I've always felt the custom car world revolves in very tight looped circles. It starts as a blank canvas with smart improvements to line and style and revolves into a mess of colors and shapes totally void of any white space. It all seems to happen i... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Before I even got to reading the bottom I thought of Weesner's shoebox and it's headlight treatment since this car always reminds me of it. Both are clear examples on how to extend your headlights I think. Massaging and changing every panel doesn't have to be a bad thing as long as you have the eye to put what looks best on the car's entirety. The two best things about this car are the chop (obviously) and the single side spear on the side. Had that been something a bit wilder and I think it would have been unbalanced and over the top. Wanna hear the other unsung here of this car? I think it's the 53 Cad caps. Every time those are used it seems to be a total knock out. Mark Morton's '54 Merc comes to mind.....
I would love to see more photo's of the Dutch striped dash. I do not recall ever seeing this (the dash) in any magazine. There is NOTHING I don't like on this beautiful old Kustom!
And ironically, one of the very few customs this normally non-custom kinda guy really likes! Weez's too. Veru yastefully done and so well finished and thought out before the torches were even lit.
FYI - The fender extensions look to be from the front fenders of a '50-51 Studebaker and the headlight rims are '52 Studebaker (which would fit the earlier fenders).
Cool to be included in such rare company! Hey, I've always been stumped by the Litton car's roof- it's right on the money, but how'd they do it? The side rails of the roof don't match up to a Ford roof curve, did they use Chevy pieces on the sides? (Yes, I've cut up photos of a '50 and tried to figure out the Litton chop, I'm a pretty trainspotty about this stuff!) No one's done a roof like that till Andreas' car- I think maybe Andreas' car has fabbed-up roof sides, that's what I was told by someone (Wolf maybe?) when I was drooling over it in Sweden-
amazing car , and looks like an amazing new version as well . . . glad to see somethings stay the same over the years .
I love the Litton shoebox, always have...and Weez, your's definitely deserved the menton. Also among my favorites.
My favorite custom car ever. Only things I would change are in the interior. That pretty, thin roof and extended quarters really change the proportions of the stubby, tall shoebox. That car is on the money.
Weez: Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki The rest is shown here courtesy of Rikster: http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_...s/49-51_ford_custom_cars/andreas-aberg-buste/ P.S. It blows my mind not just the capability of some foreign builders but their ability to track down an amazing amount of correct parts. I've been looking for those 98 quarter panels for a few years now.....
I gotta think Sam fabbed his too... I've looked and looked at roof lines and nothing, American at least, matches that curve.
Here's another "thin roof pillar" shoebox chop being done on the Hamb by Stefan T, with a lot of photos of the work done. It is not for the faint of heart. My shoebox chop It's a little more upright than the Litton chop, but still looks great.
Damn Ryan, why did you have to do this to me? The Buster Litton shoebox was, and is, my all-time favorite custom. There is not one thing on this car that I would change. In fact I loved this car sooooooooooo much that I had talked to my pal Marty Pierson about doing a clone. I had a shoebox picked out, knew where there was a donor '52 Olds for the quarters and tailights and found a pair of Studebakers which would give up their front fenders and headlights. Marty was very interested in doing the job as he also really loved Buster's car. Then cancer got him and he died last year. My enthusiasm definitely went in the shitter as Marty was the only one I knew and trusted to do the job and to do it right. He was a body working genius. I miss him every day. Anyway Ryan, thanks for taking the time to post about this wonderful car.
That is a cool '49. I've always liked it, but did my own as a mild custom...no chop. Thanks for sharing this one.
I would guess he probably had California Metal Shaping make up some panels like they did on a lot of their builds.
Just another reason I love this site. The talent that we had is shown and the new talent we have today!
I never understood how they did that, how do you tell somebody to make a certain shape, seems like you'd have to do a sculpture of it first!
I wonder if they got a framework of the metal work done and then used paper patterns to get the panel shape they desired from California Metal Shaping. Maybe Rikster knows for sure and can shed some light on the subject.
Superb car! As far as style "trends" becoming cyclically more extreme, each guy outdoes the last until it gets ridiculous. Eventually a guy returns to tastefully restrained, stylistic simplicity and the "cycle" starts again.