I heard rumors that the outlaw 356 Porsche shop was in my hometown of Hickory N.C. Somebody in Hickory all of a sudden is selling a lot of 356 stuff on e-bay from here. Just wondering, I havent found out anything .
Well the Jilek Ford sold for less than the restoration costs !!!!!!! Yikes ! only $210K. Someone got a great deal. I dont find this very surprising. I guess its just a sign of the current economic times.
Great thread! I see Gary once in awhile----the apple didn't fall from the tree,he is just like his Pop---great talent.He has brought the hot rod flavor to the Porsche world with great results.
WOW! Sorry for bumping this... but damn the Valley Custom guys had it figured out... *must resist the urge to section my 36* *must resist the urge to section my 36* Amazing work and thanks a million for this goldmine Rikster!
Already been 6 years. 6 years ago on this day we lost a true craftsman , Neil Emory R.I.P. Long Live Valley Customs.
Just saw a link from Mary Ellen gt350lady while researching the Mobilgas Economy Runs and have to add some comments. I have a 50+ year interest in the Economy Runs from growing up in Los Angeles and seeing these well decorated and lettered cars driving around in the Springtime and have since developed a nice research library on these events going back to the Gilmore Economy Run days in the late 1930's and early 1940's with lots of information still to hunt down. The Color Pictures of Ina Mae Overman and Ford entries both here and on the Website are teriffic as color pictures are very few and far between ... by chance are there others you are working on posting even if they do not involve Fords? Also, Floyd Clymer published a yeary book on the Economy Runs and in his 1957 Edition there are several pictures of Ina and others participating.
As far as we know, those are the only photos we have. I'm glad you like them. We had a copy of the Clymer book but don't know where it is at the moment. I would like to see those photos of my mom. I'm in-between houses right now so a lot of things are in limbo. I will try to add more to my website when we're into the new year.
I added a few more photos of the Lincoln today to my website: www.gt350lady.com I am looking forward to the GNRS at the end of this month and plan on attending Saturday the 29th. I hope to meet up with people who share an interest in the Lincoln and the other Valley Custom cars. It will be nice to put faces to the many names I've been in email contact with over the past several years. Mary Ellen
Hello Mary Ellen, Thank you for adding the fantastic new photos of the Lincoln to your site. They are so great to look at. I'm looking forward to meet you at the GNRS... I cant wait!
I have finally uploaded my page for the 2011 GNRS "Gathering of the Customs." Here's the link: http://gt350lady.com/GNRS-01.html My son and I had a great time. Mary Ellen
It was quite an unbelievable experience to meet everyone on Saturday afternoon. I'm still awestruck. Meeting Mary Ellen,Walter,Ree,Ron,Jan, Tom and Glen all at the same time was very memorable. Glen's telling of the lady and her young daughter that would stop by the Valley Custom shop and take him along to the car shows and races when he was in high school was remarkable . It was quite the experience when Glen and Mary Ellen realized that she was that young girl and he was the young man in the story. Thank you all for making the special effort to attend this event.
Hey Larry, Was that shot of the Lincoln in gold a new discovery to you? Ya said that was a "fleet colour "?? I'm likin the gold over the white anyday, now!! " Life ain't no Disney movie "
Several pics of the Lincoln are recent posts by Mary Ellen. There are many pics of the Lincoln in the gold paint and while I'm unsure of the exact formula for the gold as originally painted at Valley Customs, We have matched up existing patches of gold on the car to a matching chip in the DuPont color books we have at the shop. These books are sometimes referred to as a fleet color chip book but they are a reference for obsolete color formulas. It was good to meet you at the GNRS . Hope to see you again.
Yeah, great meetin you too, Larry and the fact that the Lincoln made it out west, again! There was more kustom history in that one building than will be seen for some time to come, if ever again! Serious kool!! " The one thing all nations share is the fear that a member of the family will want to be an artist "
Here are some nice in progress photos of the Valley Custom Shop built 1951 Chevy for John Dietrich. In progress photos from ebay. And here is a photo of the car after Neil and Emory finished it. Photo from the Overman Collection.
Bringing this back up for some history lessons. Maybe someone new might see the big difference in what was done back in the day. They did things the right way. not over chopping and having everything laying on the ground looking like its broken.
The Emorys have a facebook page that mimics the web site . There is some different info posted. Someone posted a question of a VW customized in the 70's done at Neil Emorys " Hoot and Holler Wagon Works " and wondered if this car was done by Neil of Valley Customs . While its outside of the golden years of Valley Customs it could be another chapter in the story. Anyone able to shed some light on this ? http://www.facebook.com/ValleyCustomShop?sk=photos
Larry, Gary, Neil's son, was and I think still is into VW modification. I think Neil had input into Gary's passion. Porsche, which is owned by the same company as VW, was also part of Gary's automotive involvement. Gary's son Rod, Neil's grandson, currently has a business restoring and modifying Porsches. Rod is also racing a Porsche around the U.S. Mary Ellen
Gary Emory is a Porsche guy but also a hot rodder. He has HAMB'y cars and a 1926? tub in the works. Here's "Emory Motorsports" Facebook page. (Porsche) http://www.facebook.com/EmoryMotorsports Gary probably got interested in Porsche through his VW connection. He is credited with building the 1st VW Baja Bug around 1967ish. He said he couldn't afford a 'new' Meyer's Manx, so built the Baja. We had crossed paths a couple times in the late 70's / early 80's. I had a visit from Gary a few days ago. What a blast. He had a box of old Valley Custom pictures. The more we talked, we discovered a couple mutual friends from 'back in the day' SoCal desert. I thought one of the coolest pictures he had was taken a few seconds apart from the one below. It's almost the exact same picture but showed Gary at about 6 years old, taking a picture of the streamliner. Gary said his dad had built him the non-functioning camera out of wood. Photo from Valley Custom Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ValleyCustomShop?sk=photos Gary gave me a couple of his dad's business cards for wallhangers. They're printed on both sides.
HISTORY LESSON TIME !!!! Look these guys build cars that were CLASSY not TRASHY. Maybe for people will start building CLASSY CUSTOMS again.
The Jalopy Journal
