Features Too much of a good thing? Custom Accessories.

Then there was the local guy where I grew up.Late 50`s early 60`s.62 Chevy.Entire dash and about 1/3 of the headliner space was all aircraft gauges.All worked,including the air speed indicator.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

They are still available but without the speaker.

 

Fuzzy Dice on anything!..............................Centurion9

 

I'd agree with the "fake" anything; dummy spots, portawalls, hood scoops, etc.
Known back then ask "gook wagons" or "schlock rods".
Que up Jan & Dean's "Schlock Rod". Says it all;

 

Uhh Ohh...............they might be referring to my red plastic bug deflector with the
chrome naked lady............

 

Cruising through Pep Boys and buying one of everything is definitely not a good look.

 

Never understood those pipe organ speaker cover things.

Not exactly an add on:
One of the worst would be at a show when someone has stupid skulls on the back deck or a full skeleton at the wheel.

 

Question from a young guy, maybe I can get schooled. I have heard people explain that the difference between a bell-flower style custom and a low rider, in some cases, was only a zip code. I don't agree with that completely, because I have noticed each of these style tend to favor different aspects of custom painting. Can the custom, bolt on, add on be found more on one style than the other? I'm thinking curb feeler's, club markers in the back window, visors, antenna's. Would I be wrong in thinking one style was more about paint, wheels, stance, tail pipes, and that's it? On the other side of the coin astro's are substituted for daytons, no chrome tail pipes running down the bottom of quarter panel behind the rear wheel, and lots of chrome widgets incorporated as well. Is bolt on customization more of a low rider thing, or have we tweaked the idea of what a bell-flower style is in recent years and have neglected to consider a past involving a cheap chrome underbelly?

 

diegochero that's an interesting question but off-topic for this thread.

Back on topic, I'm kinda diggin' that plaid treatment at the top. Kind of reminds me of the MOPAR Mod Tops. But a little bit goes a long way.

 

I found a quote from Von Dutch (Kenneth Howard) the other day that says it all- "The machine must look good all on it's own. In customizing, I try to enhance what's there already, whether it be with a striping brush or a ball peen hammer." And ain't that the gospel truth?

 

what's that old saying? Beuity is in the eye of the beholder. 9I know, I can't spell buety)

 

beauty

 

I'm sorry, but fenderskirts (on some cars), curb feelers, and exhaust tips... I'm a fan of plain old raw exhaust pipe...

 

The mac-daddy detail man with the Pontiac hog owes his shine to Zep , that gas gauge is always pinned on mt !!

 

i know a guy with some org pipe speakers in a early camaro. looks kinda silly in it, and spot lights belong on cop cars. i hate when they shine them on me!

 

Around here it's called ''K Mart rash"

 

I'd forgotten it, but we used to call a bad case of interior accessorizing "dash rash".

 

Once again, it's not a case of whether or not the add on is period correct, it's a question of how much or how many are added to the car. J.C. Whitney made a fortune out of selling this stuff. Unfortunately, they didn't sell style or class.

Having gotten into hot rods in the early 70's, a lot of those add ons were kind of cool. For a while. Like all fads, there was always the folks who took it too far. T Buckets are a prime example.

I love T Buckets, but can't understand all the shit guys used to stick on them. Hot rods are supposed to be stripped down, so why all this heavy brass crap? And who's got the time or elbow grease to polish it?

When the Rat Rod fad started, they seemed tolerable because you could see where improvements were going to be made, but when guys started firing up the torch and welding cam shafts, spikes and skulls everywhere, the fad became a joke.

Is it so hard to pick up an older magazine, to see if that "new idea" was NEVER done? Better yet, ask a 10 year old if tacking that next do-hickey on your car would make it cool. If he says "yes", you should probably rethink it.

And as mentioned, NO fake spots and for cripes sake, not every car looks good with skirts and a continental kit. Some of this stuff is too easy.

 

And it is "BEER HOLDER" not beholder!!!!

 

Did every forget the fake "Monkey Fur Crap" ??? Years ago you could buy Mirror Muffs and Steering Wheel Covers all in a variety of colors and made out of "Monkey Fur" Go in any Big Box Auto Parts Store and look at the Steering Wheel Covers.
Years ago I sold a couple of "Leopard Skin" steering wheel covers to a couple of Old Girls. I told them at the time of sale that I did not want to walk in the local bar and see them wearing those covers like "Tube Tops" I think you get the idea........... Jeff

 

Speaking of "Beer Holders" a boating friend installed a couple of them in his 55 Chevy... they were old school stainless steel with Gimbal bearings so they wouldn't spill during high speed maneuvers!

Now those were cool and the most logical gadget to have in the car!

 

Some people are given to over doing things.Even now,these drifters overdo their cars,but you see some tasteful ones and you know that in a few years they'll be heading to the HAMB.

 

I agree....I never liked those bazooka flame throwers.

 

Talking about OVER DOING things. The 70s VAN CRAZ comes to mind. Most of them were HORRIFYING!

 

There is an ass for every toilet seat, I for one am glad that this is not a cookie cutter world. It is rare that I see something that I find completely revolting, and when I do..... I just look away.

 

A guy in our neighborhood had two rows of these plumbers block off things, running from the front of the hood, over the roof and to the back of the trunk lid. He also had one of those tinted bands at the top of the windshield that proudly said, "PONTIAC". Problem was, it was a Chevy

 

I'm a little OCD and it effects my perception on car customization. Everything you add to or take away from the car is ultimately all about your personal style and crap, but you've gotta take a step back sometimes and look at where it all fits in the big picture. Does it look like a piece of fine crafted machinery, ramming old values and style into our bleak modern world? Or is it a Hot-wheels car with extra macaroni glued on (cause you can).

If it was originally designed as a cruiser economy car (Nash's and Henry J's), some of the granny accessories might go well with it (curb feelers, ect.) They're more about nostalgia than style.

Sporty cars like Hudsons and Pontiacs were meant to look and drive sleek. Any add-on should promote that (extra stainless to bridge lines together, sometimes skirts, ect.)

Continental kits on old Lincoln Cosmopolitans and similar cars look decent to me. Kinda promotes the "ritzy traveler" concept.

I'm not a fan of car "art" however, in any form (other than the hood ornament). I mean like, all the little skulls and devils you can stick on the car. It detracts from the design. It's like putting kids stickers around the frame of a nice painting.

 

Don't forget the fuzzy flocked cars that needed vacuuming instead of car washes.

 

.....................That was some crazy stuff. The first one I ever saw, sometime in the 70"s, was a '61 T-Bird totally "flocked" in dark green. Very strange looking.