History Why spotlights?

not a fan of spots on customs, but my favorite is dummy spots mounted on the hood. I figure if 2 chrome blobs on the hood are good, then 8 or 9 would be even better.

 

So, you were in Olongapo too!!

Ray

 

i still need mine out where i live. its why i didnt remove my ex cop one on the daily drivers!

 

No, not in the mid-'50s. Where I lived in the Midwest, sissy bars didn't appear until the late '60s or early '70s as I recall. In any case, not to my questionable taste.....never had them on my motorcycles later when they were 'in style'........in certain quarters...

Ray

 

Yep. Quite a few trips over the **** river. But the Jeepneys I remember had a lot of br*** horses on their hoods. The photo I posted is of a more modern ride.

 

The were on some of the award winning customs decades ago...for better or for worse..
But how do we explain visors and fuzzy dice?

 

And also a separate HAMB for dumb questions.

 

You guys also need to understand that custom styling was also, at least partially, a regional thing too. That's much less the case now because of the internet. You can follow anybody on IG and be exposed to cars from all over the country or even the world. Obviously years ago it was really just magazines and local shows. This is really no different than hot rods, where the west coast had the chopped highboy look, and the east coast had the unchopped and channeled style.

Making a gross generalization, despite the fact that prevalent west coast builders used spots (and dummy spots) like Barris and Westergard, east coast cars had a tendency to be more busy than a west coast car that was typically cleaner and crisper in styling. Both are cool, but it's a preference of style.

I'd even offer one of my own cars for consideration. Big body Olds 98, nosed, decked, '41 Lincoln push ****ons in the doors, continental kit, frenched antenna, Kustom Kraft Appleton-style dummy spots and lake pipes, lowered with 55 Olds caps, skirts, pinstriping... it's the prototypical east coast mild custom.


Is it everyone's cup of tea? Absolutely not. But is it traditional? You bet it is. I'd venture to say that there were probably a lot more customs like this running around than chopped Mercs and shoeboxes. I'd also say that the point of customizing isn't simply to remove all of the badging, trim or chrome; it's to restyle the car. That restyle may be to remove all the trim, some of it, or maybe add some back.

On a side note, an old timer probably well into his 80s approached me when I had this Olds at the CCR last year. He asked, "Is this your car?", to which I replied that it was. He then said, "If you were a young guy that had this car in 1956 or7, you'd be swimming in *****.", and then he walked off.

Some on this board may not like that busy style of car or spotlights. That's fine. In fact, as this thread and others have made clear is that a lot of people just don't really appreciate customs. That's fine too. But don't act like they all look like ****, and definitely don't think that it's not a proper style. **** is as traditional as hell.

 

Fake ***s are way more worthwhile than fake valve covers and fake side pipes IMHO.
Don’t compare apples and melons.

 

In late '66 my neighbor's dad helped him buy a '63 Plymouth two-door former Highway Patrol cruiser. Only two states, nearby Kansas being one of them, ran two-door MoPar cruisers. It had 2.70 rear end, a healthy 383 with push-****on torqueflite and a spotlight on the left A-pillar. Dark blue, it looked like an unmarked patrol car. We had lots of fun spotlighting carloads of girls at the drive-in restaurants and lighting up friends on the street. One night on freshly completed I-435 loop in south Kansas City we raced a friend in a '60 Oldsmobile 394 from a rolling start and clocked the certified speedometer. Can't remember whether it was a 140- or 160-mph speedo, but I do remember that when we reached max speed the glove compartment flopped open, the top began fluttering and the hood opened to the safety latch all at the same time. Scared the hell out of both of us. I thought my friend was surely suicidal. Irony alert: 20 years later he took his own life, so I guess it was just a matter of timing.