Excellent writeup and pictures of the creative process of building a beautiful custom car. Thanks for it.
Beautiful job on a NW car with a lot of history behind it. I've known CJ for many years, a nicer guy you will never find, tell him hi for me, he'll know who I am.
Worked on the brakes today on Taboo, added a remote booster to add power brakes to the stock drums. Grabbed this little video of the car today.
I don't know, CJ doesn't really remember either. I know the bar/tavern is still around and in the same place. Its not in a very good part of Portland.
Took Taboo up to the Good Guys Pacific Northwest Nationals this year. For kicks decided to park it in the builders choice area on Saturday and pluck the old custom in the middle of all the modern day pro touring builds. Didn't win a Builders Choice award but came home with the "Way Cool" award.
Then this weekend following Good Guys hauled Taboo up to Mount Vernon for the Northwest Stop of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. Ended up coming runner up to a Datsun 240Z drift car. Didn't help the judges we more into tuners, but the old custom put up a good fight to the imports.
Kudos to you and Gramps! The car is an absolute jewel! Not meaning to go OT, but any info on that four-door Merc? Looks like some inverted (Shoebox?) rear window.
Back and better than ever! You and CJ are very fortunate to be able to buy the car back and spend the $$$$ to get it back to where it deserves to be. It is beautiful and the accolades are well deserved!
If I remember correctly the Merc was being restored bone stock. It was like a 1 family car and was completely stock as well.
Last show of the summer that we had planned for Taboo was also one where we had the opportunity to get the whole garage out for group photos for the first time ever. So Taboo was of course on there, then next to Taboo was my 1933 Ford Pickup that my grandfather built right before I was born and have grown up in, then my 1968 Camaro that was my first car and where I learned how to work on cars and my grandfather and I restored the car ourselves in his garage, then lastly is my grandmothers 55 Chevy Bel Air that they have owned for 46 years and that we just completed restoring. The 55 was our first attempt at a full frame off rotisserie restoration. (the nose of the other Camaro was a friends car)
Great story... Hard to believe the 4 spot engine mounts are still in the car with the trans hanging in the wind just like a stock 55-57. Right now it is the best it's ever looked....Thank you
Thanks. The entire chassis is how it was set up in 1961. The stock mounts, all original drum brakes, stock spindles with cut coils, blocks in the back. The goal was to keep it as pure to the cars original era.
Found these photos I took back in 2015 from a little indoor show in Roseburg, Oregon. CJ grew up in the area and we asked to bring the car down. Fun little show they put on down there.
Salem Roadster Show 2017 CJ and Sherry (my grandmother) unboxing the display stuff Sherry doing some cleaning very hard to get a picture of her. Hard to snap a pic of CJ, but got one of him cleaning the wheels.
When at Boise it was kind of neat that right in front of the show by pure accident that we had a tri five custom then and now thing. With Taboo on the right being the old school custom and then next to us a car that was built 10 mins from out home called "Showmad" that's a modern custom
The Jalopy Journal
