New York

Bob Hart's 1932 Ford Roadster was restyled in Nassau, New York between 1938 and 1939.

Buddy Hinman's 1927 Chevrolet Roadster of Rome, New York. Having an urge for a radically lowered car, the Buddy and his brother took the springs off their OHV engined Chevrolet and U-bolted the axles to the frame in 1948.

Buddy Hinman's 1931 Ford Model A Roadster of Rome, New York. The build was started in 1947 and completed in 1949 when Buddy was 13 years old.

Joe Brienza's 1929 Ford Model A Coupe of West Islip, New York was built in 1954.

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.

Bill Leslie's 1931 Ford Model A Coupe

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

Jack Schleich's 1932 Ford 3-Window Coupe of Oceanside, New York was first built in 1957. This is how it appeared in 1958.

Joe Brienza's 1934 Ford Convertible of West Islip, New York was completed in 1958. The build took two years.

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.

Buddy Hinman's 1936 Ford Cabriolet of Deansboro, New York. Hinman traded the car for a channeled 1931 Ford Model A Roadster in 1953. The cabriolet came from Clinton, New York, and it had already been channeled and customized when Hinman got it.

Joe Brienza's 1936 Ford 3-Window Coupe, of West Islip, New York, was restyled in 1956.

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This photo shows a 1940 Hudson Converible that Bud Unger of Rockville, Maryland restyled for an unknown customer in the late 1940s. In 2012, when Kustomrama interviewed Bud about the car, he remembered that he hand made a set of fender skirts for the car, and that he fit it with his own version of a Carson Top. He admitted that the top was no way as good as "the California job". Another photo of the car, taken the same day, shows it wearing a set of New York 1948 license plates. Other modifications included a shaved hood, dual spotlights, a 1946 - 1948 Mercury grille and removed running boards. Ray Giovannoni's 1936 Ford Roadster can be seen across the street. Photo courtesy of Bud Unger.

John Sak's Second 1941 Ford Convertible was restyled in Syracuse, New York in 1955.

John Sak's Third 1941 Ford Convertible of Syracuse, New York. Named "Barbie" after his wife, the build was started in 1957 and completed in 1960. "Barbie" was John's third 1941 Ford custom.

Dean Fellows' 1941 Cadillac

Albrecht Goertz' 1948 Studebaker Business Coupe of New York. Albrecht's Studebaker was designed and restyled in 1948.

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.

Thomas Campbell's 1949 Ford - Fordillac

Joe Brienza's 1949 Mercury of West Islip, New York. Joe bought the Mercury in 1951 and wasted no time transforming it. The original flathead was replaced with a powerful 1948 Cadillac engine. Six months later, seeking even more performance, he swapped that for a 1950 Oldsmobile engine paired with an automatic transmission—creating a combination he remembers as running exceptionally well. The Mercury’s exterior went through several transformations, from black to turquoise blue, eventually ending up in a striking two-tone. Joe experimented with grilles, first using the 1951 Ford grille seen here. This version did also feature a shaved hood and hooded headlights. Photo from The Joe Brienza Photo Collection.

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.

Herb Gary's 1949 Plymouth - The Aztec

Sam Barris' 1950 Buick Sedanette was owned by Robert Bartel of Port Jefferson Station, New York in 1974.

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.

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

Carl Szembrot's 1950 Studebaker convertible of Albany, New York was restyled by R. K. Body Works around 1951-1952. The rear end of the car was inspired by the 1951 GM LeSabre concept car.

Ken Szekretar's 1951 Ford

Ron Fagundes' 1952 Ford Victoria of Napa, California. Ron's Ford, known as The Ronbardue Kart, was restyled by Barris Kustoms, A-1 Body Work and Hall's Top Shop. The build was completed in 1958. The same year the Air Force transferred Ron to the Mitchel Base in Long Island, New York. Ron brought the custom along. In New York it received lime-gold striping and scallop paint job by Andy Southard.

Gene Meeks' 1952 Packard Patrician

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.

Walt Christian's 1953 Ford

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.

Butch Flobeck's 1954 Mercury of Piedmont, New York made its debut in 1958.

Gary Fioto's 1955 Ford - The Beatnik.

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.

Steve Scrivani's 1955 Oldsmobile - Celestial I

Andy Southard's 1958 Chevrolet Impala

Tom Biles' 1958 Ford of Tonawanda, New York. Named "Perfidia," the car was restyled by the Alexander Brothers in 1960.

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.

Gary "The Local Brush" Kupfer's 1963 Chevrolet Corvette of Roosevelt, New York. For more than six decades, Larry Watson of Watson's House of Style has been recognized as the inventor of the Lace Paint Job, as he debuted Doug Carney's 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix at an indoor car show in April 1967. Five months before this great event, in November 1966, Gary "The Local Brush" Kupfer of Roosevelt, New York, showed his panel and lace painted 1963 Chevrolet Corvette at the ISCA New York Coliseum Show. The lace paint job was applied late in 1965. Photo courtesy of Gary "The Local Brush" Kupfer.

A detail shot of the lace paint on Gary "The Local Brush" Kupfer's 1963 Chevrolet Corvette dated October 1965. "No one knew what it was," Gary told Kustomrama late in 2022. "Everyone there was saying, "Did you see the paisley paint job?" The following year almost half the cars at that show had lace paint jobs." Photo courtesy of Gary "The Local Brush" Kupfer.

Bill Leslie's 1960 Ford Thunderbird of Buffalo, New York. Restyled in the 1960s, Bill's Thunderbird was shown as "The Golden Gem."

Tom and Dick Holynski's The Flame

Avenue Angels of East Rocakway, Long Island, New York. The club was formed at D & H Service Center in 1955.

The New York Mystery Sport Custom. The car was advertised for sale in the Syracuse, New York area in the late 1980s or the early 1990s. The car was sold to Italy, where it still remained in 2019.

Eric Goodrich's Iron Lung bubbletop show rod of Buffalo, New York. The build was started in 2011 and completed in 2015.

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.

Chris Rusbach's 1956 Ford Crown Victoria of Stanhope, New Jersey. Rusbach, who is a member of the Certs Jersey car club bought the car already customized in the summer of 2019. He was told that it came to New York from West Nevada around 2016 - 2017.