hi there - some of you might know, I'm the son of Jim Roten, who did design work for Riley Collins in the late 50s and early 60s. awhile back, I was handed an envelope that was passed back to my dad by Riley's wife after Riley passed away. I never really dug into that envelope until one day Rik posted something up that inspired me to search it out. all I can say... that envelope is filled with awesomeness and last night, I scanned a few of over 100 sketches done in the late 50s by my dad, most of them were for Riley. also in the envelope were personal letters from my dad to riley, some color negatives [!] and even a printed birth announcement for JoJe Barris drawn by Pete Millar. Here's a few of the 'red' sketches [as I call them] - all are done on identical sheets of 5x7 newsprint in red pencil. I chose these at the advice of KK as he says these are some of the wilder customization concepts he's seen from that era. yes, these drawings all date around 1960. Enjoy. There's plenty more to come. I am hoping that Rik/CCC can do something to help tell the story.
This is a real gift for this website. Those styling ideas are top shelf. It would be great to see some of these get built on hamb.
ya know, that's an excellent idea. I have a metric ton of drawings dating back from grade school all the way through the 80s. getting them in chrono order and putting 'em into one of those 'publish it yourself' books would make my dad's day. thanks. Not to worry, I will continue to add more pics. I'm looking forward to Rik's spin on things, too. I'm hoping that the designs can be mapped to cars that were built [like the Ray Cress Merc] -- if the real vehicles exist I'd send the drawings onto live on with the car. Nothing makes me happier than to help keep these stories alive.
You really should post the rest of these Mike, Folks don't know what they are missing out on. Your Pop's is a damn amazing artist.
I will! It takes time to do these scans and get 'em uploaded and posted. I hope to talk to pops when he gets back from his trip and ID some of the sketches.
I just keep wondering how many of these got built... Hopefully your Dad or Rikster have some knowledge of them.
Those are fabulous design sketches. Thank you, for taking the time to post them. Please continue with the rest when you can, they are certainly treasures, to be shared.
I remember a Cameo truck built by Riley Customs back then and I think the one with the Edsel taillights fourth one down is it.
Self publishing a book is not hard these days. Graphics quality is limited a bit, you won't get photo quality thru Amazon press, but it's pretty decent. Ebooks are also do-able with a bit more work. You will need some human interest stories as well as the artwork. Turn on a recorder and start asking questions about the old days. You probably won't get rich but it's fun and with the level of interest on the HAMB you should break even or better.
Ducatipaso , beautiful work. Your dad art is amazing. I had lunch with king baker this past weekend, interviewing him for a project I'm putting together.give me a call if you have a spare moment... 530-718-6920, thanks,Chuck. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
A single colored pencil, red, no less, on a 5x7 sheet of newsprint... It doesn't seem like the right combination to provide that kind of detail and depth. And yet, BAM! There it is!
The Jalopy Journal
