History East Coast '40

[Ryan]

It's easy to write off the east coast style of the 1940's and 50's. Typically, cars influenced by this period and geography are heavily channelled and sectioned with a subtle chop. Once buttoned up, this often leaves you wondering about proportion an...

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[NITROFC]

Nice piece of history ...Thanks

[M.Edell]

Alot of the older guys here in California who were Hot Rodders in the 50's and 60's seemed to always clown on East Coast style cars.
The East Coast styling to me ranges from very interesting and cool to What the Hell were they thinking? lol..thats just my opinion.

[HotRodBen1987]

Nice write up. Makes me wanna go out west and compare those cars to all the east coast ones I've grown up around.

[Rikster]

Great car.... And I'm happy they put a hood back on the car. Looks so much better with the hood.

Good to hear a Hamber got it.

Here it is with the Nash grille...

Photo from Cool Cars Square Roll Bars



And here is the Honk August 1953 Article

[hombres ruin]

A really killer ride,i love the proportions,and the stance.it would be great to see it lay a little lower,but a great piece of history.

[SuperFleye]

Nice car thanks for sharing the story!

[James D]

That "thoughtless" chop really works somehow. Who´d a thought?

[hugh m]

Your point about the aircraft industry is well taken. Seems like, wth the exception of a few east coast coach builders, most of the really nice metal shaping came from aircraft style skills. Plus there were lots of race shops out west using the same technology. (Never quite got the nice weather arguement.)

[robt500]

I love my copy of Cool Cars Square Roll Bars and the East Coast look featured within. cool '40

[1935Ron]

Originally Posted by hugh m

Your point about the aircraft industry is well taken. Seems like, wth the exception of a few east coast coach builders, most of the really nice metal shaping came from aircraft style skills. Plus there were lots of race shops out west using the same technology. (Never quite got the nice weather arguement.)

all around great read!


true CA. had alot of aircraft plants but not all my mother worked for Wrights during the war in Paterson NJ where the engines for the b-29 was made ,,an uncle that lived in LI NY worked for Republic, Gruman and what about Vought in Conn. or Pratt and Whitney,and the list goes on....

[flash]

I wonder if the questionable craftsmanship of early East Coast hot rods and customs might be a myth? I suspect that because the scene was so much larger on the West Coast, only the very best cream-of-the-crop cars got featured in magazines (and now written about in books). Because the East Coast scene was smaller, magazines here had less high-quality cars to choose from and possibly featured cars that would not be published out west, lending to the theory that the Eastern cars were inferior. I'm sure there must have been pretty crude stuff running around on the West Coast too, but just didn't get as much attention.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by flash

I wonder if the questionable craftsmanship of early East Coast hot rods and customs might be a myth? I suspect that because the scene was so much larger on the West Coast, only the very best cream-of-the-crop cars got featured in magazines (and now written about in books). Because the East Coast scene was smaller, magazines here had less high-quality cars to choose from and possibly featured cars that would not be published out west, lending to the theory that the Eastern cars were inferior. I'm sure there must have been pretty crude stuff running around on the West Coast too, but just didn't get as much attention.

That could very well be the case. I wasn't around back then, so I can't really state an opinion conclusively. All I can do is restate what I've read and been told.

[zombiesarebad]

that is probably the coolest '40 Ford i've ever seen. Then again i'm about as east coast as you can get...

[banditomerc]

When i was first exposed to customs (early 70's),without the influence of the east coast/west coast style argument,I remember mentioning to my older brother how some of the early customs looked...ODD,thats when i heard for the first time,"thats an east coast custom".You must admit,Ryans initial asertions are dead on.

[banditomerc]

Originally Posted by zombiesarebad

that is probably the coolest '40 Ford i've ever seen. Then again i'm about as east coast as you can get...

I won't argue that,after looking at your coupes chop i knew you were east coast... Here we go!!!!

[K13]

Definitley a good looking custom. The only thing that drives me crazy about these types of builds is the lack of running boards. I have said it before and I will say it again I think it looks stupid when they are removed off of '30-'40 era cars and the fenders are just left hanging in space. I just don't get it.

[Ryan]

Well, customs died in the 60's for a reason. Folks forgot the basic rules of the art. Rather than customizing a car to improve upon its factory lines, folks started making changes just for the sake of changes. Cars got too damn crazy... over the top... and, this lead to cars that quite frankly, do nothing for my aesthetic values. Both coasts contributed.

Hot Rods are a different matter all together. In my opinion, there is no arguing that the west coast set the pace. Other parts of the country only had the magazines to be influenced by. They didn't have the local conversations, the personalities, the salt and sand, etc... to really learn from. Instead, they built cars seemingly by piecemeal.

A great example is the little Chevrolet that Meagan rolls in:



I don't know the history of the car at all. But it just looks like a hot rod from the south. Some guy reads all of the hot rod mags he can get his hands on, but can't get to a early Ford coupe or roadster. Instead, he just sort of takes the principles he has translated from the Cali-speak and puts it towards what he does have - a 53 Chevrolet.

I love that... There is so much grit and personality there.

[couverkid]

Well I thought I would give a little history of the car you all are talking about. About 8 years ago I was at Bill Ross's house in yakima,wa. for a picnic and I was 25 years old at the time so many of the older hot rodders didnt give me the time of day. I heard a guy talking to a friend of mine about a chopped and channeled 40 ford coupe in ritzville,wa. I decided one day to try and track it down. It is about 250 miles away but I started calling guys I know. I heard there was a guy in ritzville that raced at bonnneville so I got out my program found his name call him and he sayed Yes I have a couple 40 ford coupes I want to sell all the stuff for $5,000. We talked and I hung up called my dad and sayed listen to this. My dad sayed go buy them this weekend so I did. I built my black 40 coupe from the one car.Another car was this chopped and channeled coupe. I bolted the sheetmetal back on it and set it in the back corner of my shop for a couple years. The guy I get it from was going to part it out to build this other 40 coupe body because the chopped and channeled car had good quarter panels and the other body need them. I thought you are crazy to cut up a chopped and channeled 40 ford coupe(he already cut the floors out and the rear wheelwells). Anyways this is just a small story of that car. When I got it, it had full length fenders as well as running boards on it.The car also had full drip rails and the center bar of the back window was removed.The car at one time was painted competition orange and the interior garnish mouldings where laying on the ground in the grass outside the car.It amazes my how some hot rods change over the years and then go back to the way they where built originally.

[STEPHEN FIELDS]

Originally Posted by Ryan

That could very well be the case. I wasn't around back then, so I can't really state an opinion conclusively. All I can do is restate what I've read and been told.

Some cars I do believe had questionable craftsmanship done to them on the east coast, And I have seen a few of those survivors. but around the dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnatti area There were some very nice East Coast cars built in the 50's and early 60's. There wasnt the amount of quality builds as there was in California but there were some. My 31 roadster is a period East Coast build done in 1959, It was built really well for the time. It of course has the trademark HARD channel and no chop to the windshield. The work done on my car in 59 was just as good as stuff coming out today...BUT when the car was sold to the guy I bought it off of in 1961 he did some really hack job stuff to the car. I have had to cut out and replace everything he did, like when he put the current engine in it in 64, and hung a different rear end in it. I had to re hang the rear end in the car, and new motor mounts and a few other little things. Anyway, I guess it just depends on who built it. The guy that did the original build on my car went on to be a well known body man in the area that painted high end cars (Boyd Spencer) and he still paints cars today at 75. Steve Warling the owner in 59 also is a very good carpenter, who still builds things today too.