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Customs Valley Custom / Neil Emory's '37 Dodge

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Jive-Bomber, Oct 22, 2009.

  1. Jive-Bomber
    Joined: Aug 21, 2001
    Posts: 3,754

    Jive-Bomber
    MODERATOR

  2. Scott K
    Joined: Oct 17, 2005
    Posts: 824

    Scott K
    Member

    Narrow-mindedness.........I'd wager that most hot rodders and a lot of custom guys cant get past the "it has to be a Ford" to be a hot rod, or " it has to be a Merc, to be a custom" B.S. Maybe even more true on this board.
    I agree that this car needs to be cloned for nothing else than to show how cool something different really is.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2009
  3. Perfect...Perfect...Perfect.
    Problem is finding a '37 Dodge convert today to use for the clone. Wacking up a coupe could be a very big project. Hay, there's one on E-bay right now.
     

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  4. Hot Rods Ta Hell
    Joined: Apr 20, 2008
    Posts: 4,670

    Hot Rods Ta Hell
    Member

    Very cool car. I'm not 100% on the grille treatment, but a Packard or Lasalle would be an easy fit. Since most of us are "thinking Ford", we'd probably assume it was a custom 36 Ford from 200 feet.
    Always loved Valley's eye for design. they did some terrific work.
    Maybe the car survived?
     

  5. TRJ issues #43 & #44, tell the story of Emory and Jensen. Neil appears to be the idea man as far as the design goes. What makes "Valley" cars so special is they knew when to stop. Restraint is a key component to every top custom ever done. Another quality of a great customs is the designs ability to draw you into the car, you notice one change which then calls your attention to another and another. The changes dont have to be dramatic, subtle is more powerful . They were masters at this.
     
  6. Special Ed
    Joined: Nov 1, 2007
    Posts: 7,967

    Special Ed
    Member

    Very well said, Larry. I hope some others on here will mimic the style of Valley Customs, and use some restraint...
     
  7. chevnut
    Joined: Jun 29, 2006
    Posts: 978

    chevnut
    Member
    from Corona, Ca

    Very Nice Car indeed.

    Does anyone have pictures of the interior of this car?

    Thanks!!!!
     
  8. I always wondered if the trait of restraint is genetic or taught ????? Regardless it seems to be a rare but desired quality .
     
  9. Slim Pickens
    Joined: Dec 15, 2008
    Posts: 3,343

    Slim Pickens
    Member

  10. chevnut
    Joined: Jun 29, 2006
    Posts: 978

    chevnut
    Member
    from Corona, Ca

  11. Slim Pickens
    Joined: Dec 15, 2008
    Posts: 3,343

    Slim Pickens
    Member

  12. Jarzenhotrods
    Joined: Feb 20, 2007
    Posts: 820

    Jarzenhotrods
    Member
    from .......

    I have always wondered what this car looked like from the front. I have always seen the backend in all the photos. I agree with Larry there isnt much restraint nowadays. Thanks for posting the pics!
     
  13. Rolleiflex
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,243

    Rolleiflex
    Member

  14. I stole this from the Valley Custom shop site . It part of Geoff Carters interview with Niel Emory talking about Norm Grabowski . The last question and answer is priceless .
    <TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%">Valley Custom Shop - part 3 </TD><TD class=buttonheading align=right width="100%">[​IMG] </TD><TD class=buttonheading align=right width="100%">[​IMG] </TD><TD class=buttonheading align=right width="100%">[​IMG] </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>Custom Car Magazine by Geoff Carter
    CC- Didn&#8217;t you build Norm Grabowski&#8217;s &#8220;Kookie&#8221; car?

    Emory- He had decided to build this little T-bucket to look like an early modified. He&#8217;d chopped everything up, and had taken the engine out of his dad&#8217;s &#8217;51 Cad and set it up in those T rails, it hung out all over the place. It was all set up the way he was going to run it. He had set the steering wheel position up&#8217; and his gear shift. He wanted us to do the finish work, make up grille and fill in the radiator cap hole in the shell.
    <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:p></O:p>CC- Didn&#8217;t you build Norm Grabowski&#8217;s &#8220;Kookie&#8221; car?
    Emory- He had decided to build this little T-bucket to look like an early modified. He&#8217;d chopped everything up, and had taken the engine out of his dad&#8217;s &#8217;51 Cad and set it up in those T rails, it hung out all over the place. It was all set up the way he was going to run it. He had set the steering wheel position up&#8217; and his gear shift. He wanted us to do the finish work, make up grille and fill in the radiator cap hole in the shell.

    Norm lived about six miles away form us on an egg farm, and he brought it to is in the rough. He&#8217;d shopped it all down, and put the pieces together, we went ahead and did all the finish work on the car and painted it.

    After it was running he broke windshields right and left because it had so darn much power. He said, &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to do something about this windshield.&#8221; I grabbed some rod we had, measured it up. And put them on as supports from the windshield down to the backside of the headlight brackets and said, &#8220;Go try it&#8221;. It worked out, so we took them off and had the chrome plated, and that was that.

    Now everyone has support rods, but back them it was because the windshield brackets weren&#8217;t strong enough, and with that much power he&#8217;d just break windshields like that (snaps fingers). It just became style, like the chopped boxes on the &#8216;glass bodies.

    Then he got onto Sunset strip with that thing. And the studios would continually damage it. Their insurance would take care if it, so he would come back with a check to repair it. We&#8217;d use the money to fix whatever had to be fixed and with the extra bucks clean up other areas. We made frame covers to hide all the extra holes, just simple things that could be done up a little neater. It was all done so slowly it never showed up in the series.

    Norm had to have a tow vehicle because he had to move the roadster so often. When his dad got a new car, Norm took over the Cad as a tow car; we painted it to match the roadster, and did a few little dinky things to it.

    CC- Tell us how the flames on the roadster came about.

    Emory- The studio was chipping the roadster up so bad, we told Norm to go to Jefferies to get flames put on it to cover things up. Then when it came back all chipped up, it was easier to match the flames than the metallic blue paint.

    Then Norm wanted to start another project, so he went out in the desert and picked up a T touring body. That thing was rotted out and had 500 bullets holes in it if it had one. It&#8217;s the one they used on My Mother the Car.

    When we sold the car to the studio they changed it, put on the brass radiator and hung a basket on the back. Under the basket was a trailer hitch you could see if you looked closely. It was there for a reason. Norm would use the touring to tow the bucket if both cars were needed at the studio. If all three cars were needed, the Cadillac was used to tow his trailer with the bucket on it. The trailer had a hitch on the back and he&#8217;d hook the touring on with a tow bar. I saw that and said, &#8220;Man you are crazy,&#8221; which he is.

    CC- How crazy is he?

    Emory- One time, Norm had just put his steering back together when he came into the shop and said, &#8220;Whew, sure glad I got here! I almost lost it!&#8221;

    I said, &#8220;what&#8216;s the matter?&#8221; He turns the steering wheel this way, and the wheels go that way. He said &#8220;I got it all backwards! I had to learn to drive this thing all over again!&#8221;

    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
     
  15. Jive-Bomber
    Joined: Aug 21, 2001
    Posts: 3,754

    Jive-Bomber
    MODERATOR

    Chopped 5 window with a slanted B pillar doesn't sound too shabby...
     
  16. Jack Luther
    Joined: Oct 24, 2005
    Posts: 531

    Jack Luther
    Member

    I agree with Jive-Bomber-- just leave it as a coupe. Great looking car.
     
  17. SuperFleye
    Joined: Jul 17, 2005
    Posts: 2,053

    SuperFleye
    Alliance Vendor

    That car is one of my personal favorites. Hope it helps people realize that you can build really nice rides on non-ford 30's cars :)
     
  18. BigFinCad
    Joined: Apr 10, 2005
    Posts: 167

    BigFinCad
    Member

  19. autobilly
    Joined: May 23, 2007
    Posts: 3,123

    autobilly
    Member

  20. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I've been a fan of Neil Emory's work since I was in about the 5th grade and saw one of the customs his shop turned out in a magazine. I never saw one that I didn't think was tastefully done and they still look great today.
     
  21. JohnJoyo
    Joined: Feb 19, 2005
    Posts: 1,381

    JohnJoyo
    Alliance Vendor
    from Austin, TX

    Awesome. That car is great.
     
  22. R.Allan
    Joined: Sep 28, 2008
    Posts: 412

    R.Allan
    BANNED
    from Ca

    this car is the has been the inspiration on my custom build a 37 Chrysler.
    anyone know where i can get me hands on a similar grille ??
     
  23. finkd
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 1,500

    finkd
    Member Emeritus

    Heres a 38 plymouth I did for shoe. non fords are great to work with. lesalle grill, extended doors, body lip over rear fenders, stock taillites mounted sideways, reshaped trunk lid to flow with body line of car, chopped top, going shinney down the road. shoe drive this thing all over joursey!
     

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  24. SuperFleye
    Joined: Jul 17, 2005
    Posts: 2,053

    SuperFleye
    Alliance Vendor

    Nice ride. The Lasalle grille fit the car perrrfect!
     
  25. dart165
    Joined: Apr 15, 2005
    Posts: 710

    dart165
    Member

    Early mopar tin defintely has lots of appeal to me. I was never as big a fan of 37-8's but i would rock a 35-6 in a heartbeat. i always likes the lines on the trunk of those cars better.

    Regardless i agree with the many folks who have already stated that it doesn't have to be an ford or merc to be a tasteful car. I love the heavy hitters, don't get me wrong. Theres is a reason they are as popular as trhey are, but with the right touches and stance, i end up liking the oddball stuff better most of the time.
     
  26. Jive-Bomber
    Joined: Aug 21, 2001
    Posts: 3,754

    Jive-Bomber
    MODERATOR

    NICE WORK man! It looks killer!
     
  27. Someday i will clone my dads dodge. I give up trying to find a convertible ,so i'm looking for a coupe. I just found a 1940 Buick super 4 door to clone the car i grew up in. If you look at the group shot of Valley Custom cars in Rodders Journal or Rik 's website you can see the Buick in center of the photo. It was lowered, nosed , and decked, Chevy 6 and a 1949 Merc. grille and opening. Gary Emory
     
  28. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member

    Hello Gary,

    I have always wondered who's car that was in the photo. Do you know if there are any other photos of it around? I don't recall seeing it anywhere else.

    [​IMG]
     
  29. Hi Rik It's going to be fun cloning a car i grew up in . The car really stuck out with the mercury grille. The color was very close to the Hirohata merc. thanks again for all your work. Gary
     

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