The Dave Jenkins Photo Collection

A photo of Dave with his Alexander Brothers' restyled 1957 Chevrolet

A photo of the members of the Ann Arbor Timing Association taken in 1954. Dave, who is kneeling, third from left in the photo, was a founding member of the club. Started by a bunch of high-school kids studying at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor the guys had a lot of fun, and they were treated like a bunch of rebels. The customized 1949 Ford in the photo belonged to Elwood Peterson, who appears kneeling second from left. According to Fred Thomas, Peterson's Ford was a visual treat with its chopped Carson style top. Photo courtesy of Dave Jenkins.

A photo of the second iteration of Sy Gregorich's 1955 Ford Crown Victoria taken outside the Alexander Brothers shop in 1960. Once completed in 1959 the car, known as the Victorian was painted black. Bill Hines and Teddy Zgrzemski did the scallops on the car in 1960, when Teddy was 14 years old. "I went over to his garage and taped them all off," Teddy told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2019, "then my uncle painted them." The next day Teddy came in and pinstriped around the edges. "I got 15 dollars for doing it," he still recalled in 2019. "Back then I was into customizing, and money wasn't that important. It was the second or third scallop paint job that I ever did on a car." Known as the Victorian, Sy's Crown Victoria went on to become a pretty famous car. "White Pearl with Candy Apple Red scallops. That was a beautiful car. The nicest car the Alexander Brothers built I thought." Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Dick Bailey's 1950 Mercury. Dick was a member of the Huron Valley Road Runners and good a friend of Dave. Known as The Dream Boat, Dick's Mercury was restyled by The Alexander Brothers over a two-year period. The build was started in 1959 and completed in 1961, featuring a pair of popular Jimmy Jones Bubble Skirts and a scallop paint job by "Crazy Painter" Paul Hatton. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Don Fletcher's 1957 Chevrolet at an indoor car show in the 1960s. Known as the "El Capitola", Don's Chevrolet was the last collaboration between Sam and George Barris, and the car was entirely built by Sam in his own shop in Charmichael. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

A low angle shot of The Trendero taken at the Detroit Autorama. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

The Trendero at the Detroit Autorama. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

An engine shot of the Trend Automotive Trendero taken by Dave Jenkins in the 1960s. According to Dave the Trendero was considered a radical concept back in the days. Like a completely finished undercarriage, and most of the guys back then had no idea or fund to do anything like that.

A photo of Tom Biles' 1958 Ford Convertible taken at an indoor car show in the 1960s. Another typical Alexander Brothers custom built during the reign of the Detroit custom car builders. Tom lived in Tonawanda, New York, but he drove it to Detroit to give it the Alexander Brothers touch. Once completed, Tom’s Ford was named "Perfidia." Photo by Dave Jenkins.

A rear end shot of Tom Biles' 1958 Ford Convertible. Last we heard, this old custom was in storage in Utica, New York, in desperate need of a restoration. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

The Lil' Coffin, displayed as the Little Coffin, at an indoor car show after Dave Stuckey of Stuckey Custom had sold the car to Larry Farber. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

The second version of the Darryl Starbird of Star Kustom Shop built Forcasta show car at an indoor car show in the 1960s. Originally built for Chuck Miller in 1961, the car was owned by Frank Koss when Dave Jenkins took this photo. In addition to the Forcasta, Frank did also own Bill Cushenbery's 1940 Ford Coupe, The El Matador after buying it from AMT. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

The chopped version of Clarence Catallo's 1932 Ford 3-Window Coupe at an indoor car show in the 1960s. Restyled by both the Alexander Brothers and Barris Kustoms, the coupe known as the Silver Sapphire and The Little Deuce Coupe is one of the most famous hot rods in the world. The yellow version of the Trendero can be seen next to the coupe. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Bill Cushenbery's 1940 Ford Coupe, The El Matador, at an indoor car show in the 1960s. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

The gold metalflaked version of the Ron Aguirre's 1956 Chevrolet Corvette, the X-Sonic at an indoor car show. Year and place is unknown, but it has been fit with the new handmade seats. The metalflake was applied by Larry Watson, and it was the first car he ever metalflaked. Ron had bought the metalflake in New York, and according to Larry the X-Sonic was also the first metalflaked car of California. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Norman Grabowski's Kookie T at an indoor car show in Columbus, Ohio around 1960, after Jim Street had bought it an repainted it white with red flames. The car is displayed next to Jim's radical Golden Sahara custom by Barris. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Dave's buddy Dick Bailey test-sitting Jim Street's Kookie T at a Columbus, Ohio car show. Dave believes the photo was taken late 1960. The Kookie T made a huge impression on Dick, and less than a year after this photo was taken he built his own Model T hot rod from the ground up. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

After Dick Bailey saw and test-sat Jim Street's Kookie T at an indoor car show in Columbus, Ohio late in 1960, he decided to build a Model T hot rod for himself. In September of 1961 he and Dave took the stock 283 engine out of Dave's 1957 Chevrolet. The engine went in the Model T along with a 1939 Ford floor shift and a Model A rear end. This photo shows Dick Bailey's Model T during the build. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

The Mroz Brothers' 1950 Ford, also known as The Titian Tudor, outside the first Alexander Brothers shop in Detroit, in 1961. The Mroz Brothers were from Chicago, Illinois, and Dave believes that it featured one of the first Candy attempts by the Alexander Brothers. Dave's 1957 Chevrolet can be seen in the background with a freshly installed antenna and molded in lake pipes. Dave took this photo on the same day as Customs Illustrated shot Dick Rothfuss' 1959 Chevrolet Impala, also known as Poopsie. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Another photo of The Titian Tudor outside the Alexander Brothers shop. According to Richard Fuerholze the brothers took the car back to Chicago after this photo was taken to put it back together. Unfortunately, the building where they had it collapsed in a storm and the car was destroyed. The brother then lost interest in it, and parts of it were sold off. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Getting there! An under-construction photo of Dick Bailey's Model T. According to Teddy Zgrzemski, Bailey's Model T was the first wild-looking T-Bucket in Detroit. "He was a trendsetter back then," Teddy told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2020. Later shown as "The Wild One," Bailey's T-Bucket was the first car Teddy painted when he came back from California in 1962. Charging $ 175.00, Teddy painted it Candy Tangerine over Gold. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

A gold version of Larry Ernst's 1952 Ford convertible, without fenderskirts, at an indoor car show featuring 1964 Ohio license plates. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

A second, asymmetrical iteration, of Darryl Starbird's Forcasta bubble top. This is the only asymmetrical build by Darryl Starbird we have been able to find. In 2019 Darryl told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that he tries hard to improve on the design of a car when he customizes it; "If I feel the car design is totally beyond what I can do to improve on to bad or to good I won't touch it. I feel asymmetrical design is not an improvement but a change for the shock of change not improvement. A lot of customizers over the years have made changes to get attention and to shock their customers and the public, that was never in my plans." Darryl told Kustomrama that he definitively did not make the asymmetrical changes to the Forcasta, those were done by Jack Florence in 1964. Photo by Dave Jenkins.

Click here to order a Kustomrama Stockton Division Shirt - Click here for other local divisions.

Kustomrama Photo Archive

Dave Jenkins of Ypsilanti, Michigan was a founding member of the Ann Arbor Timing Association. The club was started by a bunch of high-school kids studying at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. According to Dave, the guys had a lot of fun, and they were treated like a bunch of rebels. Later on Dave went on to become a member of Midwest Customs and Kustoms of America. Luckily for us, Dave took some very nice photos at different car shows back in the late 1950s and 1960s, or as he said it: "All i had was a 35mm slide camera and sometimes i got lucky." Below are some of Dave's "lucky shots"