Hayward

A photo of Joe Bailon's shop taken late in 1952 or early in 1953. When Dick Falk started working with Bailon, Bailon was doing work out of a small garage at Alice Street in Hayward; “It had cement on the floors, but there was a lot of dirt also,” Falk told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2019. “It was an old garage. A one-car garage” One day as Dick was coming over, Joe was rubbing out a black 1940 Chevrolet two-door sedan. “It wasn’t customized much as I can remember. He was buffing it all out and went over with cornstarch. When he got done he said ‘OK. Let’s sweep up a little bit. Clean up, and let’s get the Chevy out so you can bring that convertible in, and let’s start sectioning it!’” This photo shows Dick’s 47 in front of Bailon’s new extended shop. “The shop was kind of new when this photo was taken. I can’t remember who the channeled roadster belonged to, but the 32 coupe belonged to Hank Vincent. It was there getting the back fenders bobbed.” Miss Elegance can be spotted inside Bailon’s spray booth. Photo from The Dick Falk Photo Collection.

Lee A. Jagla's 1923 Ford Model T Roadster Pick Up of Hayward, California. Lee was a member of the Hayward V-Eights car club, and the Model T was a high school graduation gift from his parents in 1960. In 2014 the old hot rod was sold to Norway.

Bernie Stein's 1932 Ford Victoria Phaeton

Eddy Dameral's 1949 Chevrolet

Chuck Rogers' 1950 Chevrolet - The Black Panther

Johnny Macia's 1950 Mercury, of Hayward, California.

Sonny Morris' 1950 Mercury

Jerry Sahagon's 1951 Chevrolet Club Coupe

Joe Tocchini's 1951 Ford Victoria - The Mystery

Joe Castro's 1955 Ford Thunderbird of Hayward, California. Known as "The CandyBird," Castro's Thunderbird was restyled by Joe Bailon at Bailon's Custom Shop in 1957.

Lauralee Dobbel's 1957 Chevrolet, of the Rod Benders of Hayward, California was restyled by Bob McNulty.

Richard Lee Tiago's 1957 Ford Ranchero

Milt Mallory's Atlas Swallow of Castro Valley, California. The Atlas Swallow is a fiberglass sports car that emerged from a collaboration between renowned automotive innovators Bill Burke and Mickey Thompson in the early 1950s. Milt discovered the car in a wrecking yard in Hayward around 1963-1964. He had the car most of his senior year at Hayward High, and he hot-rodded it by installing a 1956 DeSoto Hemi that he sourced from a friend's mother.