The September, 1960 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine just might house the single best feature ever done on a little page or, for that matter, in R&C Magazine's history. Of course, my opinion is a biased one as I have always loved shoebox Fords and thi... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
I have this very copy at arms reach (thanks to Silva), A must for a SBF fan, though some of the ideas are a little dreamy for my taste, a consemate reference for sure. I did not know we had lost Lynn recently, a fitting tribute indeed.
I'm not a big SBF fan but you know, you can probably find EVERYTHING in that issue to get the juices flowing. Thanks for the history lesson.
My god I have to have that magazine. I have only a few dozen of the little mags, and this is not one of them. I loooooove shoeboxes!!!
The 49 ford was my first car to hot rod. With the purchase of aluminum heads,2 carb intake and some headers I was well on my way. In 50 or 51 I did myfirst transplant using a cadillac OHV. It was awesome in comparison to the flatty. In the 50's the choice was cadillac-Olds and red ram hemi. All of our hotrods back then were std. transmission and at that time my choice was a Lasalle. Ansen provided most of the adapters back then which made transplants feasible.I still have a place in the old heart for the shoe box.
I have that issue! A lot of the same grill and taillight treatments have been done to death on the 49-51 Ford and Mercs (and the ebay prices for some of those ppoular parts reflect it), posting those pages may help somebody think outside the shoebox (get it, shoe-box?!?!? I crack myself up) and try something different.
man those cats werent afraid to try anything. I love it. some of them go a little too far. but hey, someones got to try it for the first time. i absolutely love most of the trim swaps.
I'd have thought there would have been more chop tops in an article like that. anybody know if that Bailon hardtop still at the Oakland Museum??
boy it must have been great building cars back then when everything was available at the dealer or local junk yard. your options would be unlimited!
awesome post, thanks! I think Paul Richard's (no relation) convert on the top of page 33 RULES the side trim (54 buick wagon?) looks perfect
Some great ideas there! That club coupe with the radiused rear wheel well and the '54 Buick side trim is a natural!
There was a thread posted a few days ago asking how many Shoeboxes were chopped when they were customized. I think this here answers that question. I've always loved the 49, and 50 shoes, never did care for the 51s really, didn't like the double bullet and the way the dash swooped down. Anyways, I'll have to put this issue on the list of mags to look for at the swaps. Thanks Ryan!
I'll also be looking for this one at the swap meets. Car Craft had a pictorial of shoeboxes also. I don't have it hear right now, but I think it is the one with Tommy Ivo's T on the cover.
Thanks for putting this together, really brings back some memories of late 50's R&C - Lynn Wineland's articles were a big influence on me and helped push me to become a car designer. Wish I had saved some of the magazines.
I just posted a couple of weeks ago concerning an old shoebox custom I had in the late 70s. I am certain it was one of the cars in this magazine. There is a rear tail light shot of one with canted Studebaker lights. It was built by Gene Winfield for a lady (can't remember her name). My original post is http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=339578 This is another shot of the car in its original design.
Thanks for the pics, Ryan! Gotta have that issue. One just ended on E**y for $4.00 and just 2 bucks shipping. Oh well, swap meet season is close.
One of my favorites!! It's in the nightstand drawer. Ideas for the '49 club coupe that rests on the other side of my bedroom wall. Nice Journal Ryan!! Thanks
Great article,I own a 50 shoebox and i cant understand why people really mess with the grill and tail lights,to me they are pure custom from the factory.Some of the grill workings on the article didnt add anything to the style of the shoebox but took away from it.In custom car building you can go to far on a grill working it so hard that you end up making the front end look like some weird fish thing.Less is more,but i respect the history and the style,just my observation.