Starting in 1944, Dan Post published what many consider to be the first "Custom Car" magazine titled the "Romodeler's Manual For Restyling Your Car." By 1946, Dan had published three issues and then began publishing similar books under different titl... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Those old Dan Post books are cool as hell..I paid really stupid money for some of them a few years ago after a bidding war on Ebay...Some amazing stuff in there..Gave me a whole new appreciation for cutting up perfectly good cars...If you like weird shit,this will ruin you...
At a farm auction in the 1980's I bought an entire 1 car garage full of books for 5 dollars. I spent the better part of the day going thru it and came out of it with 3 large boxes of 50's and 60's car magazines and custom and hot rod annuals, along with a copy of Dan Posts blue book. That book is amazing!
Ryan, that is the most exciting publication I have ever viewed. I went thru it quick, but will revisit and lanquish every word of that text. I didn't dream it would be so in depth and was stunned by the quanity. I am lost for proper praise for your sharing all these historical moments you bring us. I guess the best I can do is say Thanks Brother!! ~Sololobo~
Thanks Ryan for posting the copy of the book, I've tried buying it before but always getting out bid or just too late. Just printed all 51 pages and I'm looking forward reading it tonight. Happy Trails, Mick
I just got a chance to skim over it, but I noticed the Thunderbolt immediately. The only time I read anything on this car was when I was a teenager. It was in a book about the history of Chrysler. They built some really wild concept/custom cars back in the '40s. I will take the opportunity to read more later.
wow... that's incredibly cool. looks like the 36 ford coupe with fadeaways was a recent "field find" post here on the HAMB. I don't thinks I've ever seen but one or two of those cars before.
Really enjoyable book. I had never seen this one before. Thank you! At one point I had a couple of the books from the late fifties that were an inspiration for me, but haven't seen one in years.
I went nuts trying to score copies of Dan Post stuff awhile back & thought i had lost them during my divorce but luckily i found them secure in a box just recently with a few other lost goodies. Very kool little mags..
Shit man, thanks for posting that! - I've always wanted to spend more time looking at it, but I'm too cheap to buy one and too shy to fondle someone else's that I know I'm not goingta buy.
Forgive me if this is common knowledge, but who did the illustrations? They appear (to my eyes) to be similar to those in the "Ford Speed Manual" by "California" Bill Fisher (Clymer Publications). I believe those were done by Tom Medley. Thanks, Paul/CA
Thanks Ryan, the Dan Post books are fantastic referance material for everybody who loves early custom cars. I have several folders on the Dan Post books on my site. And once of them has some larger scas of the custom cars from this book... Click the photo to see more.
Man what a book! Someone should bind all 3 of them and sell new copys...... Hmmm, Ryan how about the HAMB branching out into books?? I'm sure the family would let you for a % of the income? Its things like this that make me feel pretty stupid though, until I joined the HAMB I thought serious customs started in the 50s, up until a few years ago I never knew they were so seriously customizing cars in the 40s. Once again thank you for building the HAMB Ryan, expanding my knowledge daily. Doc.
Thats cool. And odd. I just got through printing out all of the Dan Post books that a friend gave me. He got scans of almost every one that was published. I never thought I'd have a complete set. They are well worth the time and money it would take to find them. I love mine. My favorite is The ABC's Custom How from 1954.
Dan Post made several books in the 1940's & 1950's, and all are very good references for custom car fans. Probably the neatest thing about them is not only the sheer amount of material in them, but the fact that many of the cars in the Post books were never seen anywhere else! Many of the photos were just shot on the streets of Los Angeles, and show some really neat customs parked at curbs, or on used car lots! Highly recommended for all custom car fans!
Ryan Good job on your highlight of the Dan Post material yesterday. The full story of Dan Post and his publications will be printed in the next issue of The Rodders Journal. I spent about 2 years looking for the Dan Post family and another year convincing them to meet with me which I did last June 2008. At that time, I was able to obtain one copy of every hot rod and custom book he published starting in 1944 during World War II and going thru 1955. Its the only known complete collection of his work. Additionally, I tracked down 3 remaining employees and associates of Dan who helped contribute and create the books thru about 1955. Some of these folks are the some of the most significant designers of the day, and are still with us. The Dan Post story and publications are critical to the custom car hobby. It represents the first documented attempt for capturing these cars and the techniques used to build them in America. Dan Post started this in 1944 and was 2+ years ahead of anyone else in recognizing that this was a special trend here in America, and he captured the birth of it all thru his publications. I think of Dan Posts work as representing the birth or big bang of customizing in America. Nothing less, and no less important. We finished the article for Rodders Journal about a month ago, and they are shooting pictures of the Dan Post Collection that I loaned Geoff Miles at TRJ. There is an incredible amount of history that will be shared in that article being published and you and your readers will not be disappointed. There has always been a great allure to the Dan Post material and mystery as well. Geoff Miles and Steve Coonan gave us plenty of room to tell the story thru interviews and research with all the prominent people involved. Although the research was done by myself, the article was written and researched by my good friend Harold Pace. His name will appear as the author and it should for the excellent work he did. After the publication of the article, I can help answer questions about these books and the cars in them as well in great detail. Rik Hoving (Rikster) and I have done much documentation of the cars within these books, but I think taking this action would be best after the article is published. That way, well give folks as much chance to obtain a magazine with all information in it for their review, and they may have additional questions as well. Thanks again for the job that you do, and hope this added information helps you and your readers. Sincerely, Geoff Hacker Tampa, Florida