Customs The Blue Book, 1949

[THE235KID]

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.

[Max Gearhead]

Originally Posted by DocWatson

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.

Hey Doc, that's a great idea!!! I'd sure drop some bucks on that!!!

Max

[Trend Books-Justin]

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!

[G. Hacker]

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 Rodder’s 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. It’s 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 Post’s work as representing the birth or “big bang” of customizing in America. Nothing less, and no less important.

We finished the article for Rodder’s 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, we’ll 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

[Max Gearhead]

I'll be looking forward to that issue Geoff! Should be very interesting.

Max

[4t64rd]

I hope posting a PDF of the whole book doesn't kill the sales if they are re-published...

[Slim Pickens]

btt.