Thanks for the pics, Jim. Photos of it are scarce. I'm yet to see it from the rear. The plates are from Minnesota. E Thanks for the information, Mark. The car is definitely different, but that's what I like about it. Now we know John was from Minnesota. Do you recall what town? Do you have any pictures of the Buick? E
Wow, another pic. This time in black. Nice to see you guys posting up some pictures. Thanks @LOST ANGEL. E
I'm guessing Lost Angel's photo is fairly recent. It may still be around..... There sure seemed to be a lot more yellow kustoms back then.
Looks to me a very late 90's-early 2000's Ford Ranger "patrol" vehicle in the background, so the pic has to be within last 15 years... Can anyone read the lettering on the building in the background? I can't quite make it out, zoomed on my regular size monitor. If so, someone may be able to figure out what event this was and contact the event organizer to see if they have the record of entrant #251 to learn who the owner was/is. If they started with #1, it's at least a 250+ car attendance, making it more than a small get together.
I know we've kicked around the subject of yellow customs before. I agree, there were a lot of yellow sleds running around back then. I wonder why we don't see much yellow these days? E Good eyes @Hot Rods Ta Hell. I blew up the picture as far as I could but I couldn't make out the name on the building. Once I blew up the picture I was really able to notice that the front pan on the car looks like it has had a hard life. It has smacked a parking block or curb more than a few times. Jim (@stanlow69) mentioned marks from hitting something in one of the pictures he posted. It looks like the black version sits higher than when it was yellow, but even sitting higher the low pan hitting things is still a problem after all these years. E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 62. 1951 Ford Victoria Owner: Larry Booth Coralville, Iowa This week's W.E.H.T. is a car that I've wanted to feature since this thread started. Finding information on it was difficult, but with some help I managed to gather enough information on it to post it up. A big thank you goes out to Jim Stanley (a.k.a. @stanlow69) for sending me the pictures I'm going to post this week! These pictures are originals that he took himself at the shows. Literally months of internet searching turned up no pictures of this super custom. Larry Booth was a regular participant in the KKOA for many years. His black Ford hardtop was seen in many videos during the early days of the KKOA. In my research I saw the car on the '83 Leadsled Spectacular video in Springfield, Ohio, the '84 Leadsled in Des Moines, the '86 Spectacular in Springfield, Missouri and '87 in Springfield, Illinois. Larry might have been at the '85 Spectacular, but there must have been four or five Ford shoebox hardtops at the show that year that were dark colors. I never could get a good look at them to see if any were Larry's. Larry's car was a razor straight black with mild customizing. It was shaved and lowered, and the headlights were frenched. It had frenched in '59 Cadillac taillights and a frenched antenna on the right rear quarter panel. It had a '54 Chevy grille with 13 teeth. On my first sighting of the car on the '83 video, it had some very mild pinstriping in red. There were some subtle cobwebs on the roof between the side and rear window. At that time, the Iowa license plates read "WIDOW 1". It pretty much looked the same all through the different years it was on video. The car must have went through some minor changes later on as the pinstriping was re-done as shown in the pictures I'm going to post. If you look closely at the picture of the trunk lid, you can make out M.K. John's signature. The newer pinstriping was pretty wild compared to the first version. You'll also notice that the plates were changed and read "51 Ford". Larry was a proud member of the Wanderers Car Club that had a large membership throughout the Midwest at the time. There were some very famous customs that ran in that bunch including Daryl and Deb Lewis' awesome '60 Impala, as well as one of my favorite cars, the incredible Bozarth '51 Buick, just to mention a few. The club was very active, and through my research in talking to a lot of the custom guys that were around the scene back in the 80s, the Wanderers threw quite a few shows and hosted many events. After the 80s, Larry's car seemed to fade away like so many do. I'm hoping that more information on Larry and his car gets posted. Hard to believe a guy so dedicated could just walk away from customs. See you next week! E
All I can say is Jim must have some really sore fingers from pulling all those staples he's had all these great pictures put up with. Are you putting them back up after you scan them Jim?
@drdave, remember--I do upholstery. Some of the pic`s I post are of my dads collection(about a 1000) which have already been removed when he moved to a different house about 5 years ago. You would think my walls would be getting bare by now. But, I have lots, lots more pic`s to go. My dad still has his 51 Vicky he had in the 80`s. My Special Angel. Most of the pic`s of Larry`s car are pic`s he took. I`ll post a pic of Larry working on his car as it appeared in KKOA`s newsletter later. I need to start putting the pic`s back up on the walls. But there`s a car show this weekend in Des Moines I`m planning on attending. It`s put on by the club that Gary Pullen belongs that owned the 56 Olds hardtop with the continental kit featured earlier. I`ve never been to the show and always wanted to go.
I don't know how you find out all the information you do Sancho. It really is amazing. As always, thanks for the input! Sorry to hear that Larry has passed on. Rest in peace Mr. Booth..........E I was going to bring up the fact that Jim does upholstery. The guy that did the tuck'n'roll in my Buick wasn't a big, muscular guy, but he had a handshake that could put you on your knees. I saw him win many a bet for a cold one putting really big guys down on at least one knee shaking hands. Eventually word got around not to bet against him as his hands were strong like a vice. He said it was all those years doing upholstery. E Sounds like fun. I know you'll take some pics, right? E
Here are a couple scans from the KKOA publication from 83 and 84. I always wanted to go to the Wanderer `s show in Coralville, but it was held on the same day as our local show. Now on our 41 Annual this year. The first scan looks like it was taken in the 50`s but it was in the 80`s. The headliner of his car also had a cobweb design in it. I always wanted to do the same to my car. It did happen but I was very limited on time and I need to redo it. I remember dad talking to him more than once. He loved showing off his car and explained about the lettering on the trunk. A very straight forward guy. I haven`t seen the car since the early 90`s.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 63. 1950 Ford "Purple Haze" Owner: Bob Hoffman St. Paul, Minnesota You regular followers of this thread will notice a trend here. The car I featured last week as well as tonight's car are both cars I've wanted to feature for quite some time, but information on them has been hard to find--especially pictures. So, I've been contacting friends that are either custom experts, or guys that were there and remember these cars as well as having photos from their own personal collections. I appreciate the input and all the help to keep this thread rolling along. A big thank you goes out to John Tretten (a.k.a. @PasoJohn) for sending me the picture I'm going to post this week, as well as a lot of the information I'll share here! This picture is an original that he took himself. Literally months of internet searching turned up no pictures of this super custom. Bob Hoffman was a regular participant in the KKOA through the early 80s. His '50 Ford business coupe was on the '83 Leadsled Spectacular video in Springfield, Ohio and the '84 Leadsled video in Des Moines. These were the only videos I saw his car on. Bob was interviewed at the '84 Leadsled and he gave a quick run down on the car. He mentioned that his hood blew open on the way to the '83 event. He got a new hood and had it louvered and painted and put it back on the car for '84, as it was all back together for that interview. You can see him cruising the fairgrounds in the '83 video and he was hood less. I wonder if he just took off the hood and threw it on the side of the road and kept on going. I'm sure that would have been an interesting story. The little business coupe had some interesting mods, the most unique being the front rolled pan with louvers in it. The thing that really stood out was the light lavender the car was painted. It was a unique choice in those days as there weren't many cars that color. In talking to John about Bob's car (or Bobby, as John said many people called him), John mentioned that Bob first completed the car when he was only 15 in the late 70s or early 80s. Bob kept changing and making additions to it all through the 80s. Sadly, Bob passed away sometime in the late 80s at a very young age. Bob's Dad, Carl, was a big custom guy at the same time as Bob, but nobody I talked to seems to remember if Mr. Hoffman kept the car or sold it or what ever became of it. If it's still around and pretty much unchanged, it would be very recognizable with Bob's unique custom touches. I hate to end this week's entry on such a sad note, but such is life. A little on the curb tonight in honor of the late "Bobby" Hoffman. Gone but not forgotten.......... Until next week, you all take care out there! E
It`s me again. The first pic I have of the car is from the Des Moines KKOA show called Last Pass taken in about 85 or 86. That's Dads Vic sitting next to Bobs. The next photo was taken in the early to mid 90`s by my dad in Malvern Iowa which is located in southwest Iowa. By then it had new owners. I think it had Nebraska plates on it but I could be wrong. I have not seen the car since. Did Bob have a 59 Ford after he sold his car, I think I remember him by one at a later KKOA event, or was it his dads.
Great pics, Jim! I still don't know all the details of Bob and the shoebox. The picture John sent me was taken at Back to the 50s in 1986, and you can see a "For Sale" sign on the windshield, so maybe it was sold and he got another car before he passed. Carl had an incredible '55 or '56 Ford that I want to feature in an upcoming W.E.H.T thread as soon as I can collect more information and pictures. I'll call John and see if he can remember any more information on Bob and any other cars he may have had. E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 64. 1950 Merc "Later" Owners: Dave Purdy and J.R. Orme Clio, Michigan Dave and J.R. built this Merc as a joint effort. Information on it was hard to find, but in all the information I found on it both guys were mentioned. I don't know how they handled the joint ownership of it, but it was a partnership that seemed to work. They took the car to the '85 Leadsled in Springfield, Ohio where it won the "Koolest Paint" award. It was yellow with scallops. (Here we go again with the yellow. Something about the 80s and yellow, huh guys?) The car featured a 5 tooth '55 Desoto grille, 144 louvers in the hood, shortened side trim, frenched headlights and a nice chop. It also had twin frenched antennas and sunken '53 Buick taillights. The custom feature that sets this car apart from so many other Mercurys is the fact that it had molded bumpers. Not many guys did this back then. This car looked a lot like Dave Polney's Merc from California that attended the Leadsled Spectaculars later in the 80s and through the early 90s. You'll notice in the first picture of the car I'm posting that it has bubble skirts and four bar flippers. This is from the first KKOA book. (Sorry about the bad scan--sometimes it's hard to scan pages in a book.) In the second picture I'm posting you'll notice it has factory style skirts as well as chrome smoothies. I don't know which version was first, but the skirts and wheels were changed somewhere along the line. As far as my research goes, the only place I could find the car in print was in the 1st KKOA book on page 145 (as mentioned above). On video, I only found the car at the '85 Leadsled. It may have been there other years, but I couldn't find it. I only found the single picture of it on Rikster's site from the Scott Pavey collection, and unfortunately I couldn't find any rear shots of the car. Another elusive car this week that really seemed to go away fast. But, if it's like most Mercs, it has been sold and re-done in a new style, or it's sitting somewhere patiently waiting to hit the streets again.......... 'Til next time, see you around! E
Here is a pic of the car taken in Michigan at a KKOA show in about `89 or ` 90. With flippers and bubble skirts. I`m guessing this version came after the skirts and chrome reverse wheels with caps. I didn`t take a pic of the rear of the car, but I took a pic of their matching trailer.
The car appears to have been repainted in addition to the above mentions changes. Look at the scallops. In Scott Pavey's pic, the "outside" C scallop has a little point that comes up to the front wheel opening. It also goes all the way to the back underneath the side trim. Stanlow's pic has it terminating near the back of the door. Even the headlight scallops appear to be slightly different. It's like someone like the first paint job so much, they closely replicated it when they made their own changes to the car. Reminds me of an earlier W.E.H.T., Lyn Finlayson's SLIK 50 Ford. Repainted by the next owner, to near the same thing.
I watched some more of the '85 Leadsled this evening and there was a good bit of video that Rowdie (@49toad) shot of the car. The car had the flippers and the bubble skirts. The skirts were really awesome. Looked like Jimmy Jones skirts to me. Who knows, since Dave and J.R. were from Michigan they might have been. They also had the same little trailer hooked to the car with a really bored looking kid sitting on the side of it. The car also had "Later" lettered on the passenger side of it in what looks to be gold leaf. The lettering is only on the car in the video, it isn't on the car in any of the pictures, but the only pictures posted are of the driver's side. Maybe they only put it on the passenger side and not the driver's side. Sure is a sweet Merc..........E
Good eye, @54delray. I looked at the pictures closer after your post, and the scallops are very similar, but they are slightly different, so I'd say the car had to be repainted. I think the chrome smoothie and stock style skirts was the second or "later" version (lol). E
I saw their Merc several times. Sorry the photos do not show the entire car. I always tried to get several cars in each picture. '85 Leadsled - Ohio '86 Mid Century Mercury - Kenosha '88 Leadsled - Holland, MI. '88 Leadsled - Holland, MI.
Great pics @BrewtownPrez. Thanks for posting! At last, a rear shot of the Merc. I can't recall ever seeing a Mercury with molded bumpers with the taillights sunk into them. Most were set further up in the quarters. Both ways look cool. You can also see that "Later" was lettered on both sides at one time. E
In all the "Slimr" Merc pics, I've never seen the James Dean spun disc wheelcovers. Show only? Or run 'em down the road?
Dave Purdy owns the "Slimer" Merc..... (see page 22) Sorry to be so late, was on the road to/from Santa Maria. I have not been able to come up with anything on Bob's Ford or the "Later" Merc.
I was wondering where you were at, Sancho. Thanks for the fill in information. I completely forgot that Dave Purdy owned (owns) the "Slimer" Merc. So back in the old KKOA days when "Later" and "Slimer" were at shows together I'd assume that Dave drove one and J.R. drove the other. Man what a cool option that would be....."Which Merc do you want to drive to the show today? I don't care, you decide......." Man some guys got in made, huh? By the way Sancho, I saw your pics from Santa Maria and they were killer. You still going to the Spectacular? E
Wish I lived closer, I might as well be halfway across the world. I'd love to go. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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