Those pictures I have seen, but wondering if anyone rescued the old whale from its rusty beach. Or if there are any more pictures from the boneyard
What Ever Happened To..........? number 91. 1951 Chevy Owner: Dick Schultz Sedalia, Missouri This week's car is a super example of a mild custom. It just goes to show you how the right modifications--even if there are just a few, coupled with a great color choice, the right hubcaps and tires and a clean interior make for a timeless car that never goes out of style. Dick Schultz put this sweet Chevy together in the mid 80s. Although it looked like many other mild custom Chevys, Dick's had a few modifications that made it very easy to identify. The most recognizable being the molded '53 Chevy grille surround, as well as a single '59 Cadillac taillight frenched into the tops of each rear fender. Other great old time mods were rounding the hood corners, peaking the hood as well as adding a generous amount of louvers. The beautiful blue color was the perfect choice and helped make this custom a real knock-out. During the 80s, there seemed to be quite a few cars like this roaming the streets. Back in those days, the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular was the world's greatest gathering spot to see or be seen if you were into customs. A chance to have your car captured on film and getting a spot in a magazine's coverage of the event was always a possibility, not to mention the chance at earning one of the KKOA's coveted "lowering block" trophies. Man, those were the days! In my video research, I found Dick's Chevy at the '86 Spectacular in Springfield, Missouri, as well as the '87 Spectacular in Springfield, Illinois. Those were the only Spectaculars I was able to find the car at on video. The only photo I was able to come across was on Rikster's site taken by our own @drdave at the 1989 Hangin' Dice Nationals in Fort Smith, Arkansas. In the '86 and '87 video the car was plain blue (if you can call this beautiful color plain lol), but in Dr. Dave's picture you'll notice that "Dad's Toy" had been lettered on the lower front fenders. So sometime between the '87 Spectacular and the '89 Hangin' Dice Nats this little addition occurred. Doc's picture from 1989 was the last sighting I was able to come across of this great sled. I searched quite a bit through my magazine collection, and I came up empty. I'm almost sure I've seen a feature on this car somewhere, and if it was featured, I know one of you super custom sleuths out there will post it. Here's to Dick Schultz and his gorgeous blue '51. Hopefully they are still out there together putting many miles under those wide whites cruising off on another adventure.......... Until next Tuesday, take care! E
Dave Wolk posted this on the Custom Car Chronicle in 2014. "Thanks Keith, I knew from your posts that you live in the area. I’ve been to some really good cruise nights and shows in Sedalia. I’m friends with Dick Shultz form Sedalia. He owned the Snooky Janich 1941 Ford in the late 50’s early 60’s, before George and Steve Mallory bought it. Dick is a diehard custom guy. He has a blue early 50’s Chevy traditional custom, that he has owned for at least 30 years. He is a really good guy." https://www.customcarchronicle.com/forums/topic/the-return-of-the-customs/
Sorry, it`s me again. Me, my dad and Ed must have all have the same likes as far as customs goes. Here are 3 more pictures. The first pic I`m guessing was taken in Springfield Illinois and possibly the 2nd one as well. I`m not sure where the 3rd one was taken.
I know for sure that your first picture was taken at the '87 Springfield (IL) Leadsled, Jim. On the video the '51 was sitting next to the blue Chevy coupe. E
Is there a picture of the rear of that car anywhere? I'd like to see how those taillights were grafted in.
Here it is at the Hangin' Dice '88 (Rik has all my pics, but not all of them are up on his site yet LOL)....including a rear shot for Chaz.
Hey guys here's one I can answer for you. Dick has given his car to his daughter who has covered it with a tarp and parked it outside!!!! Really a shame I think! I have many miles following this old car all over!!! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
A good chunk of the cars in this thread were in Classic & Custom Magazine back in the 80's. My What Ever Happened To question is.... What ever happened to Classic & Custom Magazine? How Many issues of C&C were produced? I have Issues 1-1 (April 1980) thru 5-5 (September 1984) which I believed were all they printed. Then a few years back, I came up with a 7-2 from August 1997! Quite a span of time since the last issue I had! It's by the same publisher, and has the same format. How many issues was it produced that round? As long as I'm at it, How about Tex Smith's Custom Car Magazine? I have 4 issues of that. Any more than that printed?
The publisher of the original Classic & Custom magazine, Rogelio Cevallos, revived it in 1996. I have: Vol 6 No 1 (May 1996) Vol 6 No 2 (Aug 1996) Vol 7 No 1(Mar-Apr 1997) Vol 7 No 2 (Aug 1997) On the masthead of the new magazine, it said it was published bi-monthly (like the original), but I don't think it ever was the second time around. Were any others published at that time?
If I remember right, yes, there were only 4 issues of Tex Smith's Custom Car mag. Unfortunate, I was real excited about it, subscribed and only got one or two issues. Was a great mag, as was his Hot Rod Mechanix magazine.
C&C matured into a nice magazine over the course of just a few issues. Now I'll have to look for those later issues since there are 3 more than what I have from the 2nd life of C&C! Hot Rod Mechanix was a real good magazine, especially right before it was bought out by American Rodder. Did you receive Hot Rod Mechanix for the remainder of your subscription, or just get nothing?
What Ever Happened To..........? number 92. 1951 Chevy Owners: Jim and Cheryl Washington Mount Airy, Maryland When I do my research for the cars I feature, I have a steno pad with lots of little notes scribbled in rows. I'll see a car on a video or in a magazine or book and I'll make a note of which video it was on, or what magazine/book it was in with a page number. If there are some good photos in the magazine (or book), I'll then scan the pics and save them on my computer. At any one time, I might have notes on 25 customs or more. The more reading or video watching I do, the more notes I collect until I finally have enough information to make an interesting post. This week's car is one that I've been chasing information on for quite sometime. This last weekend I was checking out Mick's (@straykatkustoms) "Kustom Blues" thread. I go back and look at pictures in that thread all the time. The pictures posted there are so good and seeing the new posts can be very exciting. Sometimes I go through them too fast 'cause there is so much eye candy to see and I must admit I can miss a few things. As I was going backwards through the pages, a car that was posted a few weeks back jumped off the computer screen at me. It was strangely familiar but it was just a little different than I remembered. Well, a little research through my notes and some time spent looking through some books and magazines revealed the whole story. Jim and Cheryl Washington bought this '51 Chevy as 35,000 mile genie with a bad engine in 1983. Jim found another inline, installed it and then began the long road to make it a custom. The Chevy has been around the custom car scene for many years and has undergone many changes. The mods are pretty mild, but they reflect the old custom style perfectly. The car was shaved, had '55 Chevy headlights installed, a molded '53 Chevy grille shell, '55 Buick side trim and '50 Ford taillights complete with the "wind splits" installed on the rear quarter panels. A scoop was added in the front of the rear quarters complete with teeth. One of the awesome rare items on the car is a '59 Chrysler Imperial grille that was given to Jim by his friend, the late Bob Rice of Toledo, Ohio (W.E.H.T. #54). All these custom changes took place over a number of years as this car wasn't built very quickly, but good things take time. This little Chevy has had many incarnations over the years including a white and dark purple suede job, as well as a two tone peach and white primer job, a baby blue suede with white scallops paint scheme and finally a shiny white paint job with a blue top and matching blue scallops. Since the Washington's live in Maryland, it seems like they never made the trek to the mid-west for the Leadsled Spectacular. I never saw their car at any Spectacular that I have a video of. They did however attend Sled Scene East, as I found their car on videos of the 1987 and 1991 shows, both in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I only have a few of the Sled Scene East videos, so they may have been there more than just those two years. As far as print goes, the Chevy was in both KKOA books. In the first book it was in the peach and white version (in a black and white photo) on page 131. Incidentally, the captions in the book were placed under the wrong cars, so I corrected it for my scan to post here. The picture of the car in the second book was in color and it was the blue suede with white scallops version pictured on page 145. I found no pictures of the white primer with the purple under the Buick trim, but that was the way it looked in the video at Sled Scene East in 1987. It was featured in Kustoms Illustrated Issue #11 back in 2006 on pages 6-11. The car was the blue suede and white scalloped version. It was a nice write-up and the car looked super! I thought that was where the trail of this custom ended, but last weekend I found a picture of the car taken and posted by our own @Dan Greenberg at the Jalopyrama back in October (2017). So, the car is still around with the same owners for about 34 years and counting! I guess that since this isn't a "lost" custom it's a little bit of a disappointment to the kustom hunters that frequent this thread, but you have to admit it's neat that the Washington's custom journey continues with this cooool Chevy. I know there have to be lots more pictures of it out there so let's post 'em up! You'd better hop in that sled (weather permitting) and get your Christmas shopping done. Only 13 days 'til Christmas! See you next Tuesday! E
It amazes me that that after 35 years, this car has pretty much been unchanged for the most part. Body mods and hubcaps. And still owned by the same person. How many people on here can say that. In going to all the shows back then, dad always made the comment that we didn`t fit in because our top wasn`t chopped. We were just the mild custom guys who every body wanted to see the wild customs that we all know today. Thanks again for showcasing the mild customs. As you can see by the last two featured, they are diehards who were there in the early 80`s and have owned there cars for years. The only thing that makes the last two cars mild are that they aren`t chopped. Radically changed as far as mods go but unchopped. Lesson learned.
Neat little car. Jim, I can say I still have the same car after 33 years pretty much unchanged....as unfinished and as bad as it ever was....unlike still on the road and looking good like this Chevy. LOL @40 & 61 Fords tell you the truth, I don't remember if I got Hot Rod Mx for the remainder of my sub or if I just lost out. I had a sub to HRMx already at the time Custom Cars went out and a sub to American Rodder already when they absorbed HRMx, so I have no recollection of my subs got extended or not. LOL
What Ever Happened To..........? number 93. 1951 Mercury Owner: Bob Schuh St. Cloud, Minnesota This week's kustom is a Mercury that is very unusual and is easy to identify due to the unique modifications. The car had the usual chop and shave job, as well as a pair of '59 Cadillac tail lights frenched into the tops of the rear fenders. This was a very similar style custom tail light job to the one done on Dick Schultz's 1951 Chevy featured two weeks ago (W.E.H.T. #91). The real unique modification to this Merc is the front and rear rolled pans with the hand made bumperette/nerf bar style bumpers. These were changed a few times over the life of the car as I'll explain a little later. As unique as this car was, finding information on it was tougher than I thought. I was only able to find the car on the 1984 Leadsled video filmed in Des Moines, and the 1986 video from Springfield, Missouri. One of Rowdie's gals interviewed Bob at the '84 show, and he gave good rundown on the car. Luckily he said who he was and where he was from, that's how I found out his name and home town. On the '86 video Bob can be seen rolling into the fairgrounds with the front of the car going up and down. It obviously had hydraulics--at least in the front. I'd imagine he had them in the rear as well due to the super low stance it has in many of the pictures. It would be pretty hard to drive that low, although it could be done--see Dick Crouther's '50 Merc (W.E.H.T. #1). Now that car was low, and had no adjustable suspension! Dick was hardcore! As far as information about Bob's Merc in books and magazines, I wasn't able to find much. I did find pictures of it in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Volume 1 #5 from 1983 on pages 51 and 56. It was in the article titled "Those Mercs", which incidentally has to be one of the greatest articles on custom Mercurys from the 70s and 80s. You will notice in the black and white pictures I scanned from that magazine that the car had scallops, as well as the rolled front and rear pans. The color pics I found on Rikster's site taken by @Peter Pan of Chicago shows the car no longer had scallops but was flamed, and the rear pan is louvered and the license plate is frenched into the trunk lid. These are the only pictures I found of the car. After the '86 Spectacular, I wasn't able to find anything else on the car. Like so many of these sleds, it just seemed to fade away into history. I'm sure more information on this great Merc will come to light as many of our regulars on here come from Minnesota (like @Moriarity and @PasoJohn) and the Midwest and were "there" attending these shows back in the heyday of the KKOA. I hope you're all getting your shopping done. Only 6 days 'til Christmas! Until next time, be safe! E
I did a quick look for my copies of Super Customs and Hot Rods mags but I can't find them. It seems to me there were pics (color I think) of this Merc in one of them. I vaguely recall it appearing darker. I may have it confused with another car. Then again, I may be completely mistaken...
Also between the two versions, extra grill teeth were added. Hard to tell in the photos but the headlights look a little diffetent too. The peak looks more pronounced on the flamed version, may just be different angle.
Looking closer, the scalloped version has 1953 Chevy grill "teeth". Flamed version has '54 Chevy teeth.
Looks like the b/w pictures show it had a 51 back glass (you can see the edge of the trim) and had '53 Chevy teeth. Color pics have a 49-50 back glass and '54 Chevy teeth. (Sancho beat me to it, must type faster than me) I've got a pic of a real similar looking chopped Merc from Holland Merc/Deuce in 1989, but scanner is down. It's got the same tail lights, but a different back glass (possible shoebox ford??) Whole car is monochromatic light blue, even the stock '51 Merc rear bumper and the Brizio style ribbed front bumper. Not sure if it the same car or not. This post is worthless without a pic.
This may have been covered already (I haven't read all 68 pages but I did do a search...) But the big question locally is "Where is the Zupan Mercury?"
It wasn’t the same car. There are hours of corrections and additions I can add to this thread, I don’t know where to begin. I do see a lot of info that I have provided and photos that I took being used. I guess I’ll start tommorow from page 1 to see what I can pull out of my brain.
The Jalopy Journal
