Customs Period correctness on a late 50's custom, do's and don'ts

Under NO circumstances should a sun visor be installed.

Mick

 

Chrome plated and adjustable in and out.

 

How about half back round seats that swivel and and aircraft steering wheel. Angel hair carpet and a "portable" TV and maybe a mobile phone. You also need twin spot lights and twin antenna's on the rear fenders. Rear view mirrors mounted about a third of the way up the fenders.

 

i feel like you have to decide who wouldve owned/built it too. you want late 50's custom that was being taken to big shows? or late 50's custom that the high school senior cruised the gut in? I feel like theyre different. I tend to gravitate more towards the high school senior version but thats all my budget allows! Frenched headlights, nosed, decked, some sweet tuck n roll mom cranked out for ya. Maybe some different bumpers or grill than stock.... the little stuff to make it unique. Definitely not knocking the show queen customs! I just cant afford em and would be scared to drive em much if I could afford em

 

Here's a few from the little pages

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Here's a few more ...not all 55's but maybe some of the other's have some idea's to help.

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Hello,

I wish there were cameras back in those late 1956-58 days so we could have taken photos of the customs that were in our Westside Long Beach area. I have written about the 1955-56 Ford custom truck that was owned by a local businessman and was one of the tops customs in the whole area.

Tahitian red paint, a radical chopped top, pure white tuck and roll upholstery everywhere, chromed reversed rims, wide whitewalls and a lowered California rake. I am sure there were plenty of other things that were on the custom truck, but there are no photos in anyone’s collection. It had to be in a magazine as the owner drove it everywhere. But, it is a mystery.

I have contacted the family from Long Beach and the remaining sons have no clue about the custom truck. Sadly, the owner passed away in 2019 and contacts were graciously stopped for the family’s sake.

The look was very unusual and I am sure that the owner (our family optometrist) wanted a chopped top, but a “better vision” out of the front window. (There is a pun in there somewhere…) As a little kid, I was given a drive in the truck, to deliver it back to his optometrist’s storefront office, from our neighborhood mechanic’s garage. That was a memory of a lifetime for a little kid.

Jnaki

So, in our So Cal area, the best example of a “period correct” custom, comes from Long Beach local, Mox Miller. He was the owner of the nicest custom 1958 Impala around So Cal. Of course, there were things that could have been on my 58 Impala for the custom touch, but that Mox Miller Impala was so out of reach of anyone locally.

We were impressed when I was able to visit the Impala in its own garage back in those days. The Mox Miller 58 Impala was so nice to see it in person. He was the envy of all teenagers and their customs or hotrods… especially this black, 1958 Impala owner.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/elegant-customs.1114436/page-5#post-12979916

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/top-ten-kustom-icons-of-your-youth.1095355/page-2#post-12427337

Mox Miller

 

No worries there.

 

I agree with you. I am sort of leaning towards the middle of that also. My era would be a single guy, early 20's with a little money in his pocket, that would like to have a show car but is broke like me.

I have just started on this car. It's a 55 Ford Customline. It will have 54 Chevy grille with extra teeth, nosed and decked, shaved handles replaced with 41 Lincoln buttons, lowered, lake pipes (rippled preferred), Lincoln Premier Caps, white paint with maroon scallops, Maroon dash and garnish moldings, pleated rear package tray, maroon carpet with white binding, maroon floral inserts (cloth) on the seats and white vinyl everywhere else including headliner. Oh and the wife bought Pontiac Starchief trim for it.

 

The gorgeous, tasteful customs seemed to transition to over done around 1959 and beyond. They seemed to take the "gaudy is good" attitude. Nosed, decked, louvers were always tasteful mods.

 

Don't forget the pleated steering wheel cover (show only of course)!

 

I think we are on the same page. I'm not a fan of more is better. Adding a pool table on the back of a Corvette never did it for me. Subtle changes that accentuate the body lines and add to the overall look of the car is what I am after.

Slow and low baby..............

 

sounds pretty amazing!! hope theres a build thread!

 

I was gonna say record player on the hump. But I guess a phone will do.
Fancy speaker grills on package shelf if you were in the right part of town.

@Moriarity this is a you question. I was gonna say lee lenses, but I don't know when they came about is that my era or your era? I am about 5-10 years behind you.

 

Thanks they were still popular on about anything custom or performance where I was in '68-9. I still like 'em and I am not a "custom" guy. I never really knew when they came about.

 

Can't help but wonder what ever happened to all those 50's and 60's
customs that appeared over the years in the "Little Pages".

I recall about 10 years ago seeing what was once was a nice custom 56 Chevy convertible
completely crushed at a local scrap yard. All that was left was the 1956 split Pontiac
rear bumper. I didn't have my camera with me.

 

Never had a set that did not end up on someone's car. Actually my last set were for a '56 Chebby still in the box, I found 'em at a swap meet and made friends with the old guy who gave them to me. They ended up on a yellow '56 Chebby that belonged to a HAMBer about 10 years ago give or take.

I figured it was cheaper to give them to him than to find a five six for me. LOL

 

There is. It's sort of diluted, but it's started.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-mild-custom-transformation-mamas-55.1119265/

 

Car that’s always done it for me...-Jimmy Vaughn’s 54 Ford...prefect car in my eyes..outside and in...mild Kustom perfection...and yes those are chrome garnish moldings and glove box...RIP Gary Howard..

 

You definitely need a sunken antenna or two. Doesn't matter that there isn't anything worthwhile listening to on the radio - at least it is more functional than the telephone that many show cars had.

 

It might be too "street" for a custom, but I think a black and clear spinner would be perfectly period-correct for that wheel.

 

I've always been partial to a Lighted Swan Hood Ornament, Mirror and Steering Wheel Muffs, Red Dingle Berries hanging from above the windows, Red Jeweled Mud Flaps, Fake Buick Port Holes, Lake Pipes that were never connected to the exhaust system, and set off by a full set of Curb Feelers. I'm sure all these items were staples of a J.C. Whitney catalog.

Some may think I'm being facetious but on a previous HAMB post I was astouned by the number of HAMBers who commented about buying this type of J.C Whitney bolt on "go fasters". Tell me it isn't so.

 

East coast style: lowered with skirts. Spinner knob on steering wheel
.White walls no bigger than 2 1/2 inches with some type of spinners. Reverberatory for AM radio. Standard trans with floor shift. Cool

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Dark grey primer spots are certainly okay.

 

You're right, that's totally a late 50s thing. But I've never liked it because I've always thought the steering wheels were so cool, it was a shame to cover them. Plus it blocks the view of the cool dash clusters

 

I love that wheel.

What about antennas? frenched straight up and down or kicked back like the 59 Impalas?

 

doesnt get any more period correct late 50s than this!

 

Sounds like you got it. Proceed.