i stumbled across another 39 with one of these uncommon panoramic tops, but i think there's no relation to a famous name. it was posted in the "vintage shots.." thread some time ago by swi66. Do you know something about it, Rik? btw, great thread, making goosebumps.
Here are two more photos of the 1939 Ford you showed. I have no info on this particular car other than what can be seen in the photos. But that Panoramic top is not all that uncommon... Several top shops advertised with it. And this one is done by the Gaylord Top Shop.
It does not happen all that often that we see some photos of a new very early Barris Custom car. Jerry Alward shared this photo and the back side with more info on my Facebook site... and all I can say is WOW!!!
Great picture Rik! It sure is exciting when a new picture pops up like this especially when it has the info on the back that this one does.
This 39 ^^^ is just gorgeous. What a great car and great news to hear about this EARLY Custom.I really love the early style chop.So it looks like they did some custom wing windows.
This photo of Jim Kirstead 1939 Mercury shows the same shaped filler panel to cover the frame after they removed the running boards. Both Merc's are built by Barris. I wonder what the Barris brothers used for this filler panel, since both cars use the near same curved panels it looks to me they used parts from another car to shape it. Jim's Mercury is claimed to be the first 1939 Merc coupe to be chopped by Barris. This car had a very low windshield while the Bill Spurgeon Mercury has a much taller windshield. Photo donated by Hal Johnson
I have a few more of Jim's Merc.. all from the Hal Johnson Collection. They are not the best quality, but its great to see these early Mercs... In progress In white rimer at the lakes.
Wow! Thanks Rik....I dont think I have ever seen these pictures before.What a great Merc this is and I love the early pictures.
Awesome!!! Another 1940s custom...and even more important, another early Barris Kustom dug out and identified I wonder why he wrote down Barris's Top Shop on the back though? Maybe chopping tops were their speciality at the time... so the shop went under that name on the streets
Many of you know Chuck Manning from his racing fame. Chuck was an aerospace engineer that built a famous sports car known as the Chuck Manning Special in 1951. The low budget race car, built mostly from old Ford parts gained national recognition when he beat the best sports cars of its day including Ferraris and Allards among others. After building the car, Chuck wrote several articles for Road and Track and other magazines about how to build your own race car. As many people asked for plans, he supplied these for $2 each. Well all that is pretty known in these circuits...what most people don't know is that Chuck built this good looking 1939 Ford custom prior to building the Chuck Manning Special. This great photo showing Chuck next to the coupe comes from Chuck's personal photo album, and it was provided by his son John Manning. We don't know too much about Chuck's custom, or wether or not he built more than just this one, but if you have any additional info on the subject feel free to fill us in. More info on Chuck can be found here: http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Chuck_Manning
Thanks for the new pictures Rik. It looks like they used a similar wing window treatment on the two cars as well.
I have always said that the 1933-34 Ford lend themselves perfectly to customizing and this photo from the Tom Nielsen Collection proofs it once again. This time it is another 1934 Ford Custom car that was owned and built by John Dennis from Everett, WA in the early 1950's. John did most of the work on the car himself, but had the top chopped by a man named "Tiny" who was from California and had a body shop in Everett. Tiny chopped the four door just the right amount to give the carcass really great proportions. John had already lowered the rear, and used a dropped axle at the front to give it the perfect Custom Car stance. He installed smooth hood side, removed the door handles, replaced the headlights with smaller and longer units, added smooth running boards and added 1937 DeSoto bumpers. Then he added large size white wall tires with smooth hubcaps and a set of Appleton headlights to keep with the Custom Car theme. It was painted a beautiful custom mixed shade of purple, which Tiny had used before in California.
Can someone photoshop this to color it the cherry apple red so we can see how it looked in person? These old photos are very cool but it give the impression (in my mind at least) that all the cars were black and we know that isnt the case. Just curious to see what it looked like. Paul
Something a little different. Early 30's Chevrolet turned custom. Custom top, dual spots, dual antennas, 40 Olds bumper, Buick grille, skirts, and HORN! Metalwork was done in the back yard. Gotta appreciate the time, craftsmanship, and vision of these builders.
Did this VERY quickly for you NashRodMan.. I have no idea if this is even close to the "Apple" shade, but it'll give you an idea. I also do not know what colour the interior was, but all-in-all another beautiful custom! -Dave
Those are some kind of curb feelers... I have not found out if this is what it is, or if a metal rod needs to be added to it to make sure the distance from the curb to the car remains more than just an inch. I have seen these "hooks" on a few more early Custom Cars, including George his own 1941 Buick.
I remember those curb feelers. They were a length of coil spring, like a screen door spring, bent double and secured at both ends so that a small loop protruded from the fender. I'm sure that they did make a noise when they contacted the curb, but they looked to me as if you'd have to get a lot closer to the curb than with the more familiar straight wire feelers.
The Jalopy Journal
