FER FUNZIES! WORST KUSTOMS EVER

[crewcutkid]

This is just for shizzles and giggles, but I just wanna see the worst abortions of kustoms that the old HAMB can drag from the dregs of the kegs. Or wherever.
-Crew
Oh, ah, I don't have any, but I was inspired by the terrible riviera in a different thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[yorgatron]

http://www.huffreport.com/allnewstuff/uglykustoms.htm

[DrJ]

please DON'T!!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[crewcutkid]

Dang, some of those were pretty bad. A couple were okay though...
-Crew

[Fraz]

I ain't postin' em, but I've got quite a few mags from the mid 60's with some rather, um, "interesting" vehicles.

[Bruce Lancaster]

About 1954--pink thing that was based on a '40 Merc four door convertible--cover car for R&C or Honk...not only amazingly hideous viewed on its own merits, it was a strong contender for most egregious waste of a neat car. The custom did not retain a single feature of the rare bits--it could just as easily have been based on any available hulk!

[Fraz]

El Matador.

[mr57]

What about the east coast Studebaker with the 59 Caddy fins, the tuck and roll vinyl roof and the two sets of Dodge/Plymouth headlights, one set upside down. That thing looked like something Batman dreamt up while on 'shrooms....

[CURIOUS RASH]

[ QUOTE ]
El Matador.

[/ QUOTE ] http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[slazzen]

Kojacks galaxie with the visor on it LOL sorry i had too

[A32Flathead]

Saw this on Sunday...OK, so not a Kustom...but worth a laugh!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[CHOPMERC]

Bruce, your talking about Frank Maratta's Pink Beast built in Conneticut, certainly worthy of a mention here, & Mr57 is talking about John Hychko's(sp?) 1953 Stude also built in Conneticut and most definately worthy of mention here... the Maratta car was actually a work in progress for several years and was somewhat tastfully modified at first before it became that pink nightmare..it was eventually cut up into pieces & disposed of...the Hychko car ended up decomposing in a lot somewhere(possibly Hychko's lot)...it can be seen in that condition in issue #1 of Kustoms Illustrated....bob

[CHOPMERC]

Oh BTW, my vote is for the Barris built Grecian and later the Modern Grecian Stude..gives me the willies just thinking about it, and i LOVE radical kustom cars...that car, last i heard was just a few miles from me in Rockaway , NJ for sale, in need of a full resto for $75,000,,,GOOD LUCK!!!

[choprods]

can't think of its name-butwas a BARRIS car....51?stude and was gold I think
ive got a pic of another one that is a recent build that is Gross-if I can find it..... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I guess beauty is in the eye of the builder! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Revhead]

[ QUOTE ]
Kojacks galaxie with the visor on it LOL sorry i had too

[/ QUOTE ]

I knew this would come up http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[65Luck]

Where's that pimp ride site guy when you need him?

[Anderson]

George Barris.....he built some great stuff, but the ugliest custom I have ever seen (well at least in the top 5 and the only one that comes to mind right now....) is the Modern Grecian. Hard to believe it came out of the same shop (well not TECHNICALLY) as the Matranga Merc.

http://www.barris.com/images/gallery/moderngrecian.jpg

El Capitola aint the best either...

http://www.barris.com/images/gallery/elcapitola.jpg

For every not so great car, there were 10 beautiful ones from Barris though. Just kinda got lost on these two...

[crewcutkid]

A far as Barris goes- I can respect a lot of his stuff like the hirohata merc, but he chopped up a lot of good cars and turned them into grotesque monsters. Just my two cents.
-Crew

[jerry]

derosa's "shark"!


jerry

[Donzie]

Ok, this is pretty crude but you get the idea. 2 dr instead of 4 dr (shortened) and get rid of those butt-ugly wheels.

[DIRTYT]

nope still ugly as hell http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[crewcutkid]

Ditto.
-Crew

[studedude]

hows this for a custom.

[Anderson]

Looks like a stock Isetta...

[63CadGuy]

Here's a custom version, not bad, but I would have spent my money elsewhere

[Muttley]

[ QUOTE ]
El Matador.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

[crewcutkid]

Ergh. Say, does that BMW cocktail napkin under the Isetta sop up any leaking oil?
-Crew
P.S.- Here's a site with some ghastly creations. There are some cars (like the 'lil coffin) that are okay.
http://www.jezakpromotions.com/mint_nos_an_unbelievable_find.htm
http://www.customclinic.com/fullcust/Cushenbery/cushenbery.html

[CHOPMERC]

oh man, i agree with all the cars mentioned here(except the stock Isetta, its not a custom), but the El Matador?? i put that on the opposite end of the spectrum, i think the styling is right on..i consider it a real trendsetter for the period it was built...I'm a big fan of the early to mid 60's show kustom period...but, i'll bet i'm probably in the minority when it comes to the over the top 60's styling...hey, somebodys got to like it.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif..bob

[Kojack]

Fuck you Slazzen. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[mr57]

Hychko, that's it. That stude was butt ugly. The fact that the factory literally tacked on fenders for the 58 Packard Hawk didn't give him the right to screw Caddy fins and many Mopar headlights on one of the most classic designs ever done. IMHO the only thing you can do to a stude like that is to do a slight chop. Anything else is just sacrilege.

[JamesG]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, this is pretty crude but you get the idea. 2 dr instead of 4 dr (shortened) and get rid of those butt-ugly wheels.


[/ QUOTE ]

Here it is on eGay!!!!!!!

Ugly Barris Stud. (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6472&item=24842514 48&rd=1)
http://i12.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/1b/b6/81_12_s.JPG

[Anderson]

blech!!!! looks like a bad photoshop...

http://i20.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/1b/d3/ee_3.JPG

Looks like it's got gills on it's rear fenders, and that rear window does -not- flow. Thats what a kustom is about...good flow...this car has the worst.

[Rocky]

Since the first day I saw it in a 60's magazine....hands down........The Modern Grecian.
What was George thinking?!?! When I saw it in a 60's R&C or whatever magazine it was, I thought they were making a joke.....no joke.
Gag me with a lead-paddle.

[bufordtjustice]

SHouldnt have changed the original Grecian, looked much better first time he did it.

Greg

[hatch]

Can someone PLEASE tell me which car George Barris has done that looked FANTASTIC??...OK...how about GREAT!!!!...maybe VERY NICE!!!....or SHARP!!!....do I hear a MEDIOCRE???...PASSABLE???....OK...then as good as the factory did?


I honestly can't think of anything that really turned me on by George Barris...but I loved Sam's work.

[JamesG]

[ QUOTE ]
Can someone PLEASE tell me which car George Barris has done that looked FANTASTIC??...OK...how about GREAT!!!!...maybe VERY NICE!!!....or SHARP!!!....do I hear a MEDIOCRE???...PASSABLE???....OK...then as good as the factory did?


I honestly can't think of anything that really turned me on by George Barris...but I loved Sam's work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea, all of his cars sucked........ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
http://www.barris.com/images/gallery/alakart.jpg
http://www.barris.com/images/gallery/hirohatamerc.jpg
http://www.barris.com/images/gallery/tompollarddragnet.jpg

[48_HEMI]

how did these sneek in on a topic that should of had grecian in the title. And don't talk bad about george barris.I think the fact that he was allowed to show the greacian anywhere on the planet makes him the greatest promoter of all time. and to get a customer to pay for makes him near the top saleman too http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[repoguy]

[ QUOTE ]
Can someone PLEASE tell me which car George Barris has done that looked FANTASTIC??...OK...how about GREAT!!!!...maybe VERY NICE!!!....or SHARP!!!....do I hear a MEDIOCRE???...PASSABLE???....OK...then as good as the factory did?


I honestly can't think of anything that really turned me on by George Barris...but I loved Sam's work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you Hatch.

Thank God someone around here isn't such a "custom conformist" that they can't criticize the Barris name. Ugly is ugly, regardless of who built it.

And George has built some seriously ugly shit.

[48_HEMI]

ala cart,copper cart,wild cat
. George had nearly all of the custom hall of famers working for him at one time or another.and the ones that didn't work for him got sub contract work from time to time.
I think some time during the late fifties his head started to balloon and all the commercial and movie contracts cost him his soul as a customizer.
I loved almost all of Sam's work, he had the eye http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif and George had the wallet. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif just my opinion

[RocketDaemon]

actually i like the grecian, i think its pretty cool
kinda ugly in its own way but i like it, i wouldnt mind owning it and restoring it to its first version actually...

[Sailor]

I agree with you, Deamon. I would not call the original Grecian even remotely beautiful, but its at least interesting with lots of cool, if wacky details.

The worst kustoms in my book, are the boring, mediocre ones where the mods doesnt improve the original design, but only make it fuzzy, and at the same time isnt even remotely unique or radical. Im talking tripple-outlet lakespipes, visors, fugly flamejobs (front 1/5 of the car bright red, rear 4/5 bright yellow and some short licks in the borderline between the two colors..), continental kits with some mural of Elvis or whatever fuels the owners nostalgiatrip and so on..Regardless of what some may say; there are huge numbers of kustoms (and rods Im sure) which looked way cooler in stock configuration.

And before some of you go all George is bad, Sam is good here: El Capitola was Sam Barris' last kustom. Designed and built by himself. I think the front is very cool, but the sides are far too busy and massive. Bottom line is, Sam would not have kept building Matranga-Mercs in the late fifties anyway. Times were changing. It turned out they were also changing away from kustoms like El Capitola and other cars with lots of steelwork as well. As the factory designs got more radical, kustoms turned in Larry Watsons direction with wild paintjobs and lowering as the most important mods.

Oh, and if the Ala Kart is so ugly; send it my way. I'll build my livingroom around it.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[RPW]

Sailor: Right on line!
By the way I Just came home from this years Lead Parkin´. Sailor & Daemon: You both missed one of the best Nordic custom events yet!

[oldchevyseller]

how about GREASED LIGHTING!! WOOHHOOO GOD WHO BUILT THAT
?I LIKED THE PLEXI HOOD THOUGH

[oldchevyseller]

this was at bto 50's i thought i got more pictures, but an actual car!!!the rest was pinched like this also,any get a name on it??

[mr57]

That was a Brewster. They were a fairly respectable coachbuilder for luxury cars in the 20's & 30's. I think that when the Depression started they went down the tubes. If you look closely the doors look suspiciously like a 33-4 Ford. They put those front ends on Fords and sold them as Brewsters, I do believe.

[cosmo]

Interesting history of the Brewster.
Started in 1910, as coachbuilders, they built their own car in their Long Island factory from '16 to '26, when they were absorbed by Rolls Royce of America (yes, Rollers were built in America, as were FIAT, Mercedes, and a few others that would surprise you).
After Rolls retreated back across the pond (something about an economic crisis), Brewster came back and built custom bodies on Ford, Lincoln, Buick and other chassis, all distinguished by that heart-shaped grille. All body-styles on the Ford chassis were sold for $3,500. 113 were supposedly built from '34 to '36.

As for customs, almost anything built by Bailon strikes me as ugly to hideous, topped by Scoopy, which is a fairly good argument to discontinue production of mild-steel tubing, just to prevent the possibility of THAT happening again.
Cosmo