I've said it before... I love Custom Cars Magazine. This clip is from the March 1958 issue and focuses on the 1952 t...<P><P>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
My favorite thing about the little books, restyling ideas. You can learn some things from this stuff. I wish we still had parts laying around like back then to play around with. Custom Cars was a good magazine. I got all the little ones.Thanks Ryan.
One of my favorite magazines as well. If only the original files were intact and an amazing book series could come from that- but sadly the original files were raped and pillaged decades ago, and what was left was said to be thrown away. The series stands alone as a great spot in time as they didn't try and later reinvent it as a kart magazine or get into show rods or Volkswagens just to keep the title alive.
Jim, "Custom Cars" is public domain now - correct? I don't think they were bought... Think they just folded, right?
They were part of the Petersen family of mags and thats where the files were decades ago. Don't think anything exists anymore- but from the glimpse I got of the surviving Rod & Custom files still plenty of gems there- and you can see examples of all the old production work- PRE computers, it's amazing! Also on the old R&C files you can see from hand written notes where they reused the material for the later "Spotlite" books.
Custom Cars was a great one, made my collection complete many years ago. First class inspiration for the freezing cold winter nights here in the north.
It's great to read about specific custom ideas discussed from a theoretical standpoint. Very design oriented. There's nothing "Kool' or "Kultured" in those little books. It's just art. The highest form of art, in my opinion. I love to geek out over custom mods.
The Custom Car are kool but the annuals are priceless, I have 1954 through 1962 and they are full of kool ideas for projects. Even though the parts are not as accessable as they were, you can still find them out there.
Thanks for the post. Functional discussions of styling cues. I like. we could start to preserve these ideas on the HAMB. Where simple pics of custom details are uploaded, discussed, critiqued, etc. I think it would greatly help for newer customizers see whats been done and how it turned out without trying to buy every mag from eb*&. Just my thoughts. thanks again for the post. I love seeing Packard tail light featurettes. Jon
Can you imagine going to the dealers to snag a '55 Pontiac grill, '55 Buick bullets and '53 Merc grill teeth!? Some gorgeous work.
I dig this idea. It may open some newer folks minds to other modifications that they havent thought of before. Most of the stuff we want to do has been done before. To have these pics in an archive would be very helpfull.
Hands down, my favorite of the little books. Bought most of them at the local drugstore when they first came out. Reacquired the complete set in recent years and when showing them to my brother he was still able to tell me the car that was on the inside of the front and rear covers just by looking at the front cover - guess it left an indelible stamp in his memory as well.
When did "Custom Cars" cease to exist? I have Sept '57 thru August '60, how many more are there? While we are on the subject: How about Customs Illustrated? I know the 1st issue was July '58.
Custom Cars - Sept 1957 through August 1960 so you have all the issues Sorry, I'm not sure when Customs Illustrated ended. Mick
Could those who have the litttle books scan a pic every once in a while and post 'em at http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494055 ?
In one of the custom annuals I remember vaguely a story on a custom where the canted headlights on one side were done at a different angle than the other side by mistake. Is that story archived on the HAMB anywhere? The rest of the car was amazing.
Those books were always fun to look at back when I could still buy them for a buck or two. I've even kept coverless ones around. I always loved the way people's imaginations would come out on different cars - some of them worked, a few didn't, but for the most part they were always interesting.
I remember that, as well. It was a shot of the front of an unidentified custom in a garage. I think it was in the '59 or '60 Custom Cars Annual. I'll look in my stack of annuals and see what I can find.
I always wondered why more customs never used the Packard headlight treatments. nice and clean. You would think after all the rear 1/4's were robbed, they'd grab the fronts as well!
I'll look through them after i'm done procrastinating away a term paper. You know, it wouldn't take a whole lot of time for folks to archive old magazines and upload them to a database like photobucket or something. Just some food for thought, I might do it myself over winter break.
Custom Cars 1959 Annual, page 39. There are three photos. Part of that issue is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80643375@N00/sets/72157608798817435/ although not the page you seek.