Customs Where are all the cool customs in the Northeast?

It seems like whenever my dad and I bring our 50 Merc and 49 Ford to car shows in NY/CT area, there are only a handful of customs in attendance. We feel like all of the cool car owners are moving down south or out west. There are tons of muscle cars and new Mustangs and Vettes. I like those too, but I am a true custom guy at heart. Show me some pics and renew my faith in the NorthEast, PLEASE.

 

Hey there 50MercFrank,

Keep preachin' the gospel of Traditionals and Customs. Our culture is the best and so are the folks!

It seems that you need to move or something?

We love our customs and traditionals in the Northwest.

Mustangs and 'Vettes are evidently the "easy way" for some. NOT me.

 

Seems they are all being sold to Californians, I know of three customs built in Washington and now have homes in California. My Cadillac was originally from Vancouver, WA purchased it from a guy in Richmond, WA...........

CRUISER

 

gorgeous Ford you have thereLemming. Couldn't find any pics of you Caddy Cruiser

 

Looks like you have a large percentage of them right there!

 

That's what I'm looking for. Great cars!

 

Hahaha....in my backyard!!!!!

 

WINTER!!!! thats we we all have them ! drives us nuts and whats a man to do it that situation? take it out on your favorite 40s or 50s cars so you can have sumthin to show your buddies in spring what ya did in your hibernation.

 

Your Merc and shoe box convertible are awesome! Hay you have one of the biggest Lead Sled shows in the country there, Lead East! I go to shows out here in Denver and have the same problem you do.Denver just doesn't have that many customs.We have to travel to see the real kustoms in numbers. Our nearest kustom event is Salina Kansas Leadsled Spectacular. Goodguys events also have a fair share but I know what you mean.It would be nice to see more around your home town. I have a 34 Desoto Airflow custom and I am originally from upstate NY ,Olean NY south of Buffalo. You guys have some of the coolest customs in the country! Think about it your cars are well known in your area so cruz with a smile,You have a car that isn't a bellybutton car.

 

Here is a few pictures of my 50 Club coupe..... I beleive its may be in OHIO

Damn I miss this little car.... Dependable as hell and a great beater.......













Rich
NJ

 

How about this one? Anyone know what happened to it or where its at?
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191328

 

Thanks guys. Nice cars. As for Lead East. I never missed one of them. I've been going since the beginning. There is a problem though. This used to be a show for strictly Customs and some neat rods. Now they are letting in some muscle cars which is turning the custom owners off. I am seeing a trend beginning.

 

still building kustoms in new hampshire.check out the alter boys and road agents shows plenty of kustoms.

 

One Kool Kat.....

Your link didnt work.... Car still looks good... Save your photos to a Photo hosting site (I use photobucket) then you can paste the Hyperlink into the message.....

Im posting a couple of your pictures that you had on the ebay auction site...

Sure wish we could have made a deal on the 55 Bird

Rich
NJ

 

Damn..... I duplicated a Picture.... Here is a rear view....

Rich

 

One Kool Kat...

The offer is still open....

Rich................

 

Thanks for helping Rags. I couldn't open it either.

 

I just happen to have One Kool Cats pictures as I was trying to trade my 55 Tbird project car for a good reliable driver... I have my Tbird on Craigslist with a complete description and 4 photo slide show links.... I'm asking 15k for the car a lot of the hard work is done but I just dont have the time or energy to complete it as Im working on my 40 Ford Coupe over this winter.... So the bird will just sit.... If anybody is really really interested I will gladly send them a link to my ad or a complete copy of the ad.
Here are the photo links..

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u159/KING2230/1955%20Ford%20Thunderbird/1955%20Thunderbird%202001/?albumview=slideshow

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/...rd/1955 Thunderbird 2002/?albumview=slideshow

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/...rd/1955 Thunderbird 2004/?albumview=slideshow

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/...rd/1955 Thunderbird 2008/?albumview=slideshow


Car is an original CALIF vehicle (I still have the CA black plate)

Slide shows are over a period of years and work preformed....

Car is located in North Jersey.... If your interested please keep it off the string and email me via HAMB........

Thanks
Rich

 

Anyone else??

 

Here in Ct

 

That's gonna be a nice 54.

 

Thanks man, its my first

 

Ok here ya go.... This is for the OLD KUSTOM GUYS....

Here is a bit of history......
The following photos were time approx 1957 to 1960
The Car was built and owned by Richard Korkes "Korky's Kustoms" various locations Whippany, Parsippany, Wayne New Jersey..... Korky was a pretty well know Kustom Kar builder back in those days in this area..... As a kid I use to ride my bicycle to his shop in Parsippany just to look at some of the great Kustoms that the shop was turning out at that time.... In 1963 Korky move the shop to Wayne Nj where he employeed me to do light body work and help to launch his trademark interior door handles (Soon to be copied by Cal Custom)..... In 1964 Korky was befrended by George Barris and time approx Sept 1964 Korky packed it in and headed to california and worked for Barris until he opened his own shop Korky's Kustom Studios..... During Richards time with Barris went into the ORIGINAL Batmobile, The Bat Cycle, and various other celib cars.... He also did a lot of work for the film industry building the cars that were used in film car collisions.... Once Korky opened his own shop in Calif the probably best know car was the Corvette Used in "Corvette Summer"..... Korky also desigened and developed products for his Retail Company "Sundowner Louver" Yes! the louvers that were so popular that went on the back windows of many of the late 70' into the early 80's. Sundowner was aquired by Interpart ? Louver company. Korky over the years worked in many shops including Gene Winfield,

Korky was probably best know for his 1954 ford "The Parisienne"

Recently a Clone of the Parisienne was built by a local shop "Joe Sulpy" of Roxbury NJ. Joes car has very similar styling but was base on a Chrysler Doner...

Hope you all injoy the Good Old Stuff....

Rich
Boonton, NJ





Please dont be confused by the dates on the photo..... These are photo of the ORIGINAL Photos hence the date taken........

Now lets take this string one step forward or backward as it may be.... Who has some old car show photos... Come on I know all you Cool Old guys got a shoe box full of old photo that your going to take to the grave.... Get them out and scan them or shoot digitals of those old photos from the North East area... NJ was a Kustom Area... Conn gave us a lot of HOT RODS.... There was a lot of cars coming out of Maryland..... Dig deep guys.... Look in the bottom of that sock drawer.. You got them now go find those old photos.........

PS..... By the way.... The car is still intact... I recently spoke with Gale Black and he now owns Korky's Parisienne........ I do have pictures of the car in its current condition.... Sooner or later I will get them on the board...........

 

I love this car. It is beautiful. You are right. There has to be more photos like this floating around.

 

i need to take some new pics as these two keep getting used over and over, but here's my 51 ford victoria....a kustom born and bred in NJ....hopefully, i'll have it repainted by the spring(wishful thinking)

 

Very nice Victoria. Can't wait to see it painted.

 

leadsledmerc,51box..etc..

 

Thanks for all the cool pics. Really love them.

 

Here's one that was built on the Right Coast and went West and another that was built in California and found it's way East.

 

As Promosed here are some recent photos of the Parisienne... I sure wish this Car could make it back to North Jersey







I hope all enjoys a real piece of North Jersey History

Rich King