That's Connie standing by the side of the Buick. The guy in the KKOA red shirt is Jim Discher, KKOA Wisconsin state rep. at the Time. Jim Owned and still does own a body shop in Janesville WI. Connie and Jim did all the work on the Buick. Connie is alive and well living in Plainfield WI....
Thanks for the post dodge brother. Nice piece of information. Jim and Connie did an outstanding job on the Buick. It is beautiful! Glad to hear that Mr. Winkler is still with us. E
I did a little snooping around and I wasn't able to find any other pics of Conrad's coupe online. Then I scanned through the '87 Leadsled Spectacular video and found it. There are a few times you can see it sitting in the fairgrounds and cruising around. While sitting, no one was around, and when cruising, it is so chopped that you can't see inside to see who the driver was. From the information posted here so far, you can bet that Connie was driving. E
No pics, but some John Jordan info: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/john-shaggy-dog-jordan-old-kustoms-chicago.79920/
Thanks for the pictures, Rikster! Looks like Connie's coupe has had quite a history. I saw the pictures of it in yellow, but I wasn't sure if it was the same car. Good stuff! E
Sancho, you are the man! I knew there was something about the ol' Shaggy Dog. What a thread! It was started over 10 years ago--does anybody know if John is still with us? Hope so..........E
Around 1977/8 I was in Milwaukee Wi. for a job interview. As I always did when I am out of town, I checked the paper for cars for sale. Connie had an add for the Olds. convertible, a 40 Merc chopped convertible and a chopped ( I think) 50 Mercury. It was a Sunday night and we agreed that if I took a cab to his house he would bring me back to the hotel. I wound up buying the 40 Merc. That's the Mercury next to Connie's 40 in the picture that Sancho posted. It was taken at the 87 Leadsled. It was just a shell when I got it but it did have a real Carson top which blew off while we were towing it to my storage place. I was friends with Connie for a number of years but never knew about the Buick. I will be in Milwaukee next week and will check with some of his other friends to see if they know what happened to it.
Great stories popping up all over the place. Connie really sounds like a serious, long-time custom guy that unfortunately not-too-many people know about. Hardcore sledder for sure! Thanks for the great post buick boy! Please let us know what you find out! E
Thanks for the post, O. Hove. When I started this thread my main objective was to bring to light obscure customs and their owners/builders. I love customs, too. It's always great to see what the big name legends are building, but it has always been encouraging for me to see a "little guy" hammering away in his own backyard or garage and turning out beautiful sleds that any of us would be proud to drive. It just goes to show that if a person keeps at it, eventually your vision will come to be, and you'll be cruising down an open road somewhere with a big grin on your face! E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 9. 1949 Hudson 4 door sedan Owner: Bob Vestring Amelia, Ohio In 2000 I went to my fist KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. After weeks of thrashing before the trip, and a number of other issues (that I've written about here on the HAMB before), we arrived a little late, but at least we made it. We all settled in for our first taste of this show. The line of customs cruising by seemed endless, and everywhere you turned there was something great to look at. My friend Charlie had his trusty video camera propped up on his shoulder for most of the weekend. Saturday afternoon, we strolled over to the Hall of Fame area to see who all was there, and check out the event T-shirts and other swag for sale. Charlie was worn out from lots of video taping, so he decided to leave his video camera back in his Ranchero--big mistake! While we were checking things out, a lot of the legends were seated behind all their respective autograph tables and were getting ready to have a bite to eat. While they were all waiting for the KKOA gals to hand out the hoagie sandwiches, a small group had gathered in a semi-circle to discuss the "important" things in life. George Barris, Bill Hines and Joe Bailon were sitting there, as well as a few guys that I didn't know. They were talking about chopped Mercurys. Mr. Hines was quietly listening not saying much, and the other guys I didn't know were sitting and taking it all in. The biggest discussion was between Mr. Barris and Mr. Bailon. They were talking about the first chopped '49-'51 Mercs built between 1949 to around 1952. George then brought up his brother Sam, and mentioned how Sam always really liked the chopped look of the Hudson stepdown body style introduced in '48. He just didn't care for the style of the rear of the roof on the coupes, or the sloped down style of the two door sedan--"the quarter windows were too long, and chopping it would make it worse". Also, he would never chop a four door for himself. George then mentioned how once the '49 Merc coupes came out, Sam was always talking about buying one and chopping it to have a similar look of the Hudson. Well, we all know that it didn't take Sam long to get himself a Merc and chop it, and the rest, as they say, "is history". It was interesting to hear George mention how the Hudson was Sam's inspiration for the chopped Mercurys that we all love so much today. When me and Charlie walked away, we were talking about their discussion. I remember Charlie saying ".....can you believe the conversation we were just lucky enough to over hear? And my dumb-ass left the video camera back in the truck.........." Bob Vestring built a very cool Hudson. Even though a lot of people don't like four doors, to me, a Hudson four door sled is one of my favorites. On the early videos, there weren't very many Hudson customs, so they were rare anyway, two doors or fours. Bob's car was sneaky subtle, with very minimal work done to it. A car like his would be easy to build nowadays, the hardest part being finding a nice Hud to start with. About all that was done was to shave the door handles, french an antenna and french the headlights using '52-'53 Mercury rings. A custom made grille surround was molded, and it used a '53 or '54 Chevy grille bar without the parking light assemblies and had nine '54 Chevy teeth. It was lowered a bunch, and then painted a maroon color that almost looked stock. The main way I could always tell Bob's Hudson from the other few around at the time was a front license plate that had "Hudson" on it, and his use of rear window blinds that the bomb guys all love so much these days. I was only able to find one picture of it (courtesy of Rikster's site and the Scott Pavey Collection) and it's a rear shot. In that picture, you can see the nice choice Bob made of putting the taillights in the rear bumper guards. Great modification that really cleaned up the rear of the car, and is another subtle custom touch that this car pulled off so well. Bob was interviewed at the '83 Spectacular, and he told of how he bought it in '73, and eventually converted it to a Buick drivetrain with power brakes, added air conditioning and cruised it all over. And cruise it all over he did. According to my video research, he was at the Leadsled every year from '82-'87, save for '84 which I don't have a video for, so he may have been there, too. His car never appears in any of the videos after '87. I looked through my magazines, and I couldn't find mention of it in any car show coverage, and I found no magazine feature of it. That one picture is all I could find. So guys, here we are again at a dead end. Another neat kustom and owner that were very active in the car show scene and then they just vanished. Seems like we're getting a lot of these lately, huh? 'Til next time..........E
"Mr. Hines was quietly listening not saying much,... The biggest discussion was between Mr. Barris and Mr. Bailon... When me and Charlie walked away,... I remember Charlie saying '.can you believe the conversation we were just lucky enough to over hear?' Heavy shit, dude.
Funny, Og Lil E, that comment made me click over to Craigslist, and what did I find . . . a four door Hudson that I know all too well. This one is right over in your part of Metro, too! It belongs to a good friend who used to belong to my club up in Wyoming, and he moved to Denver about the same time I did. It's a stunningly perfect original, but for a carburetor upgrade. As much as I love customs, it might be a shame to mess with this one. http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/5587858615.html This one, on the other hand, begs to be customized! http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/5574985195.html
Man, talk about both sides of the spectrum! Starting from scratch or daring to take the grinder to a spendy, cherry car. Sure makes a guy miss the days when you could buy a car for a reasonable amount, and customize it as you cruised it around town. Ah, the good old ol'days! E
From Kustomrama: In 1983 Bob's Hudson was featured in Hot Rod May 1983. This version was painted Maroon, and it featured frenched headlights, a 1954 Chevrolet grille and a 430 Buick engine.
Sancho, you've done it again! Thanks for posting another picture. Now we can all see the clean front end of Bob's Hudson. When I first saw the picture I had to do a double take. The Hudson looks so big next to the chopped Merc I thought maybe the Mercury was a customized Volvo "mini Merc". Must be the camera angle. E
What Ever Happened To..........? number 10. 1953 Ford Owner: George Desomma Warrick, Rhode Island While I have been researching cars for this thread, it never ceases to amaze me how many quality cars were built a few decades back that never got the recognition they deserved, and then it seemed like they just dropped off the edge of the earth. This week's car is one of those. It took quite a bit of searching to get the little bit of information that I was able to find, but this is truly one car that should have been in a magazine feature. For some reason the owner's name, George Desomma sounds familiar to me, but for the life of me, I couldn't find much information. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. George was interviewed at the 1983 Leadsled Spectacular. His car was an awesome looking '53 Ford coupe that was chopped 4 inches with a '50 Mercury back window, had shaved door handles, pancaked hood with 140 louvers punched in it, molded '55 Pontiac bumpers and a Desoto grille. In the rear, a frenched in rear plate and '56 Olds taillights were installed. It had a unique scoop treatment on the rear quarter panels that really sets it apart from other cars, as well as not having fender skirts. Something else that was different for the time (1983) was the use of spider caps and inner trim rings. This was something that not many people were running around that time--especially on a custom. In the interview, George gave a complete rundown on the car's modifications, including the power plant that was a 312 with tri-power and a three-on-the-tree. At that show, the car was in flat black primer, so George also laid out his future plans for his sled. Those plans included two-tone yellow and white interior with a bright yellow paint job on the outside. Well, he pulled off what he wanted to do. At the 1985 Leadsled, his car is seen rolling through the gates, and it was yellow. Great color choice that really made an outstanding car jump out even more. Unfortunately, that is the only time the car is seen on the whole video. I searched my videos up to '93 and I didn't see it in any more of them. So, according to my score sheet, George mentioned he was at the '82 Leadsled, he was interviewed at the '83 show and his car can be seen in the first few minutes of the '85 video and that's it. I even checked the few Sled Scene East videos I have and nothing. The only other place I found the car was in the second KKOA Commemorative Book printed in 2003 (thanks again stanlow69). His car is pictured on page 74. It doesn't say when the picture was taken, but it looks like it was an old photo from a long time ago. Pictures of it were pretty scarce as well, but thanks to Rikster's site (as always) and the Scott Pavey Collection, I did manage to find two pictures of it in yellow. Couldn't find any pictures of it in primer. So, that's what I have on this one. Again, George's name sounds very familiar to me, so I may have read about his car in a Kustoms Illustrated or another modern custom magazine, but darn if I could find anything. So, I'm leaving it up to you guys, what do you know? Until next week, stay kool..........E
I contacted a friend about Connie's Buick and he gave me his phone number. Really glad I was able to speak to him and we were able to bring each other up to date. Unfortunately the story on the Buick was not good. Connie said that he traded the Buick to a guy for a fairly new Harley Sportster which was stolen a week after he got it. Unfortunately the bike had not been insured. Connie has no idea what happened to the car after he made the trade. So almost back to where we started. As an aside. Connie said that his son had been living in California where he had been doing a lot of pin striping both in California and Vagas for a number of famous people and cars. All the painting, striping and scallops we see on the various pictures of Connie's 39 were done by his son.
Thanks for the info buick boy. Sorry to hear about Connie's bad luck and what happened to the Buick, but glad to hear he is doing well. Also good to hear that his son is doing well in the automotive "art" business. E
How can you forget that east coast accent. Another cool car from the past. I read in another thread that the Red 55 Pontiac(Party Doll) was usually parked next to Georges car. I believe they were related somehow. It is in the background of the pic`s that I have of Georges car.
I first met Ed (OG LIL E) in 2000 at the Leadsleds in Wichita Kansas,its good to see this thread continue. I have video of the Candy Green 57 Chevy that Roger has spoke about. I saw it at the KKOA Last Pass in 1986. I have aprox. 30 seconds of the car. This was the 2nd year the KKOA had the Last Pass in DesMoines Iowa.
I too met Connie Winkler in 1992 at the Back to the 50's show in St Paul Minnesota. I knew of his cars from magazines,especially the Yellow Mercury. We talked about customs and the 50's that day and I was so excited to show him my current and finished Custom,my 58 Plymouth Convertible. He asked me if I wanted to sell it,I said no as it was just finished with New Paint and a new top,I need to enjoy for a few years before I could even think about a number for it. I still own my 58 Plymouth today just over 26 years. The fins are 57 Desoto and were welded to the body by Ernie Baker who passed away this Spring
Member KUSTOMKRESTLINE may have owned it. Hard to tell from the small avatar shot, and he hasn't been on here since August 2011. This was his avatar: His description of it: "its got a chevy 350 a buick 400 trans out of a truck or something chopped 3 inches i cant really explain the grille opening ill post pics sometime 56 oldsmobile 98 taillights shaved everything camaro front subframe ford 9 inch rear '50 mercury back window" If this is indeed the same car, the bumpers/headlights/hood got changed at some point and he put a different grill in it: A lot of differences but some big similarities. The grill surround looks similar. I wish the avatar photo was large enough to see the rear quarter scoops. How many of these can there be with '50 Merc rear glass, '56 Olds 98 taillights, and that grill surround!?!
Oops, forgot the thread links: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/so-im-supposed-to-make-this-thread.51760/ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/53-ford-progress-new-grille.74958/
Thanks for the posts Sancho. You can really dig up some information. Hard to say if that's the same car. I hope that the front end got changed because the car was wrecked, and not just for the sake of change. The front end George had on it was perfection. I see that George's son posted in 2009 with a picture of George's car on one of the threads you attached. Maybe at that time the car was still in the family. The flat black car's owner posted in 2005, so maybe this shows they are two different cars. I read through the links you posted and it made me cringe a little. The owner of the flat black car talked about the grille opening being, and I quote, "actually kinda ugly", and he mentions wanting to purchase Radirs for it. If it is the same car, good to see it still exists, but it's a shame the direction it was heading in. It really should have been "restored" back to the way George built it.........E
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