Jeff's right. Stock 1937 Dodge grille... with some trim removal. Great looking grille... fantastic Custom. Headlights where lowered as well.
Thanks, that really is a beautiful car. It has that intangible quality, something I can never quite put into words, that makes it special.
A 1948 photo from the Ken Wall/Tom Nielsen Collection showing two mild customized 1940 Mercury coupes from the Denver area. Both cars have basically stock bodies, with some CUstom additions to it. The front car has singe bar flipper hubcaps and a set of fog lights. Both items are considered mandatory for a 1940's Custom car. The one behind it has a set of 1937 DeSoto rubbed bumpers, and Cadillac Sombrero hubcaps as well as a set of fog lights. Both cars ran black wall tires, most likely the white walls where still hard to find after WWII. Despite the cars are both rather mild customs I bet the owners where day dreaming about their rides with a wonderful chopped top, huge white wall tires, speed boat stance, and wonderful tuck & roll interior. And who knows those dreams where realized after this photo was taken
Rik,thanks for another great picture.Of coarse I like 40 mercs chopped better but this is such a cool picture.It is just so early lookin and I think it is cool to have and compare to the Andril/Zaro pictures.
Here is a picture I took in 2005,Culver City car show.This is Duncan Emmons' ford.This car has been mentioned earlier in this thread (page 9 I think). It is an old custom and just gorgeous in person.
In the photo from the Tom Nielsen Collection - taken in Denver in 1947 -showing the rear of three fantastic Customs cars you can see A small portion of Ken Wall's 1940 Ford. I mentioned that Ken Wall had recreated his early mild Custom 1940 Ford Coupe that was barely visible in this photo. Here is a photo,of Ken's recreation of the car he had when he was a young guy, a very mild Custom like most of them where back then. Black wall tires with ripple disk flipper hubcaps. factory bubble teardrop fender guards, 1937 DeSoto bumpers with a Ford Factory Accessory bumper over rider which also holds the license plate. Dual pipes, and a really great light blue paint job. This photo has the feel of a real 1940's color photo, but in fact was taken a couple of years ago by Tom Nielsen. And this photo from the ken Wall/Tom Nielsen Collection shows Ken's original mild custom back in 1948. According to Tom the only difference is that the clone has a flip open gas cap while this photo shows the original gas cap on Ken's 1940 back in the day. The 1937 DeSoto bumpers look so perfect on any 1940 Ford.
I requested a friend to post this photo on Steel guitar forum for any information of the young country singer who owned this Ford.Apparently his name is Hank Rains.So far no one remembers the car but he had a very nice pick-up truck as well.Here`s a link to the thread,I hope the full name helps to solve the cars mystery: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=1902409#1902409
Oh,and how about these post from Al Udeen: " I had the very first Barris custom in 48, It was a 36 ford convert with a 39 LaSalle grill, metallic blue with a chopped Carson top. I'd kill for a pic!" " I've checked the George Barris site many times, The car I had was Metallic Blue with 37 DeSoto bumpers,39 LaSalle grill, Chrome Guide driving lights for headlites, 39 ford teardrop tailites, 3/4 race engine, Zepher gears, Carson top, & would do 63mph in low gear, winning me all the drag races in that time period, Mechanical brakes almost cost me my life many times, at 100mph it was hard to slow it down when hitting the breaks, I wonder if the first or second Hot-Rod magazine featured my car, as George Barris & Peterson were close friends? & Peterson started the magazine in 48? I gave up on conferring with the Barris site, They wanted $750.00 just to furnish any info on the car!"
very funny to read some answers ! " it's a cadillac !! it has cadillac rear fenders and hupcaps so it is !!"...and that's mostly why those parts were mounted on kustoms ! conclusion : it works !lol thanks for sharing those fantastic pics
Radio King....that is very cool how you posted this picture on that music board.Wow... so we have a name but nobody is remembering the car It would be so nice to find out a little bit more about it.There is a chance that ol sled might be somewhere in Bakersfield parked and forgotten about...very sad.
Great research Radio King... hopefully one day it will lead to some more info.. Here is another photo from the Wally Welch Collection... Wally's own Ayala built 1941 Ford in its final version with the 1942 Ford grille and molded in fenders.
Oh Rik.....^^^^ You just had to didn't you? Now I will be ruined for a couple days after seeing this picture of Wally's Ford.I can't explain it but this car stays locked in my mind when I see a new(to me) picture of it. Just look at that stance......... PERFECT! Oh ya....thanks for posting.
Rik the chrome door toppers (post 307) on the 35/36 and the 32 roadster were indeed aftermarket accessories. When I was in high school, 25 years ago, I worked in a restoration shop and we had several sets for different model years from model As to early forties and some for non Fords. If memory serves me correctly they were from a company in New York state or the east coast.
Thanks for the info Greezeball... I knew it was not canvas, did not have the right texture for that, and it was to light and bright for it being anything other than polished metal or chrome. Since I posted the other photos of it this very nice photo was listed on ebay... I did not get it, but it does show how nice this 32 Ford was and that the door tops where bright metal pieces. Now we have to find the company who produced them...
Ok found out that Hank Rains' band was " Hank Rains and His Musical Raindrops". Kenny Eggenberg on lead guitar and Ralph Lee on drums.
I wish I could remember. I believe the same company made wind deflectors and some other small accessories in stainless.
Another photo from the Ken Wall/Tom Nielsen Collection is this great shot of the 1940 Ford Convertible with chopped windshield and padded top. The photo was taken in the Denver area in 1947-48 and shows all the typical custom trend from back then. 1937 DeSoto ripple bumpers, teardrop fender shields, single bar flipper hubcaps, black wall tires, and a lower than stock, slightly lower in the back stance. This car had its side trim removed, but the door handles stayed in place, which was common practice in the 1940's. Unfortunately we don't know the owners name, but he sure was posing to look real touch in this photo not to hard with a ride like that.
LOVE this thread!!! A few notes here- why hasn't anyone ever done a '32 like the one above? Also, never ever knew that Denver had soooo many kustoms way back!! How great it is to see these pics. Thanks, Rik!
I really like the build style this Roadster owner took, but is it Hot Rod or Custom? Considering the time period (I'm guessing late 40's to early 50's) it's not a typical look for a 32.
The Jalopy Journal
