Save it or Shave it?

I’ve loved the discussions so far on fender skirts and vehicle stance this past week. Yes, there are a few universal truths to customizing, but it all comes down to opinion and personal (and hopefully good) taste in the end, doesn’t it? Here’s another one to ponder when you start down Kustom Road: What stock exterior items do you remove, and what stays in place? Obviously some trim items are swapped out for bits from other cars, like a DeSoto grille on Merc, Buick side trim on a Shoebox Ford or Packard tail lamps on a tri-five Chevy… But what about the smaller functional items that may or may not be pretty? Here’s a few that come to mind:

Antenna- If its not going to get french or tunneled in, then I usually remove the whole aerial and fill the hole. A big stock antenna can really break up the lines of sleek custom, and besides, most of my cars don’t even have a functioning radio anyway.

Side Mirrors- These are usually big and clunky pieces on 50s-era cars. I go for a small 4″ ‘peep’ mirror attached to the driver’s door edge above the vent window when possible. Between that on my side and rear view mirror in the middle, I’m usually pretty aware of my surroundings, even in a chopped coupe with limited visability.

Windshield Wipers- I’m lazy on shaving this one, so I usually just remove the wiper arms and slip a set of chrome bullets on the exposed nubs. When the rainy season comes, the Rain-X comes out. (You can always put the arms back on in winter as well.)

Door and Trunk Handles- I honestly believe certain model and year cars look just fine with door handles, so I don’t think it’s a clear call on this one. If you do shave the handles, then you’ve got to deal with solenoids and door poppers, which is no sweat as long as your battery doesn’t die. I threw a set of ’48 Lincoln push buttons on my ’57 Safari wagon, which sounds strange, but most folks assume they are stock pieces. It solves the clean door look, but remains completely mechanical. A 50s car deck lid *usually* looks better shaved, as most trunk handles were over-sized pot metal pieces that really drew too much attention to themselves. Again, depends on the model.

Badges and Emblems- These are the first thing I always remove for two reasons: I love no external brand identifier, which forces the parking lot lookie-loos to figure out what they are looking at, or just admire it for what it is. My other reason for removing emblems is that being lazy again, it’s an easy and quick way to begin de-chroming, and makes a custom project look smoother almost every time.