That's Phil in the lavender hat pictured sitting behind his ragtop. Phil brought together a colorful band of kustom kulture folks in his Klassic Kruisers car club and they all always wore purple toned clothing at all of the shows they attended. Phil was the most colorful of the bunch and was always a major hit with the ladies as well. We could devote an entire thread here to the crazy stories I've heard and witnessed about him and his group of merry pranksters. My father built a chopped 392 Hemi powered shoebox Ford back in the early 80s and we roamed around a lot with the Purple People Eaters, as we called them, and I can recall more than a few tense moments between my parents due to poor alcohol induced actions my father took while hangin' out with the gang.
Is this a 1953? The front fenders are definitely '52. That was the only year of that body style with the large round turn signals.
I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for that one. I know that I've seen it when it was purple, but I don't think that Iv'e seen it after it was restored.
You know Bill, I thought the same thing. The only reason I put it down as a '53 is because on the '86 Leadsled video the car had the yellow Wisconsin personalized plates that read "53FORD". It's hard to tell in the grainy photo I posted. Tough to get nice pics from old video. E
Well the front fenders certainly interchange. Interesting that someone would put '52 fenders on a '53, usually it would be the other way around. Most people consider the '53/'54 fenders and signals far better looking than the '52's.
Phil had a pretty common existence, but possessed much talent. His best buddy Al Abel managed a sizeable salvage yard so I'm guessing that Phil and Al built Phil's ragtop with whatever front clip was in his yard at that time. Wisconsin is the rust belt and things like fenders, head light buckets, aprons, etc. are some of the 1st items to corrode. Al built some beautiful '52-54' ragtop Ford mild customs for himself as well.
This was Al Abel's Ford convertible. He and Phil Iturbide were best friends and this ragtop was built almost side by side with Phil's "Elvis My Way" Ford convertible. Al's lavender ragtop was milder, but more highly detailed with perfect door jams and a highly detailed engine bay, which was rare for that time. Al still is an incredible body man. Phil was an incredible upholsterer so the 2 of them were a dynamic duo. Where is Al's "Sylvester The Cat" convertible now?
Mr. Abel's Ford was beautiful! I don't recall seeing it on any video or in any magazines, but you can bet I'm going to start looking! E
Ok everyone, I've got an update! I finally found the video footage of Phil's convertible and his little Elvis trailer. It was on a video that @PasoJohn sent me of the '88 Leadsled Spectacular in Holland, Michigan with about 30 minutes of footage from the '86 Spectacular (Springfield, Missouri) tacked on. Sorry for the quality of pics, but like I've mentioned many times before, pictures of old video taken on my old TV aren't the best, but I know you guys will enjoy them. Here's a picture of Phil's car where you can see the detail of the taillights. The opening for the two Caddys actually comes to a point, not just an oval opening. Here is Phil's interior at the Spectacular in 1986. Here's some pictures of the interior from Holland, Michigan in '88. This is the trailer. I wonder what Phil carried in there.......... And last but not least is a cool shot of Phil cruising the fairgrounds with trailer in tow. E
I was searching car classifieds online a few days ago checking out customs for sale and dreaming. I came across this Ford shoebox that is currently for sale on Ebay. The car looked very familiar so I started searching. As luck would have it, I had seen the car before, but I haven't been able to find any history on it. Maybe someone will recognize it. This is the car. This picture was taken by our own @KustomLincolnLady and was posted on Rikster's site. I have no idea where or when the picture was taken. Notice the Ohio license plates. Now here's a few pictures I took off of the auction page. Grille bar and surround look identical, but what sealed it for me was the location of the frenched antenna in the driver door. Sadly, according to the auction the car was heavily damaged in a flood and needs restoration. I believe the car is for sale in West Virginia. Sure hope somebody saves it! E https://www.ebay.com/itm/1949-Ford-Other/273849279966?hash=item3fc2b065de:g:yuIAAOSwSqtctjFn&vxp=mtr
I think I know that blue shoebox. it would come to a lot of the shows in the Dayton area in the 80's. He had that car for a long time without any major custom work. My Dad helped inspire him to chop it. The car was always blue and after it was chopped he received a "Best Chop" trophy at a show. He was a real nice guy but I can't remember his name.
ED, you know how to pick the good ones to feature. The shoebox above is Lyle Dykes who won the Koolest interior in Springfield Ohio in 83. With over 1000 cars attending. It is on the cover of the vol 3 no 5 Leadsledder. Mild to Wild is on the lower front fender. The modem for my computer went bad , just replaced it and now we have to figure how to make the scanner jive with the computer. I also have a couple pic`s of Adel`s Ford convertible too if you want me to post them. There is a pic of the interior on page 27 of that issue as well. It said Sew-What shop did the interior. Might have more pic`s of this one as well. Clarence Claytons picture of his Heart and soul seats is on that page too, not sure who did his interior.
Thanks Jim (@stanlow69), I try to keep the thread interesting. You sure know your customs! I have notes on the "Mild to Wild" shoebox but I've never been able to find much information on it until now. This car really needs to be rebuilt and put back on the streets. I might have a few pictures of it from its glory days, but I'll have to do some digging. Does anyone know if Mr. Dykes is still with us? Jim, any information you might have post away. We all dig updates! E
Dadgum....they aren't kidding it was in a flood....dirt even in the speedometer!! Hope it gets rescued!
What Ever Happened To..........? number 169. 1956 Ford "Latest Flame" Owner: Nancy Adolphson Burlington, Iowa For this week's custom, we have a rarity. This is only the second feature car we've covered that was owned by a gal! From what I've read (and you will read too from magazine clippings), Nancy was a hard core custom fan and owner. She bought this car as a stocker and with the help of some friends, turned it into the neat custom you see here. From what I found on video research, Nancy first showed up at the Leadsled Spectacular in 1991 in Hamilton, Ohio. There was great footage of her car both sitting in the show area, and of her cruising the fairgrounds. Here are a few pictures I took with the DVD on pause on my computer. I also saw Nancy and her '56 on the 1992 Spectacular video from Holland, Michigan and in'93 from Springfield, Ohio. Nancy drove the wheels off of her sled! I didn't take any photos of her car on those DVDs as it remained pretty much unchanged, that is with the exception of new personalized Iowa license plates that read "MSLEAD". After '93 I didn't find the car on any later videos. In 1995, Nancy and her Ford were a feature in a KOA Styleline newsletter. On pages 28 and 29 in the January/February 1995 issue, our own @40StudeDude did a nice write up. There was even a great shot of Nancy and the Ford on the cover! The article told the full story of Nancy and her sled and her dedication to the hobby. I went ahead and scanned the cover and the article as it's a great read. I thought you custom faithful would enjoy reading it. You'll notice in the pictures from the '91 Leadsled that the car had white tuck'n'roll. In the article from '95, you can see that Nancy had updated the interior to a button tuck style. The car was constantly evolving! After the 1995 article Nancy and her sled seemed to go into hiding. I didn't find any more write ups, pictures or any other information. I'm hoping that any of you out there that are (or were) big into the custom scene in those days might have more to share. Maybe our own resident custom expert and Iowa resident Jim (@stanlow69) might know more of Nancy and her Ford as she also lived in Iowa. Jim has gone to a lot of custom shows over the years and he seems to have a mental Rolodex of customs he's seen at shows or read about over the years! We'll see! So for now, that's about all I have on one of the rare treasures in the custom car scene--a cool lady with a sweet sled! I hope everyone out there is doing ok. I see that most of the country is having bad weather, what with the tornadoes in the south and midwest. Summer just doesn't seem like it wants to arrive this year. Heck, we had a few inches of snow on the ground this morning here in Denver! What's going on?!? Keep the faith, the warm cruising weather is going to show up soon and stick around a while--at least I hope! See you next week! E
Remember Ed, I`m on the other side of the state. When I take Hway 34 across Iowa , I`m half way to Indy. I always heard that the interior was done at a federal prison in Iowa. Ray Bozart mention something about Nancy a couple years ago, but I can`t seem to recall what he said about her or her car. He was also a member of the Wanderer`s. A very cool car and I`ll post some pic`s when I figure out my scanner problems.
Here are a few pictures of the 49. I don't know where it is but it was cool and remember stopping by as you were building it.
Found her on Facebook. I see she is friends with Myrna Bozarth. She has married and now has a different last name. I also found a link to an old style website for the Chromettes. http://clubs.hemmings.com/chrommettes/index.htm
I thought, .... I know that car from my 1984 Des Moines KKOA show pictures, but now I don't know. Sounds like Nancy built her Vicky from a low mileage stocker. Or did she change this car to make it 'hers' This one was has the same tube grill with 6 bars, but Roger's KOA story implies that Nancy "slipped in the tube grill" But the other things she did are exactly the differences in these cars. "skirt it, add frenched antennas, have the hood louvered, put the spots on" This car looks like it was already lowered in 1984. To change this to Nancy's car, one would switch out the skirts, change wheel covers, remove body color sheath over front of lakepipes along with the things listed in the KOA article. Notice even that the rear seat in my picture looks like what Nancy's car had when she bought it.
Good memory Bill! Could be the same car, but maybe not. There were sooo many '55 and '56 Ford customs built in the 80s and early 90s it's very hard to keep them all straight. This is the type of thing that drives me crazy when I'm searching for information. The thing that I always wonder is, where did all those custom Fords go? You sure don't see many custom 55s and 56s at shows anymore--just a lot of stockers. E
"For this week's custom, we have a first. This is the first feature car that was owned by a gal!" @OG lil E Don't forget W.E.H.T. #70.... Rita Rider's 1956 Buick Century!
Uh oh, looks like I goofed! You're right Sancho, I forgot about Rita's Buick. And I even went back and checked my list of feature cars and I missed it. After doing this thread for so long some of the facts are all starting to run together. I'll go back and correct it. Man, I'm slippin'..........E
Oh my, a boo boo! My goodness you put so much work into this thread. I'm pretty sure everyone will forgive you!! Thanks for all you do OG Lil E!! Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Wow, I have no Idea where this was, not much other detail in the photo to offer clues [emoji15] Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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