Customs Valley Custom / Neil Emory's '37 Dodge

[Jive-Bomber]

A recent post on a barn find got me thinking about Neil Emory's beautiful '37 Dodge convertible. His car proves the argument that a pre-war non-Ford custom can be beautifully done. Its just tastefully executed, and yet really distinctive. The dual ...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

[Scott K]

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.

[Rich Venza]

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.

[Hot Rods Ta Hell]

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?

[palosfv3]

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.

[Special Ed]

Originally Posted by palosfv3

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.

Very well said, Larry. I hope some others on here will mimic the style of Valley Customs, and use some restraint...

[chevnut]

Very Nice Car indeed.

Does anyone have pictures of the interior of this car?

Thanks!!!!

[palosfv3]

I always wondered if the trait of restraint is genetic or taught ????? Regardless it seems to be a rare but desired quality .

[Slim Pickens]

Chevnut
Check out this, http://www.valleycustomshop.com/inde...tpage&Itemid=1

to busy at work or I would. Love that car. Slim

[chevnut]

Originally Posted by Slim Pickens

Chevnut
Check out this, http://www.valleycustomshop.com/inde...tpage&Itemid=1

to busy at work or I would. Love that car. Slim

Thank You!!!!

[Slim Pickens]

From Rikster.

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_c...mory_37_dodge/

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_c.../p6280137.html

[Jarzenhotrods]

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!

[palosfv3]

Here is the link to Rik's "Valley Custom archive. Interior pics of early customs are Rare ! Most were stock or a slight modification of original .

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_c...ley_customs-1/

[Rolleiflex]

Originally Posted by Slim Pickens

Chevnut
Check out this, http://www.valleycustomshop.com/inde...tpage&Itemid=1

Yes thank you for this link! Lots of cool stories from Neil Emory. I never knew that Grabowski had a 1951 Caddy painted to match the "Kookie" car.

[palosfv3]

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 .

Valley Custom Shop - part 3

Custom Car Magazine by Geoff Carter CC- Didn’t you build Norm Grabowski’s “Kookie” car? Emory- He had decided to build this little T-bucket to look like an early modified. He’d chopped everything up, and had taken the engine out of his dad’s ’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’ 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. CC- Didn’t you build Norm Grabowski’s “Kookie” car? Emory- He had decided to build this little T-bucket to look like an early modified. He’d chopped everything up, and had taken the engine out of his dad’s ’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’ 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’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, “We’ve got to do something about this windshield.” 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, “Go try it”. 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’t strong enough, and with that much power he’d just break windshields like that (snaps fingers). It just became style, like the chopped boxes on the ‘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’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’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’d hook the touring on with a tow bar. I saw that and said, “Man you are crazy,” 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, “Whew, sure glad I got here! I almost lost it!” I said, “what‘s the matter?” He turns the steering wheel this way, and the wheels go that way. He said “I got it all backwards! I had to learn to drive this thing all over again!”

[Jive-Bomber]

Originally Posted by Rich Venza

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.

Chopped 5 window with a slanted B pillar doesn't sound too shabby...

[Jack Luther]

I agree with Jive-Bomber-- just leave it as a coupe. Great looking car.

[SuperFleye]

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

[BigFinCad]

Great Story

[autobilly]

Originally Posted by Slim Pickens

Chevnut
Check out this, http://www.valleycustomshop.com/inde...tpage&Itemid=1

Cool link Slim!