History New Builders....Please revive Canted Quad Headlights.....

I am and have been a hot rodder my entire life but I also like customs,,but just like hot rods they don't all hit the marks...I have seen just as many customs that make me thing WTF as I do hot rods,

The real standouts with me are timeless,,and none of my all time favorites have quad headlights,,just my opinion yours may vary. HRP

 

ah.....but you'll notice the Chrysler is the one vehicle amongst all these that has it's original headlight setup. That's the only reason it looks good with the canted lights.

 

I didn't even like them stock on those googly-eyed Chrysler designs. The designers (Exners's crew, I think) must have been doing some good drugs in those days.

 

When Cantered Quads were in style, people also thought polyester bell bottom pants, leisure suits and platform shoes looked good as well. Fortunately thats no longer the case and needs to stay gone.

 

Canted Quads are positively gorgeous ... on 1958-60s Lincolns. Not so much on anything else

 

NOTHING looks good on every car....That's the problem. A trend develops and everyone jumps on the bandwagon....That shows a lack of both originality and design. Much like red wheels, skulls, spiderwebs, hideously chopped tops and the rest. Personally. I love the Watson years and that style of "paint job customs" Mild and well thought out, but there's room for everyone......Centurion9

 

As a computer idiot, I really need to learn how to post pics. Especially since my 51 Merc has canted quads that I machined out of 2" thick steel blocks a few years ago. I originally wanted Lincolns until I realized that I couldn't find decent ones. So I started with 2 pieces of steel that weighed 94 pounds each, and cut/ machined/ground/filed/sanded them until I had quad lights that weighed 8 pounds each.
I can't wait to post pictures, and see the reaction of the folks that like customs, but only if they look stock.

 

That's an interesting thing about customs. Not very many guys have the ability to make a car look better than the folks who did it for a living.

Not that all stock cars look good, far from it. But fixing them so they do look good, is not easy.

 

i agree... now lets see some more pics, even if they are not the best examples, maybe some of us will like them anyways. to each his own
i just like looking at pics of customs so if you got them lets see 'em!

 

I should probably also post pics of the Imperial fins that are welded on my Merc.
Anybody know a good site for customs?

 

I found this one in search of one I saw on a hot rod pickup

 

If only this were true. A larger and larger number of custom threads seem to have overwhelmingly negative posts these days and it is the reason a large number of regular custom guys that used to post no longer do. Hot rod guys that don't mind customs might not notice but as one who's primary interest is customs I am here to tell you the attitude towards customs has taken a serious nose dive over the last couple of years. Guys like HRP at least add some positive comments on custom threads so when a guy like that doesn't necessarily like a style you can respect it but most that post negative stuff never add anything constructive or positive to any custom posts.

Try here: http://www.customcarchronicle.com/

In progress of Paul Bragg's Merc he is building for his wife Pat.

 

75%...??? I'd say more than that, look at the square bodied cars (Model A's & '32 Fords) that show up on this forum... and the "few" custom builds here...even tho it's 10 times harder to build a custom than it is to piece together a rod simply because there are no after-market parts...EACH custom build requires thought other than "attach part A to part B" and I'm not talking those that simply think an overly chopped top makes a custom.

R-

 

The HAMB mission statement, re-writing our history one post at a time. Canted headlights were hot on customs circa 1959-1963, platform shoes and polyester bellbottoms came along a decade later...

 

Falcongeorge ,Tman n 40Stud ,are on the money,sure some didn't work just like some hotrods don't. The guys that don't like them at all,are the same guys that are young with no idea of what was really going on at the time{late 50's early 60's] so for most of them there perpective is missing info.=same guys that seem to think primer is a finel finish{not ever,they were on there way to shiny and no one thought primer looked good or cool. But here I am old and was there back then doing customs an rods in the time. YEs a few were ugly even then but most the young guy say are is only there lack of understanding an no way they wish to brake the little bubble bull shit there living in{but they are having fun inside the fake bubble,by adding tats an other not ever was junk.

 

It's funny, it seems like the crowd here has decided that a 'custom' is a 1. Slavish reproduction of a 'noted' late 40s/early 50s sled; 2. A lowered, de-chromed, wide-whites-equipped stocker, or 3. A formulaic chopped Merc (ok, a chopped anything). Originality doesn't seem to get much love....

Customs used to be the 'anything goes' wing of hot rodding. Sure, that has resulted in some very wretched excess, but also turned out some cars that set trends and pointed out the 'possibilities'. As to canted quad lights, how about the Matador, Jade Idol, Adonis, and the Ala Kart? All icons, and all with canted quads...

 

I'm not a fan of the canted quads, most of the time. Part of what makes this work is that it uses the same grille surround as the peach Zocchi custom.

Two things going on here, the repetition of form, where the lights echo the shape of the grille's sides, and having the lights pulled down level with the grille. So many of the shoe-box customs that got canted quads based them on the original headlight location. Having them stick up above the grille area makes them look like cartoon rabbit ears; they just don't work as part of an overall design.

 

Just say no! They typically make the nose of a car look "goofy".

 

Here are a couple cars that have been around 50 years and will be around another 50. Do your own thing and let others opinions be damned.

 

Again, it's a grille surround and headlight assemblies that were factory on early 60s Chryslers.

Paul Bragg's Merc posted above is another one of the rare good looking adaptations of canted lights.

 

Yes, Braggs Merc looks great. And see.................we are having a nice discussion here. Pro and con. THAT is what the forum is about!

PS, I like that pickup from the Choppers.

 

A friend of mine, now deceased, took a '39 Pontiac coupe about 25 years ago and put a '58 Edsel horse collar grille on it, then took '59 Lincoln headlights and portions of the grille to meet the Edsel grille. It looked like it was born that way, so masterful was his metal work. I was amazed that he could make it look so good.

He sold it and I have not seen or heard about the car since. I wasn't thinking that I would need to take pictures for the HAMB, since the HAMB did not exist back then.

Sometimes I think people here meant to log on to Fordbarn or something....

 

kinky 6 hit the nail on the head. i am not a custom guy, but can appreciate one that has "the it factor". most of the pictures of cars/trucks posted here have "it", or hit the mark close. i would not put canted quads on one, if i were to build one, along with a visor, dual antenna, dummy spots but some cars done right look good with them. my opinion.....build what you want.

 

I also think a big part of whether you like them or don't is a personality thing. In my case I am a more conservative K.I.S.S. sort of person. I think in more cases than not two tastefully done single headlights simply look better on many customs than quads.

 

canted quads, pinched fenders, skylarks with 1" whitewalls, a dual quad cad, and lime gold flake. March '63 Car Craft, no platform shoes or bell-bottoms in sight...This truck would look STUPID with the stock grill and single headlights.




I'm one of the die-hard hot rod guys on here, not a custom guy. But I DO believe that we have no F%&*ing business re-writing the history to suit the tastes of a bunch of post Barret-Jackson clowns...
And this truck needs cloning.

 

Kustoms are supposed to be DIFFERENT. Most try to improve the looks of their car, some succeed, some don't. A lot just change things to change them. Not too bad, as long as it doesn't make the car look much worse. Most of the comments here were from hotrodders, who seem to like just 3 or 4 cars, and don't change them much, except lowering, or perhaps chopping. NOT good folks to ask opinions about customs modifications!
Just saying!

 

Well, in general, I agree with this, usually good taste and restraint are the right answer. But it depends on what you are going for, and if you are going for a late fifties/early sixties custom or show rod look, theres a lot to be said for wretched excess.