History When did the 50s 60s custom look end and when did it return ?

American Graffiti seemed to have kickstarted the resurgence of Customs and Hot Rods in the Midwest anyway and I think that came out in 1973. I wanted a Merc after I saw the movie.

 

I think that the slow disappearance of 'junk yards" with older cars for parts may have
added to the slow down of building customs. It now costs a lot to build a custom.
Plus, interests change with generations.

 

There was ONE chopped Merc at the Gatlinburg run one of the years in the early 70s. ONE. It was blue, with flames, and it sat all weekend facing Airport Road, parked outside the convention center. North Carolina plates. Never saw it move. I stared at that car for hours. I was ruined forever. There were several notes and cards under his wipers that weekend. I wasn't the only hoodlum that was enchanted by that car. Within 2 weeks, I'd found and bought a 50 coupe rust bucket for $50. Total piece of shit.
To you Carolina old timers.... Who owned that car, who built it?
Oh, and there's another under construction Merc I know about. It's in my garage , and has canted quads.

 

It isn’t chopped, but here is a Merc coming up airport road in the mid-late 70’s


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Can we see it please ? is there a build thread ?

 

From what I have learned talking to my grandfather and his buddies and the Portland, Oregon scene was that customs fizzled and stalled around 65. Granted there were still customs being built, but it being the "it" thing to have faded out and gave way to the muscle cars. Then from the pictures in the family archive, (my grandfather was pretty good about taking at least one picture of every car he owned and a few from most shows he went to) street rods and very very mild customs made a resurgence in the mid to late 70's. When he owned Miss Taboo the first time in the 80's it was really an oddball car at most shows as more radical and full customs were still not a big thing.

I guess the really radical customs that came out of the 80s and early 90s in the Portland area was chopped trucks. There were chopped 67-88 Chevy stepsides everywhere. My earliest show memories were full of the crying baby dolls and chopped pickups, also loads and loads of mini trucks.

Lately, locally customs are still an oddball. Its rare for any show to have a custom class and especially with a full custom tri five a lot of people still don't get "it" while more mild customs are pretty popular again. Some old school trends though are seeping into the youth tuner scene. Saw some cars at a import show here with "snow" all around their car (it was a Subaru). It was basically like an angle hair display.

 

IT IS STILL ALIVE & KICKIN

 

What's a custom?

 

Me too. I'm like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed bullshit.

I'm almost there with ya, but I'm sure it was Feb 30th, 1986

Jeezus H Christmas Mark! Are you ever gonna get sick of posting that thing? I never get sick of seeing it so I hope not...

 

Daily driven mild custom cars are more plentiful than full customs on the streets of So Cal. There were a lot back in the 1960s and the trend is still around, today.


Hello,
As long as I have been involved in hot rods, customs and drag racing since the 50s, the idea of custom cars has never ended. Sure, very few if any are driven on the street today, it was the same back then for the show cars. But there were a lot of modified hot rods and customs that could be driven on the street and they were… the show cars back then were…show cars that never saw the light of day. There are still some cruising around in that custom category today.

There are modified custom cars that are in car shows, considered daily drivers. But, it is not a common thing to do in most circles. Sure those heavily modified custom cars are driven by their owners to specialty events, but they are not seen in the parking lot across the good old USA for the most part. Maybe a freaky Friday, a casual clothes event or two is a fun thing but, not daily.


Jnaki

People still like custom cars, it is a small percentage of the hot rod scene, although it may seem huge at some events. But, compared to the daily drivers, it is miniscule. If a beautiful custom car was sitting in our garage, it would get driven daily, to go shopping, the beach, visiting friends, and our granddaughter.

Both of our 40 Ford Sedan Deliveries were daily drivers.

Today, our granddaughter loves to ride in Grandma’s 300 hp, mean sounding station wagon, so she would love riding in a custom car. Every time a red, 1964 Ford Falcon Convertible with a huge motor and sound comes cruising by her own house, she instantly turns around and pictures her self driving in that convertible. So, there is hope, yet… or maybe it is a future teenage girl’s dream to drive in a convertible. Hopefully, it is the rump, rump sound coming from that big motor that inspires her future dreams.

 

I disagree with the majority of guys who responded here. Customs were pretty much on the way out when replaced by Factory MuscleCars in the Mid 1960's. The only guys building anything remotely Custom were the LowRider Guys on the West Coast and Larry Watson who kept Mild Customs alive.. Thank God for them, or most Custom Guys would have died on the vine. There was a resurgence of Customs in the early-Mid 1980's, especially when Custom Rodder Magazine hit the shelves. I'm old enough have seen all the waves and Traditions and my memory is still pretty sharp.

 

I think you hit it . Dead on ,looking through magazines ,customs were dead in that time period.

Sent from my SM-A520W using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

A lot of people may hate this car but I think credit needs to go where credit is due.
In "Pop Culture" this car brought Customs and Hot Rods back into vogue.



Now ....it it a Custom or is it a Hot Rod ?

Like Mitchum's "50 Ford" in "Thunder Road" or Allen Hale's/Clark Gable's 27 Touring in "It Happened One Night"....or Milners "Graffiti Coupe"....
Cobra's Mercury stole the show.....

 

My Car is Consider a Street Rod, because it has a 327/300 hp.
engine & is a Mild Kustom !
and I like it like that & I drive anytime I want & if I do go to a Show
I park in the Lot with the other People going to See the Car's

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

It might of died on the show circuit. But for me has never died. lot of old and new kustom still around. there a couple of great kustom shows.

 

The popularity of customs waxed and waned over the years for a lot of reasons, most already mentioned here. The "public" has always been fickle, always looking for the next new thing, but a core group has kept the fire from completely dying off and that fire has warmed up to different degrees at times. I don't think it's ever going to return to the popularity it once had, however. It's now mostly keeping the faith, looking back at a point in time and not looking ahead and cutting edge like before.

I had one of those "muscle cars" and while I didn't exactly customize it I certainly did personalize it. Like a lot of folks back then, I couldn't afford to build a custom like the drawings I did back in HS study hall, but for various other reasons, it seems I could afford a new car mortgage. I did my "customizing" at the dealer's desk by picking the paint color and adding some mechanical upgrades, cherrypicking some options and deleting others, then having it built for me, my way. Then after taking delivery 5 weeks later, I further "customized" it by adding special wheels and tires, discrete pinstripes, a set of gauges, headers, itty bitty mufflers, and the rest of the list. I also did some emblem shaving and various deletes. This was late '60 and it was common for headlights, grills, taillights, hoods, and even paint to get messed with.

I suspect things would have continued in this vein but everything took a hard left when the 70's ushered in with anti-smog motors and the biggest bumpers in history. Those were the beginning days of pretty bleak times for anything car related. I could ramble on about folks switching to SUVs and trucks for RWD and V8s......... but I won't. My work here is done.

 

This is making me want to get a bubble top, more and more!


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

They created a lead shortage and the government moved in an shut them down in 1972.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

When I found and restored the Dream Truck in the late 70's, people thought I was nuts, that customs were dead. Seems that they were wrong, and customs live on today. A couple years back I bought a '58 Ford with the intentions of making it into a early 60's custom. It has a '57 front end, with '58 headlights, and '59 Bonnie taillights. I had always wanted to do both. I had seen LeFevre's '59 El Camino with paint by Watson back in 1960, and knew that someday I would have to do that. I have a '59 Galaxie grille that is shaped to fit the '57 opening. Problem is, it's pretty fast, so I went drag racing for a couple years. This winter is "finish the custom" time. A little more slam and a lot more upholstery is in order.

 

Can't wait!

 

That actually looks pretty good!

 

Yeah, I have always liked it.

 

I always loved Cobra's Mercury. Was it multiple cars, beat to hell in the movie?Or does one still exist. Rewound that VHS tape a lot of times trying to figure out how that custom looked like it's running Autocross!

. . .

 

Multiple cars.

All destroyed.

 

1950,1,2,3,4 when Hard tops hit the mild customs started to grow real fast then re started late 70's with midwest , Paso, etc get togethers. I have had mine as daily drivers from mid 50's to today.

 

It ended for me when Sly careless trashed that car in the first 5 minutes of Cobra. Why?!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app