I've been thinking about the customs that had an early impact on me, and thought it might be fun to share. I hope others will take the time to do the same. This is by no means a list of "Favorites", or even "Bests", but represent some of the cars that were iconic in my youth. (I was born in 1950, and many of the cars I now admire were already considered passe. So the sixties really best reflect my early influences.) In no particular order, as I think of them: "Ala Kart"; This one is really near the top. Using a Combo '27/'29 body for a full-on custom really stretched the envelope. And how about the quad headlights...in 1957!!! Talk about trend setting! The hand formed nose set the stage for a whole new genre that included Fahrner's "Eclipse" (a personal favorite), Stuckey's "Lil coffin", Chili's "Little Deuce Coupe, Vargo's "69'er", and countless others. "El Matador". Every AMT '40 Ford I built as a kid was influenced by this. (There's those quad lights again!) Too funny! Googling for a pic of 'El Matador" brought up this pic of one of my old models! (I don't know how, since my Photobucket account no longer hosts my pictures!) I told you it had an impact! "The "Victorian". This one took conservative styling to the max by altering every panel, while never loosing the car's original character. I call it a masterpiece! '53 Stude pans were ubiquitous, but perhaps never better incorporated than here, with the slight cant to the upper grille shell. "R&C Dream truck". What can I say? "Solar Scene". It seems blasphemous now, but Winfield's Solar Scene was the first Mid-century Merc to knock my socks off. I'm going to hit "Post" now, and take a break. I'll be back and see what else comes to mind, to finish the list. ( Or maybe I should change it to "Top Five Icons"?)
Fred Flintstone’s car Barney Rubble’s car George Jetson’s car Beverly Hill Billy’s truck Bat mobile Monkey mobile Herman Munster’s truck Green Hornet Lost in Space Family hauler Any ride from Rat Patrol
Mo...interesting that 2 of the 3 you listed were made into AMT plastic kits, both the Ala Kart and the 56 Ford Victoria which has the ability to be built stock or the Alexander Bros custom............your version of El Matador looks like it was getting there..........andyd
If it weren't for Gene Winfield paint and Leroy Kememerers(sp) work on the Jade Idol. I know I would not be into Kustoms
Damn, that was fast! (I guess I should have given it more thought before I posted!) Though not all "Kustoms", you sure caught my drift, as your list is comprised of icons that certainly represent an era. thanks for posting! Interesting observation, andyd. Next on my list of icons was LeRoy Goulart's 1950 Ford, which also made it to AMT. Another icon on the list, bskustoms. Thanks! Jade Idol Buddah Buggy It's getting down to the wire, now! I would say these two would hold down the same spot. And there you go! Ten Kustom icons reflecting the era of my youth, off the top of my head! (Though not as fast as FrankenRodz!)
Kool post! This was the first real Kustom that I had seen and it started my sickness. When I was around 14 years old, I went to the Starbird show. Eldon Titus's Buick just stopped me in my tracks. Kool thing I ended up being friends with him. The following few years, back at the Starbird show I saw Robert Williams inspired "Green Flame" Mercury. This was my first chop Merc that I had seen in person. Carl Green had a Kustom shop in Dewey, Ok. He was re-painting the Dream Truck just down the street from where I was working. That summer, I got brave enough to stop by his shop. Carl welcomed me into the shop and showed me what they were doing to the Dream Truck and let me look through all of his pictures. I'm very thankful he didn't run me off..... I'm not sure of the year of the picture but I was in high school and I owned a '55 Chevy. At the Starbird show, I fell in love with Starbirds Exotica. I went to the First Kustom Kemps of Americas Lead Sled Spectacular, Lee Pratt's '41 Buick. Taught me that Kustoms don't have to be chopped to be kool. Later that year, We attended the Last Run in Ark City, KS. I was introduced to the Fundamentals. Doug Reed's Toad Hub Harness '59 El Camino Johnny Hammond's '58 Impala 1984 Dave Stuckey's Merc got me back into kustoms. This was at the Merc Deuce Reunion in Wichita Also at the Merc Deuce I saw Jimmy Vaughn's fast back, Kool thing by that time I was starting to get it and able to recognize the Kustom work.
BTW, don't go callin' Uncle Jed's truck "Not really a Custom". He and Granny spent many a nite fixin' that up just right for the Trip to Beverly Hills! (But first Granny had to Smoke some CrawDads).
My top ten customs from growing up in the early sixties: The Emperor, The ala kart, Cushenberry’s Matador Jade Idol Solar Scene Goulart’s shoebox Ford, Tiago’s Ranchero , and local Yreka, CA cars: Dean Whipple’s unfinished ‘51 Mercury A scalloped ‘56 Ford unknown owner Jimmy See’s ‘34 five window coupe
I wasn't into customs when I was young born in '71 there wasn't (still isn't) much of a custom scene here so my first big influences were the cars being build by Dore, Zocchi and D'Agostino, Marco Garcia. I looked forward to seeing the updates on the builds every issue of Custom Rodder. So for me these 10 are probably the first 10 that really got me interested in customs. Not sure if they are all icons but I feel they probably are the iconic cars of that era.
The volume and quality those guys turned out was truly remarkable, and helped fuel the resurgence of the hobby. Thanks for posting.. Thanks for posting. It looks like we're from the same era, but there are a couple of cars here I can't seem to recall. Are there links for the Whipple Merc, or Jimmy See's coupe?
Titus did so much to revive customs, when so few seemed to care. I think that the Merc/Deuce reunion was crucial in establishing the chopped Merc as the icon that it is today. So cool you were there!
Honestly, Mike Ness's '54 Chevy was a major entry point for me into customs. I'm 33, so fairly young in the game. I got into this stuff on my own when I was a teenager, and I don't come from a family of car people to introduce me to any particular genre of cars. But my mom took me to local cruise nights as a little kid because I liked cars, and the 50s era stuff always appealed to me. When I was old enough, it just seemed natural to buy an old car, and I picked up a 57 Bel Air when I was 16, but didn't have a real direction for it. I was a big fan of Mike Ness, and I had actually heard his solo records before I discovered Social Distortion. My high school girlfriend bought me the first issue of Hot Rod Deluxe (which was out of print at the time) for my 17th birthday, the infamous "rockstars with torque wrenches" issue. Seeing Mike Ness's '54 was like a epiphany type moment for me, and the Burbank Choppers as well. I wanted to know more about it, so I looked up Cole Foster, which lead to guys like Barris and Winfield, and the rest is history. But that was my entry point.
OMG! How could I have forgotten "High School Confidential"?! My folks took the family to see it at the drive-in upon its release in 1958. (I was the youngest.) The chopped '47 Chevy is still renowned, but what really flipped my switch (Honest!) was this '53 Ford with the secret compartment in the dash, and the dragon painted on the glove box door! More than any others, these cars nudged me on the path I was to travel. As they say, "As the twig is bent, so grows the branch"!
Response to “mo”. ... Those were simply cars that never to my knowledge received ink, but were from the town I grew up in, and they were personal inspirations. No photos were ever taken. Most hot rods and customs were just built by young kids like me at the time, often never shown in a car show, often not fully finished to the image in the young builder’s mind, maybe not even getting to finished paint. We just enjoyed the experience of doing something creative that we liked.
I`ll do this in stages. First is out of Council Bluffs Iowa(50 minutes from where I live) is Bob Johnsons 50 Merc-- So Fine built in 78 which won the King of Merc`s in 79 Merc Duce Reunion. And then his 40 Merc-- Sweater than Wine built in 81. Both received a lot of magazine coverage. Both of these cars were shown together for 3 or 4 years.
Just a couple come to mind. The Ala Kart, Orange Crate, and Tony Nancy's 22J model A roadster competition car.
Hirohata, Freddy Rowe, R & C Dream Truck, Ivo T Grabowski T! Ray Vega 38 Ford tub Why, the Owls car club stole the Hirohata Merc and brought it to school, Running Wild was shot in Tujunga Cyn., Grabowski lived in town and cruised the school often, Tommy Ivo took me for a ride in his T, and Ray Vega Tub was a regular in our school parking lot. Really good place to grow up! Sunland/Tujunga Ca. My favorite favorite is
I came from an oval track racing family so hot rods always spoke to me more then customs. However like @57JoeFoMoPar I picked up the 2 second Hot Rod Deluxe in 2000 my senior year of high school. The cars of the Burbank Choppers really got my attention as well as the 54 Chevys of Mike Ness and Jesse James Jon Fisher's 36 Ford Vern Hammond's 40 Ford Weesner photo Keith Weesner's 50 Ford Mike Ness' 54 Chevrolet Jesse James' 54 Chevrolet
It's a generational thing Also born in the 70 s the later customs by Zocchi, D'Agostino and Garcia are some of my favorite. Toss in the TV cars from the Munsters and Hillbillies
While attending the World of Wheels shows in Omaha in the late 70`s, I feel in love with the COOL 50 Merc and the Custom By Crunch Merc--Rudy`s Green Flame as portrayed in the Robert Williams poster. Finding customs in magazines back then was difficult. I spent a lot of time looking at magazines while my mom was shopping for groceries. It`s the only reason I went. . Remember Barris was famous for the Batmobile and the Munster Coach back then. I was born late in 69. By the time I saw American Graffiti, I knew what cool customs looked like, and that Merc wasn`t.
These were the 2 for me...and yes i thank my dad for getting me involved and loving these cars.... Sent from my SM-G955U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
@Robert J. Palmer , I'm glad you mentioned Jesse James. For people around our age, the whole chopper/bike thing was just hitting with Jesse becoming a star on Discovery Channel. Don't forget the episode of Monster Garage where he built the 54 with Winfield, Norm Grabowski, Lil John Buttera, Bill Hines.... it put the greats on prime time TV for the young guys to discover. Jesse was and continues to be a great ambassador for the traditional scene. IMHO he can take credit for bridging the gap between the bikes and cars.
According to Kustomrama, as of 2009, the "Exotica" was still around, looking like this. The amazing thing is, it was still owned by Ron Dubberstein (the original owner)!!! To me, the 1958 Ford side trim was one of the defining elements of the original version. (But then again, maybe that's precisely why it hit the cutting room floor as the car morphed with the passage of time.) "And the beat goes on...."!
I was working at a small hot rod shop when I was 19. The boss showed me pictures of THE Mercury I fell in lust instantly. Bought a merc later and in my mid 40s still haven't started on it. Built a bunch of stuff for others though. The merc is waiting patiently in the shop.
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