I grew up in West LA, and graduated from University High School in '57. My taste in hot rods and customs was influenced by my buddies, the magazines that I read, and some of the cars belonging to other Uni guys. Some of those cars were really nice, and would hold up well today. Here are a few for which I could find photos: Dennis Brand's Merc-powered '29 was built for him by his dad. It was black lacquer, and was flawless. Bill Hadley bought this channeled, full-fendered Deuce 3W as a done car. Bright yellow, nasty flathead, sheet metal interior. Dunno what had happened to the grille in this picture. Michael Sassa's '40 was black with a beautiful red & white interior and a Cad Eldorado engine (dual quads). Michael went on to race a Jr Fueler with his buddy Jimmy Ige. John Glaser's '49 Merc was a really tasty mild custom. Lowered and louvered, painted '54 Cadillac Iris Blue, with a cleverly narrowed Olds grille bar floating in the stock shell. All these guys were teenagers when they had these cars. A couple of them had adult help in completing the cars, but they were really impressive for high school rides. And all of them were shiny!
Great pictures, thanks for sharing! It's neat to see the Hot Rods and Customs of the time that never made it into the magazines. I really like the Bill Hadley deuce.
Thanks for sharing the pictures. That's the same year my Mom graduated High School. I think it's good for us to be reminded of what many hot rods & mild kustoms were actually like in a particular era.
The Jalopy Journal
