History Credit Where Credit is Due

Slick!

 

People who want to build a 60s-style hot rod need to study photos and stories like this, instead of building a caricature of the 60s style.

 

I shot a few car features for HOT ROD and quit doing it after owners kept calling and asking when was it going to be in print. With a 60 to 90 day lead time before a feature got into print, it was PIA to explaining to an owner that it was unreasonable to expect that the photo session on the first of the month would appear in the magazine at the end of the month. A lot of times, editors would hold material up to six months before it was in print. That was hard on a free lancer that was paid on publication rather than submission.

 

Such a cool RPU! Not much changes from the 50's to the 60's. Shoot, the 60's version is quite mild and nicely detailed as its 50's look. Just some wheel and tire change. Good to know when I build my A. This car has so much detail. I really dig the lighter color firewall, brings you in.

 

Thank you @J.Ukrop for sharing and @HEMI32 for digging into the who and where.

That's one sweet little ride. I too would love to see more cars built in this vein.

 

Joey, I couldn't imagine you ever forgetting to give credit ro the owner.

I think it's a honor to be featured in a magazine, especially the Rodder's Journal primarily because it is the # 1 publication IMHO.

I thought I had died and went to heaven when the rear shot of my old deuce pickup was on the cover of Coker Tire and then a rear shot of the Ranch Wagon ended up on the EMS sheet metal catalog, the professionalism of the photographer and his taking time to note details made seeing the photo's in print with the information being spot on was a thrill. HRP

 

Donald Kugler
July 21, 1936 - May 11, 2016
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I might have more of an appreciation for T roadsters if I'd seen more like this when I was young and impressionable. I grew up with the crazy weirdness of the 70's T buckets with raked bodies and giant meaty meats, and that silly stuff never did much for me. This one's pretty damn sweet.

 

I searched for pictures and information here but came up empty,

Kugler's rpu was an inspiration when I built my Olds powered '27 rpu,
thanks for the color pictures, I don't think I had seen them before.

 

""San Francisco Bay Area hot rod historian Todd Olson""

 

I'm surprised no one pointed out that the October 1965 Popular Hot Rodding article referred to Don Kugler's 1927 Model "T" RPU as a Model "A" Pickup:

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I'm going to say that over editing to save space is pretty universal in the publishing business outside outside of a few publications. I read two papers every day and the local area paper hacks up articles to fit in a space or sway minds while the "regional" paper often has a very detailed article and it is obvious that the local rag hacked up the original article rather than running it in it's entirety.
Same concept has to apply to rod mags from years back. Writer/photographer submits a well written and detailed article with all the creds given and when it hits print the writer barely gets creds and the "editor" downgrades a well written and detailed article to something on the form of "hey Bubba look at dis" journalism wise.

 

Nice Period T...Before the Steam Rollers...Mind you those Cheater type Slicks era correct look pretty nice...But yeah that's a nice one and Don has left us not too long ago...may he rest in peace...

Thanks for Sharing @J.Ukrop, @HEMI32 for your dot connecting...

 

I remember seeing that "T" in the magazine. Always thought the proportions were right on.

 

Always loved that one its so cool. Heres an earlier rod and custom feature, i cant remember the year though.

 

Interesting he got rid of the generator and changed master cylinders. So cool to see the color picture thanks for posting that.

 

This T-Ster has got to be among us somewhere, it’s just too nice to have taken all of that personality out of it.

 

Hello,

Nice article on that cool looking T-roadster. We had seen many of them on our journeys up to the S.F. Bay Area back in those photo shoot days. Good for (@Hemi32) he has a wealth of history and facts. Most of the times, the editors have the production guy, managing editor or some other person look at the final rough copy of the set up pages prior to shipping it off for printing. It is almost unheard of to not give the owner credit for a well built hot rod. As far as leaving out the photographer, well that is another story.

At least, the photojournalist got paid for the article and photos. As far as time, well, that was never the intention to get paid hourly, for something you like to do not as “a job.” Still, credit is always good for the photographer for future business and the journalist for writing the story to go along with the photos.

When I used to go to photo shoots all over So Cal, the first thing people want to know is if they are going to get some photographs of their hot rod or motorcycle. After explaining those facts of free photos, including color slides, negatives and prints, all was good.

Jnaki

Sometimes, it was intense talking about why the hot rod or motorcycle should be in any magazine. Owners/builders were very choosy. They usually had no idea about setting up photos or writing stories. A fact sheet was provided for information on the build. That allowed me or the editors to write the story to go along with the photos. The photos in the PHR article were good, it was just too bad the final copy person missed the fact that no owner’s name was included, let alone give photo credit to the hard working photographer.

For all those wondering, every magazine had their own staff photographers and that saved them money if those staff photos were printed. So, unless the hot rod or motorcycle had some outstanding qualities and the photos were great, the staff guys got the OK for their story assignments, before the rest of us. We were part of the overall contributors, but not exactly on the salaried, staff roster.

Note: The T Roadster page could have been a staff assignment and a page filler due to the abundance of ads or lack of ads. A last minute, quick, filler page.

Good times, back in So Cal history…