What a beauty! I've never seen this one before, but it sure is sharp. You are right Ed, 60 Pontiacs don't need much, just a clean shave and a lowering and you're home.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 259. 1950 Oldsmobile Coupe "So Fine" Owner: Doug Fox Franconia, Virginia Doug Fox was quite a prolific custom enthusiast and builder in his own right. I don't know if he ever built a hot rod, but he put out some outstanding customs over the years. My personal favorite was his '50 Chevy Fleetline that was featured in The Rodder's Journal Issue #5. I tried to scan pictures of it, but the book was too fat and I didn't want to risk splitting the binding spine. I'm sure someone has some pictures of it to share. I'd have to say a close second to the Fleetline of my favorite Doug Fox customs was this week's feature car, Doug's 1950 Oldsmobile coupe. It had a mile deep black paint job and a flame job that looked like one of the great paint gurus of the 1950s laid out and shot in some little back alley body shop. Being from Virginia, Doug seemed to stay mostly on the East side of the country, attending Sled Scene East a number of times, and the Leadsled Spectacular once, at least in this Olds. The first round of pictures were taken from Rowdie's video of Sled Scene East 1986. Our first shot tonight is a picture of Doug towards the very beginning of the video cruising up towards the entrance to the park. Here is a little better shot of the car after Doug settled in and parked for the event. Here's a few shots of Doug rolling through the grass at the park. First is somewhat of a 3/4 shot. And another of the car cruising away from the camera. Those were the only stills I got of the car at Sled Scene '86. Surprisingly, there wasn't much video footage of it at that show. The next video I found of the car was once again at Sled Scene East, this time in '87. For '87, Rowdie did an interview with Doug, and he shyly filled in the viewers about his car. Doug seemed very full of life, but maybe a little shy. His southern accent is very fun to listen to. I could listen to Southern folks talk all day long. My father-in-law was born and raised in Alabama, and I truly enjoy spending time with him having some great conversations and taking in the neat southern expressions he always comes up with. Doug mentioned the car was pretty much a mild custom with "a little bita flames on the frunt". Doug didn't say enough about the black paint job as the car was beautiful and straight as an arrow. Like I mentioned above, the flames looked great too, and period correct all the way. Rowdie picked a great spot to do interviews in '87, right by the lake in the park. Here's about the best profile shot I was able to get from the video. Rowdie stood back and panned the car from front to back. What a looker! A few neat details are revealed by the slow front to back shot. The louvered hood immediately jumped out at me, as well as the shaved door handles, but the rear fender spears with the factory taillights were wisely retained. I've always thought they looked super cool! Another thing is that in '87 Doug decided to put some skirts on the car. Nice! A close up shot of the nose of the car shows the simple white striping that looks like that same 50s paint guru I talked about earlier might have done. Single color and stripe style reminds me of early Von Dutch or Dean Jeffries work decades ago. A quick glance at the rear of the car shows a shaved trunk lid and some more simple white striping. Doug definitely knew all about old 50s style customizing! Returning to the front and popping the hood we see a little paint detail of the car's knick name, "So Fine". The artwork looked very nice. Sorry for the blurry shot. Behind the breast plate is the very impressive and beautifully detailed engine. Doug said it was a '57 Olds J2 with a tri-power linked to a four speed hydra-matic. I'm sure this little car could boogie as from what I've read Doug was a racer at one point and he was a big fan of all kinds of racing. On the inside Doug kept it simple with black vinyl. It was hard to tell in the video, but it looked like very skinny tuck'n'roll pleats. The dash board was so shiny it was hard to look at. The black paint and chrome accents on the instruments was a treat for the eyes, and the steering wheel was gorgeous! The dash boards of old cars were true art. The designers in those days were definitely on top of their game! You might be wondering what that pole and hand thing was on the floor. I never saw it in use on the video, but it looked to be a broom handle with a hand on the end. The hand looked to be cut out of construction paper, and it had Hi Rowdie! written on it. I guess that maybe Doug would put it out the window when he cruised in front of the camera to get Rowdie's attention as he filmed. This is the type of thing Doug seemed like he would do as he seemed like a quiet type of guy that was actually a real prankster. Doug seemed like a very nice and likeable guy. The only time I saw the '50 at a Spectacular was in '88 in Holland, Michigan. The car looked to be the same as the footage from the Sled Scenes, but it was outstanding as always. In '88 the skirts were once again off the car. A close look also shows the lake pipes are gone, and sneaker pipes are hiding right under the front fenders. This little detail takes the car from "low and slow cruiser" to "let's go to the track!" For our last shot tonight, we get another view of the engine. It's a little easier to see where the "So Fine" was, and we get a glimpse of the amount of detail in the engine compartment. Check out the cool polished brass on the top of the radiator! Doug went all out on this car, like he always did on all of his customs! After the '88 Spectacular, this sweet little black Oldsmobile seemed to disappear. Doug built many fine customs over the years, and maybe he had to sell this car to continue on with the next one, I really can't say. Sadly, Doug passed away in November 2017 leaving a void in the East Coast custom scene. I remember finding out the news right here on the HAMB. He is one guy I would have really liked to have met. Rest in peace Mr. Fox.......... https://updikefuneralhome.com/tribute/details/1101/Douglas-Fox/obituary.html So "What Ever Happened To..........?" the sweet little '50 Olds coupe known as "So Fine"? Anybody out there know? Inquiring minds want to know, so fill us in! Well, Easter is in the rear view mirror. I hope everyone had a blessed day and you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. We had a relatively quiet day, but it was nice. The weather was outstanding! Next on the ol' calendar is Cinco de Mayo. It's a big deal 'round these parts, as most Hispanic folks like to get out and celebrate the day. It's always nice to see family and old friends, brightly painted lowriders, and the godfathers of customs, the bombas! It's always a good time with family, friends and great food. It should be fun! Any car show activities sound great to me, as it seems like things are slowly returning to normal. We got some cruising time in last weekend and that was nice. I hope you guys got to waste some gas and put some miles under your tires too. Keep cruisin' everyone! I'll see you next week! E
Me and dad both took pictures of it when it was at the KKOA show in Michigan. Notice the forsale sign.
Doug and his friends, attended many, many, KKOA and Lead easts. Donnie Strother (pinstriper), Carl, Tootie, Burt Z., and others. Doug build so many customs, all in fine taste. His baby blue Chevy was in Rodders Journal. They were a great bunch of guys, all very friendly, and FUN. The stories they would tell! I was so privileged to have met them, and hang out with them at several shows!
I've never seen Doug's Olds. I did/do love his Fleetline, though. It's actually the car I scanned a million years ago as the base for a Photoshop I did for my own Fleetline at the time. Seems I don't have the blended file with the page center blended, but here's at least the two sides put together. LOL
This photo was posted in 2014. Found it here: https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/gallery/r-c-0968-1960-pontiac-custom-convertible-pink/2572290/
Man, you guys have been busy! Finally! A few nice pictures of Doug's Olds. Since the car had a for sale sign in it, it makes sense that it may have been sold shortly after the '88 Leadsleds. Wonder where it went. Thanks for sharing Jim! E Thanks for the reply Mark! Always nice to hear custom stories about the good times. E Thanks for sharing the Fleetline scan Doc. I dug out my old Rodder's Journal #5 to try and scan it for this week's write up like I mentioned and it didn't work. I hadn't looked at the Fleetline in quite sometime, and seeing it again brought back that great, giddy, custom feeling. Such an outstanding yet very subtle sled. Love it! E Hey man, where you been? Glad to see you post Brother. We've missed you 'round here. Hope you and the family have been well. Like always, a super reply with great information! E
Doug also had a pretty bitchin 1960 el camino, I don't have a pic but I was at the Auburn fall auction about 10 years ago and stood by helplessly (no bidder number) and watched it sell for 14 grand
Bummer, 14 grand for that El was a deal! E I remembered seeing that El Camino in your video John, but I didn't know it was Doug's. He built some really cool customs over the years! E Awww man, why do people do that? I've never liked the big wheel thing. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going away any time soon..........E
Love the info guys. Here is a pic of his El Camino I took in 2002 in Ohio at a KKOA show. It rained hard that morning and the grass was very green.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 260. 1961 Ford Thunderbird "Cotton Candy" Owners: Jack and Sally Evans Annapolis, Maryland The Evans' were another custom family that seemed to stay on the East coast. Being from Maryland, I guess that was understandable. I did quite a bit of research on this one and I didn't see their pink Thunderbird at any Spectacular that I have a video or DVD for. They did frequent Sled Scene East though, and they were there a few times. I'd be willing to bet they were there more than I found, but my small Sled Scene East collection only showed they were there a few times. The first sighting I found of their car was in the first KKOA book that was printed in 1992. They submitted a picture of their car and it was printed on page 92. When I first saw the car I was thrilled to see it, but I was a little disappointed that it was only a black and white shot. Here in Denver, the Metalflake Misfits had our own Thunderbird fever going for a while back in the early 2000s. My friend Mitch and his (then) wife traded a very nice '87 VW Golf to "Elvis" (Tom) at a little vintage car lot called "Oldies But Goodies" that used to be down on Broadway in old town Englewood. We always called Tom "Elvis" as he always had his hair slicked back and he looked like the real deal from the good ol' days. Amanda (Mitch's former wife) had her choice of a '64 Thunderbird that was flat black and a pink '61. Both cars had their own cool factor, but I tried to talk them into the '64 because it was a running driving car. It just needed the fun stuff and it was ready to roll. Most of the guys agreed with me, but Amanda wasn't having it. She was dead set on the '61. It needed a lot of work. It didn't run, the transmission had a big leak--you could tell by the large puddle of transmission fluid under the car, and the dashboard was torn apart with wiring going all over the place. Any of you that have ever messed with those old Fords of the 60s know how the wiring could be, especially in the early luxury cars with power everything like T-Birds, Continentals and so on. The decision was made and the '61 was dragged home to Mitch's place. Charlie got on the job and within a few weekends he got the "Pink Nightmare" as I used to call it running--but not very well. The carb was shot, and it needed a radiator and a water pump. Davey and Pugsley got under the car to figure out the leaky trans and it turned out to be a leaking tranny pan gasket and drain plug. A quick run to the auto parts store and it was all buttoned up. Surprisingly the car moved under its own power--but not very much. It still needed the parts mentioned above. As for the wiring, I tore into it tracing wires and I managed to get everything working except for the radio. After two weeks of working on that wiring I was having nightmares about wire strippers, zip ties, fuses and test lights chasing me in my sleep. Therefore the name "Pink Nightmare". This all happened around the summer of 2002. I remember because Amanda was pushing to take the '61 to the Leadsled Spectacular in Lancaster, Ohio that year. I told Mitch she was nuts as that was a long trip to take an unproven car. Luckily for us, the radiator shop was backed up and the radiator wouldn't be done in time to go. Turns out the only one of us that got to go that year was Charlie. Mitch's Chrysler developed a bad stalling problem, and Davey had a falling out with his parents and he was forbidden to go. Davey was a kid fresh out of high school with some very over protective parents. Pugsley couldn't get the time off of work to go, and my Buick's hydraulics were having an issue where the car wouldn't stay up. When Charlie went to the Spectacular, we were all disappointed that we couldn't go, but we stayed busy. Mitch's stalling problem turned out to be a clogged fuel filter, and my Buick need a new dump valve and that solved my problem. Davey patched things up with his folks, and Amanda's new radiator was picked up Friday night--the Friday night were were supposed to be in Lancaster. Those of us that were here went for a cruise that Saturday night and we had a good time, but it wasn't like being at the show. Over the winter of 2002/2003 Mitch and Amanda's rocky marriage fell apart and in the early spring they decided to divorce. By that time the Thunderbird was actually running pretty good and was being driven around some. Amanda decided she didn't want the car and wanted to sell it, but she wouldn't sell it to any of us. Mitch even offered her quite a pretty penny for it and she refused. Long story short, she sold it to another guy we know here in town for way less than any of us had offered her just to be vindictive. The car was truly a "Pink Nightmare". Ok, back to the Evans' '61. The first show I saw their car at was at Sled Scene East in 1992. The car was shown quite a few times on the video. It was nice to finally see the car in color. It was pink with light purple scallops, and a purple vinyl top. Yes, you read that right, a purple vinyl top. When you say it out loud it sounds pretty bad, but it actually looked cool. The front end was reworked and the hood was extended down to shroud the headlights. Nice modification that I'm sure was very time consuming. Out back the taillights and bumper were molded. Hard to tell in that last picture, but the car had scallops on the trunk lid. Like many customs, it had a name lettered on it somewhere. The Evans' has "Cotton Candy" on the edge of the trunk. The '61 also had a frenched antenna on the passenger side quarter panel. The size of the teardrop hole is one of the longest I've ever seen on a sled. The last shot I got from the '92 video was at the end of the show when the Evans' were heading for home towards the fairgrounds exit. The next time I saw "Cotton Candy" on a DVD was at Sled Scene East '93. The colors on the '93 DVD are more vivid than my copy of the '92 show, but the car was only show once briefly cruising down the road in the fairgrounds passing Video Bob as he was filming. I have six different Sled Scene East show tapes/DVDs. 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2004. I didn't see the car on '86 or '87, and it was on '92 and '93. If it was there in 1994 it wasn't on the DVD. The car made its final appearance on my copy of the 2004 Sled Scene East that I rarely watch. Once again the car just cruised by the camera a few times and that was it. Just a few brief seconds and it was gone. At this time I don't know if the car was sold and a new owner changed it up, or the Evans' did it themselves. The scallops are gone, as were the triple cap lake pipes. The most noticeable change was the grille was reworked and modern square headlights were used. I suspect the car may have had a fender bender. Out back it looks pretty much like in '93, but "Cotton Candy" was no longer on the trunk. Hard to tell in the photo stills, but the top was still in purple vinyl. Our last shot tonight is of the car pulling out for the last time again heading for the exits. There never were any good shots of the interior, engine or other details on any of the videos. 2004 doesn't really seem to be all that long ago, but it's inching towards 20 years ago and a lot can change in that time. I really would like to find out more about the Evans' and Cotton Candy. I hope some of you East coast cats have some details and stories to share. Well guys, we got a GREAT surprise from our landlord late last week. She has decided that our place needs new carpet, so we have to move all our furniture on our main floor. This is where we spend the majority of our time. Our living room, kitchen and our two upstairs bedrooms are on this level. Also, my little corner office in my living room is on this level as well. We have to completely clear the main floor for the carpet workers that will be here working on Saturday and Sunday. Moving the furniture around is only part of the job, it's having to disconnect all of our electronics (TVs, computer, etc.) to move, and then moving everything back and putting it all together again. With all that being said, there is no way I'm going to be able to post another lost custom next week. I'm pretty sure we will still be trying to sort out everything and get our house back to normal. I think everything should be all sorted out and I'll be back in business on the 27th--at least that's my hope. We have a big job ahead of us, but we already have quite a bit of our furniture moved into our kitchen (thankfully that is tile and doesn't need to be carpeted) and the basement. I keep telling Johnnie it's like moving without going anywhere. I'm sure the new carpet will be nice, and once it's all over it will be a nice change, but on this side of things it is no fun. I hope everyone understands. I'll be back on April 27th with another forgotten custom. Also, I've got a few new wrinkles in the works for the thread that I think everyone will enjoy, but mums the word on that for a while longer. So, for the next few weeks, keep cruisin' and looking for those lost customs that we love so much. Take care everyone, and I'll see you in a few weeks! E
Jackie was at just about every Sled Scene East, AFAIK. Great guy, and he was acting as KKOA's Safety Director. Doing inspections for guys on their car. I think he was also a State Rep for Maryland, as well. He may have had another customs as well as the T Bird.
Thanks for the reply Mark! Those Sled Scene East shows looked like a lot of fun. I wish I had made it to one before it went away. We all miss Blaine Kauffman, but I'm sure the East coast custom folks really miss him as he was the heartbeat of that show! E
Congrats on the new carpet Ed! Praying already for your back! LOL Cool Bird, I've never seen it before. I liked it better with the frowning round headlights though than the rectangular ones. Looked way cooler with the hood hanging over the lights.
Thanks Doc! So far it hasn't been too bad as my better half got some sliders that make moving big furniture a lot easier. The rough part is all the running up and down the stairs taking boxes and smaller tables, etc. downstairs. For the real heavy items we have reinforcements coming over tomorrow night to finish the big stuff. That's when my computer will go silent as the last of the furniture will be moved on this level of our house. I dread having to hook up all the electronics again after the carpet is done. Oh well....... I agree on the front end of the 'Bird. I don't totally hate square headlights in some cars, but the headlights in the last version of this car aren't working for me. The headlight change eliminated the "frowning round headlights" which gave this car some cool custom attitude. Sometimes it's better to leave early modifications as they are. E
As I look through this thread, it's items like square headlights or 80's Caddy taillights that really make me cringe. Sure they were done, but I don't want to see them now. I kinda think if a car can't be found now (the whole raison d'etre of the thread), it might be because of the hideous things that were done to it after it's heyday.
December of 58 Rod and Custom featured a 53 Olds built by Jesse Giobbe out of Wilmington Delaware. Anyone know if the car is still around?
There was a Joe Giobbe and Son Autobody shop on N Scott and Conrad Sts in Wilmington for years but I think it's closed now. Been a while since I was in that part of town.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 261. 1955 Oldsmobile Owner: Ray Rainkerhill Gasport, New York This week's custom is another car that seemed to make very few appearances at shows. In all my video watching I was only able to find this car at one show, and that was at Sled Scene East in 1994. This surprised me as the car is an outstanding custom and you would think it would have been all over the place, especially in the East. Before we get going, I have to mention the pictures I'm posting aren't very good. They are all still shots off the video, and everything I'm posting is all I could find. On the '94 DVD, the Olds only made a few appearances, but thankfully "Video Bob" Huff's shots were pretty good. The car was painted a light green with darker green scallops. The grille looks great, but I never could identify it. I can't recall seeing anything like it before. A closer look shows that the factory headlights were molded. This makes for a tougher job of changing burnt out headlights, but the style points make it worth it! Moving to the rear of the '55, you'll see one of the East Coast custom staples, a Connie kit. Note the bubble skirts. A close up of the art on the spare shows a small group of Hollywood legends. You see this type of thing quite a bit nowadays, but in '94 it seems like this was not too common. For the interior, someone spent a ton of time sewing buttons. They are everywhere, even on the floor mats! The dark green buttons are a nice contrast to the white vinyl. I don't know the significance of the alligator, but his green color matched the interior perfectly. The number of buttons in the interior staggers the mind! The rear seat area is more of the same, button city! Note the "For Sale" sign in the rear quarter window. One of the events at KKOA shows that I particularly enjoyed when I attended the shows in person was "How Cool Can You Cruise?" I participated in it at the 2000 Spectacular and it was a blast. My friend Charlie video taped the whole thing and it's fun to dig out that video and re-live that night every now and then. Those were the days! The Rainkerhills participated in this event at the '94 show. Here is Jerry Titus interviewing Mrs. Rainkerhill and company. The Rainkerhill's skit was to make it sound like Mrs. Rainkerhill "stole" the keys and cut out to go cruising. Along the way, she stopped off to pick up a few of her girlfriends to come along. They played it off well and it sounded like they were having a great time! After the interview the gals cruised off in the gorgeous Oldsmobile. The pipes on the car sounded soooo good! Nothing like a sled that not only looks the part, but sounds the part as well! I tried to get a shot of the rear of the car driving away, but it was just too blurry. I figured it would have been a fitting final picture as after that video moment, the car seemed to cruise off into custom history, seemingly never to be seen again. So "What Ever Happened To..........?" the Rainkerhill's awesome Oldsmobile? This car has the look that our friends overseas seem to really be drawn to, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it ended up in Europe or Japan. Maybe it stayed here in the good ol' U. S. of A. and it has just been under wraps or has been redone with a new look. At any rate, I hope that someone in our custom family has some insight and can fill in the gaps in the story of the Rainkerhill's cool green cruiser! I'm back! It was a tough couple of weeks, and I'm happy to say it's all over. We still have a little more to do, but for the most part everything is back together. What a job! The new carpet is nice. We had a heavy snowstorm last week, so right in the middle of all this moving project a branch about 20 feet long and nearly 8 inches in diameter decided to break off. Normally not a big deal except it fell off right on the roof of my retired police car daily driver. When I looked out the front room window and saw that large branch on the car I had visions of broken windows and a caved in roof. Thankfully it just put a small dent in the roof and trunklid. It could have been so much worse. It took some doing to get it off of the car as it was very heavy. With my great neighbors' help we cut it up into a few pieces and it is still sitting on the grass waiting for the tree crew to come and haul it away. Whew, it was a crazy few weeks! I hope everyone has been well and out and about enjoying the weather. Maybe once the dust settles here I'll be able to do more of that myself! Until next week, stay cool! E
Cool car! I'm a sucker for "sea foam" light green.....guess the Hirohata dreams in my head. LOL Having tucked and tied just a couple dozen buttons on the fresh seats in my Model A, I can just imagine the fun of doing all those in the Olds....my fingers are tired just thinking of it. Glad you survived the carpet shuffle....how many Advil did it take? LOL You got lucky on that branch. I had one fall on my truck a few years ago and do a number. Good news is I got a nearly full repaint out of the deal. Haha!
The buttons don`t look like they are pulled down very far. So maybe they are prong styled. Poke them in and spread the metal tabs apart.
Surprisingly I wasn't sore at all. The whole project was another kind of pain though. (lol) E When I first saw the car I thought the same thing, but the grill in Mr. Rainkerhill's Olds looks to be flat. The grille on a '57 Buick has some forward curve to it. E I'm sure it was a labor intensive job, but it can always be more work. Years ago I helped an upholstery friend of mine do a biscuit tuck lowrider style interior with buttons at every connecting seam. Something like the door panels of this lowrider that @JalopyJoker posted in the "Plush and Padded" thread. The only difference on the interior I helped on is the biscuits were made of about 3 inch thick foam with the buttons way down in the connecting seams. Now that was a lot of work and very time consuming. The buttons were in the foam so deep you could barely see them. It literally took a whole summer of evenings and weekends to finish! E
Referring to the black flamed Olds coupe? The flames are definitely not the same, so I don't think so. I'd guess that great minds think alike.
The Jalopy Journal
