this was a 1930 Chrysler Roadster owned by Bob Yeoman of West Haven, CT. The car was built on a '40 chasis and powered by a 1946 merc engine. It was shown at the '57 Hartford Autorama and featured in Rod Builder & Customizer August 1957
This one is BADASS in my book. 1932 Ford Cabriolet owned by Alred Berton of Hamden, CT. Powered by a 1948 merc 286 engine with a Harma & Collins ignition, Bellond headers, Weiend 3 carb manifold, and heads with compression of 10:1. It had kinmont disc brakes and the frame was Z'ed and fit with aircraft shocks to get the right stance. The Carson top was made by Glen Houser of Carson Top Shop. It had 20 coats of metallic bronze paint.It was featured at the '55 hartford autorama where it was valued at $3,000 with its full line of stewart warner gauges.
Now here is a Kustom for you all! this is Clarence Schaaf's '37 Cord Special from Erlton, NJ. it was built on a 37 Cord Chasis with front wheel drive. the body was home built from sheet metal. 1950 stud front fenders and buick rear fenders. red & black custom interior. it had a modified Lycoming v8 and an estimated speed of 135mph.$3700 in investment was made and it took 14 months. it was exhibited at the '55 autorama where it was valued at 7,000. Around 1983 Clarence sold the custom to someone who needed the chasis for a restoration.
this 1939 Ford coupe was owned by Donald Hylands of Springfield, Mass. he bought it new and dorve it awhile before customizing it. It was chopped, channeled, and de-chromed. fenders were molded. Stocker bumpers were replaced. the engine was swapped out for a merc v8. it had a black and yellow interior and a fully chromed dash. in 1955 it made its debute at the hartford autorama painted "sungate ivory". It was valued at $700.00.
makes me wonder where all these cars disappeared to and what kind of photos are sitting in someone's attic somewhere. boggles my mind
no problem. i just added a ton over on vintage shots of days gone by....so let me take a little break and then i will keep searching. ill be sure to add more as soon as i find something
if you click on the above they should enlarge big enough to read about each car and it will give the listed owner and the hometowns of each.
James Karcher's 1950 Ford Convert. Featered in Speed & Custom 1962, Classic & Custom Feb 1982, Eastern Rodder News 1986. It was originally a CT built and owned car. it is now owned by Ray Soff of New Jersey Before: today:
these are some photos of CT area cars from Mark Boccuzzi who is/was a member of the Black Road Auto Club of Stamford, CT
these are more photos from the Black Road Auto Club's site. these are the cars of John De Lelle. http://blackroadautoclub.com/carsofjohndelelle.htm
it seems from my research that CT wasn'y much of a "kustom" fanatic state. the majority of the Kustoms featured at the autorama came from nearby states while the majority of the hot rods came from in-state. from reading various articles i've come across about new england rodding; claimed that while Calif. based rodding magazines promoted the majority of hot rodding influencing everyone to claim that hot rodding was started in Calif (and is the "motherland" of) hotrodding; New England is very rich in hot rodding history. Due to our heavy winters and very muddy springs, only the "diehards" ran fenderless cars; therefore it is very popular to see historic photos of new england hot rods with fenders. Those who lived the glory days claim that hot rodding here was no different than any other area in the country; only that we were located farthers from L.A. Fred Steele of Maynard, Mass was a very popular hot rodder back in the day. He had one of the coolest chopped, channeled roadster around with a four-carb flathead while many young'ns were only running 2. The purple roadster was a magazine feature back in the day...AND he still has the car!
Here is his roadster featured in Street Rodder. it has been impeccably preserved and he believes in preserving it
okey dokey im probably done contributing for awhile. my head and eyes are starting to hurt . If i come across anything totally awsome....i'll be sure to post it here.
some great pictures bob is still in the car scene and shows a caddy and his old chevy is being redone
I saw in a couple of mags that it was in Cali,but then it was on display in NY at that museum showing east coast hot rods last year.
The Fred Steel roadster is in a private collection in Pennsylvania. I remember seeing this red and white shoebox Ford driving around Chester, Pa. back in the late fifties. I've been told that it still exists in Philly.
Rik, if you imagine a moulded in continental kit, you can see where the Golden Sahara rear fenders came from. I think the original version of the Golden Sahara actually had the Kaiser taillights.
Farmergal, I appreciate your contributions to this thread, but it's a kustom thread. No doubt those are very cool hotrods, many of historical significance, but since there are so few kustom only threads here on the HAMB, I'd like to see the ones we have stay that way...Just my opinion....
The Jalopy Journal
