This car is like hundreds of customs from the past, it missed the mark, I will say the gentleman did a good job and I'm sure it made a splash (forgive the pun) when it was first rolled out. I like customs a lot, this one just leaves a lot to be desired. As for the pickup, I love it. HRP
Can't believe I missed this thread the first time. Wish I wasn't at work, with a shitload of stuff to do, or else I'd write a long reply. That'll have to wait, and my g/f and I are gonna be busy as hell doing house shit all weekend, too. Oh, well, the story will wait, it's waited a long time so far. The Kustomrama guys ( I love those guys! ) know where the car is, and who owns it. Too bad George Barris isn't still alive, maybe he could tell about how when he saw the car, he tried to hire Warren to come to work for him, but Warren was going back to Oklahoma, and didn't want to stay in California. Or how when Warren came to California, he drove to Petersen's offices, and told them he'd brought their next cover car with him. He was right, it's on the cover of Hop up in, I think, the Nov 1952 issue. I'd have to check to make sure, but I believe it's November, I've got several copies of it at home. Another issue showed the dash in detail, and other pics were used by Hop up over the next few months. Someone mentioned his wife. That started as her car, then she came home from work one day, and it was cut apart in the driveway. She cried then, but was very proud of it when Warren was finished with it. In person, the car has tricks that most won't see at first, or ever. Someone mentioned the door handles. And probably thought it was a 50 or a 51, since that's what used them. Nope, the car is a 49. The dash, as others have said, is amazing.. Warren did fly planes a lot. Warren did anydamnthing he wanted to do, including run guns back and forth to Mexico, buy wrecked, fucked up Cessnas and rebuild them... often.... He painted many of the planes used in the movie "Tora,Tora,Tora" in authentic WWII colors. Whatever he thought of doing, he did. Some of the HAMB can be a rough crowd, especially if a car doesn't follow their accepted formula. That's OK, not everybody felt that way. Warren had several guys trying to buy the car when he displayed in the Pan Pacific car show in the early 50s. Car's been purple, red, gold/yellow, and flat black. I got a call from a car buddy who's as crazy as I'm supposed to be one night at 2 AM to tell me about a custom that was in an ad in Auto Trader. This was mid 90s. He woke me up with a story about what he thought was the coolest custom he's ever seen. Car was in Texas. Only store around here open that carried the mag was Krogers. I had the magazine in my hands before 3 AM, and sat in the parking lot looking at it, over and over. The headlights are Lincoln. Nothing on the car as originally built is newer than 52. The flathead had every trick known at the time except a blower. The dash has multiple switches to turn off lights independently. Warren seemed to always be one step ahead of the law, in more ways than one. Guess they never got close enough to recognize his car. He started cutting it up as a brand new car.. Warren had balls. Warren is gone now, so is his wife. I had the pleasure of hearing stories from him and his wife, but especially from his nephew, who to this day, is in awe of the shit his uncle did and got away with.. There's more, but I gotta go get some work done Lots of people know where the car is now. Including a photographer From TX who's shot it more than once. It's travels include a lot of shenanigans, attempted car theft, car dealers trying to buy it. Oh yeah, Warren modified the hood shortly after getting back from California. The point was replaced with a scoop that looks kinda like a 58 Ford hood scoop. Car couldn't get enough air. The film shows it after he put the grilles in it, too.
It’s a car that’s had a lot put into it for sure. why do I seem to remember seeing a pic of this car in rough shape ? Would like to hear the whole story on this thing
Looks like he built his own version of the Phantom Corsair Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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