I've always loved that Pontiac. I don't remember where I first saw it, but it seems it was featured in some magazine because besides the fade paint I remember a picture of the swivel buckets. This car is singularly responsible for my love of '60 Pontiacs. I'd put it right back the way it was with the fade and roll it until my tail permanently left it's imprint in the seat.
Finally found a photo, this is from 2012. "1960 Catalina at the Buick, Pontiac, Olds Nationals 2012 held at Summit Racing Tallmadge" Tallmadge is in Ohio.
Here is a pic of the Pontiac at the KKOA show in Michigan. Thank`s again for the history lesson Ed. Your work is appreciated.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 156. 1954 Ford Owner: Dan Rerucha Plainfield, Illinois As custom people, there are cars that have become legends and are our favorites. There is the '36-'40 Ford, the '49-'51 Mercury, the '49-'51 Ford shoebox and many others. I've always been crazy about the Mercurys and the Ford shoeboxes. One of my favorite body styles is the '52-'54 Ford. They aren't nearly as popular as the Mercs or the earlier Ford shoeboxes, but they can be really cool with the right custom touches. I had a '52 Ford for a short while way back in the mid 90s, but circumstances were all out of whack and it got sent down the road not too long after I dragged it home. I had big plans for it, but, well, you know how it goes. One of my favorite Fords of this body style is Dan Rerucha's '54 from Illinois. I first saw the car on Rowdie's 1987 Leadsled Spectacular video shot in Springfield, Illinois. I can't say for sure if Dan was at a Spectacular before '87 in primer or something, but in '87 this kandy covered beauty really turned my head. It was chopped just the right amount, and the Dodge(?) custom grille was a nice choice. Very different from most other grilles Dan could have used, but is definitely one to remember. The thing that really jumped out was the paint. It looks like the bottom was kandy tangerine orange with kandy persimmon scallops. The top was white with scallops on it as well. It is difficult to tell in pictures or video if the scallops were the kandy orange or persimmon, but either way it looked great! I believe this Scott Pavey photo was taken at the 1987 Spectacular in Springfield. For quite a while the '87 show was the only place I had ever seen this great sled. This year for Christmas, my good buddy @PasoJohn sent me a few videos from various years of the Spectacular that he shot. On the '88 video from Holland, Michigan, Mr. Reruchas fine Ford again made an appearance. It was also on the '89 video shot in Davenport, Iowa. On the '89 video, John took a great shot of the rear of the Ford and you could make out a Lincoln Land Kustoms plaque hanging from the rear bumper. Dan was in great company as Lincoln Land Kustoms was one of the great custom clubs of the 80s! I recently found another bit of video on the '54. Last month @KustomLincolnLady sent me some great kustom DVDs. On an Action Video DVD called Kustoms Galore Volume 2 there was some super footage of this car. Can't say where it was shot or when, but it was the Rerucha Ford. These video sightings were all from the early 90s and before. It seemed like after that the car had gone underground until a few weeks ago when I found another shot of the car. This time it was in the March '99 issue of Custom Rodder in their coverage of the 1998 Leadsled Spectacular once again in Davenport, Iowa. The car looked unchanged (with the exception of a hubcap change) from the Scott Pavey photo from 1987 and still looked awesome! Thankfully this picture had a caption that finally gave us the name and location of the owner of this colorful custom. After this picture I had no more luck finding information. I keep thinking that 1998 was pretty recent and there should be more information on the car, but hey, 1998 was already over 20 years ago! Man, where does the time go? Anyway, that's all for this week. I hope more turns up on Dan and his fine kandy kovered kustom. I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day and that everyone is staying warm. It seems like winter is still upon us and spring is a long way off. I'm ready for some warm summer days and lots of cruisin'! How 'bout you? See you next time! E
As you can see I'm a fan of those fords as well. Dan's is PERFECT!!! Beautiful paint , "just right" chop.
Looks like I took this picture the same day that Scott took his. I had to do some climbing in the garage to get this one off the wall. I have a couple more I`ll add in a day or so that my dad took of it the same weekend.
I just seen this pic of it on another post of the old Hunnert Car Pileup show here on the H.A.M.B. This is from 2009.
Cool! I was going to say that in the picture @Sum54ford posted that it had little "overrider" type guards added to the upper grill bar but I see they were also there in the Custom Rodder photo Ed posted. From 1999 to 2009 it looks virtually unchanged! Here are the photos side by side, 20 years apart.
I hate to hijack the thread but I have one to ask about... anyone know anything about this 1950 Plymouth? Or who the owner (builder?) was? These photos were posted by @drdave earlier in this thread. Taken at the Hangin Dice show 1988. My first thought was Ernie Baker as he had several chopped Mopars. Here is another photo from Instagram: It was a Wichita car and ran a "Kansas Kustoms LTD" plaque. Also has "Just a Dream" on the spare tire cover in the trunk. I was messaging a guy on IG about this car, he rode in it as a kid and would like to know where it is now. He sent me this photo, owner is the guy in the pink hat but he doesn't remember the guy's name. Is this Ernie Baker? I never met him so I don't know.... He also said that it had several sets of hubcaps the owner would switch out. Some were mounted such that they remained stationary.
I seen this on Instagram as well and thought the car looked familiar so I looked at my event video from the 1986 Leadsled show in Springfield and there is a full interview on this car even though it looks a little different than these newer shots of it. Only his wife is interviewed because the owner was there with a broken neck. His wife’s name was Thelma Mueller and she says her husband built the car with the help of his friends in the Kansas Kustoms Ltd car club. Dave Bellum painted it and Dave Shepherd did the upholstery.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 157. 1957 Ford "Poison Ivy" Owner: Mike Robins ? ? ? ? ?, Oklahoma This week's custom is a car that seems to have been around since the early 80s, but it's appearance at shows was very limited. I remember seeing pictures of it in various early "Custom Series" books and magazines put out by Hot Rod. Unfortunately the first pictures I saw of the car were in black and white, and the true beauty of it in color wasn't to be seen by me until many years later when I started collecting car show videos. The first place I saw Mike's Ford was in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Volume 1 number 5 from 1983 on page 63 . It was pictured in their coverage of the second annual Leadsled Spectacular in Des Moines in 1982. The pictures show the great body mods that were done to it, but it's hard to tell how cool it really was being in black and white. The next sightings of the '57 in print were from the 1983 magazine Custom Painting by Hot Rod on pages 32 and 35. The painting series magazine had some coverage of customs that were at the 1982 Leadsled Spectacular. The pictures were different from the ones in the Custom Cars by Hot Rod magazine also from 1983, but you can tell they were probably extra pictures the photographer had. Sorry gang, but again more black and white. After the early 80s magazine finds, the next places I saw this car were on video. It was on the Leadsled Spectacular video from 1989 shot in Davenport, Iowa. It was also on the 1993 video that was taken at the Leadsled Spectacular in Springfield, Ohio. Finally, I got to see the car in color after all these years! The dark green with the scallops was a knockout, and the "Poison Ivy" lettering on the quarter panels in old English was very well done. Now this is where the story of "Poison Ivy" seems to take a turn. In the early magazine photos you can clearly see the car has Oklahoma license plates on it. On the 1989 and 1993 video you can see that the car then had Arkansas plates on it. In the first set of photos I posted, you can see the car had a "for sale" sign on the windshield. Maybe the car was sold and went to Arkansas, or Mr. Robins relocated. The next pictures I found of the car came from Rikster's fabulous website in the Dr. Dave Collection. Our own @drdave took some great pictures of this car at the KKOA Hanging Dice Nationals in 1988 and 1989. The car pretty much looked the same as all the other photos and video from 1982 all the way to 1993. The only changes came in Dr. Dave's photos at the Hanging Dice shows. In 1988 it had skirts on it, and in 1989 the hubcaps were changed to four bar flippers. Both changes were a definite improvement if you ask me. After 1993 the trail dropped off. I found no more on video or in magazines after a long search. There are many questions I'd like to have the answers to. What town in Oklahoma was Mr. Robins from? Was the car sold to another party in Arkansas or did Mike pull up stakes and move to Arkansas? Oh yeah, we can't forget the obvious question that keeps this thread rolling along, What Ever Happened To it? Is it still around? Let's see what you custom faithful can turn up. Until next time, take care! E
I totally remember yhis car from the early KKOA days, But I can't offer any info on what happened to it nor do I have any pics. I just wanted to say thanks Ed for keeping this bitchin thread going!!!
Sharp car. I don't recall having seen it around the area in years, so I'm a dead end on the trail. LOL
I have a pic of it`s twin. With a lot of similarities but a different color. Maybe they used this car as a basis when building there`s. I`ll wait and see what comes up, unless you want me to post it.
The scallops are a little bolder, the louvers look the same. It has an extra grille bar, but it does improve it`s look. Notice the scalops above the side stainless trim. The roof outline paint matches the scallops on Poison Ivy as well. A close copy or is it the same car. It also has the dice hanging from the rearview mirror. It`s a different car, Poison Ivy has 5 rows of louvers. Lake pipes are tucked in and the spots are in a different location with frenched antennas added. And the seats are different. But all this could of been changed, more than likely not. This car was for sale at the Greenfield Iowa swapmeet in the last 5 years with forsale sign. It was showing it`s age. For some reason, I don`t remember seeing Poison Ivy at the shows Ed posted above. But do remember it from the magazines.
For comparison sake, saves scrolling up and down! Headlights are done differently too. I would also think it's a different car but there are a lot of similarities.
He went back to the hubcaps that were on it in 82 in Des Moines KKOA show. AAANNNND the headlights match the ones on the picture I posted.
Yep, I pointed that out in the post you quoted. But check out @drdave's photos posted since then. The lights in in those photos match the ones in the photo @stanlow69 posted!
Isn't that headlight trick basically a bolt-in for a 57 Ford? They use rims from a 56 pickup I think.
Do you remember the car at the Greenfield swapmeet a few years ago? The picture I posted. Not sure if it was on Friday or Saturday. I don`t think it had skirts.
The Jalopy Journal
