New York City

The 1956 Volante of Brooklyn, New York City, New York. The car was built by Enzo Volante, a race car driver hobbyist. Built from a 1941 Hudson Super Six, he started the build in 1949 and completed it in 1956.

Paul Wood's 1949 Mercury Coupe of Richmond Hill, New York. Restyled around 1958, Woody’s Merc was built in the street in, in front of his girlfriend's house. Woody had acetylene and oxygen tanks in the trunk of the car that he would roll out whenever he was working on the car.

Doug Maloney's 1932 Ford 5-Window Coupe of New York City, New York. Doug lived in the Glendale neighbourhood and he was working on the car in the early 1960s. Photo from The Ken Bausert Collection

Billy Stein's 1950 Mercury Four-Door of New York City, New York. Billy lived in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood in Queens, and he got the Mercury on the road around 1961. Photo from The Ken Bausert Collection.

Ken O'Neil's 1949 Chevrolet Fleetline of New York City, New York. Restyled around 1961, Ken lived in the Richmond Hill neigbourhood in Queens. Photo from The Ken Bausert Photo Collection.

Herb Passburger's 1950 Mercury of New York City, New York. Herb lived in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn, and his Mercury was restyled around 1962.

Ken Bausert's 1950 Mercury Convertible

A photo of Paul "Woody" Wood and Sal Consiglio in front of Woody’s 1953 Ford. “Back in the day, Woody had no garage and often worked on the car in the street. This was shot on 116th Street, just north of Liberty Avenue, in Richmond Hill, around 1961,” Ken Bausert told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama. Photo from The Ken Bausert Collection.

John Consiglio in a 1934 Ford coupe project. The work was started by one of the guys at the 116th Street garages in Richmond Hill. He was in the process of chopping the top, but the car was just a body shell and needed a ton of work, so the fellow decided to get rid of it. He was going to tow it to a junkyard when Sal Consiglio, John Consiglio and Ken Bausert chipped in $5 apiece and bought the thing for $15. "After that, we didn't know where we were going to store it and what we were going to do with it so, in a week or so, we wound up towing it to the junkyard," Ken told Kustomrama in 2017. Ken believes this photo was taken in the autumn of 1961. Photo from The Ken Bausert Photo Collection.

Sal Consiglio's 1955 Ford of New York City, New York. Sal lived in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood. He was a member of the 1320 Crusaders car club, and his Ford was restyled in 1962. The build was sold before it was completed.

A business card from Richmond Hill Auto Parts Company, or Cheap Mike's Wrecking Yard, as Ken Bausert and his buddies called it. This was where the kids from Richmond Hill bought parts for their cars in the 1950s and the 1960s, such as the Oldsmobile grille Ken ran in his Mercury. Photo from The Ken Bausert Collection.

Richie Daus’ 1954 Buick Convertible of New York City, New York. Richie restyled the car in 1962, at the time he lived on Hillside Avenue, off Sutphin Blvd in Jamaica, Queens.

Eddie Buckston’s 1960 Chevrolet Impala of New York City, New York. Eddie lived in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood, and his mildly restyled Impala had been fitted with 1962 Pontiac Bonneville taillights.