Customs What’s the difference between a mild and a full custom?

Well at least some stuff that'll come with it will be custom stuff. Like shaving most of the side trim

 

It'll be using an actual two door door

 

If you are entering the car in a show, the show promoter will set the rule and make a decision on the class for each car. ISCA rules are commonly used and they may change over time. If you really care, join that organization, you will get their rulebook each year, and build your car to those rules. If you are doing it for fun, not trophies, it really does not matter what class you are in.

 

That brings back some memories.Aaron and I built that in his garage a million years ago. Here's a picture of it on our business card from years back in primer.

 

Yeah, it was mean as hell looking when I bought it. It seemed like everything that I did to it to make it look “nicer” took away some of its rawness.

 

"Full custom" had to be chopped, Channeled or Sectioned. back in the little book days.
Mild custom was just that, some mild customizing that including getting rid of the hood ornament, trunk ornament and the extra little trim pieces and maybe frenched headlights and a tail light mod.
The sectioned shoebox that Valley custom did is to me a prime example of an early 50's (did in the) full custom. A major body change plus some tasteful custom work that isn't over done.


The little shoebox hardtop that Pist-N-Broke showed is a prime example of a 50's early 60's mild custom that had just enough touches done on it. Moriaritiy's 61 is what was done by a lot of guys in the early 60's . Mild dechroming, great looking paint and a custom interior. His other cars he showed are all first time around customs that survived the mid 60's ISCA show points judging sheet tacked to the shop wall wall gotta do three more things to get X more points. Some of the cars they competed with in their day didn't fare so well in the next round of mods when more scoops and more overshaped body work showed up and messed up the look of a lot of great customs in the name of doing changes to keep competing and doing changes for more points than Joe and Leroy would get with their cars.

 

My ex brother in law, who was 14 in 1959, took all of his lawn mowing and snow shoveling money and bought a '52 Ford hardtop. With the help of his much older brother (mid to late 20s at the time) who had body shop experience, they turned it into a "mild custom"; nosed and decked, shaved door handles, lowering blocks in the rear, frenched headlights and taillights (with mid '50s Olds lenses), and a '54 Chevy grille. I'm sure that it was one of the better looking cars in the high school parking lot.

 

$$$$$

 

Mild custom : You can still tell what car they started with.
Full custom : no idea what they started with or where they were going!

 

thanks to @themoose for continuing the memory...
a mild custom, a hot rod cruiser sedan or modified drag racer with a penchant for making a special looking daily cruiser?

Removal of rear antennas created a lead in filler and finish. That started the whole process over time. the last thing done over the 6 years of daily driving, racing, and cruising was the modifications to the axles and hubs to create a one of a kind set up for some Buick Skylark wire wheels for the Impala.


Hello,

So, does that make it a mild custom? Does adding real magnesium wheels make it a mild custom or custom?

Every time I see a photo of Mox Miller’s 58 Impala with those wheels, envy sets in and the memory of seeing them up close and personal at his house rings true. It was real and so out of the normal everyday cruising hot rod scene, but boy, they looked outstanding close or far away...YRMV

If the "magnesium" wheel is not available like the pristine ones on Mox Miller's impala and the look of something we wanted in 1960-65, the the 5 spoke American Racing Equipment company wheels would be our choice.
When we saw the Mox Miller Impala motor, our eyes went "googly-eyed" at what we were seeing. No one thought of a small supercharger on a motor, let alone one that would fit under a closed hood. A supercharger sticking out of a hood with a scoop was the "normal" arrangement. But, this Impala motor had all of the details and ingenuity to be able to shut the hood for the super clean look.
Mox Miller rear seat 1958 Impala custom tarp

Here is a close up of the cool rear seat cover including the insert opening for the Impala emblem. If we had one of those, then our friends could have been underneath it, when we went to the “one car load cost” drive-in theater locations. That would have been better than getting in the trunk and climbing through the removable rear seat back. Or, waiting in the darkened back row until the white coat guys left us alone.
HA !

Jnaki

Here are some notes from the publications to cloud the issue of custom cars:

Rodders Journal

Rik Hoving photos

 

Moderate custom



Full custom