History Larry Watson's Personal Photo Collection

mr348 · Jun 7, 2014

Thanks so much for these pics!!! I love late 50's early 60's mild customs.

Johnny Hotrod - BC · Jun 22, 2014

Rikster said: ↑

the last time I did an update on the thread I showed a series of photos of Larry's 1961 Ford Econoline. Here is one more showing the car at the 1965 Tridents Car Show. It shows the Econoline sitting on the show floor surrounded by many very colorful Custom Cars wearing Larry Watson Paint jobs. What an amazing experience it must have been to be able to walk thru this are and see all these vibrant color painted custom cars. The insert shows an portion of an Ad Larry ran in the Custom Car Show program.

Unfortunately there are not to many photos left of Phil Kaelin's 1932 Ford 5-window coupe painted by Larry Watson. Phil was from Louisville, Kentucky and brought his chopped 1932 Ford 5-window car all the way to California to have it painted by the famous Larry Watson. And it sure was worth the trip.
One of the best looking custom paint jobs on a 32 Ford at least thats how I see it. Larry painted the whole body in fine silver, and then taped of the character lines and around the windows. Not that Larry taped off a little outside the body moldings making them look a bit heavier. Then he shot the rest in a very vibrant candy purple. Unfortunately this photo - part of Larry's personal Collection - is a black and white copy I have added an small color photo (inset) from an older Watson published article to show how great the colors looked on this car.

I have always wondered why nobody has really replicated this paint job on a 32 Ford in the recent years. I know that there were several "rest rods" in the 1970's that used the same paint idea, but none of those came close to this Watson paint job. I can see a recreation based on Phil's paint job, but then with nice tall road white walls, some good looking hubcaps and a well dressed up engine.

Another photo of Phil Kaelin's 1932 Ford from the Larry Watson Collection. (The color inset photo comes from the writhes Custom Auto Collection and was only used to show the colors of the car). This front 3/4 photos gives us a better look at the channeling of the body over the frame. The dropped rille and the Engine. Note the double sided white wall tires up front.

A great close up of Larry Watson laying down some pin striping on Pinky Richards's 1957 Corvette.

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I absolutely love the 32 for obvious re

FI-62 · Jun 22, 2014

Wow ! Terrific pictures. That old Kodachrome or Kodacolor really makes the pictures scream fifties and sixties. I really miss those days and Watson was the best. Cool as ice cream underwear !

mikhett · Jun 24, 2014

LOVE IT! Thanks RIK!

Maverick Daddy · Oct 17, 2014

Rikster said: ↑

Here is another photo of the wonderful two tone green 1956 Chevy Hard Top that Larry Watson painted. This photo gives us a better look at the all white interior inside the car with the horizontal pleats. And the pearl mint green with dark green fogged dash board. The photo also shows the trim removal from the front and the clean tube grille. Everything about this car is just so perfect.
The photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection was taken at Larry'a Famous Bellflower, Rosecrans Blvd shop in 1959.

Dave Robertson from Hollydale, California, was the owner of this 1958 Chevy that Larry painted Cherry Burgundy over a platinum pearl base.
The body has been mildly customized with a shave and scoops added to the front fenders and above the rear window. The front side trim was replaced with a rear section, which as a simple but very effective way to clean up any 1958 Chevy custom. the rear fenders where modified using 1959 Plymouth taillights and the gas filler door was closed and filler moved into the trunk.
Barely visible is the lavender painted dash. The interior was done in white pearl vinyl with long and narrow pleats. The car is lowered with a slight California rake running on chrome reverse rims and medium white walls. Not visible in this photo is the tubular grille.
Another photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection.

Jim Skonzakes had his cars at the Larry Watson shop several times in the late 1950's early 1960's. Larry painted the Kookie Kar for Jim, as well as the Ford COE Golden Sahara hauler.
This photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection shows the Golden Sahara II in its early version at Larry's Rosecrans Blvd shop. Jim could not remember why the car was at Larry's shop then, but most likely because Bill DeCarr and Larry Watson were working on his COE truck.
Bill did the body work on the truck, and Larry painted it a pearl white with dark magenta and gold graphics. The Golden Sahara II still has is "regular" custom hubcaps and white wall tires in this photo. Later Jim had Bob Metz create some amazing finned hubcaps and Good Year created the glowing glass tires for it.
This photo gives a nice look at the unique Pearl Paint that Jim had put on the car in 1957-58 by Jim Roth.

With the Golden Sahara II finished by Bob Metz and at the Delphos Machine & Tool shop it was time to show the car all around the US. Jim Skonzakes had bought a brand new 1958 Ford COE truck especially for hauling the Golden Sahara. A special cargo body was built in stainless steel by a factory close to Jim's home in Dayton Ohio.
In late 1959 it was time to have some custom work done on the truck as well. Jim figured he could not drive the Golden Sahara - one of the most customized cars ever - all over the US in a factory stock truck. He asked Bill DeCarr to customize it for him. Bill added some really nice touches including the 1960 Mercury grille and Cadillac bullets on the bumper as can be seen in this photo.
Larry Watson was hired to do the really great paint job in pearl white and fuchsia and gold graphics. The truck was a fantastic sight on the roads, and it must have been even more amazing if the Golden Sahara was unloaded from it.

This photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection shows the almost finished truck (spotlights and a few other details are still missing) at the Bill DeCarr/Larry Watson Artesia Boulevard shop in early 1960.

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I just found this thread, But I wonder if any more Kustomized big trucks were ever done?AWSOME!

SicSpeed · Oct 18, 2014

Cut55 said: ↑

I pulled some of the color out. Nice dark purple color for sure! Looks great with the white interior.

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I just never have really liked the Tri 5's, especially the 56. But this car is Bitchin and it still has all the stock trim and lights !`

SicSpeed · Oct 18, 2014

Rikster said: ↑

I just did a nice article on the Larry Watson painted 1955 Mercury for the Swedish Gasoline Magazine. An article about the mystery about this car with no owners name. Larry could not remember the owners name, some of his friends and co-workers could not remember his name... But thanks to Sondre - Kustomrama - and the 1959 Renegades Motorama Program we now have a name to go with this wildest Larry Watson painted custom ever... Dave Kyte of Santa Barbara... only mystery remaining is who did the body work...

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CRAZY DADDY, I have never seen this Watson Job . Too Cool

SicSpeed · Oct 19, 2014

Rikster said: ↑

Jerry Cohn's 1950 Chevy Hard-Top painted by Larry Watson. This black&white photo from the Watson Personal Collection shows the car before Larry added the scallops. In this black and white photo the car was already painted a wonderful metalflake and pearl two tone teal. It also shows the details in the interior with the tuck&roll panels and the fuzzy carpet including the pedal covers by Paul's Custom Upholstery, who had a shop next to Larry's.

The 1957 Pontiac has always had one of the best side views of any of the 1957 brand cars… at least to me. The factory side trim makes the car slide thru the wind, makes it look like its going 100 miles an hour standing still. And in this case of the Larry Watson painted car it even gets better when they removed the door handles and badges, and Larry added this absolutely perfect pearl lavender and candy purple to accentuate the great lines of these cars. The bellflower exhaust helps with the flow some more, and my guess is the paint job is really fresh in this photo, and the hubcaps will be added later. Unfortunately this is the only photo of this car, so I have no idea what it looks like completely finished, nor who the owner was. But I do know that this is one classy looking mild custom…

Larry Watson painted quite a few 1957 Chevy's in his career, here is another nice one. It looks like most of this car was left mostly stock and all the customizing was done in the stance/wheels/tires and the paint job. Some of the body badges where removed and then Larry added a wonderful combination of pearl ice green on the main body and candy dark green on the top. The car was set on a forward rake with small size white wall tires on chrome reserve wheels. The camera man - either Larry himself or Lowell Helms was helding his camera high above his head… which really creates a nice shadow for this photo.

1958 Pontiac Bonneville with yet another amazing Larry Watson paint job. This time Larry had the nerves to paint this huge land yacht in a off white pearl which maded the car look even bigger, and out line it in a soft blue pear. The outlines visually make up for the light main color of the car and "section" and lower the car without doing any actual body modifications. Larry added some thin lines in the light blue color surrounding the Pontiac starts on the rear fenders to break up this large section. And he also repeated this on the top of the fenders. The hood peak - hard to see in this photo - was also accentuated in the light blue color. The only real body modifications on this car is the removal of the Bonneville scripts on the trunk, and the hood and the trim pieces on top of the front fenders and on the trunk next to the Bonneville script. The car was lowered just the right amount and set on the right size white wall tires dressed up with 1957 Doge Lancer hubcaps. The interior looks the be stock, but there are only three photos of this car in the Collection and none of it shows the interior really well. The owner added a set of spotlights, as well as a hitch with a nice chrome cover, perhaps indicating the owner was into boats as well. A couple of month ago I showed one other photo of this same car, a bit washed out side shot of it.

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These 2 Pontiac's are fantastic looking.

SicSpeed · Oct 19, 2014

Rikster, thanks for spending the time to post all these fabulous pictures and history of Larry Watson .
Most of these cars have never been seen on this scale before. The creativity of Watson's style evolving has truly impacted the custom car trend. So thanks for posting this wonderful collection of Custom Car History.

Phillips · Feb 27, 2015

Bumpin' thanks Rikster!

Austinrod · Jul 17, 2015

Just got this in the mail today came off Bob Schremp 54 Chevy that was painted by Larry Watson circa 1956ish
Also he painted the back of this plaque

There's a date stamped on it 4/5/55
It's also on the Kustomrama site

El Hueso · Jul 17, 2015

Very cool @Austinrod! Now how the hell did you come across that???

Austinrod · Jul 17, 2015

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/coachmen-cc-plaque-larry-watson.983625/#post-11078446

Austinrod · Jul 17, 2015

El Hueso said: ↑

Very cool @Austinrod! Now how the hell did you come across that???
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Got it off EBAY Been following for 4 months until the price dropped 299
Started a thread on it on here for more info
Link up above ^^^^^^^^^^

Van Leeuwen Garage · Nov 21, 2015

PJ Kosserof. Hay hauler from Bellflower. Used to park on Artesia Blvd about 200 yards to the west of Larry's shop.

Roger O'Dell · Nov 22, 2015

Are you related to Larry Van Leeuwen

Van Leeuwen Garage · Nov 23, 2015

Yeah Roger, he was my father and Gerrit was my grandfather. I remember my dad working on your car 15- 20 years ago.

Van Leeuwen Garage · Nov 23, 2015

Hey Roger, didn't you marry into that dairy family who's kids all got Corvettes?

loudbang · Mar 31, 2016

How about a bump with this one of Larry and his new assistant

flyin-t · Mar 31, 2016

loudbang said: ↑

How about a bump with this one of Larry and his new assistant

View attachment 3177888
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Mrs. Larry Watson.

Gotgas · Mar 31, 2016

flyin-t said: ↑

Mrs. Larry Watson.
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As well as Miss California and Miss USA-World.

flyin-t · Mar 31, 2016

and she's still with us.

Gotgas · Mar 31, 2016

I would be very interested to hear her thoughts on Larry and their time together. I know she spent a lot of that time acting in Mexico, and got him into the acting industry. It's an interesting story, I'm sure.

Ratrod90 · May 16, 2016

Anyone know how I can get another Watson shirt from wore mine out any help would be greatly appreciated

brad2v · May 17, 2016

http://www.mastersonkustoms.com/#!blank/d8dlw
This guy sells one...

loudbang · Dec 14, 2016

Another bump

Larry Watson painting Roth's Road Agent

$Larry Watson painting Roth\'s Road Agent.jpg$

DDDenny · Dec 14, 2016

I don't see that I've posted here yet but this is still my favorite, so subtle, I just love it.

D.N.D. · Dec 14, 2016

Ditto that Denny

and like we used to say ' your car is very Sano man '

DND

poorboy · Dec 14, 2016

Love the color combo on that one Denny

loudbang · Dec 15, 2016

And just the V on the trunk.

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History Larry Watson's Personal Photo Collection

mr348 Member from Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA EH! She's real fine, my 409

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