Late 50's Custom-HELP I.D. Original Builder

Hey all you East Coast HAMBER's,
I'm in AZ and could use a bit of East Coast Help/Knowledge/ intel/history/etc.
I'm sure lots of you Kustom guys at some point have seen the article in HotRod/Custom Car-July '84 featuring the car in pix. (hopefully its readable..Sorry i dont have a scanner)
The story goes; The car was built as a gift for a 16 year old that was disappointed it wasn't a 2door. Many years later it was found and resurrected by Barry Atkins of Conn.(sometime early 80's)
Then sold to Roy Niklasson of VT.(around '84) Then sold to Hamber edcodesign's brother-in-law of Conn.(around '85-'86), then traded to Bob Thompson of Conn. (late '88) , then off to Dom F. of Conn. & Dennis D. of PA.
Note: it was not reg by last 2 owners. Then I got it around '05...
The Mystery ; Who was the Original Builder????​

Other facts;

1. the original build color was Blue/Green Heavy Flake.. Inside & out.. Seems to be buried everywhere under several coats of paint.........​
2. At time of build it was a 4 speed car.........​
3. There is a thread from '07 about the possibility of it being the "Barracuda" built by George Liddle from Chicago area about the same time my car was built.. However, I spoke to George last week (along with pix) and he assured me, my car is NOT the "Barracuda"........​
4. Photo's of the car being used as Wedding Limo on 8/8/88 are courtesy of edcodesign........... ( Thanks Ed )​
5. Primo Copy of the magazine are courtesy of StrayKatKustoms......... (Thanks Mick )​
6. Photo's of the "Barracuda" courtesy of Showrod.............. (Thanks Wally )​

Any and All help would be greatly appreciated.. photo's would be awesome!!​

Thanks from wayOUT weST..​

LUKYDEVL​

 

Sorry I have no info for you, but I love your car.

 

What state is on the plate? That might help for starters.

The Rock

 

HMMMMMMMM????? now why didn't I think of that???

 

No idea who built it but I remember the story from 30 yrs ago ! I love the car ,it sure looks nicer than my 55 did when I was 16 ! Do you know if the Barracuda still exists?

 

Bill ( Stu D Baker ) here on the HAMB posted this thread a while back about this car. I believe this was Geoge Liddles . According to Bill he was still alive and kicking ????


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=206539

Drop Bill a PM . He may know more .

 

When I spoke to George last week, he thought the "Barracuda" had been scraped..

 

I contacted Bill a few weeks ago, along with Showrod and George liddle.. The "Barracuda" is the Blue one in the photo... another dead end .. The search continues..

 

Back when that magazine hit the shelf it gave me hope that I would be able to make
my four door '55 Chevy into something that would be considered kool. Your car is proof
that with the right profile, four doors can be kool to. Kool to see that it is still on the road.

The front seats just crack me up. Sure looks comfortable, it would be tempting to take a nap.

Looking forward to seeing more history.

Happy Trails, Mick

 

Hi Luckydevl,
That's me & my wife on our wedding day 8/8/88, twenty three years ago today.
EDCODESIGN

 

Atkins is still around. He runs a used car place in Columbia Ct. I think it's Atkins Action Auto or something like that.

 

Cool.. I found Atkins Auto Sales.. It turns out it was a body shop 30+ years ago.. I talked to Barry a few minutes ago , and he told me what he knows.. When he found the car it was Metal flake Green . The paint was starting to crack and flake off.. He was going to dig thru his photo's and paperwork and see what he could find.. He also said that the Original Builder was from a bodyshop in west Mass. called awleys, or hawleys, rollies??? something like that.. he would try and remember..He thought it was no longer around?? Also the original color at build was RED and was In the WORLD of WHEELS in Mass & New York in the 60's.. RADICAL CUSTOM category.
Anyone have Pix from World of Wheels that long ago??

 

Congrats to you and your wife!

 

Thanks luckydevl you made our day.
EDCODESIGN

 

way cool thread.. man, that had to be a great flash back to your wedding.. cars rock.. we love our cars.. like are DNA is part of the steel.. at least i feel that way.. always wonder what story's some of the cool hotrods, kustoms.. and i have to agree if the 16 year old story is true.. man, he must of been spoiled not to think that car was cool.. i think 4 door kustoms work.. but like with any project.. its all about moderation and what you want it to look like. the builders, care takers of your ride have done her justice. wish you many more years of happy marriage edcodesign,
chris,

 

Maybe try this hamber safariknut . From Mich, but I think he must have been in Mass because he knows a lot of the Mass cars from back then.

He posted on one of the "New England rods and Kustoms" threads by Greenmonster48. There were a few older guys posting there that knew the old stuff too.

 

Thanks F&J.. I sent safariknut & Greenmonster48 a PM.. Lots of cool pics on the New England Thread!

 

Got your PM. Don't recognize the car, but I'll ask around.

 

For anyone looking for old custom cars from the East Coast from the 50's through the 90's an interesting guy to talk with is Ray Soff.

Ray writes stories for Kustoms Illustrated and is known as the East Coast Rod & Customer Historian.

I have talked to Ray in the past and this guy can tell you the complete history of almost any custom car that was ever on the front page of any car magazine.

I happened to have a March 1962 Speed and Custom magazine in front of me and I asked him about the car on the cover a 50's Ford ragtop and he went through the whole history of the car. Then he told me that he now owns the car!!!

Ray Soffs phone number is 201-796-8948 and his address is 84 Alberta Drive Saddlebrook, N.J. 07663

Ray is a nice guy who just loves old custom lead sled cars and his knowledge of cars and their history is something else.

Jim Hill

 

You got lucky it seems, i mean #18 posts and you already got some new info from the Atkins dude.Simply great.
Oh yeah, i always loved your car.

Now, i know its not why you posted this thread, but i was thinkin, if you did a side trim like on the Barracuda your car would greatly benefit from it...or its just me.
Keep us posted on the news.

 

Cool.. Thanks for checkin it out.

 

bump... ANYBODY?????
THANKS..

 

Ray,s the man on any old customs i know that the car was at lead east maybe 10 or more years ago

 

BUMP , BUMP, BUMP... I'm still waiting and looking.. anyone???

 

Update:
I have been talking to Ray Soff back and forth for about a month . Turns out he was friends with Red McCormick ( the owner of this car before Barry Atkins), Red passed several years ago, but Ray had the phone # of Maggie (Reds ex).. I talked with her a few times and she was able to find an old Polaroid of the car in Monster Flake Teal.. She sent it along with a few other photo's of her bitchin 32-34 Hot Dog wagon.. She still works from it Mon -Fri , and has for the past 38 years.. She's a very nice lady with lots of great kustom car stories from back in the day. I also received some pix from Mike Gintic who was friends with Red also.. Mike told me in the letter that Red sold the '55 to buy 2 Caddy Eldorado's, in which he chopped them both , and he and Maggie drove them for a few years.. His was all black, hers was silver & black. Both Eldo's were sold to finance the shoebox attached.. (Red is in the suspenders) Mike also wrote that the ford was Done by Hal's Auto Body in San Rafael, Cal.(1958) for Burt Hammel, and was featured in Car Craft oct 1959.. Red also had many other well known Kustoms over the years.. Some he bought finished, others he did. He also had a Louver press and did hundreds of hoods, trunk lids, and everything else he could. He was quite well known in the Custom Car Circut. Red's good friend was Rich Pichette, founder of West Coast Customs. I'm still waiting for the pix from Barry Atkins.. last time I spoke to him, he was cleaning up damage from the recent Hurricane..
Note:
The early photo of the 55 has not yet been louvered , no spots, lake pipes, rear bumper, and different hub caps. Lots of progress, but still looking for Original Builder??? maybe these photo's will spark a memory..
Thanks for looking!

 

LUCKYDVEL, good to see your getting close on your search, good luck, Ed.
P.S. check my album I just picked up a 31 A.

 

small world I saw that green shoebox at a show this summer.

Good luck and keep digging. It's like kustom car detective work

 

Wish it had been me, great car.

 

This is why I love the HAMB, very kool history pictures of your 55. It is kool to see it
go through all of the changes. Very Kool!

Happy Trails, Mick