Customs What is the craziest custom feature you've seen?

I've got to start off with this one. I was looking through a 1960 Speed Mechanics magazine and came across this 57 Ford with......a fur lined trunk with an aquarium in the center.

 

When I was a kid a guy used to drive a '50 Buick covered in live grass. I don't know what held it on but that body must have suffered.

 

Like this?

 

That should rub out!
Don't ruin that great patina!
I've seen these get 50k on Barret Jackson, gotta be worth almost that...
Etc...

 

Maybe not the craziest but some radical fifties customs had TV sets in the dashboard. This was illegal in all states because it was a potential distraction to the driver. Now all kinds of new cars have TV screens in the dash. I guess somehow now it's legal.

 

If you want a car covered in grass there is a trick to it. You glue grass seed all over the car and water it every day. Pretty soon you have a long crop of grass that will live a few weeks if you keep watering it, especially if you put a little Miracle Grow in the water. What happens after that is you have a shitty car covered in dead grass.

 

This isn't a freakin' thread about grass. Some guys back in the day had some crazy custom ideas and they were serious. Keep on track!

 

Many years ago I had a girlfriend with a third nipple. I guess since she came that way, it would be more "factory stock" than "custom", but that "feature" made me crazy

 

I seem to recall a guy driving a Ford Fairlane around town in the late 60's with a finish that felt like velvet, I believe it was called flocking.

And also the Dodge & Plymouth's with wild vinyl tops, paisley & wild colors. HRP

 

This is where the old ,"Pictures or it didn't happen" adage comes into play. HRP

 

I mean, do you really need to look further than the Golden Sahara? It had translucent tires that glowed and drove by remote control. Can you imagine what the conversations were like in the process of coming up with that kind of stuff?

 

Had to have a TV, record player, phone, and a little bar. Then don't forget the tool panel in the trunk that would have a chrome set of tools displayed along with your gas, water, oil cans.

 

Assymetrical styling.

There are a ton of crazy custom things but nearly all of them seem to be on non-HAMB-friendly vehicles.

 

Patina. No question about it.
.

 

I remember a 60 chevy convertible with the trunk turned into a rumble seat

 

You posed a question that is hard to answer, crazy doesn't necessarily mean tasteful or cool. There have been bodies mounted backwards on frames, TV's, reel to reel tape players, cars covered in indoor outdoor carpet, cars shaped like toilets etc.

 

Don't forget the hot dog maker for the person on the go!

 

Rust?

 

I remember sometime back in the 60's in one of the major car mags of a 32 Ford with 58 Mercury tail lights mounted and blended into the roof. The image of that fuck up has stuck in my brain to this day. Maybe someone out there has a picture of it?

 

I didn't say it had to be cool...I'd never put an aquarium anywhere in a car! Looking for outlandish.

 

Man, that actually sounds awesome.

 

Possibly the origin of the phrase: "That car is really flocked up!"

 

I bet it come around on customs because then you didn't have to worry about body lines matching side to side !! Made the job soo much faster and easier

 

Years ago, I had a co-worker who was preparing for a long road trip with his wife and a bunch of kids. He built a hot and cold drink dispenser in his glove box. No pictures but imagine a cooler in the trunk, copper tubing coiled around the exhaust manifold, 20' feet of fishtank hose and the little brass valves that go with it, and a half dozen Tupperware tumblers with air-tight lids and hose sized holes in the lids. Run one section of hose to the intake for a vacuum source and I think you get the picture.
The car wasn't exactly a custom, but the "feature" sure was.

 

When I was a kid there was an El Camino in the neighbor had that was flocked with various colors. I would see him vacuuming the outside of his car.

 

There's something about that barber shop rod that I really like.....

 

There was a just barely off topic lowrider at our car show a week or two ago, that had hydraulics. The hydraulic pumps were mounted in the trunk, on a 4 bar setup, so it could be lifted (using hydraulics) up out of the trunk, so we could all see the glorious engraved chrome finish on them. The trunk lid was also mounted "suicide" to add to the effect.

Neat car....some of those lowrider guys up in Phoenix take this stuff pretty seriously.

 

;-)