Seems like a long time already, huh guys? I still have today and tomorrow for these "bored meetings". I'm ready to get back to customs. See you guys soon! E
Oh that poor car, why in the hell do people insist on using those awful mirrors on an otherwise period correct car...that shit really makes me wonder if most people give a shit or have any taste at all.....[/QUOTE] I agree, they just as well added a golf club to the side of it, awful.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 138. 1949 Plymouth Four Door Owner: "Four-Door" Freddie Romo Minneapolis, Minnesota Hey guys! The "bored meetings" are over and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Right about now all you faithful W.E.H.T. followers are thinking, "Hey, what the heck, today's not Tuesday, it's Saturday!" Well, since we had a little break, I'm throwing in a special Saturday night "bonus edition" of W.E.H.T. I hope everyone enjoys it. "Four Door" Freddie Romo has been a fixture in the Minneapolis/St. Paul car scene for years. The thing that really stands out about Fred is that four doors are his cars of choice. I know a lot of guys out there don't appreciate the practicality of a four door, but some guys do like them. They are great for hauling "the crew" around and still look cool doing it. I've never had the privilege of meeting Fred, but @PasoJohn has been nice enough to give me some history of Fred and his cars. Couldn't have put this W.E.H.T. together without his help. Thanks John! Fred has owned many four doors over the years, and the better part of them were chopped! One of them was this lowly '49 Plymouth. The car is really mild having most of the trim and emblems on it, but the chop puts it into the wild class. I've done a lot of research on this car and I have found no video of it at any KKOA show. Online photo searching has turned up nothing, but magazine searches found a little. Freddie's '49 was in the first Custom Cars by Hot Rod printed in 1982 on page 6. The car was in their coverage of the very first Leadsled Spectacular held in Wichita in 1981. Being at the first Leadsled was quite an honor that not many were able to do, and many of the guys that were at the first event are no longer with us. It is unfortunate that the picture is in black and white, but it is proof that Mr. Romo and his Plymouth were there in '81. Fred sold the car a number of years ago, but from time to time it pops up at shows all over Minnesota. Late this summer Paso John went to a cruise night in North St. Paul and Fred's former four door was there. It hasn't changed much body wise, but the wire wheels are long gone and so is the shiny paint. It is now flat black with flames and red wheels with no 'caps. Skirts have been added and it looks to sit lower than before. John told me the body work on the top still looks great and has held up well for many years. Fred had a guy named Carl Zechbauer chop his cars. Sadly, Mr. Zechbauer passed away around five years ago. A special thanks again to @PasoJohn for these great pics of the '49 from a few months ago! In the first picture (the black and white photo from Custom Cars by Hot Rod), the caption reads that Fred has more than one chopped four door. Well, here is another one of them, a chopped '48 Pontiac. I love this car! The really neat thing about the Pontiac is that Freddie still owns it after all these years! This picture was taken in 1982 by @PasoJohn. I don't know the location. John, you out there? The last Freddie car I want to show is his '40 Ford four door. For some reason this car never went under the knife and got a chopped top, but who cares, it's cool as is and is absolutely gorgeous! Fred owned this car for a good many years, but he recently decided to let it go and sold it. I'm glad to report that Mr. Romo is still "playing with cars" in his 80s! Unfortunately his vision is not as good as it once was so his cruising time is more limited than it used to be. Nonetheless, I'm glad he's still getting out and enjoying his cars. I really hope that I can meet Fred one of these days and catch an eyeful of one of his sweet four doors! Just a quick note before I close tonight. I will be doing another W.E.H.T. on Tuesday, so be sure to "tune in" then. I hope everyone out there is well. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody! See you in a few days! E
A couple pic`s of his Pontiac. The first one is the Davenport Iowa KKOA show, not sure which year. Dad`s Vicky is in the background. The 2nd I`m not sure which KKOA show.
This is more than likely a pic of the 4-dr Ford before the flames were added. Either taken in Minnesota Back to the 50`s close to 15 to 20 years ago.
Shoot, thank me? Thank you! You always have some great fill in information with your knowledge and the pictures taken with your trusty little camera way back when. Seriously, I appreciate the thanks, but you deserve a thank you as well for participating. Much appreciated! E
No kidding! @stanlow69's photos from the shows are unbelievable. Some day I hope to see the garage walls. I might be there for a while....
I believe that is "Baby Cakes", built by Clayton Stevens of Howe In. It was first done in pink and white, but not the pink and white from the earlier photos. Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Whatever Happened To..........? number 139. 1953 Chevy Coupe "Black Thunder" Owner: Scottie Allan Wright Springfield, Ohio This week's custom is a very mild car that is another one that has the look of a custom that a guy could have built in his driveway in the 50s. Nothing too radical that a few guys could pull off with the guidance of a custom guy that had some experience (like a Dad or older brother). Not many mods, but what was done to it cleaned it up nicely. I think its cool that this little Chevy is a business coupe. By '53 this body style was about to be discontinued and they have become quite rare these days. It was nosed and decked, the door handles were shaved and the grille shell was molded with a custom grille. The stock '53 taillights were swapped for '54s with some Lee lenses installed. One unusual mod was the addition of modified '49 Mercury skirts. They are definitely different but they look sharp! After all the body mods were done the car was sprayed a nice clean black. Very mild but a real looker! I've been searching for information on this car for a while now and I haven't had much luck. The only information I was able to find on it in print was on page 181 of the first KKOA book printed in 1993. It mentioned the car was purchased in 1992 and was a clean low mile car just waiting for the customizing to begin. Yet another black and white photo that just doesn't do this clean and straight black sled any justice. Like I mentioned above, I wasn't having much luck finding information on this car. A few weeks ago I was spending a lot of time watching videos--I mean really watching them. Taking time to study the cars as they were filmed and paying attention to the cars and people in the background. Seeing something and rewinding the tape or DVD, pausing the screen and really studying things. I don't know how many times I've watched my copy of the 1993 Leadsled Spectacular in Springfield, Ohio, but that particular day this car just jumped out at me and the puzzle came together. I watched the car roll past the camera quite a few times studying it to make sure it was the Wright Chevy. It was--I mean, how many custom '53 Chevy business coupes have been built? Not very many! Scottie also took some time under the hood to make sure everything was "Wright" there too. The car had a sweet sounding note as it rolled by the camera. It was the sound only a header or split manifold with dual glasspacks can make. So awesome! Unfortunately this is the only video I found of the car. I checked all the other years of video I have where the Spectacular was in or around Ohio and the car was nowhere to be found--at least in this incarnation. According to the caption from the KKOA book, Scottie had big plans for the car, so maybe the car was chopped and had more radical mods that made it unrecognizable as this car. Who knows? The fact that this car was a coupe though makes me think it might have just disappeared. I've mentioned before that I don't like to take pictures of a still frame video, but I'll do it when I can't find much in the way of pictures. So, since I had no luck finding any pictures of this fine Chevy online, I decided to go ahead and take pictures from a frozen screen on my computer monitor. I apologize for the picture quality, but I hope this helps everyone see what a subtle beauty this car was. As I watched the video you could see that Scottie was a young cat that looked to be in his early to mid 20s, so there is a good chance that he still has this car or at the very least he is still into customs. This car was a hard one to research, so there may not be much more information out there, but you guys never cease to amaze me with what you find. Let's hope there is a lot more to be discovered, and that Scottie is still a custom guy! I hope that between Saturday night's bonus W.E.H.T. and tonight that the withdrawals are over and we are back on track. It feels good to be back on schedule! We'll see you next week gang! Take it easy! E
I remember me and my twin brother talking to him at Springfield and later at the Hamilton KKOA show which is where we took this picture at. My brother owned (and stills does) a 1953 Chevy and we had never seen this top style and didn't know they had made it. We both really liked this car alot and still do. It's been a template and style my brother has had planned for his 210 Chevy ever since seeing it. But we haven't seen or heard from it or the owner since.
Thanks for the information @DANSLED! Sounds like Scottie stuck around the Ohio area quite a bit. Nothing wrong with that as Ohio has always seemed to be a hot bed for great customs. Great picture by the way! Thanks for posting! E
This group pic was taken when we were in Bristol TN, funny how you are around a car for yrs, but can't find one photo of it in pink / white I am not sure where the other was taken or by whom. Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I know this is a bit of a thread dig but I'm not sure if there ever was an updated response to your question posted later on in this thread. The Capri and Merc (also a '62 Impala that came from Ron) now belong to our family. My dad has known Ron for a long time and when some of the cars became available, he was able to purchase them. Our family farm is about 30 mins from where Ron resides so they didn't end up too far away. The cars usually end up at all the local shows that Ron still attends as well so it's always nice visit with him when I get the chance. '56 Capri (from Ron) '51 Merc (from Ron) Collection
Ron drove the red merc to CCR a few yrs ago, said it was sold when he got back home. Do you have his pontiac also? Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Deb, at the time Ron's car was W.E.H.T. I was talking with @Jesse Bailey He knew where Ron's Pontiac was. I forget where now but it was at a "garage" car-collection type place. I want to say it was on or near Rt. 66 in Illinois..... Back then I looked online and found the place. Called, no answer.... emailed, no answer. I figured it had gone out of business. No idea what happened to the car...
Stan... I remember seeing your dad's Pontiac at the DesMoines shows. He was there when I drove my Pontiac.
@Rocky That's not Stanlow69's dad.... His Dad's shoebox Ford is in the background of that first photo.
Thanks for the update @roundsy! Glad to see that a few of Mr. Box's cars are in good hands. Love the picture of your "collection". That is quite a spread! Glad you found us and we hope you stick around awhile! Take care! E
We saw it several years ago after ron had sold it, it had been repainted in a different color. Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Stanlow, the poncho in the 1st pic? Are you saying that was boxes? I was talk in ng about his 60 or 61. Was an aqua color with scallops. Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
No. The Pontiac @stanlow69 posted is "four door" Freddy Romo's. His Plymouth was W.E.H.T. number 138. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-99#post-12787776
As @drdave says, we do get off topic a lot. Which is usually a good thing. And with the new style headlights that @Moriarity hates. .
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