Last night I caught another episode of "Chasing Classic Cars" on Discovery HD Theater ... The featured car was a 1952 Muntz Jet Convertible originally owned by (50's bandleader) Freddy Martin ... and customized by Joe Bailon (Buick grille, extended front fenders, Caddy V8 engine, Mercury parts in the rear, etc.). In this episode, Wayne Carini buys the Muntz from a collector in the Phoenix, AZ area ... brings it back to his shop in Portland, CT to freshen it up a bit (body work, paint, bright-work, etc.) ... and then shows it at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (in the "GM Powered Sports Car" class). I really enjoyed this episode ... even if Wayne mis-pronounced "Bailon" Here's some (resized) pics of the car @ Pebble from the conceptcarz.com website:
Thats a much nicer looking car than the stock version. I always thought they were uglier than a night with Rosie O'Donald stock.
I watched that last night. I was trying to wrap my mind around owning vehicles worth that much. Crazy money. I can totally appreciate the cars, though. I loved the styling of that Muntz from the rear but the front end was deplorable. As I understand it, the design changed as the the went from owner to owner. Loved the "as found" shot. Came a long way and the interior rules.
Weasel ... I thought they looked like Henry J fenders also ... but in the show, the host (Wayne Carini) only says that Bailon "put in a Buick grille and extended the front fenders" ... he never states what the front fenders were from.
Yeah, I agree the back is very tastefully done but the front is ............well not my thing. The fenders roll to much or something but whatever it is they do not go with the rest of the car... IMHO....
Agreed ... it just doesn't flow ... plus there's a gaping hole between the bottom of the (Henry J) fenders and the front bumper. Wayne Carini even comments about Bailon's lack of craftsmanship ... and that during the car's restoration (somewhere in the Midwest), the poor welds and screws holding the front-end together were left as-is (to retain the authenticity of the original customization).
Sorry about that ... I'm a (software) engineer ... not a professional writer. I do realize that my posts flow about as well as Henry J fenders on a Muntz Jet 'Vert ... I promise to work on it (using fewer parentheticals in my posts). HEMI(powered)32
'Ya made me look it up (parentheticals). I know I've herad the word (parentheticals) but wasn't sure what it meant.. Now I know (what it means),...
That is an awesome car with SOOOO many great details- I feel bad when they take you out of the illusion of being there when the car was first finished with the new Wheel Vintique hubcaps & center emblems. I wish I could have seen that show- sounds like an awesome piece of history. That's a car I'd love to see a full story on in the Rodder's Journal. I hope old pictures exist and they pick up on that one!
Usually, I'll keep my opinions to myself, but this is funny - because the Muntz is one of the few cars I think look best stock (at the risk of sounding [parenthetically] like my dad).
We were lucky enough to get an up close look at the car this year on the Saturday at Pebble Beach...In fact, we helped fix the horn, as it wasn't working, and you lose points in the judging.... Here's a few pics, the guy with the car was commenting on the restoration & having left the 'bad welds & screws' in place to preserve its originality. Its really only noticeable at the grill ends... yorgatron hitting the horn..... Cool car tho....
I am just wondering if it is me or do the wheel well openings look a little out of round? I am not trying to pick the car apart but They look a little messed up, both front and rear.
Hemmings did an extensive article on the Freddie Martin car a little more than a year ago. Barris chopped at least two Jets that I know of in 1953-1954. My Muntz Jet was featured in the Rodders Journal in issue #36. It's the last factory produced Jet. I've owned six of them over the past 15 years. Yes, mine is chopped.
You beat me to it TotallyCustom. I remember that article well as it was the first Muntz Jet I laid my eyes on. The car is beautiful, a custom that still retained it's original look. 6 of 'em, Wow!
Muntz factory equipped with Duvall windshield, Stewart Warner Hollywood dash, sombreros, Appleton spotlights, fender skirts, tuck-n-roll interiors, Carson tops, Cadillac/Hemi/Lincoln engines, etc. Were these cars "factory built hotrods"?
I usually have bittersweet feeling towards rare cars being customized (yeah, I know, this is a rod and custom blah blah blah), but I really love what they did with that muntz. The napolean horn button is a crack up!
"The napolean horn button is a crack up!" That is a caricature of "mad man" Muntz wearing red pajamas and his Napolean hat to show that he was "crazy". All horn buttons on the Jets had them. Also, the same plastic casting is the center cap on the sombrero hubcaps. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
It seems to me, (through viewing the photos) that Bailon was rushed finishing up the front end of the car. Whereas it looks as though he took his time working on the rear of it where the fit and finish is very nice. I have to wonder if he was being rushed to meet a deadline or if Martin was beating him on the cost of the build. Leaving Bailon no choice other then buttoning up the car and pushing it out the door and getting rid of the pain in the butt. I don't see the comparison of work from rear to front being anything other then one of the two reasons I mentioned. The rest of the car looks like great craftsmanship. Edit: Ok, The rear bumper isn't sitting properly either.
I'd like to think that the ill fitting rear bumper was not Bailon's doing ... but rather just laziness on the part of Carini's F40 Motorsports restoration crew when they re-installed the bumper after re-painting the car ... that gap could be easily fixed with some properly placed shims and/or "adjustment" of the bumper brackets.
Yes ... the December 2006 issue of Hemmings Classic Car had a good article about the car ... just click HERE.
According to the Dec '06 Hemmings article (& the Chasing Classic Cars episode), Freddy Martin's '52 Muntz Jet Custom was featured in the March 1955 issue of MOTOR Life: ... Anyone have a copy of this issue?
The Jalopy Journal
