Thanks KKOA Kustoms are not dead!!!

I've been telling people for sometime that Kustoms are not dead. After spending the weekend in Salina, it was easy to tell that the Kustoms movement is alive and well. I'm guess'n around 700 maybe 800 Kustoms and Hot Rods were at the Spectacular this weekend and it was Way too Kool!!

I saw numerous of New Kustoms and HotRods at the show people are building some killer sleds. I have pictures but you are going to have to wait until Thursday because I'm heading out of town.

Thank You Jerry and Devona for all of their hard work and keeping the kustom movement alive and well.

Thanks to everyone that hung out with us this weekend numerous of HAMBers and goo Kustoms Family.

Kongrats should go out to Billl Moore and Gary Howard for being inducted into the KKOA Hall of fame.

Thanks again Titus for putt'n on such a Kick Ass show!!!

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

Mick, the "Official" count at the awards program on Sunday was 740 ......but I gotta echo Mick's sentiments...739 (my poor old Stude is getting road-old) of those were quality built cars...some gorgeous stuff is now coming out from younger builders...and those are the guys that'll keep the torch burning... I mean, after all, how many billet-laden red '32 Fords can you look at...??? Give me some body mods, wide whites, hubcaps, and some T & R...

R-

 

Pics PLEEEASE!

 

This was the first time I've been to Salina for the KKOA and you couldn't meet a nicer bunch of people.Had a great time at the drags got to spank a salene mustang by a mile.Wish I had some pics to share.Had to leave sat. afternoon,but had a great drive both ways. Later Rob

 

Been a member of KKOA since 83 and been going to Gettysburg for about 25 years. Hot rods and street rods are my frist love but customs are right up there.My 37 Terraplane is more a custom than rod. Long live CUSTOMS.

 

And I had to miss it for family crap. Now if only KKOA could get my trendsetter to me at in the same quarter it was printed in.

 

The Austin bunch is all home now also. I got home about 4:30 am this morning along w/ the rest of the gang. What an incredible weekend. It was great to be part of the Gary Howard "This is your Life" episode. Let me recap a bit.
Thurs morn, we hooked up w/ Gary a little north of Austin, who was driving the recently completed(by Gary) Jimmie Vaughan '54 Ford Victoria, with these other Gary Howard Customs:
Mike Young's '36 Ford (brought by Reggie), Mike's '60 Caddy(piloted in by Stormin Norman Jones), Mike's '60 Chevy "Exotica" driven up by Lynn Howard and me in my '57 Caddy. 5 stellar Gary Horward Customs all together for the cruise up to Kansas. We made it up to Kansas w/o too much trouble and stopped in at Dennis' Artists at Large HQ in Whichita before hitting Salina late Thurs night.

 

been a lifetime member since 1986 customs frist love hope to be a good turn out for lead sence east next year for it,s 25 th.

 

Friday morn got up early and gave the cars a bath, pick up a new fuel pump for the 60 Caddy and ran into Gary Minor (that's his and Mary's blue '52 wagon) over at Cozy's where we all had a sack. What a joint. Gotta see it to believe it. Still tasting the sliders a few days later, but a must at least once in your life.

 

Went to park later on and just checked it out. What a great park to hold a show in. Later that after noon there were some drag races scheduled at the old airport and I gotta tell, it was a kick in the ass..........worth theentire trip up there. Semi controlled kaos........run what ya brung and it was insane. no tree, no finish line, no fences,not really much officiating, just a huge runway and folks going at it until the rain came. I gotta figur out how to do this at the Round Up. More later, the story will continue................

 

Well Saturday we all got to the park and set up The Gary Howard "Ring of Honor"..........so impressive seeing that many of GH built cars all together. You can really see his unprecedented style when they are parked next to each other, all incredibly spot on, understated yet those cars really move you in the right way. But the best was yet to come. Gary's family had a big surprise for him. They had tracked down Gary's first car a '30/31 Chevy 4dr sedan and not only purcahsed it but got it all cleaned up and running and brought it into the show and parked it w/ the customs while I had taken him to another part of the park to look at other cars. When we came back around, he was like "what the hell is that in front of our cars...........that looks like my old chevy........that is my old chevy............that's the car I got my driver's license in..........." and as he approached, his family was there to greet him...........it was pretty special. I got so caught up in the moment I got a pic of Gary, but not the sedan. I am sure someone has a pic of it. It is a super nice original car w/ some early Howard customizing (very little, but some done by Gary's dad back in the day and even some pinstriping on the engine by Gary himself when he was like 14 years old and it's still there)

 

I went the year before last and had a great time. This is a great show. If only I could make them all. Mick, get us som pics!

 

Well just when you thunk it could get any sweeter, later on Saturday night, Gary was selected as an inductee into the KKOA Hall of Fame to all of our delight. It was the icing on the cake of what was really a terrific weekend in Salina. We all decided to go up there that weekend to support Gary cuz he had been nominated for the HOF. The field of nominees was made up of some really incredible folks and even if Gary hadn't been selected, it was still a tremendous honor to be nominated. But when they said his name, the place really erupted. Gary had a lot of friends and family there and that's what made it super special. I was just happy to be included in the festivities.
Well after celebrating that night we had been informed that two of cars we brought that Gary built also won awards to be given out on Sunday so we hung around and found out that that Mike Y's '60 Chevy "Exotica" and my '57 Caddy had won "Top 25 Kustoms" at this show which was a real honor. There were so many nice cars at the show(740 total) and two of Gary's creations were in the top 25. Quite a weekend for Gary and like I said, I was just glad to be tagging along to watch it all. He really deserves it.
So after the awards we finally take off at 3 pm about 7 hours later than we thought we would leave and head back to Texas, but its not over yet. We get to the intersection of IH-35 and IH-44 in OKC and who do we run into to, Steve Coonan from Rodder's Journal and Brian (Brennan) from Street Rodder in Steve's duece roadster on their way from Cali to Kentucky for the street rod nat'ls. What are the chances? We stop and grab a bite, they took some pics of the miraculous meeting of the hot rodders and custom guys, we say our goodbyes and hit the road for good............back in my bed in Austin at 4:30 am............a happy camper............was it all a dream?

 

Here are some more pics from the show.

 

A couple of more

 

I had a few hambers ask me what I drove up to Salina. They were
dissappointed that I wasn't driving your Merc. Thanks for the offer.

I'm on my way to Kansas City for the Stray Cats / Rumblejetts concert. I'll be back in the office Thursday and will show you my Good the bad and ugly pictures.....

I've love'd Gary Howard Customs for some time but watching them in motion and driving around town all weekend was just way kool.

It is nice to see that KKOA is alive and well.

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

Very cool coverage. one day i am gonna build me a custom of some sort. Thanks for all the great pics. Those drags had to be cool!!

Rusty

 

That was so nice El Jefe.....

Thank you for sharing. Especially the Gary Howard custom gathering shots are amazing.

 

Steve, good to see you again...as well as meeting Reggie and Stormin' Norman...!!! You guys rock...

I saw that old Chevy parked very close in front of the "circle" there and thot: "How crass is that parking that old original Chevy soooooooo close it blocks the gorgeous view? I hope someone asks him to move it back a bit so we can get some good shots of those cars."

Now I know the whole story, and a great story it is...

Please convey my congrats to Gary...it is deserved... see you guys at the HAMB drags...???

R-

 

Steve-
Very cool experience. Gary is so worthy. Good stuff.
dp

 

I need to get out to Salina for another one of those shows. I had a great time when I went out there a couple of years ago....

 

There is no doubt that Mr. Howards cars elevated the average quality of the show way way up!!!

Thanks for sharing the pics!

 

A HUGE congrats to my friend and hero G Howard - a well deserved honor being inducted into the Hall of Fame. His work is always amazing - a true artist whose taste level is always right on.

Sounds like it all came off without a hitch - the story about his family finding his Chevy totally floors me - that is so great!!!!

thanks for the recap, Jefe

 

Heres a shot of G Howard's sedan - too cool.

 

What a great show!! The park is a great lay out for a car show...even though it was hot as hell all the trees allow for plenty of shade...The drags were f@#king GREAT!!!! We can not wait to go back next year!!


-COS

 

X2

Grew up going to the last pass in DSM every year. Really miss it.

 

Wish I could have gone... Congrats to Gary.. he builds some nice cars!

-Juan

 

Kustoms will never die!

 

Nope they'll just multiply.Had a blast in Salina I try and get pics up soon.