Projects Recreating the jesse lopez coupe

Adjusting the grill height maybe? Like discussed previously?

 

I think those are used to transport H2O away from a foundation


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I'm in the gutter business - thought maybe a new custom process - LOL!

 

all you need is the trophy's, well maybe not .... looks great Jer !

 

Did you notice the different angles of the front bumper in both shots? Is that another illusion, or did Jesse bend the bumper brackets somehow between the two shots?

 

Most of the pics that we see of Jesse's car are actually the Danny Lares car. Jesse only was able to have his car done for two years. Danny bought it while Jesse was in Korea. The pics of Jesse's car don't show the front bumper like that. I think that the bumper was forced upward with (probably) a bumper jack. You see this same type of thing on the Johnny Zupan '49 Merc..

 

A few months ago I asked Jesse about all his trophy's, he told me he left in his Mom & Dads old house when it was torn down......Gone forever.

 

A little history-
When I first started my conversations with Jesse I was curious about how he escaped the powerful ‘car monster’ thing that had captured me when I was a teenager. Here he is this famous guy, that had created this iconic custom, with Sam Barris, that had influenced countless gazillions of people all over the world, and it’s ‘eh, so what’. He made sure that I knew that he didn’t think much of all this commotion regarding car shows, show cars etc. Jesse was more interested in having a fast car that just happened to be a custom. More on that later.

To say that he was surprised at what he saw at the 2011 GNRS would be a monumental understatement. Junior Conway insisted that he come to see his Barris custom that had been recreated. To have to believe that this show car stuff had gotten to that level amused him to no end, he thought it was all B.S.

In researching all this cool history it became clear that Jesse’s time with all this stopped when he went to war in 1950 when he was 21 years old. Jesse was never interested in showing his car until George (Barris) insisted, as he was promoting his business. He never showed it afterwards.

The pics that we see of Jesse’s car, show the short hood molding. That is the most defining feature that determines if it’s Jesse’s or Danny Lares, the new owner, as stated earlier. The fact is, the California youth of the late forties weren’t exposed to this stuff because it was just getting started. The ‘monster’ was just starting to wake up.

Jesse did state that he had successfully put the hit on Miss California at that first show. He knew that because her boyfriend wanted a piece of him.

First pic-Jesse with the short hood molding.

Second pic-Lares car with extended molding.

Third pic-Jesse with Miss California

Original pics courtesy of Rik Hoving.

 

Great story Jer.
I look forward to the day when you can post a recreation of that first pic with Jesse standing next the car.
Torchie.

 

I'm curious if that Miss California still survives.

Or her then-boyfriend...

 

Oh man, what a great story. "What's all the fuss about" etc.

 

thanks for sharing Jer ! as always

 

This is the shop that I'm doing most of my work in these days.

 

Holy Crap - what's up with that!

 

Mama came home from the hospital with a new knee.

 

Then the car can wait.

 

I hope she gets well soon! My mom has both knees and hips, so I'm familiar with the modification! Amazing technology .


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Thanks for the kind thoughts.

 

speedy recovery to the Mrs. Jer...

 

Between the CPM machine, and the ice machine, I can put in a little time to try and finish up the dashboard. I've been carving away on the radio bezel for awhile, so it shouldn't take much to get it done.

 

nice

 

Very cool


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More stuff.

 

Simply exquisite!!!


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Sweet!

 

WOW!

 

incredibe detail work, Jer!

 

Thanks everybody.

After spending some time studying the plastic work on the radio bezel I was curious to know how well it worked. The original had shapes on the knobs that let you grasp them firmly compared to the smoothness of the custom ones.

Jesse’s reply was ‘good enough’, there was only one station that he kept it on so, when the ignition was on the radio was also on. The radio didn’t need to be adjusted.

As these historical builds sometimes go, one interesting thing leads to another more fascinating thing.

Junior told me that his favorite music is country western, it’s what you hear in his shop. That worked ok enough in the mid 50’s SoCal until he hooked up with his girlfriend (now wife) Sharon. She was a SoCal girl through and through. Junor’s country western got replaced by Ricky Nelson, Elvis etc. That was what was coming out of Junior’s cool ’50 coupe.

What was coming out of the cool customs of the late 40’s as you drove by them (real slow) in the drive in restaurants? Jesse was only interested in one station? Stay “tuned”.

 

Cool update Jer! I was wondering how the radio bezel was going to work and now I know very nice work!