Jimmy Summers Custom Automobile Body Shop

Being a jack of many trades, Jimmy Summers told his step-daughter Karen that he made his money owning gas stations. By the late 1930s, he was running "Jimmy Summers Custom Automobile Body Shop" at 7919 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. This photo of Jim's 1932 Ford Roadster was taken in front of his shop. Located right across the street from Fairfax High School, So-Cal Speedshop founder Alex Xydias was one of the local kids that used to hang out at Summers' shop after school. The shop was nothing fancy, Xydias recalls in Mark Christensen and Tony Thacker's book about So-Cal Speed Shop, "just four plastered walls, a bare concrete floor, and a gas jet, which on cold mornings was ignited to shoot a flame that warmed the shop in minutes." Photo from The Jimmy Summers Photo Collection.

A rather stock-looking Cadillac convertible photographed in front of Summers' shop. Photo from The Jimmy Summers Photo Collection.

A front end shot of the Cadillac. Photo from The Jimmy Summers Photo Collection.

Jimmy Summers Custom Automobile Body Shop of Los Angeles, California. Run by Jimmy Summers, the shop was located at 7919 Melrose Avenue.