Wild Paint, Mild Customs

I’m often accused of not being a custom guy. That’s not entirely true. Just like hot rods and drag cars, the range of subjects and subcategories is so vast that it’s difficult to draw any overarching conclusions whatsoever. Besides, in the end it all boils down to personal taste.

And when it comes to customs, my palate is very specific. Refined? Cultured? Not as much as I’d like. Although I’m always learning, my tastes are always leaning toward the mild customs of the late 1950s. During this era, the Big Three had already done the 90 percent of the styling work on their Draftboards in Detroit. All the customizers had to do was finish up the details.

Shave some, lower some, and put in a tasteful grille and taillights. Maybe spruce up the engine compartment with some additional brightwork. To the untrained eye, the cars may have even looked like stockers.

It wasn’t the bodywork that caught the attention of girls and classmates and neighbors and bystanders. It was the paint; the flowing lines that swooped across panels, hooked around contours, and swept into sharp points wherever they were satisfied with the paths they had created. Sometimes seaweed flames and Technicolor fades jumped into the mix for some added flavor.

On these cars, the loud paintwork gladly consumed nine of the 10 remaining percent of required customizing. Once the masking was peeled off and the striping was laid down, these wild machines were pretty damn hard to miss.

In 1958, Hot Rod magazine featured a number of these mild customs. Two of my favorites — Joe Zupan’s 1956 Ford pickup and John Pierce’s 1957 Chevy — graced the May and December covers, respectively. It’s important to note that Dean Jeffries was the guy responsible for applying both machines’ unforgettable licks.

Mr. Zupan’s Ford was a bit more involved with its canted quads, Chevy pickup grille, and similar rear treatment, but it still seemed like a manageable machine despite its lowered suspension and show-winning interior.

For Mr. Pierce, his ’57 seemed like it would have fared just fine out on the streets of Southern California in the late ‘50s. Other than the mild shave, Corvette grille, and serious lowering, not much had been changed on the year-old hardtop.

The whole “wild paint, mild custom�? style was a fairly simple equation. Luckily for us, there has been a resurgence of cars like this on the scene today. Even though the cars aren’t new anymore, I’d be willing to bet that a zany paintjob will draw just as much attention as it did more than half a century ago.

-Joey Ukrop

Photos from Hot Rod Magazine, May & December 1958