dodge Lancer hubcaps. Its to bad there are no more photos of this car in Larry's Collection… And also to bad the grille was not installed when this photo was taken. But wow… this sure is the ultimate 1958 Chevy to me.

 

I agree Rik, it is of the less is more school of thought, he did subtle and wild and he was a master at both.

 

You are so right on that one, Rik! This ragtop is the perfect '58 Chevy convertible just as, in my opinion anyway, the first state of the Jim Doss Impala is the perfect hardtop...

 

I'm really attracted to the Watson "outline" jobs. They are my fav-o-rite paint schemes that he did. I seem to like all of them. And...Thanks again Rik.

 

Im more of a ford guy, but ive always had a soft spot for 58 chevs...and those are 2 of the best

 

Anyone have any other pics of this Watson painted 65?

 

Couldn't use the link you posted, but do you mean this one? Found at Kustomrama.com http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=File:Watson-1965-impala.jpg



Ahh, I see you fixed the link... never mind!

 

The photo you posted comes from the fantastic Howard Gribble Collection.
The only other photo I have from the Larry Watson Collection showing this car is an overview photo from Larry's Firestone Blvd shop. The car is all the way on the right side of the photo.



And here is a photo take at the Watson museum most likely showing the same car in the center. I do not have a scan of this photo to show it any better here.

 

Thanks Rikster. And thanks for Mr.Gribble without him that period in Custom history would be highly undocumented. Now back to the program....