You ...you are just FOOLS !!! You claim yourself expert, but you can't recognize a radical kustom when you see one ! That truck is a kustom, but if you don't see it it's because it's done in a Chip Foose kind of masturbation... oops sorry, i mean modification It had been chopped 1/1256 inch, sectionned 1/325 inch, wheel well are raised 1/524 inch ! door handles look like stock 50 ford but they 're from a 49 !!! the hood scoop may look stock but they're 48 and placed 1/854 inch forward . that grille may look stock, but each of the teeth had been narrowed 1/532 inch ! that's just a few of the modifications, but there are too much to list . I tell you it's like Foose : it look stock, but that's when you look at the bill then you know it's not !!!
hmmm....interesting theory ZED... may be more pictures of the truck would have helped then...NOT. but I am sure there are 1948-52 Kustom trucks built today somewhere... Didn't Roth had a shop truck that was customized and matches that era? Or is my mind tricking me?...I remember vaguely having seen some Barris film footage where he picks up an award in a stadium for that truck. But as far as I can remember it wasn't this one http://edroth.blogspot.com/2009/07/ed-big-daddy-roths-56-ford-pick-up.html I might be wrong though...
P-L-E-A-S-E "Part of the theme"???? Never heard of that Big Daddy built any pick-up kustoms from this era. Especially not 1956 models... But, I'm no Roth-expert. Take care!
as said....not sure..so no worries next time i got time i check some MFS...and most likely will epically have it wrong
are cragars and 55 caddy headlights worse than a stock truck with 53 caddy hubs ! damn topic pollution ! you can't educate fools !
The pickup and that Chevy needs to go. That H-D saying I had some pages back, needs to be a sticky on every page. To those who understand, no explanation is needed To those who don't understand, no explanation is possible Back on track with a very nice 1951 Mercury ('54 Merc taillights, I'm afraid...) from Sweden. A touch of Sam's -49. Daniels car had the first cut mad by... guess who...
I thought it was sarcastic and mean-spirited. This is an open forum, which means that people "who don't understand" are allowed to post just as much as anyone. If someone isn't following the guide lines of this thread, guide them. We are all grown-ups, aren't we?
i didn't take it as mean spirited. i thought it was funny. some people will take things in the wrong way when things are in print. you cant express emotions on a forum. some people don't really know what a 1948-52 New Old Style Kustoms really are. they just think lowering a car painting the rims red makes it a custom of that time. a truck as a custom. vie seen them and they can look good. the only thing i saw with that red truck was a little lowered and cad caps. to me that doesn't make a custom. it looked all stock besides that. to the owner it might be a custom and thats fine. when you throw a pic up and claim its part of something. there will be people who will let you know if it is or isn't. i think most of the people on this forum are adults. there might be some that are less the 18 years old. well i would of thought that Busted Knuckles was over the age of 18, but i don't know. vie never taking anything on this forum in a bad way. you just have to know that you don't know how the person is typing with what kind of emotion. ive even had people snap at me for things ive written. as for is last post "Wasn't trying to shit in your sandbox! Pic deleted". nobody said you did shit in it. you have to be able to take criticism from others. sometimes its funny other times its hurts.
To some, a custom is pretty much any car that is modified from stock. To guys who are really into customs, they are something much more specific and threads like this help provide some background to help guide others into understanding the (sometimes subtle)difference. We need discussions like this, otherwise customs tend to get lumped in with a sea of modified cars. That is why so many 'custom' awards go to cars that aren't really customs, which further blurs the lines. A little education here and there is a good thing. It is not meant to be a put down if your car don't fit here. Mine doesn't either. This is about a specific era in customizing.
What is traditional and what is not? If a car appears to be a kustom built in the late 40’s early fifties, then how much can we say its traditional if its only the visual appearance of how an early kustom did look and it is a modern car beneath its cover? The question is complicated and since time changes we tend to push our limits in different directions. If a kustom is all traditional in the meaning of 48-52 kustoms, then to me it should have been possible to build it back it, not only in style but with the same parts that could be used then. Then again: How much do we want to copy the way they built kustoms back then? To be honest, many of the early customs was built in a quite crude way, and even if they appeared great on photos, some of them did not carry first class workmanship. The builders were young, and they were still learning, trying out how to work on cars and how to design. Even so, I love the early kustoms more than anything else on wheels. If we today build an early kustom and design it the way that it could have been designed 48-52, lucYily very few builders, if any, intentionally copies poor workmanship, but many copies the best designs from back then, but then again, not many copies the poor designs. By the years we have learned what was good looking and what was not. To everyone that sees a new kustom like John Mearus 36 cpe, it is fantastic car. I love it too. Compared to the early kustoms, it is somewhat different: It has a sbc, an independent from suspension and rack and pinion steering. I never meant that was wrong, that is the parts that we can play with today, and it make the car to handle better and the driving will be more comfortable than the early built customs that sometimes did bump out in every little hole in the road. Then, if you push time forward, lets say to 2050. I may, or may not be around then, time will tell. What do we have to play with then? Its quite likely that very few cars can run on gas, maybe they run on hydrogen? Can we build a 48-52 kustom then, and choose the underpinnings of that time? Maybe a small high torque electric engine hidden in a titan and carbonfibre shell looking like a coby of a 8BA? And a sound system to give the feeling of a real engine? The fenders and body reproduced in a 3d printer in a new material that we yet don’t know about? And everything on the outside is still look as it would have been in 1949? But none of the parts was made then and all are new and exotic materials? Will that be a traditional custom as well? Today, we still have an possibility to use all traditional parts, that is, if we want to do that (and I do...). All these are questions with no answers, there is no right or wrong in this. And I don’t even know why I wrote this, maybe I’m just a stupid die-hard all early kustom fanatic.
That truck aint no crime. I mean, a set of caps is as mild as it gets but when a guy is running wide whites with 53 Caddy caps, its a hell of alot different than any other set of wheels he could have ran. The thing is lowered and the stance is level. The truck could have easily been parked outside any kustom shop, late in the era. If he came on here with chrome reverse or some hot rod wheel, the blasting would be appropriate. If it was a lowered stock 50 Merc convert with 53 Cad caps, I wonder how it would have went over?
Isn`t that what they did back then. Bought a car (pickup) off the showroom floor, added a cool set of hubcaps. Lowered it a bit and then added a cool set of duals. As time and money allowed- did other modifications as well. Sometimes a fender bender speeded up things a bit as far as customizing goes. So what can he do next-- a set of chrome bumpers and a tonneau cover(no fancy designs, that was later on). Any other suggestions. Remember PRE 53 or so custom ideas.
Definitely. And if that happened, then at some point along the way it may have become a custom. But at the initial stages, is just a set of tires and hubcaps enough to transform to 'custom'? If so, then we have to give up and say that as soon as you change a car from stock it becomes a custom, and I think that is the root of the problem customs have in getting recognized as something a little more specific. It does look like a truck you might have seen outside a custom shop back then, and the tire and cap choice would have shown the owner's preference for customs. But I am not sure that even that owner himself would have considered it a custom until he did some additional styling changes other than just wheels and tires. But maybe...
Shave the door handles, Shaved hood, new grill (a painted grill on a era custom) as mentioned bumpers, more radical modifications like chop, section etc. There is alot that can be done and if in fact it the truck has modern underpinnings and drivetrain it is even farther from what JB wanted this thread to be about. I am all for educating guys but I really find it hard to believe that guys even read through threads before they post. They see the title post their picture and then get offened when people call them out about their vehicle having almost nothing to do with what a post is about.
J.B., thanks for this thread... I appreciate the effort to try to fall into a specific time period. I believe sometimes people don't realize the effort that a few put into fitting these guidelines. You'll hear lots of excuses, reasons and opinions. I believe the reality of it all lies in the fact that those of us who are emmersed in this, are in fact "restorers" moreso then customizers or hot rodders... Its just the facts. We have to train our minds to ignore the influence of the time period after which we are focusing. I find myself trying to explain this to people from time to time while discussing ideas for a car. A vehicle not fitting this exacting standard isnt wrong or bad in any way, its just different. Influenced by a different era or style, even be it very small. A style or trend that stuck and is accepted sometimes when looking back and trying to build to a period, that influence is drawn upon not realizing that it may in fact be a later addition...You have to blind yourself to the world that existed the day after the one your trying to emulate... I've done a ton of research on this matter... so hopefully I'm not coming across as speaking without any credentials...I have plans to build a custom someday.. I've been collecting parts.... It will not fit this thread as I hope to create something a few years earlier (around WWII)... Still it will hopefully appear as though I did my homework much like some of the cars on this thread... thanks for all of the great posts everyone Zach
Thanks guys, for helping me out! We need to be a few that tries to point out the difference between an era kustom and just another modified vehicle. I agree, but only to a certain point. It might also be rude to jump in at the last post of a thread, not reading the intentions of the thread and just post whatever you feel like. More threads would be good to be held in the intended direction and evolve in that way. If you don't know what you are driving, please ask someone who knows. No offense to anyone. Just think a couple of times more before hitting the Submit button. Per! What have you been smoking??? We have problems figuring this out already in 2011... And hey Zach! Great to see you, man!
During the 48-53 New Old Style Kustom period was the pant cuff more or less in the 3 inch range? or was the 6 inch cuff still in vogue? or was that a later period? i can't keep 'em straight. Was the t-shirt a v-neck or you was it that you wouldn't be caught dead without a crew neck? Or Was the era of the high and tight crew cut with the chino's, penny loafers and dress shirts? I can understand the frustration you feel. I hate going to a show and see a guy get out of his New Old Style kustom and he gots his pants cuffed 4 inches with chuck taylors. Everybody knows that nobody cuffed 4 inches and penny loafers were period correct not Chuck T's. posers -Fryguy
Thanks Ant! Some people get it and some just dont! I wondered the same thing about the Merc but with sombreros! By the way for all of the talkers the truck is still running the straight axle, i have yet to install the 4 inch dropped axel or flip the rear.
I'm with ya, J.B. Even they who don't get it post here with good intentions, and there's a million ways to tell someone their cars don't fit the intentions of this thread. I just believe some ways are better than others. And yeah, I wanna know what RPW has been smokin' too!
I had that very same reaction for the lowered stock 50 Merc some pages ago and don't forget, 1953 anything are out for that topic, we're talking about 1948-52 i know 53 parts were available at the end of 52, but you know those kulture guys are saying that bags were available on caddys in the 50's ! 48-52 means 48-52 ( i'm not trying to teach you, don't take no offense, i'm just answering )
Ha ha... I guess that the 48-53 New Old Style Kustom period is right now in 2011, so just look around you and and see what's hep. I see where you are going with your post, but we're only talking about the cars here. However, if you want to dress period correct, Chuck T's are out. But cuffs on jeans are in. Even though many guys today choose to wear the more biker style with engineer boots instead of shoes. BACK TO KUSTOM CARS!!!
I don't smoke, I don't even use alcohol... Beacuse nothing beats magazine sniffing! A few minutes with the early ones, and I'm in heaven. And then I see the light and understand that the modern stuff is nothing for me, no matter if it made in 1961, 1981, 2011 or stuff that will be made in the future. I will stick to the early kustoms, its my drug! But now, back to reality and more New Old Style Kustoms!
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