Custom Cars

In the spring of 1940 a leftover crew from Howard Darrin established the Coachcraft Ltd. custom body shop in Melrose, Los Angeles.

Tommy Jamieson's 1936 Ford 5-Window Coupe was restyled by Howard Fall in 1940.

Norm Milne's 1938 Ford convertible sedan of Sacramento, California. About 1940 Norm drove the Ford to Los Angeles to have Carson Top Shop chop the top and make a padded top. The rest of the car was restyled by Harry Westergard.

Alex Xydias' 1934 Ford Cabriolet of Hollywood, California was restyled in 1941.

George Barris' 1936 Ford Coupe of Roseville, California. This was George's first real custom. He bought the car from money he had earned while doing some odd jobs for Harry Westergard at Brown's Body Shop. George worked at the car between the staggering amount of school work, and working with Westergard. The build was completed in 1941.

Neil Emory's 1937 Dodge Convertible of Burbank, California, was started in 1940 and completed in 1941. Built in his shop class at Burbank High, Neil kept the car for a couple of years before selling it in 1943.

Joe Stone's 1938 Ford Convertible Sedan of Downey, California. The car was mildly restyled sometime between 1938 and 1941, and it was dressed up with fenderskirts and Flipper hubcaps.

Richard Meade's 1938 Buick was restyled in 1941, featuring fadeaway fenders.

Ed Park's 1936 Ford Convertible of Marshall, Missouri. Ed's '36 was originally restyled by Red Swanson of Portland, Oregon in 1944. R.I. Steere of Tacoma, Washington continued restyling it in the early 1950s. Ed bought the car in 1959. After buying it, he parked it in his parent's chicken house until 1977. In 1977 he started a restoration that he completed in 1983. Since then the car has gone through a couple of iterations. Ed still owned the car in 2020. He had thousands of miles on the car since the restoration, and he was still working on it.

Ray Russell's Gadabout of Detroit, Michigan. Built largely from aluminum and magnesium, Russell believed his car had post was possibilities. The build was completed in 1944.

Frank Sandoval's 1936 Ford 3-Window Coupe of Wilmington, California was restyled in the 1940s. Frank bought the car after he returned from Army service around 1946 - 1947.

A radically restyled custom photographed at a used car lot located at 4875 El Cajon Blvd. in San Diego, California. Running 1947 license plates, the car seems to have started out as a 1940 Mercury Convertible. Modifications include a sectioned body, removed running boards, a chopped and padded top, a custom made grille and front end, molded body seams, fenderskirts, blackwall tires, and flipper hubcaps. Please get in touch with us if you have more info or photos to share of this mystery custom. Photo from The Robert Genat Photo Collection.

Charlie Grantham's 1935 Ford Pick Up of San Bernardino, California. Charlie was a member of the SCTA Road Runner car club, and he restyled the truck himself in the late 1940s and the early 1950s. This photo shows the truck as it appeared in 1948.

Bruce Brown's 1936 Ford of San Mateo, California. Bruce's Ford was restyled in the 1940s, sometime prior to 1948.

Robert Fulton's 1936 Ford sedan convertible of Hollywood, California. Robert owned the car from 1947 to around 1949.

The custom car culture emerged in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s, as car enthusiasts began to modify their automobiles for performance and aesthetic purposes. The movement has since grown into a global phenomenon with the rise of various automotive subcultures.

1 The History of the Custom Car
2 Westergard Customs
3 Custom Cars of the 1940s
4 Custom Cars of the Early 1950s
5 Customizing vs Restyling
6 West Coast Restyling of the Early 1950s
7 Deck Out
8 The Golden Era of the 1950s
9 Lowrider and Kustom Kulture of the 1960s and the 1970s
10 Modern Custom Cars
11 Custom Cars of the 1940s
12 Custom Trucks of the 1940s
13 Sport Customs of the 1940s
14 References

The History of the Custom Car

For more than 100 years, the desire for individuality has been a motivation for customizing cars. The traditional custom car as we know it has been defined as an outgrowth of hot rodding, and many consider Northern California as the cradle of the custom car culture. Harry Westergard is a pioneer and a legend in the custom car field, and he is often recognized as the originator of the taildragger look. Today the term "Westergard Custom" is widely used all over the world. A great recognition to Harry and his tastefully restyled custom cars.^[1]

Westergard Customs

Harry Williams Westergard was born on January 9, 1916, in Detroit, Michigan. In the late twenties or early thirties, he moved from Michigan to Sacramento. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 had a sudden impact on the roaring twenties, and during the 1930s, it wasn’t common for a teenager to have his own car. Desperation is often the primary source of creativity, and California youngsters began to dress up their cheap Fords, Dodges, and Buicks to make them look like Cadillacs. Harry began restyling cars in the late 1930s, and as the depression drew to an end, customizing was all about smoothing, cleaning, and sharpening the stock lines of an automobile. Westergard did not have a shop back then, so he worked out of an old chicken coop at his home. Harry was known as a man that cared about other people. A local kid named George Barris used to hang out at the shop where Westergard worked. Westergard became George’s mentor, and the young kid was eventually put to work at the shop.^[1]

Custom Cars of the 1940s

The custom car scene boomed in the post-World War II era when American soldiers returned home with a newfound appreciation for European sports cars and their sleek designs.^[2] The booming economy of the period also provided consumers with disposable income to invest in personalizing their vehicles. Early customizers like George and Sam Barris gained recognition for their pioneering work, modifying cars to enhance their performance and visual appeal.^[3]

Custom Cars of the Early 1950s

According to Portland, Oregon hot rodder, historian and author Albert Drake, a revolution occurred in terms of styling and customizing in the late 1940s and the early 1950s. "Every Detroit car had outgrown what was a pre-war body shape, and the new cars were longer, lower, sleeker. Therefore, many people wanted to make their older cars look more modern, or at least a bit nicer." In 1982 Drake wrote an excerpt about the roots of hot rodding where he pointed out that; "Today we look back at pre-1949 cars with a wistful eye but at the time they seemed drab; high and boxy, with plain interiors, and painted a few standard colors (usually black, dark blue, or grey). It didn't, however, take much to make them more interesting: lowering blocks or shackles, fender skirts, dual exhausts with chrome 'echo cans,' deluxe seat covers and a metallic paint job would cause the guy beside you at the light to sit up and take notice."^[4]

Customizing vs Restyling

In 1951, Trend Book 101 Custom Cars was published by Trend, Inc as a result of the growing interest in customized cars. The introduction in the book stated early that restyling and customizing are two things that, like the arts, are better left for the masters. The book defined a custom job as a job that had been custom-built, from the ground up as it were and to order. A restyled job was defined as a stock auto that had been altered somewhat from the original design. Therefore, if you were going to customize a car you would practically start from scratch ending up with a hand-built, totally different creation. If you were to restyle a car, you would change the outside appearance, without evolving a drastically-modified car. The terms were often misused, and in order to explain where the restyled car leaves off and a custom job begins, the following definition was explained in the book: "A restyled car can include any or all of the following modifications without actually being a custom job: a bull-nose, a deck job, fadeaways, a new grille, and/or new bumpers. When it gets to chopped tops and channeling, the car would more properly be termed a custom job." With these two terms defined, the purpose of the book was to show readers the latest trends of customized and restyled cars from coast to coast.^[5]

West Coast Restyling of the Early 1950s

Common and favored restyling-features on many West Coast custom jobs in the early 1950s included body modifications such as nosing and decking, license plate set on bumper, tail lights set in bumper guards, dual spotlights and fender skirts.

Deck Out

In the early 1950s, "Deck Out" was a term for restyling a car by adding extra ornamentation such as metal sun visors, chrome exhaust stacks, port holes, extra lights forward and aft, fender flaps, extra radio aerials, bumper guards and more accessories you could buy from your local accessory shop. In the other end were motorists that believed in restyling by smoothing off their cars. This process span from simple modifications such as removal of ornamentation, dechroming and sealing of the car to give a port less, louver-less, one-piece look to chopping the top or channeling the body over the frame.^[5]

The Golden Era of the 1950s

During the 1950s, the custom car movement gained momentum, with magazines like Rod & Custom and Car Craft showcasing the innovative work of customizers.^[6] The era also saw the rise of hot rods and drag racing, further cementing the custom car culture.

Lowrider and Kustom Kulture of the 1960s and the 1970s

The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the rise of new automotive subcultures, such as lowriders and Kustom Kulture. Lowriders originated in the Chicano community in Southern California, where cars were modified with hydraulic suspension systems for a distinctive "low and slow" look.^[7] Meanwhile, Kustom Kulture emerged from a fusion of custom cars, hot rods, and motorcycle influences, with artists like Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Von Dutch creating unique artwork and pinstriping designs.^[8]

Modern Custom Cars

The custom car culture has continued to evolve, incorporating new styles and techniques. The new millennium saw a resurgence of interest in classic customs and hot rods.

Custom Cars of the 1940s

Custom Trucks of the 1940s

Charlie Grantham's 1935 Ford Pick Up

Sport Customs of the 1940s

Norman Timbs' Buick Special
The Rotzell 46
Robert McClure's Custom
George McLaughlin's Roadster

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Sondre Kvipt
↑ Severson, Aaron. "The American Custom Car." Ate Up With Motor, 11 Mar. 2012, www.ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/custom-cars/.
↑ Ganahl, Pat. "George Barris: King of the Kustomizers." Rod & Custom Magazine, 1 Feb. 2011, www.hotrod.com/articles/george-barris-king-of-the-kustomizers/.
↑ Reflections in a Spinner Hubcap
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 Trend Book 101 Custom Cars
↑ Batchelor, Dean. "The Birth of Hot Rodding." In The American Hot Rod, Motorbooks, 2002.
↑ Reighard, Heidi. "Lowrider: A History of Custom Cars and the Lowrider Movement." Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 39, no. 4, Aug. 2006, pp. 585-601.
↑ Witzel, Michael Karl. "Kustom Kulture: Von Dutch, Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, Robert Williams and Others." In The American Custom Car, Motorbooks, 2001.

[sk-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Sondre Kvipt

[2] Severson, Aaron. "The American Custom Car." Ate Up With Motor, 11 Mar. 2012, www.ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/custom-cars/.

[3] Ganahl, Pat. "George Barris: King of the Kustomizers." Rod & Custom Magazine, 1 Feb. 2011, www.hotrod.com/articles/george-barris-king-of-the-kustomizers/.

[4] Reflections in a Spinner Hubcap

[tb101-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Trend Book 101 Custom Cars

[6] Batchelor, Dean. "The Birth of Hot Rodding." In The American Hot Rod, Motorbooks, 2002.

[7] Reighard, Heidi. "Lowrider: A History of Custom Cars and the Lowrider Movement." Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 39, no. 4, Aug. 2006, pp. 585-601.

[8] Witzel, Michael Karl. "Kustom Kulture: Von Dutch, Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, Robert Williams and Others." In The American Custom Car, Motorbooks, 2001.

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Custom Cars

Contents

The History of the Custom Car

Westergard Customs

Custom Cars of the 1940s

Custom Cars of the Early 1950s

Customizing vs Restyling

West Coast Restyling of the Early 1950s

Deck Out

The Golden Era of the 1950s

Lowrider and Kustom Kulture of the 1960s and the 1970s

Modern Custom Cars

Custom Cars of the 1940s

Custom Trucks of the 1940s

Sport Customs of the 1940s

References

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